Overview of Song foreign trade policy

Abstract

China's maritime foreign trade has a long history. During the Tang Dynasty, there was already a full-time official - the Sea Market Supervisor - in charge of overseas trade. Since the beginning of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, Nanhan, Wuyue and Min have joined the overseas trade in order to seize greater interests, such as Guangzhou, Quanzhou and other ports even more so. By the Song Dynasty, the scale of marine foreign trade was far greater than that of the previous dynasty, and it was incomparably prosperous. This paper first analyses the reasons for the change of commercial policy in the Song Dynasty, and then briefly analyses the reasons for its development through the Song Dynasty's foreign trade and foreign policy.