TRADING WITH CHINA

   Chinese texts and archeological data from Philippine sites suggest an intensive long-distance trade between Philippine chiefdoms and China. Karl Hutterer defines "long-distance trade" as "sustained and direct exchange links with geographically distant societies, whereby the distant origin of the exchange goods has implications not only on their valuation but also on the social and economic mobilization of return goods and socially restricted access to imports."
   The trade reached its peak in terms of volume during the 15th and 16th centuries. The Philippine chiefs were primarily interested in obtaining luxury goods like porcelains, silk, magnetite mirrors, and gold jewelry from the Chinese traders. These goods were usually recorded as bodily ornaments for the elite. They are usually found as accompaniments or grave furnishings at high-state burials. These luxury goods are usually presented as objects of wealth in the households of the elite. In short, these goods coming from China imply the existence of a native elite, an elite conscious enough of their status in society. The Chinese traders in return, get interior forest products like metal ores, forest hardwood and resins from the elite. This indicates a direct link to the internal lowland-upland trade since the forest products had to be obtained via internal networks of trade.

ARCHEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE OF TRADE WITH ASIAN NEIGHBORS

   The most noticeable archeological fact of late Philippine prehistory is the abundant presence of glazed Asiatic import pottery. This pottery begins to appear in the archeological record sometime around 1000 AD and is thereafter present continuously until the Spanish colonizers diverted the porcelain to Mexico and Europe by the early 17th century. Over this period of 600 years or so, the pattern of trade wares encountered in Philippine archeological sites changes drastically. Only a tiny handful of wares, mostly in Mindanao can be dated with a minimal degree of confidence to the late T'ang Dynasty (618-907). Even wares datable to the Early Sung period (960-1126) are quite rare. Pottery import increased rapidly, however, during the Late Sung (1127-1279) and Yuan (1280-1368) periods. There was also a significant increase in pottery import during the 15th and 16th centuries of the Ming Dynasty (1369-1640).

   It is not only the quantities of Asiatic import pottery that change. The earliest (T'ang and early Sung) wares found in the Philippines were of relatively high quality and highly diverse in both functional and stylistic terms. As the quantity of export pottery increased, both their quality and diversity decreased. During the Late Sung period, average quality of the glazed wares remained relatively high, but noticeable distinction developed between a diverse set of fine wares (including such items as incense burners, various jars and jarlets, small sculptures, small bowls and serving dishes, specialty items, etc.). During this time a much more uniform set of lower quality utilitarian wares (consisting primarily of small bowls and dishes, and a few forms of soft-bodied wares) emerged. During the 13th and 14th centuries, there appeared also very delicate wares, some of them perhaps even experimental in terms of the development of manufacturing techniques and decoration by South Chinese kilns. Among these items were fine white porcelains of the ying-ch'ing and shu-fu variety. There were also wares with underglaze decoration in the form of dark brown spots executed in iron pigments and delicate stylized painting in copper and blue. Majority of these wares consisted of very small and delicate items in the form of bowls and covered boxes, small flasks, perfume bottles, water droppers, brush holders, small saucers, tiny jarlets, and small figurines. By the 15th and 16th centuries, a radical change was noticeable. At this time, blue and white porcelain was well-established as a stylistic form and dominated the wares found in the Philippines. The imported pottery of that period was dominated by low-quality, mass-produced, chiefly blue-and-white items represented mainly by eating and serving bowls, some extremely large bowls and platters and jars in different sizes. Items of truly outstanding quality were truly rare.

   Another change was in the composition of ceramic assemblages in late prehistoric Philippine sites. In the 14th century, there appeared glazed ceramics manufactured in Vietnam and Thailand. Although coarser than fine Chinese wares during that period, they joined the latter in terms of their exotic forms, represented by small covered bowls, ewers, kendis and bottles, bowls, jarlets and small saucers. In some sites in the Visayas and in Mindanao, these kinds of porcelain make up 30 percent of the export pottery present.

   Virtually all of the materials in hand were found in prehistoric graves which contain several pieces of imported ceramics. Relatively few porcelain sherds are found in the habitation debris. The situation is exactly the opposite with regard to locally manufactured earthenware pottery: while whole earthen vessels are common in graves predating circa 1200 AD, they are rare in later burials; yet earthenware sherds remained common in habitation contexts. There also seem to be significant changes in the spatial distribution of export wares over the period of 600 years. It appears that the distribution of Chinese wares is quite uneven at first. The early wares can be found in scattered localities, that is, in just a few larger sites, while many other contemporaneous sites do not have any porcelain. By about the 14th century, however, export wares become much more widely distributed. The distinction of finer and coarser wares mentioned appears to have a correlation with the spatial distribution of these wares. Fine wares are more common in larger coastal sites while coarser wares predominate in smaller and non-coastal locations.

   

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