Alt.history - What trade could Europe and China have in the middle ages?

[SolemnGolem]

My current campaign, set in early Gothic European-style fantasy, is dealing with the repercussions of a Chinese-style "treasure fleet" (called the Hua) that landed about 50 years ago.

The treasure fleet made contact with the local Prince (Fürst) and traded some goods. They executed some sort of long-ranging contract, and then departed peaceably. Fifty years later, the Treasure Fleet's second generation of Hua has returned to check up on the Fürstentum's progress.

My meta-question is: what sort of development or result or trade goods are they likely to want from the Fürstenum?

(Whatever it is, they're not likely to get it. Their gifts of gunpowder, moveable print type, silk, and printed money caused a popular insurrection led by collegiate types and the clergy, and mostly supported by the peasantry. Although the rebellion succeeded in toppling the Fürst, the local barons were able to subdue the uprising and now rule over an insular society where gunpowder especially is tightly controlled.)

The PCs have dealt with the revelation of this secret history and its repercussions (rival barons trying out the forbidden "foreign technology" etc.). But they've also wondered what the Hua get out of the deal, which I haven't really thought about yet.

Any ideas?

[TheRedArmy]

Gold and Silver are always an option, if its more plentiful in Europe than China.

You mentioned fantasy. Do the Europeans have access to some kind of magic that the Hua lack? Perhaps some books made with the new movable print type. Would.explain the absence - we'll give you fifty years to write up your magical knowledge in 500 or so books for our eunuchs, nobility, emperor and his advisors, and we'll give you these gifts in exchange.

Trade goods. Do the Europeans have access to some good(s) that would be an equal trade?

What is the Hua's situation? Are they at war? Perhaps they came looking for technology or allies. These Hua have gunpowder? Do they have steel? Steel weapons might prove a massive advantage. European armor was superior to Chinese armor - is the same true here? Plate will protect you from most weapons.

[Turhan's Bey Company]

Well, what China imported (indirectly) from Europe during the actual Middle Ages included:

• Wool and woolen textiles.
• Glass. Up until the 6th century, blown glass was a strictly European/Near Eastern thing.
• Purple silk. Murex dye, apparently, went really well with animal-based fibers. The Chinese didn't have it; the Mediterranean did.
• Anything with an interesting design. For a variety of reasons, which boil down to fashion and avoiding sumptuary laws, the Chinese imported things like Western brocades.

If the ships are big enough, cavalry horses might go over well. China was an enthusiastic importer of horses, and the bigger the better.

[Flyndaran]

Sailing directly from Europe to China would take an incredibly long time around the tip of Africa, wouldn't it?
That precludes all otherwise profitable bulk items.

[jason taylor]

Any of the same stuff they had in real life. The only difference would be lack of several middlemen.

Walrus tusks, furs, and such and such.

Slaves

[Koshka]

Ambergris might be an option -- there are sperm whales in the Pacific, but at least in the modern day there's more in the Atlantic.

[Flyndaran]

Originally Posted by jason taylor

...

Slaves

Slaves are just people, and there would be loads more much closer to China.

[Flyndaran]

Originally Posted by Agemegos

It was a major trade route from its discovery in the fifteenth century until the Suez Canal opened.

Were items really bought at one end and sailed all the way to the other? I assumed stuff was bought and sold along the way making each end just one stop on a long route.

[Turhan's Bey Company]

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

Were items really bought at one end and sailed all the way to the other?

From 150somethingorother (IIRC, 1509 is when the Portuguese got all the way around Africa to Aden) onward, most emphatically yes. The Age of Exploration was basically a giant exercise of European powers finding direct sea routes to points east, bypassing the slow and expensive trade relays of earlier centuries.

[Flyndaran]

Originally Posted by Turhan's Bey Company

From 150somethingorother (IIRC, 1509 is when the Portuguese got all the way around Africa to Aden) onward, most emphatically yes. The Age of Exploration was basically a giant exercise of European powers finding direct sea routes to points east, bypassing the slow and expensive trade relays of earlier centuries.

I would think that sailing all the way around the large continent of Africa would still be quite slow and expensive jacking up prices and eating profits.