Abstract
Compared with the era of Zheng He’s voyages to western oceans in the early and late Ming, the mid-Ming was the time when exchanges between China and the West were at their lowest. During this period China’s understanding of the world outside its borders progressed very slowly or even regressed in some ways. Development of knowledge about the southern oceans in particular was stagnant. Few creative works were produced apart from Haiyu [Hearsay of the Seas] by Huang Zhong. China’s efforts in defending against the wokou incursions did facilitate the country’s understanding about Japan to some extent, as new books began to emerge. Overall, the period after Zheng He’s voyages was a retarded period of geographical intelligence and cartographical development for China.
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Zhou, Y. (2017). The Retrogression in Overseas Geographical Knowledge During the Mid-Ming Period. In: Sim, Y. (eds) The Maritime Defence of China. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-4163-1_9
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