Chouhai tubian 籌海圖編

Chouhai tubian 籌海圖編 "Illustrated book on maritime preparedness" is a treatise on maritime defence compiled during the Ming-period 明 (1368-1644) by Zheng Ruoceng 鄭若曾 (1503-1570), courtesy name Bolu 伯魯, style Kaiyang 開陽, from Kunshan 昆山, Jiangsu. He was a disciple of Wang Shouren 王守仁 (Wang Yangming 王陽明, 1472-1529) and a close friend of Gui Youguang 歸有光 (1506-1571) and Tang Sunzhi 唐順之 (1507-1560). Zheng belonged to the staff of Hu Zongxian 胡宗憲 (1512-1565), who was responsible for fighting coastal piracy.

The 13-juan-long Chouhai tubian is related to Zheng's book Jiangnan jinglüe 江南經略, which is in the Siku quanshu 四庫全書 series classified as a military treatise. In contrast, the Chouhai tubian is classified as a book on geography, which seems inappropriate.

The Chouhai tubian describes the whole coastline of China, the fortifications along the coast, the methods of defence, the weapons used, the historical development of piracy in the East China Sea and the relations between China and Japan. A large proportion of the pirates during the 14th and 15th centuries were Japanese (called Wokou 倭寇). An analysis of the routes pirates used to attack coastal villages and the hinterland was very important to forestall further raids. The author also describes which weapons the pirates used to assess their fighting abilities.

Fig. 1. Environments of Ningbo 寧波, Zhejiang

The overview map shows the prefectural city of Ningbo (centre) with its surroundings, including district seats and military garrisons, patrol posts, rivers (hyper-dimensional), mountains, and of course the sea, with Mt. Putuo in the upper right corner. Siku quanshu 四庫全書 edition.

The book is enriched by 114 maps and illustrations showing the entire coastline from the southwestern province of Guangxi to the northeast, including the fortifications. It is the earliest collection of maps of China's coastline. For the defence, the book provides instructions on the selection and training of the troops in the garrisons. The most effective method of anticipating raids was reinforcing the fortifications, strengthening the defensive troops' fighting power to keep the pirates out on the oceans, and, if they approached, instantly attacking them.

The Chouhai tubian had a significant influence on practical coastal defence. It is at the same time an important source of the history of piracy on the Chinese coast.

The earliest print of the book dates from the Tianqi reign-period 天啟 (1621-1627), and one copy is owned by the Library of Beijing University 北京大學圖書館. The text is found in the Siku quanshu.