Old Hundred Names and Barbarians Fight the Pirates: Recruiting Auxiliaries for Late Ming Naval Operations

Abstract

Abstract By examining actions taken to eliminate seaborne bandits, this study argues during the Ming Dynasty (1368–1644), everyday people and foreigners played important roles in military activities. When Guangdong native Lin Feng (also known as Limahong) roamed the seas from South China to Southeast Asia in the mid-1570s, officials searched far and wide for allies to confront him. Reevaluating this period in Chinese military history from the bottom-up and outside-in shows civil officials and military officers repeatedly found fishers, traders, and sailors, along with outsiders, who were willing to collaborate against the marauders. Historical records from the late Ming and Qing periods consistently presented this cooperation as a Sinocentric and hierarchical ritual-based recruiting. In contrast to this top-down and inside-out perspective, the present research illuminates that during the early modern period, the Chinese government was growing progressively dependent on sea-going peoples to reinforce its maritime operations.