Sea Country Solitary (The First Prime Minister of the Ming Dynasty Ye Xianggao and the Marine Society)

Author: Cui Laiting
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-03-01
Features: Ye Xianggao (1559-1627), who called himself "a lone scholar of learning," was a famous political figure during the Ming Dynasty. During the Wanli and Tianqi reigns, he served as the Grand Secretary () twice. Ye Xianggao was born in Fuzhou County, Fujian Province, and grew up during the Japanese invasions (). After entering the civil service, he held positions in both the northern and southern capitals for a long time. Although he was far from the maritime society, his connection with it never ceased. Whether he was at the court or in seclusion, he always cared about the safety and well-being of coastal regions, supported the suppression of Japanese pirates in Taiwan and the expulsion of the Dutch from Penghu, abolished the three major harms to coastal areas, and recommended the dismissal of the eunuch Gao Cai from the maritime trade office. In his later years, he engaged in intellectual exchanges with Alessandro Valignano () through the "Three Books Theory" (), which became a remarkable chapter in early Sino-Western cultural exchange. This book comprehensively utilizes historical documents, with Ye Xianggao's life as the main thread and maritime information from historical records as material. It incorporates the study of Ye Xianggao into the field of maritime socio-economic history, analyzing and exploring his relationship with the maritime society in the mid-to-late Ming Dynasty. It recreates the historical scene of the maritime society during the Ming Dynasty.