何以全球化:明代中国与世界

How Globalization Took Shape:Ming China and the World

以明代中国为主体,从全球视野重新审视梳理明代以来全球化的历史起源及其真实进程十分必要。15世纪初,以郑和七下西洋为代表的中国大航海奠定了人类交往从陆地到海洋发展的基础,成为人类文明发展史的一大转折。以郑和为代表的中国大航海促使处于印度洋与太平洋咽喉之地的满刺加王国兴起,这是人类交往重心从陆地向海洋转移的重要标志,这一转移是实现全球化的前提和路径。全球化不是西方大航海带来的,明代中国的白银需求带动亚洲、欧洲、美洲进入全球贸易体系,在全球化起源中扮演了重要角色,作出了重大历史性贡献。

Taking Ming China as the main actor requires that we re-examine the historical origin of globalization and its actual progress from the Ming onward from a global perspective.In the early 15th century,China's great voyages,represented by Zheng He's seven voyages to the Western Oceans,laid the foundation for the development of a transition from land-based to maritime exchanges,marking a significant turning point in the development of human civilization.It led to the rise of the Kingdom of Malacca at the jugular of the Indian and Pacific Oceans,a rise that was an important symbol of the shift of the center of human exchanges from land to sea;this was the prerequisite and path to the realization of globalization.Globalization was not brought about by the great voyages of the West,but by the demand for silver in China during the Ming dynasty;this drove Asia,Europe and the Americas into the global trading system,playing an important role in the genesis of globalization and making a significant historical contribution.