In the mid-19th century, under the background of the expansion of western marine civilization to the east, China had to submit to its powerful maritime military force. Faced with the invasion of Western forces, Wei Yuan, as a representative of the school of Confucianism, compiled the book Haiguo Tuzhi in the face of the current situation, and extended his vision to the world beyond the sea. Wei Yuan realized that after the Opium War, the ocean could not be used as a natural barrier for external defense as in the past. Faced with the western marine aggression, especially its colonial activities in Southeast Asia, Wei Yuan deeply realized that China would surely fall into a more terrible situation than the Opium War if it did not “master the skills of the barbarians” and pursue the development of the sea. Therefore, he further put forward the idea of building coastal defense, developing maritime military strength and even building the Chinese navy. At the same time, Wei Yuan advocated and actively participated in it in his early years. In the reform of maritime transport, it is suggested that commercial transport should replace official transport in water transport to develop maritime merchants, whose understanding of the ocean is far beyond that of other people of the same era. From defense to development, from safeguarding maritime rights to ocean construction, Wei Yuan formed his own ocean consciousness, which was inherited and developed by the later “Advocates of the westernization movement”.

대만학계의 중국해양사 연구는 모든 시대와 분야에 대해 고루 연구되었다기보다 연구인력 의 한계로 말미암아 명청시기와 같은 특정시대와 분야에 집중되었다. 특히 해양사연구의 대 세가 중국해양사에서 대만해양사로 바뀌면서 더욱 그러하다. 이 글에서는 주로 대만학계의 명청시기와 근대시기의 중국해양사 연구현황을 주요 저서와 『중국해양발전사논문집』에 실린 논문들을 중심으로 소개하고자 한다. 본문 2장에서는 해양사연구의 출발을 알린 중앙연구원 의 『중국해양발전사논문집』을 소개하고, 3장과 4장에서는 명청시기와 근대시기의 중국해양사 연구성과를 해양관련 키워드를 중심으로 정리할 것이다. 나오는 말에서는 대만학계의 해양사 연구에 대한 한 두 가지 특징을 언급할 것이다