受《明史‧外國傳‧滿剌加》的影響，許多學者認為，明正德六年（ 1511），葡萄牙人佔領麻六甲後，切斷了明王朝與印度洋傳統的海上貿易航線。殊不知，大航海時代開啟後，中國與波斯的貿易往來從未中斷。相反，中國和穆斯林海商不斷衝破葡萄牙、荷蘭殖民者對東方貿易的壟斷，從泉州浯嶼遠航印度洋。牛津大學博多利圖書館藏明抄本《順風相送》和《大明東洋西洋海道圖》（Selden Map of China）表明，直到明代末年，這條航線仍暢通無阻；李詡《戒庵老人漫筆》所載蘇州穆斯林馬懷德的牽星板，就是萬曆年間遠航印度洋的導航儀。與此同時，葡萄牙人在開闢中國航線的過程中，大量起用中國和穆斯林海商，使得中國與波斯的海上貿易重新繁榮。 16－17世紀，景德鎮的外銷瓷和龍泉窯瓷器，就是在這樣一個歷史背景下不斷輸入波斯和中東各地的。

Influence by Chinese sources of the Ming dynasty, many academics are in a position that the traditional maritime connections between China and the Indian Ocean were cut off as a result of the Portuguese occupation of Malacca in 1511. It is necessary to note, however, that such connections were never cut off since the Age of Sail had begun. On the contrary, Chinese and Muslim maritime merchants endlessly broke the Portuguese and Dutch monopoly of trade in the East by sailing from Wuyu in Quanzhou. The Selden Map of China and Shunfeng Xiangsong (Sailing Instruction of Indian Ocean), both of which were kept in Bodleian Library in Oxford University, showed clearly that the connections remained until the end of the Ming dynasty. The star-guiding board illustrated in Li Yu’s Jiean Laoren Manbi (Notes of an Old Man in Jiean) was in fact a navigation device used in the Wanli reign for sailing to the Indian Ocean. In the meantine, Chinese and Muslim maritime merchants were employed by the Portuguese in their exploration to the navigation route to China, which rejuvenate the prosperirty of maritime trade between China and Persia. It was under this historical background that the Jingdezhen trade porcelains and Longquan celadon were exported in large batches to Persia and the Middle East between 16th and 17th centuries.