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In recent decades, the rival claimants to the disputed atolls in the South China Sea have asserted their territorial claims in different ways. Most dramatically, they have deployed military force to the islands and reefs. Less dramatically, but just as significantly, states have also mobilized historic documents in support of their legal claims. All the claimants have done this, but the People's Republic of China (PRC) has been particularly entrepreneurial in this regard. Over the past few years, academics and officials have re-discovered a number of ostensibly ancient documents that appear to provide evidence of historic Chinese sovereignty over the region. These are the genglubu 更路簿 (route books) of fishermen from the island province of Hainan.1 These, PRC officials have asserted, provide evidence of the centuries-old presence of Chinese in the islands, reefs and shoals of the South China Sea.
The legal argument over whether territorial claims can be based upon ancient texts is a matter of contention between Chinese and Western legal experts.2 This is not the focus of this essay. Instead, it will explore the nature of these route books as folk navigation guides and also their application in the maritime politics of the PRC.3
Route Books in Official Proclamations
The route books came to particular prominence in July 2016, in the aftermath of a ruling by an International Arbitration Tribunal in favour of the Philippines. The day after the ruling was issued, the State Council of the PRC published a white paper on the South China Sea giving the route books a prominent position in its arguments. The main points emphasized in the white paper were that the route books showed “that the Chinese people lived and carried out production activities on, and how they named” the islands, reefs and shoals in the South China Sea. It also argued that the route books had a history of several hundred years dating back to the Ming period, and that since they were still “in use,” they constituted proof that Chinese fishermen had been familiar with the islands for a long time.4
The first route book ever used by the PRC authorities to support a territorial claim in the South China Sea was not identified as a genglubu but...