The present volume, composed of six contributions by different scholars, seeks to show the intensity of exchange relations and trading networks in the early modern to late imperial “East Asian ‘Mediterranean’”, arguing that these exchange relations and trading networks already had their roots and origins in the tenth to thirteenth centuries at the latest. In this context, the first two contributions discuss local society and socio-economic changes within local Chinese society during the Song to Ming periods – while the other four contributions concentrate on aspects of commercial exchange and administration during the Qing period. Two contributions in particular analyze the indirect and direct importance respectively of religion for social life and commercial activities as a basic precondition for success in non-religious affairs. One chapter investigates Sino-Ryukyuan trade relations during the Kangxi reign (1662-1722), another one Sino-Taiwanese trade relations in late imperial China, while one chapter is in particular dedicated to an analysis of the characteristics and developments within the maritime trade administration of the Manchu Qing (1644–1911) government, with emphasis on hitherto rather neglected aspects, for example institutional-administrative details, including questions such as if Manchus or Han Chinese were responsible for the administration of trade.