Portuguese in China

The first Portuguese visitor to China arrived in the Bay of Canton in 1516 and reported that the Chinese desired friendship and peace.

In 1517, a Portuguese fleet arrived in Canton.

When it fired its guns in salute, the Chinese were frightened. The act was seen as an insult to China's emperor.

A Portuguese delegation was allowed to travel to Peking (now Beijing) in 1520. Its members were treated badly. They were refused an audience by the emperor, their presents were rejected and a letter from the king of Portugal was burned.

In 1522, European seafarers were forbidden to enter China's coastal waters. The punishment for disobeying this rule was death.

Trade with China was restricted to smuggling and occasional visits to Peking or to provincial capitals.

The trade ban was relaxed in 1554, and the Portuguese were allowed to settle on the peninsula of Macau (also known as Macao) in 1557.

Within thirty years, Macau had grown from a small fishing village to a large town with 20,000 inhabitants, where 500 Portuguese households lived in luxury.

Macau monopolized trade between China and Japan. The merchants of Macau brought silver from Persia (Iran), spices from India and lenses from Europe to China. They also brought Chinese carvings, silks and porcelain to India and Europe.

The Portuguese who came to China in the 16th century did not have much of an impact on the lives of the people who lived there.

Their numbers were insignificant. The population of China itself was about 100 million - as large as the population of all of Europe.