Qing Maritime Bans

The Haijin sea-ban policies under which late-imperial China restricted or prohibited private overseas trade and coastal residence. The early Qing tightened them sharply with the Great Clearance (Qianjie Ling) of 1661, forcing the southern coastal population inland to starve out Ming loyalists under Koxinga on Taiwan. After Taiwan’s conquest in 1683 the Kangxi Emperor reopened maritime trade in 1684, but from 1757 the Qianlong Emperor confined all Western sea trade to Canton (the Canton System).