Overseas Trade and its Impact on a New Ruling Class in China at the Turn of the First Millenium CE

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China's Song dynasty (960–1279) began as a military government ruling a population devastated by decades of civil war following one of the most tumultuous periods of Chinese history. Yet, the Song dynasty was merely only the latest in a series of short-lived dynasties that attempted to rule China. Its leaders understood that their predecessors failed because they succumbed to the instability of military rule, and thus a balance was sought in which a greatly expanded civil bureaucracy could offset the monopoly of power held by military men. The result was that the most visible and integral segment of China's new ruling class came to consist of scores of literati, many of whom attained prestigious positions in government by achieving success in the highly competitive civil service examinations. Over the following centuries, these scholar-officials came predominantly from coastal ports and prefectures in southern China, though their backgrounds and the reasons for success remain a subject of ongoing inquiry. This presentation will discuss how wealth from overseas trade provided a distinct advantage in establishing the careers of many such literati, and in the factional politics that emerged after the dynasty achieved stable rule over China. It will likewise seek to explore the nature of social mobility at a time when both merit and status could greatly affect the fate of one's career, kin, and community.

Gregory Sattler is a scholar of maritime Asia with a research focus on migration, networks, trade, and interethnic cooperation. His work utilizes methodologies from the study of history, archaeology, religion, art history, and literature. He received his Ph.D. in History from UCLA, his MA in Japanese Studies from Kyushu University, and his BA in History from National Taiwan University. Gregory has received fellowships that include the National Library of Singapore's Lee Kong Chian Research Fellowship, the Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation's Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship, and the Rotary Foundation's Rotary Yoneyama Memorial Scholarship. His language proficiencies are Chinese, Japanese, Indonesian, and Malay, and he also has a distinct interest in Chinese dialects and regional languages. Gregory's current book project is an early history of Chinese travelers, networks, and communities across maritime Asia based on the examination of textual sources written in Classical Chinese, Arabic, Kanbun, Old Javanese, and Old Malay, and on an extensive archaeological record of port sites and shipwrecks.

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