Chinese Ceramics on the Maritime Silk Road : The Importance of Context

Abstract

Archaeologists are just beginning to exploit the potential of Chinese ceramics to reconstruct patterns of trade. This chapter summarizes data showing the fluctuation in the quantity of Chinese ceramics exported to the region over this period. It also explores the connection between Chinese ceramics and Southeast Asia’s sociocultural evolution during this period, including the influence of the China trade on Southeast Asian urbanization and relations between ports and their hinterlands. It has been suggested that ports in Southeast Asia dominated their hinterlands, but this chapter will argue that hinterland dwellers as well as inhabitants of offshore islands exerted a significant degree of political and economic autonomy until the colonial period.