东方外交与古代西太平洋贸易网的兴衰

The Prosperity and Declining of the Oriental Diplomacy and the West Pacific Ocean Trade Network in Ancient Times

在近代以前,西太平洋地区存在面积广阔的商业贸易网络,其范围北起日本经朝鲜半岛、中国到东南亚。这一地区是人类文明的重要区域,与印度洋贸易网、地中海贸易网遥相辉映,在整个东方历史中占有重要位置,为世界文明发展与东西方物质文化交流作出了贡献。西方人的到来改变了东方传统的贸易格局,也置东方各国于弱者与失败者的地位。西太平洋贸易网是一个区域特色鲜明、多样性统一的经济圈,内部有着持久的联系与发展的动力;对横亘东方历史若干世纪的贸易网予以新的概括与总结,是开展东方外交史研究的重要方面,也是理解西太平洋地区历史的关键。

Before modern times,there existed a widely-ranged commercial and trade network which stretched from Japan in the north through the Korean Peninsular and China to southeast Asia.This area,which was one of the main areas that developed human civilization,played a significant role in the oriental history,and had contributed a lot to the development of world civilization as well as cultural exchanges and trade between the east and the west.The advent of the westerners had changed the traditional oriental trade pattern,leaving the natives weak and fragile to fail.The West Pacific Ocean Trade Network was an economic circle with diversity,distinctive regional features,constant inner connection and vitality.The new recapitulation about this trade network,which had functioned during several centuries' history of East Asia,is one of main tasks in researching the history of the oriental diplomacy,as well as a key point to understand the history of the west Pacific Ocean region.