Secrets of the Selden Map - Map of China: Decoding the Secrets of a Vanished Cartographer - page 160

south. As Ou clears the pass heading south, he imagines the counterflow of tribute
envoys taking the same route north in the direction of the capital:
Sunset lingers on a thousand peaks
Receding into distance as we clear Plum Pass.
The sun settles, the monkeys fall silent,
People head home along the skyline trail.
Going down from the Central Plain, the mountains open a path;
Coming up from the South Sea, the Europeans are monitored.
Here the kings of the world's nations converge;
Here the war horses stand idle in the autumn breeze.
This vision imagines world order as a hierarchy of regulated positions rather
than a negotiation of competing claims. It confidently assumes that the authority
of the dynasty is sufficient to exert a calming force over troublesome foreigners
who,oncetheyhavesubmitted,asalesserpowershould,toagreater,approachthe
throneonlytoserve.Sogreatarethebenefits oftheirsubmission thatthearmycan
stand down the cavalry. This is the land viewing the water.
The view from the water was quite the opposite. So long as 'the Chineses had
refusedtotradewiththeEnglish',asJohnSarisphrasedthesituationinhisjournal,
the kings of the world might converge in a complaisant ambassadorial stream just
asOupicturesthemdoing,butthemerchantswon't.FromwhereSarisstoodonthe
deck of the Clove , war horses were of no account. They couldn't gallop on water,
and he was not interested in launching an assault on land. Instead, he would do as
he chose with Chinese ships that the indifference of the Ming state left as orphans
on the sea. He would board them at will, demand the services of their pilots with
impunity and seize their cargo when they resisted. He even petitioned the shogun
in Japan for permission to bring captured Chinese cargo ashore to sell; the shogun
didn't see this as a good idea. What Saris wanted most was to trade, not to send
an embassy, although he would have done so had the opportunity arisen. Preven-
ted from trading, Saris was no different from his Dutch counterparts, who in good
Grootian fashion believed that the refusal to trade gave them the right to use force.
Selden would have demurred, arguing that the Ming had a right to regulate foreign
trade. But Saris was in Asian waters to make money, not to cavil over law.
The effect of Ming policy was a free-for-all on the waters just beyond the reach
of naval patrols. The Ming secured its coastal waters in a fashion not unlike the
King's Chambers of England, but coastal authority was erratic. When the Wanli