Before the age of airplane came, marine accidents drifted wrecked ships and people to the nearby coast. Salvaging those people were very important in those days, from the view point of respecting human lives, and sea rescue was sometimes included in articles of international treaties. This problem still exists even today. The marine routes in the Yellow Sea and East China Sea, surrounded by the continent of China, Korea peninsula, Japanese islands, Nansei Islands (Ryukyu) and Taiwan, played very important roles on inter-exchange among East Asian countries. Those marine travels were not always safe, and many ships were wrecked by weather or other reasons. Many of those wrecked ships and people were rescued by humanitarian salvage. The basic attitude of East Asian countries along the coast had been generous to rescue the wrecked ships and people. Among them, China was the most active on salvage. Especially in Qing dynasty, the structural salvage policy had developed gradually from the age of Kangxi 康熙, Yongzheng 雍正, to Qianlong 乾隆emperors. For Qing dynasty, salvage was basically conducted under the emperor's direct order, and its policy was based on humanitarian consideration as well as political reason: in order to establish the authority and image as the great empire of Qing Dynasty. As a result, Qing dynasty China rescued wrecked ships, not only from Korea and Ryukyu countries that had the tribute relation with China, but also those from Japan and Nansei Islands. The wrecked ships and people from Tribute countries were escorted with tribute-trading route. Korean tribute team came to China every year, and took their people who had rescued by Chinese government. Ryukyu did the same. At the same time, Chinese people who drifted to Korean peninsula were sent back by their own ship if the ships were still capable to sale home, or if their ship were completely wrecked, Korean tribute team took those rescued Chinese people when they sent the annual visit to Beijing. On the contrary, Japan did not have the tribute relation with China, so rescued Japanese people were sent back to Japan on the trading ships going to Japan. Chinese people who were rescued in Japan, were taken to Nagasaki with the escoate of Japanese ships, and were allowed to sale back to China after investigation in Nagasaki. If their ships were completely wrecked, Chinese people were taken to Nagasaki and were allowed to get on the trading ships that came to Nagasaki. East Asian countries had different methods of sending the rescued ships and people back to their countries, but basically, Japan, Korea and Ryukyu countries followed China, by rescuing the sea wrecked people and send them back to their home country. These act of salvage were recorded in written communication (Bitan, Hitsudan 筆談) or other official documents. Most of the time, East Asian nations rescued sea wrecked foreigners and kindly sent them back to their home country, in order to protect their governments' national dignity. This rescue and repatriate stayed with the nation's dignity in those days. As international treaties were concluded since the middle of 19th century, it was written as treaty articles that countries rescue sea wrecked people. In those treaty, the biggest issue was how to bear the cost of rescuing and sending people home, and this issue were began to written clearly in various international treaties.