SOAS, University of London (The School of Oriental and African Studies)

The Dragon Navy: Maritime Militarization in the Great Qing

Abstract: By the middle of the eighteenth century, the Great Qing was at its apotheosis of aggressive expansion and ranked among the most powerful polities in the world. Refuting the conventional argument that the Qing was an absolute land-power, I seek to demonstrate in this presentation that the immediate sea space of the Manchu empire was considered as an object of political domestication which entailed control, surveillance, and capitalization. To substantiate my argument, I will first detail the historical background and overall structure of the naval militarization in the High Qing epoch (c.a. 1683-1800), so as to argue that such naval strategy, which included the building of naval bases, warships, and fortresses, aimed at securing major sea lanes and port cities within its domestic seawaters (“neihai”). Furthermore, I will make use of a “four-folded maritime model” to examine how these naval tactics were applied to four different, yet inter-connected, strategic sea zones. This article will reach the conclusion that maritime militarization carried out by the High Qing government was not simply a contingent response to unexpected circumstances, but a deliberated, precautionary strategy that effectively offered solutions to a proper coastal rule.