Compass on the Ocean

This book is a theoretical study of China's maritime development and maritime humanities and social sciences, as well as a study of China's maritime historiography. China is a large country with both land and sea, rich in biodiversity, and the ocean is an important environment for the Chinese nation to survive and thrive. In history, the Chinese nation has developed its own maritime economy, maritime society and maritime humanistic model. As a natural body, the ocean treats all littoral nations equally, and it is neither open nor closed to any one of them. Due to the different maritime environments, the ways the coastal nations adapt vary accordingly; hence the maritime culture is characterized by plurality and diversity. The contacts and exchanges between maritime civilizations in history are riddled with misunderstandings, exclusions, conflicts, and confrontations. Therefore, it is necessary to develop dialogues among varied maritime civilizations of varied countries, which, as a result, will develop together through mutual tolerance, seek common ground while shelving differences, and extract the idea of maritime civilization for all mankind through mutual learning and complementing each other.