Almost all the great discoveries of history have been made by accident. This holds true in astronomy, physics, archeology, and many other fields. It also holds true with regard to the discovery of the new world by Columbus.

Dr. Olle Rodriguez discovered his first lead in the course of routine academic activities at the Universitat de Pompeu Fabra, where he was doing research on the impressions of 16th-century Spaniards and Portuguese regarding China. In Asia in the Making of Europe, by Donald Lack, he happened to notice a short passage stating that in the late 16th century the Spanish Jesuit Alonso Sanchez had once advocated a Spanish invasion of China. After looking into the matter, Dr. Olle Rodriguez discovered that this was not just one man's idle daydream. Others also advocated similar ideas at that time. Such plans were already in the works from the very beginning of Spain's colonization of the Philippines. This discovery piqued the historian's curiosity, and he began digging deeper.

When the Spaniards (mainly operating out of Mexico) began their invasion of the Philippines in 1565, they intended to use the Philippine archipelago as a base for incursions against other East Asian nations. They were particularly covetous of China.

A history of China is published

The Spaniards had gained a smattering of knowledge about China from the Portuguese, and they later discovered first-hand that China was a huge, prosperous, and well-organized society with a very highly refined culture. Portugal had already been active in the Far East for over 60 years and collected a large body of information on China by the time Spain colonized the Philippines. This information had originally been closely guarded, but it slowly made its way into the public domain.

In 1585, Juan Gonzalez de Mendoza wrote a history of China (Historia del Gran Reino de la China) based on oral accounts from Spanish and Portuguese travelers who had been to China (though they had only actually been to the provinces of Guangdong and Fujian). The book made a huge impact at the time and was translated into many different languages. Within 15 years it had been reprinted 40 times. Along with the Travels of Marco Polo and the diaries of Matteo Ricci, it was one of the most widely read books on China ever to be published in pre-modern Europe. The impression of China held by Spaniards at that time was based largely on the work of Gonzalez de Mendoza.

Spain was interested in China for a number of reasons. First, the latter was seen as the single nation outside Europe with the most advanced economy and culture. All of Europe was fascinated with China, and a major European power like Spain was certainly not going to be the odd man out. Second, Spain was anxious to bring a highly civilized nation like China into the fold of Christianity. There was also a fortune to be made in the China trade, for China's silks and ceramics were very popular among people of all walks of life in Spain.

Hawks versus doves

Political opinion concerning a Chinese military adventure was split, however, and this prevented the plan from being acted upon. Many devout missionaries and monks were not in favor of conquering China. Their main objective was to spread Christianity and make China into a Christian nation. In addition, business people were generally interested only in doing business with China. These people typically felt that the most appropriate objective was simply to secure a trading port in Fujian, similar to what the Portuguese had done in Macao. In other words, late 16th-century Spain had its "hawks" and "doves" who disagreed about how to approach China. Spain had sent a number of diplomatic missions to China without achieving its objectives, however, and these frustrations created a climate favorable to an invasion of China.

War-minded types in the Philippines drew up a detailed invasion plan which called for an alliance with Japan (mainly Japanese pirates) and Portugal. The first step was to capture a province or two, such as Guangdong and Fujian, and then to use these provinces as bases for further incursions into the interior. The Spaniards chose to ally with Japanese pirates because the latter had long plundered the Chinese seacoast and would be favorably disposed to an expedition against China. The Portuguese, for their part, had long been sending Jesuit missionaries to Japan, and Portuguese traders had years of experience there. As such, they were very familiar with the situation in East Asia, and were in a good position to provide accurate information.

Nipped in the bud

Endowed with the world's most powerful naval fleet, Spain planned to attack China with a force of 15,000 men (mostly Japanese and Philippine troops, plus a minority of Spaniards and Portuguese) and capture China's coastal provinces. The idea may sound absurd to a modern reader, but armed as they were with the most advanced weapons and ships of the day, the Spanish felt the plan was quite feasible. Indeed, they had succeeded in conquering the Philippines and vast stretches of the Americas with small numbers, hadn't they? Luckily for China, fate had plans of its own. Spain's "Invincible Armada" was decisively crushed in a disastrous attempt to invade England in 1588. Its naval power badly diminished, Spain no longer had the punch necessary to conquer foreign lands. If they had pushed forward with the invasion plan in spite of their losses, what would have happened during the last 400 years between Spain and China?

Publication of the findings of Dr. Olle Rodriguez immediately sparked a great deal of controversy in the academic community. The University of Barcelona responded by inviting a panel of five noted specialists in the field to review his work. The panel included Professor R. Ptak of Munich University, an expert on the Ming dynasty, especially the history of Chinese maritime communications in the 16th and 17th centuries. The panel reviewed the sources and supported Dr. Olle Rodriguez' conclusions unanimously. This greatly bolstered the young professor's credibility, and publishing houses in both Spain and Germany announced their intention to publish his findings.

The result was a 700-page tome entitled Estrategias Filipinas respecto a China (Philippine strategy toward China). What exactly is in the book? What difficulties did the author encounter during the five years he spent writing it? Who supported him? Who maintained a close interest in his work? Sinorama interviewed Dr. Olle Rodriguez to find out.

Question: How is your book organized? How long did it take to write?

Answer: Supported by funding from the Universitat de Pompeu Fabra, I spent a total of five years on the book. One of those years I spent at Nanjing University, where I received lots of support from the professors in the history department. They helped me gain a much clearer understanding of Ming-dynasty thought, political systems, and foreign relations.

The book is divided into three main sections. The first section is an introduction, in which I describe China's relations with its maritime neighbors in the 16th century. The Asia of that time was complex, constantly changing, and vibrant. It was bristling with economic opportunity. In terms of both traditions and geography, there was an extremely close and subtle interaction between Fujian, Guangdong, Macao, Japan, and the Philippines. In my book I also needed to provide a clear treatment of the Jesuits, who were actively engaged in missionary activities in China at that time. The second section of the book goes into more detail about the relationship between China and the Philippines, and it describes their historical ties. Most importantly, of course, it discusses Spain's plans to conquer China in the 16th century. The means of conquest were to include military force, missionary activities, and trade. In the third section I provide some historical documents with my own annotations. It is very interesting to see what Spaniards thought about China at that time. The documents mention Taiwan, too. In the summer of 1582 a warship anchored off the coast of Taiwan, and a Spanish missionary on board wrote about how amazed he was at the island's beautiful scenery. He also described things he saw in Taiwan, including aboriginal inhabitants and hunters.

Q: Where did you get your sources? How reliable are they?

A: Most of my sources are from the General Archive of the Indies (Archivo de Indias) in Seville and various historical repositories in Madrid. I also relied on historical studies written by some very learned Christians in the 19th century. The validity of the documents is widely acknowledged, so there is no doubt about their reliability. I discovered during the course of my research, however, that the authors of these documents were rather subjective, and they limited themselves to discussing their religious mission and the history of religion. I saw a need to interpret their writings from a new angle, so I began to work on a new and comprehensive analysis of the history of contacts between China, Spain, Portugal, and Japan. My hope was to produce a comprehensive and objective treatment of this subject.

Q: What is your personal feeling about this little-known episode in history?

A: I feel that Spain and the other imperialist nations of Europe cannot escape criticism. The ecclesiastical and political figures who supported imperialism often used the spread of religion, language, and culture as a fig leaf to cover their real designs--conquest and colonization. Spain's plan to invade China, for example, reflects an inadequate understanding of the situation in China. In every way--politics, the economy, science, and culture--China in the 16th century was on a par with Europe. In fact, it even surpassed Europe.

Q: If the Spaniards had gone ahead with the invasion, what are the chances that they would have succeeded? Would China have become another of Spain's overseas colonies?

A: Given the situation at the time, I think it very unlikely that Spain could have been successful. The idea was to ally with Japan and Portugal against China, but this scheme was fundamentally flawed. Japan was amassing its forces in 1591 for an invasion of Korea, so it was not interested in the Spanish plan. Portugal, in the meantime, was unwilling to give up the advantageous position it had already achieved in Macao. In a word, the necessary conditions for an invasion simply did not exist. Spain's interests did not coincide with those of its prospective allies. This was a significant stumbling block.

Q: Do Spanish sinologists focus at all on Taiwan? Do you treat China and Taiwan as one, or do you deal with them separately?

A: In Spain, "China studies" isn't such a hot field. We have no tradition of sinology in Spain, although several universities have added Chinese language courses this year. The University of Barcelona, where I work, is the only university in Spain that currently offers more than language courses. We have an entire department for the study of Chinese history and culture.

In recent years, it has actually been the business-related departments that have taken a serious interest in Asia, and China is always a key focus. Those who show the most interest are people who do business in Taiwan or invest there, because they are the ones who need to understand your history, culture, economy, and political situation.

My personal focus is purely academic. I have put out a few academic publications that trace the roots of China and Taiwan. Right now I'm gathering materials to study what Spain was doing in Taiwan in the 17th century.

Here in Spain, interest in China is largely limited to people with practical concerns. As for the question of whether Spanish sinologists study China and Taiwan separately, as far as the 16th and 17th centuries are concerned, the two naturally have to be viewed separately. Only from this perspective can the scholar look for areas where the two places may have been connected in some way.

p.109

Advances in maritime navigation by Europe changed the course of human history, determining the rise and fall of the world's great political and economic powers for the past five centuries. The ancient and highly cultured Chinese empire was shaken to the core. Shown here are nautical instruments and navigation charts used at that time. (courtesy of Shegaon Corporation)

p.111

In drawing up plans for military conquest of China, Spain relied on a very spotty knowledge of the object of its ambitions. All of Europe was similarly lacking in any understanding of China, as reflected in this work by the 16th-century Flemish painter Cornelis De Jode, who seemed to think a round shape was a good motif for all things Chinese. Note the objects in each corner, which were supposedly representative of China. (courtesy of Shegaon Corporation)

p.112

Dr. Manel Olle Rodriguez, who made the surprising discovery that Spain had once intended to invade China with the help of Japan and Portugal, is a rising star among sinologists in Europe.

p.113

Shown here is an imperial decree ordering the authorities in Guangdong to expel a Spaniard who had slipped into China illegally. This document dates back to the reign of the emperor Wanli (1573-1619). The man was sent back to the Philippines, which was then a Spanish colony. The Jesuit viceroy of Manila, Alonso Sanchez, was the strongest proponent of military action against China.

In drawing up plans for military conquest of China, Spain relied on a very spotty knowledge of the object of its ambitions. All of Europe was similarly lacking in any understanding of China, as reflected in this work by the 16th-century Flemish painter Cornelis De Jode, who seemed to think a round shape was a good motif for all things Chinese. Note the objects in each corner, which were supposedly representative of China. （courtesy of Shegaon Corporation）

Dr. Manel Olle Rodriguez, who made the surprising discovery that Spain had once intended to invade China with the help of Japan and Portugal, is a rising star among sinologists in Europe.

Shown here is an imperial decree ordering the authorities in Guangdong to expel a Spaniard who had slipped into China illegally. This document dates back to the reign of the emperor Wanli （1573-1619）. The man was sent back to the Philippines, which was t hen a Spanish colony. The Jesuit viceroy of Manila, Alonso Sanchez, was the strongest proponent of military action against China.