After the opening of the Maritime Silk Road, it was only a supplementary form of the overland Silk Road before the Sui and Tang Dynasties, namely the 6th to 7th centuries AD. However, in the Sui and Tang Dynasties, due to the continuous wars in the Western Regions, the land Silk Road was blocked by wars, and the maritime Silk Road flourished instead.
In the Tang Dynasty, along with the development of shipbuilding and navigation technology, China opened and extended shipping routes to Southeast Asia, the Strait of Malacca, the Indian Ocean, the Red Sea and the African continent. The Maritime Silk Road eventually replaced the land Silk Road and became the main channel for China's foreign exchanges.
In the Song Dynasty, shipbuilding technology and navigation technology improved significantly, and the compass was widely used in sea navigation, which greatly strengthened the long-range navigation ability of Chinese merchant ships. The Song Dynasty maintained friendly relations with the southeast coastal countries for most of the time, and Guangzhou became the largest port of overseas trade.
The Yuan Dynasty adopted mercantilist policies in the economy and encouraged overseas trade. The countries and regions trading with China expanded to Asia, Africa, Europe and the United States, and formulated the first systematic and strong foreign trade management law in Chinese history. The Maritime Silk Road has also entered its heyday.
The maritime Silk Road route of Ming Dynasty has expanded to the whole world and entered the peak period. Zheng He's seven voyages to the West were a large-scale navigation activity organized by the Ming government, which had reached 39 countries and regions in Asia and Africa. It was a forerunner for Da Gama to open up local routes from Europe to India and for Magellan's circumnavigation. The eastbound "Guangzhou-Latin America Route" (1575) set sail from Guangzhou, went to the port of Manilla in the Philippines via Macau, crossed the strait into the Pacific Ocean, and went east to the west coast of Mexico.
