明代後期（1567-1644年），中國商人前往日本的走私也即“通番”甚於以往任何時候。較之前此的通番，雖然商品是相同的，但地域無具有逐漸北移的特點，成員構成也相應發生變化。對於通番案件的審理，地方官府對性質的認定有不同認識。通番之屢禁不止，總體而言是其時的整個江南沿海從官府到民間在對外貿易的各個環節上都存在著問題。最根本的則是山於走私日本利潤豐厚。相關的制度規定也不盡合理，客觀無限制了社會商品生產，增加了民間航運勢力的商業成本，削弱了中國商人在東亞範圍內的貿易競爭力，也削弱了中國的海防能力。

Late Ming (1567-1644) witnessed larger number of Chinese merchants smuggling to Japan, which was called "tong fan", than did any other earlier period. Comparing with previous smuggling trades, although items of goods were similar, the geographical boundaries showed the trend of moving northward, and the social composition of smugglers also changed correspondingly. In trials of tong fan cases, local governments had different opinions in determining the nature of crimes. Generally speaking, the government's failure of ending the Japanese smuggling trade showed that in the whole Jiangnan costal area very parts of the overseas trade, whether concerning the government or commoners, existed problems. The most fundamental cause was the rich profit of smuggling. The relevant regulations were not always reasonable, and they objectively restrained the commodity productions of local society, increased the commercial costs of popular maritime power, reduced the trade competence of Chinese merchants in East Asian, and also weakened the costal defense ability of China.