Page:Brinkley - China - Volume 2.djvu/169

down to Zanzibar, the Red Sea, and even (to a limited hearsay extent) of Egypt and Sicily. The great centre of Arab trade in the Far East was Sarbaza, or the modern Palembang in Sumatra, between which place and the coasts of Fuh-kien Chinese junks plied regularly with the two monsoons, carrying their cargoes of porcelain, silk, camphor, rhubarb, iron, sugar, and precious metals to barter at Palembang for scents, gems, ivory, coral, fine swords, prints, textile fabrics, and other objects from Syria, Arabia, and India. Cochin China joined in this trade as a half-way house, but levied the heavy charge of twenty per cent upon all imports. It is especially stated that there was no foreign trade with the northern part of the peninsula, i. e., what we now call Tonquin." Japan and Riukiu Islands (Loochoo) were also within the circuit of China's oversea commerce, and caravans continued to reach the northern regions of the Empire by the overland routes already described, though during the contests between the Chinese and the Tartars in the twelfth century the former ceased to reap the advantages of this trans-Asian commerce.

These details of China's foreign commerce during the early centuries suffice to indicate her general attitude towards aliens. It is plain that she showed no manner of prejudice against trade with the outer world, whether the traders came oversea or overland. But there would be error in assuming that the traders always received lib-