270

CHAPTER  IX
FOREIGN  TRADE
The  records  of  the  foreign  trade  of  China  in  olden  time  are
obscure,  and  the  proper  elucidation  of  that  trade  would
require  a  special  treatise  to  discuss  the  routes  by  which  the
silks  of  China  reached  the  Roman  Empire,  following  p re '
sumably  the  Central  Asian  caravan  routes  which  were  later
followed  by  the  Polo  brothers  and  their  nephew  Marco
Polo  ;  the  routes  by  which  the  Arabs  came  by  sea  to  trade
during  the  Tang  (a.d.  618-907)  and  Sung  (a.d.  960-1127)
Dynasties  ;  and  the  routes  followed  by  the  Chinese  them'
selves  in  trading  with  the  islands  of  the  Southern  Sea,  t°
which  the  north-east  monsoon  of  winter  carried  their  junks
laden  with  the  products  of  their  own  land,  while  the  southwest ­
  monsoon  of  summer  brought  them  back  in  surety
with  the  spices  of  the  tropics.  It  is  sufficient  for  the  purpose
of  this  chapter  to  trace  the  progressive  steps  by  which  the
trade  of  China  was  developed  by  European  nations.
The  Portuguese  were  the  discoverers  of  the  East,
the  Spanish  were  of  the  West,  and  the  first  recorded  arrival
of  a  European  ship  in  China  was  that  of  Raphael  Perestrello,
who  sailed  from  Malacca  about  1511.  Six  years  later,  k 1
1 5 1 7&gt;  Fernando  Perez  de  Andrade  entered  Canton  waters
with  a  squadron  of  four  Portuguese  and  four  Malay  ships»
and  was  well  received  by  the  local  officials,  then  as  ever
quite  ready  to  encourage  trade,  and  was  allowed  to  proceed
in  person  to  Peking.  His  brother  Simon  arrived  in  the
o  owing  year,  and  so  conducted  himself  that  he  v#s
riven  off  the  coast,  while  Fernando  was  put  in  priso^
m  Peking,  ultimately  losing  his  life.  Other  ships  arrived