Song Dynasty Expands Maritime Trade from Guangzhou

1058

The Song court's Maritime Trade Superintendency at Guangzhou oversaw a boom in seaborne commerce, as Chinese junks loaded with silk, porcelain, and lacquerware sailed for Southeast Asian and Indian Ocean ports. Foreign merchants - Arab, Persian, Indian, Malay - crowded the city's designated quarter. The customs revenues pouring into Song coffers made the empire's southern coast as strategically vital as its perpetually threatened northern frontier.