Abstract: "Tang Ship Merchants”were a group who flourished on the trade frontier of the East Asian Seas during the Early Modern period.  They occupied the lowest rung of Qing Dynasty’s trading system with Japan，however their position and status in the trading activities are rarely studied.  By examining the existing trade documents，this article intends to view the position of these merchants within the Qing Dynasty’s overseas trading system and reveal their circumstances under the official supervision from both Chinaand Japan in order to revise and re-evaluate the historical image of this community in an unbiased way.