Editing Haijin (section)

===Rationale===
Although the policy has generally been ascribed to national defense against the pirates,{{sfnp|Von Glahn|1996|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=DNlv4f9tV_AC&pg=PA90 90]}} it was so obviously counterproductive and yet carried on for so long that other explanations have been offered. The initial conception seems to have been to use the Japanese need for Chinese goods to force them to terms.<ref name=litt/> The Hongwu emperor seemed to indicate that the policy was designed to prevent foreign nations from collaborating with his subjects to challenge his rule; for instance, Srivijaya was banned from trading as the emperor suspected them of spying.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Mote |first1=Frederick W. |last2=Twitchett |first2=Denis |title=The Cambridge History of China Vol. 7: The Ming Dynasty 1368-1644 |url=https://archive.org/details/cambridgehistory07mote |url-access=limited |date=1988 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-24332-2 |pages=169}}</ref> The usage of trade was also a powerful tool to entice foreign governments to abide by the tributary system and pressure uncooperative leaders.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Mote |first1=Frederick W. |last2=Twitchett |first2=Denis |title=The Cambridge History of China Vol. 7: The Ming Dynasty 1368-1644 |url=https://archive.org/details/cambridgehistory07mote |url-access=limited |date=1988 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-24332-2 |pages=396}}</ref> Parallels with Song and Yuan measures restricting outflows of [[bullion]] have led some to argue that it was intended to support the Hongwu Emperor's [[Ming currency|printing of fiat currency]],{{sfnp|Von Glahn|1996|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=DNlv4f9tV_AC&pg=PA90 90]}} whose use was continued by his successors as late as 1450. (By 1425, rampant [[counterfeit]]ing and [[hyperinflation]] meant people were already trading at about 0.014% of their original value.){{sfnp|Fairbank & al.|2006|p=134}} Others assert that it was a side effect of a desire to elevate [[Confucianism|Confucian]] [[ren (Confucianism)|humaneness]] ({{lang|zh|{{linktext|仁}}}}, ''ren'') and eliminate greed from the realm's foreign relations{{sfnp|Li|2010|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=srGEMarSWLYC&pg=PA24 24–5]}} or a ploy to weaken the realm's southern subjects to the benefit of the central government.<ref name="Embree">{{citation |last1=Embree |first1=Ainslie Thomas |author1-link=Ainslie Embree |last2=Gluck |first2=Carol |author-link2=Carol Gluck |display-authors=1 |ref={{harvid|Embree & al.|1997}} |title=Asia in Western and World History: A Guide for Teaching |year=1997 |publisher=M.E. Sharpe |location=[[Armonk, New York|Armonk]] |isbn=978-1-56324-264-9 |oclc=32349203 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/asiainwesternwor00ains }}.</ref> Nonetheless, it may have been the case that the Hongwu Emperor prioritized protecting his state against the [[Northern Yuan dynasty|Northern Yuan]] remnants, leaving the policy and its local enforcers as the most he could accomplish<ref>{{harvp|Li|2010|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=srGEMarSWLYC&pg=PA12 12]}}.</ref> and his mention of them in his ''[[Ancestral Injunctions]]''<ref name=lifo/> as responsible for their continuation.