Socialist Workhorse to Capitalist Powerhouse: Developing a Modern Chinese Commercial Fleet in the Pre-Reform Era

Abstract

As China approaches dominance in commercial shipping, the task of understanding its rise from irrelevance as a seafaring nation in 1949 to its current position has increasing importance. This article remedies the absence of scholarship on this subject by describing the foundation and development of China’s commercial fleet through political turmoil before 1971. Working with data from Chinese annals 志, chronicles 史, and international primary sources, the article explores the development of China’s merchant fleet. Fleet development followed two contrasting modes: the domestic fleet, founded on a backward junk fleet and a limited fleet of liners inherited in 1949 and shaped by internal pressures, and an international fleet, which developed modern capacity and became integrated with the global market. The article traces the growth of China’s fleet through a period of political turmoil from 1966 to 1971 when, paradoxically, fleet-building demonstrated impressive stability. This suggests high-level political patronage despite violent and contrary changes in political circumstances.