The Ship of “Sipuan”: Zheng Family’s Overseas Activities in Manila Customs Records in the 17th Century

As a Chinese maritime group that has dominated maritime trade for a long time, the Zheng family is not only an important force affecting China’s social process during the Ming and Qing Dynasties, but also its activities in the East Asian sea world which is closely related to the early world system formed between the East and the West based on maritime trade in the 17th century, has an impact on the geographical pattern of East Asia that cannot be ignored. Through the investigation of documents of Zheng family ships recorded by the Manila customs of Spain, it can be found that although the Zheng family entering the “Sipuan” (“世藩”) era gradually declined due to internal and external disputes after Zheng Chenggong’s death in 1662, the overseas activities of the Zheng family were not interrupted during this period, but still relied on the navigation system built by the East-West route. It maintains an unknown interactive relationship with Southeast Asian regional trade centers such as the Philippines and the Western countries.