The present collection of essays has originally been prepared for an international conference
entitled Maritime Space in Traditional Chinese Sources which has been convened by the editors
at Munich University in February 2005. The contributions included here introduce various
aspects related to East Asian seas - from the Japanese Sea to the South China Sea with the
Yellow and East China Seas constituting the core regions of the entire area - and some of its
adjacent areas. Although Braudelian categories are inherently present in the discussion and
directly addressed in one or two papers the focus lies on a set of more basic variables which
are intimately linked to the idea of contact zones or alternatively the parallel (and
apparently older) notion that the sea should be seen as a protective belt around the mainland.
This volume is consequently primarily concerned with the perception of maritime space in
traditional Chinese sources the division of this space into oceans and seas the existence
usage and management of trade routes and above all of China's coastal waters or maritime
periphery. For this purpose in addition to textual sources maps will be examined as well. As
the perception division and management of maritime space cannot be completely disassociated
from other themes - such as trade and travel diplomacy and military controls or even daily
life during a sea voyage - these aspects were also touched upon in the discussion. But they are
of secondary importance and subordinated to the general issue of geography. With this in mind
following an introductory essay by Angela Schottenhammer the contributions are divided into
three sections: (1) Maritime Space: Trade and Defence (2) Maritime Space: Coasts Routes
Oceans (3) Maritime Space and Maps. The articles by Chang Pin-tsun Jane Kate Leonard and Jung
Byung-chul fall into the first category. Those by Chen Bo Liu Yingsheng Sally K. Church
Christine Moll-Murata Li Tana and Mathieu Torck belong to the second group while the last
section is comprised by the papers of Li Xiaocong Claudine Salmon and Roderich Ptak.There are
many cross connections between these essays. Geographically some of them pertain to the
northern spheres especially the Liaodong-Korea region others look at the South China Sea or
even at areas far beyond these two. Some are case studies others deal with general dimensions.
The military element usually in the form of coastal defence is not only present in the first
section but also in the cartographic segment and in one or two contributions which appear in
part two. Furthermore readers will find that the idea of contact zones associated with a good
degree of open-mindedness towards the outer world is present in some texts just as they will
discover that in other cases the sea still appears as a kind of barrier.
