In the Ming Dynasty, official bans on foreign trade did not stop smuggling activities along the extended and porous Chinese coastline. Ocean-going junks were built on remote islands, and Chinese products such as blue and white porcelain, which were lucrative commodities in overseas markets, were packed into the cargo holds and, without official approval, delivered to distant destinations.
In 1975, archaeological remains were discovered by James Hayes at Penny’s Bay, Lantau Island, in what is now Walt Disney’s Magic Kingdom. The site was further excavated and studied by historians and ceramic specialists. What interested the scholars most was a large concentration of porcelain shards and pieces that were found in a gulley at the site. A total of 20,000 shards were collected, consisting mainly of Ming porcelain that experts have dated to between 1465 and 1522, the mid-Ming period of Chenghua (成化) to Hongzhi (弘治) and the early Zhengde (正德) era. There were also ceramic shards attributed to Vietnam or South-East Asia that can be traced back to the 14th to 16th centuries.[18]
Historians interpret the findings as relics of a clandestine trading post on Lantau Island adjacent to the mouth of the Pearl River. Smuggling in those days was common and there are ample historic records to support this.[19] Porcelains produced by the famous kilns of Jingdezhen (景德鎮) of Jiangxi were shipped to Guangzhou and Foshan (佛山) via a network of inland waterways, involving long-distance porterage usually over mountain ridges. Once in Foshan or Guangzhou, traders would find ways using small craft to spirit away the cargoes to Penny’s Bay, which was well-sheltered from the authorities. It is conceivable that after such difficult journeys on land and down rapid streams, attrition would render part of the cargoes damaged. After loading the undamaged cargoes onto ocean-going ships, traders might have discarded and buried the detritus in the gulley to avoid detection.
A lime kiln was discovered at Penny’s Bay, giving more evidence that ocean-going ships could have used the site for repairs. The lime produced in the kiln might have been used for caulking and waterproofing the hulls.[20]
Experts compared the shards found in Penny’s Bay with the blue and white porcelains at Santos Palace in Lisbon, as well as those found in Syria and other locations in the eastern Mediterranean.[21] They were all 15th to 16th century Jingdezhen wares and were strikingly similar. Similarly, ceramics recovered from a shipwreck at Lena Shoal, the Philippines,[22] resemble those of Penny’s Bay, further supporting the claim that those cargoes were to be shipped overseas.
Notes:
- [18]William Meacham, ‘A Ming Trading Site at Penny’s Bay, Lantau’, JHKAS, 12 (1990), pp. 100-115; Peter Y.K. Lam, ‘Ceramic Finds of the Ming Period from Penny’s Bay – An Addendum’, JHKAS, 13 (1993), pp. 79-90.
- [19]A similar clandestine ceramic trade was conducted by the Portuguese using Shangchuan Island (上川島) as their transit centre. Ceramics were shipped to Shangchuan by traders in Guangzhou. See: Cheng Pei-kai ed., Huang Wei, Huang Qinghua, ‘Shangchuan Island and early Sino-Portuguese Trade in the Sixteenth Century’ in Chinese Westward: Early Sino-Portuguese Trade of Chinese Ceramics’ (Hong Kong: Hong Kong City University Press, 2010), pp. 66-67.
- [20]Ibid.
- [21]林梅村：〈大航海時代東西方文明的衝突與交流〉，《文物》，第3期，2010，頁91。
- [22]Franck Goddio, Sunken Treasures: Fifteenth Century Chinese Ceramics from the Lena Cargo (London: Periplus Publishing, 2000).
Part 1 Chapter 1.6 - The clandestine ceramic transit centre of Penny’s Bay during the Ming Dynasty
