China as a sea power, 1127-1368 [electronic resource] : a preliminary survey of the maritime expansion and naval exploits of the Chinese people during the Southern Song and Yuan periods / Jung-pang Lo ; edited, and with commentary by Bruce A. Elleman.

Issued as part of UPCC book collections on Project MUSE.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 344-352) and index.

Introduction / by Geoff Wade -- pt. I. Factors contributing to China's maritime expansion -- 1. China's rise as a naval power -- 2. The shift to the sea -- 3. The foundation of Chinese maritime power -- pt. II. The Southern Song period, 1127-1279 -- 4. Creation of the Southern Song navy -- 5. The War of 1161 and the expansion of the navy -- 6. Development of maritime trade -- pt. III. The Yuan period, 1260-1367 -- 7. The emergence of the Yuan navy : the Battle of Yaishan, 1279 -- 8. Yuan campaigns in the Eastern Sea -- 9. Yuan naval campaigns to the south -- pt. IV. Conclusions -- Conclusions : the collapse of the yuan, rise of the Ming, and China as a sea power -- Selected bibliography -- Index.

Lo Jung-pang (1912-81) was a renowned professor of Chinese history at the University of California at Davis. In 1957 he completed a 600-page typed manuscript entitled China as a Sea Power, 1127-1368, but he died without arranging for the book to be published. Bruce Elleman found the manuscript in the UC Davis archives in 2004, and with the support of Dr Lo's family prepared an edited version of the manuscript for publication.Lo Jung-pang argues that during each of the three periods when imperial China embarked on maritime enterprises (the Qin and Han dynasties, the Sui and early Tang dynasties, and the Song, Yuan, and early Ming dynasties), coastal states took the initiative at a time when China was divided, maritime trade and exploration peaked when China was strong and unified, and then declined as Chinese power weakened. At such times, China's people became absorbed by internal affairs, and state policy focused on threats from the north and the west. These cycles of maritime activity, each lasting roughly five hundred years, corresponded with cycles of cohesion and division, strength and weakness, prosperity and impoverishment, expansion and contraction.In the early 21st century, a strong and outward looking China is again building up its navy and seeking maritime dominance, with important implications for trade, diplomacy and naval affairs. Events will not necessarily follow the same course as in the past, but Lo Jung-pang's analysis suggests useful questions for the study of events as they unfold in the years and decades to come.

Description based on print version record.