Chau Ju-Kua - University of Oregon Libraries

22 IXTKODUCTIOX.
been reduced to 10%, it was 507o i^i 1175, the duty being paid in merchan-
dise. Some idea of the magnitude of this trade may be got from the fact that
in 1175, and probably during a number of years preceding that date, the
import duties amounted to 500,000 odd units of count (catties, strings, pie-
ces, etc. according to the various articles). 5
The tariff would seem to have been lowered, in the Yiian dynasty, for
Marco Polo (II, 217) says of the customs of Zayton (Ts'uan-chou) in his
time: «The great Kaan derives a very large revenue from the duties paid in
his city and haven; for you must know that on all the merchandise imported,
including precious stones and pearls, he levies a duty of ten per cent; or in lo
other words takes tithe of everything; then again the ship's charge for freight
on small wares is 30%, on pepper 44°/o, and on lign-aloes, sandal-wood, and
other bulky goods, 40%; so that between freight and the Kaan's duties the
merchant has to pay a good half the value of his investment though on the
other half he makes such a profit that he is always glad to come back with i5
a new supply of merchandise)). It may be, however, that the figures given on
previous pages included freight which, we know, (at all events in the early
part of the ninth century) was collected by the Inspector of Maritime Gus-
toms at the same time as the import duty. If this assumption is correct the
Yiian tariff was practically the same as the earlier ones. 20
In the twelfth century Chinese contemporary writers agree in stating-
that the foreign trade was confined to Canton and Ts'uan-chou', if not by law
at least by custom.
Chou K'u-fei, writing in 1178, makes this point perfectly clear ''.His
statement contains so much other interesting matter on the southern sea trade 25
of China and shows so conclusively that this trade in his time was in the
hands of the Arabs and other foreigners, that it is given here in full:
«The coast departments and the prefectures of the empire now stretch
from the north-east to the south-west as far as K'in-ch6u3 (^ j^), and
1) The Khanfu and Sliinju of mediaeval Arab writers. Additional proof of the identity of 30
Khanfu with Canton is supplied by Edrisi (I, 84. 90 Jaubert's transl.); he says that Lukin (Hanoi,
the Chinese Kiau-chi) was four days sailing from Khancu (Khanfu), or 20 days by land. This'
city, he adds, was the end of the voyage for travellers from the West.
2) Ling-wai-tai-ta (^ ;^[. ^ ^) ^s_Ch6u K'&-ieL {M .±. ife) 3 m-u
Ch6u K'tt-fei was a native of W6n-ch6u (^_>fi|>|) in Ch"6-kiang, Sk i^n' he wrote 35
•his book he, held the position of Assistant Sub-Prefect in Kui-lin (j^ j^\ the capital of'
Kuang-si. It is highly probable that he collected his notes while in Canton, 'when on his way
to his official residence.
,
3) K'in-chou was the westernmost district of Kuang-tung on the Kiau-chi (Tongking) frontier.
It is part of the Lien-chou Fu of the present day. aq