Start with the question
Where did a ship leaving Quanzhou enter the wider maritime world?
Roderich Ptak reconstructs two broad route systems available to ships sailing from Fujian. One followed the coast toward Hainan and Champa before branching toward mainland and western island Southeast Asia. Another ran through waters around Taiwan, Luzon, Palawan and the Sulu Zone toward Borneo and the eastern Indonesian archipelago.
The article changes the mental map of Quanzhou. The port was not connected to a single ribbon called the Maritime Silk Road. It sat within a shifting web of passages, stopovers, markets and sailing knowledge, with different routes serving different destinations and commodities.
