A Study on the Trade Network of East Asia from the 8th to the 10th Century

In his World Theory of East Asia, Nishijima argued that the collapse of Ting Dynasty in 907 brought down the world of East Asia as an international political order and led to the world of East Asia as an economic trade zone and regarded the 10th century as a turning point of changes. While it is apparent that the changes in the early 10th century are significant in Chinese history, they should be seen in the extension of the 8th century in Korean and Japanese history. Especially considering that trade activities between China and Japan became prominent in the early 8th century, the trade zone of East Asia should be understood to have been formed in the 8th century. There are a couple of grounds for the argument: first, Ting Dynasty moved from the old tribute-based public trade policy to the policy allowing for private trade in the Kaiyuan Period in the early 8th century. Those changes of the trade policy were attributed to secure financial resources according to the financial pressure. After An Shi Rebellion, the groups in charge of trade generally expanded to include local officials such as military governors and the Officials of Shi Bo Si. The second ground is 『Daoliji』by Jia Dan in Geograpy 7b, Xin Tang shu Vol. 43b. The fact that something that can be called a world map or comprehensive survey of geography was made in the early 9th century indicates that bargaining between China and its surrounding countries became more frequent. In East Asia, a trade network was feasible in Yellow Sea, East Sea, and Okhotsk Sea. In the Yellow Sea, the activities of Shilla traders represented by Jang Bo-go and Balhae traders were prominent. The Goguryeo- and Balhae-related delegations and Sushen Yilou played a leading role in East Sea and Okhotsk Sea, respectively. Trade via the marine transportation of each country in East Asia became even more active when Song Dynasty, which was established after 50 years of transition period after the collapse of Ting Dynasty in 907, was under the military pressure of northern nomads such as Kitan and Jurchen. Even though Song Dynasty declared itself as the successor of Ting Dynasty, it could not help implementing passive diplomatic policies due to its fear for nomad countries. In fact, it ended up offering a lot of annual tribute(歲幣) to nomad countries as a tribute country. While China lost its status as the suzerain state of East Asia, its private trade grew even more active. Chinese traders formed an economic trade zone across East Asia, crossing the borders skillfully.