API tools faq
paste
Advertisement
jonstond2

Tribute System (Chinese Studies)

jonstond2
Jun 11th, 2018
428
0
Never
Add comment
Not a member of Pastebin yet? Sign Up, it unlocks many cool features!
text 63.90 KB | None | 0 0
raw download clone embed print report
  1.  
  2. Introduction
  3. The tribute system (chaogong tizhi 朝贡体制) is a widely used term in the studies of traditional Chinese foreign relations. It is generally accepted that the tribute system embodied a set of institutions and social and diplomatic norms that dominated China’s relations with the non-Chinese world for two millennia, until the system’s collapse toward the end of the 19th century. The origins of the tribute system and the ideas, values, and beliefs underlying its construction and operation are often traced back to ancient China as an Axial Age civilization. There is also broad agreement that a tribute system of a sort existed and operated to regulate China’s trade and diplomacy with its neighbors at least as far back as the Han dynasty (206 BCE–220 CE). There is little dispute that the demise of the tribute system was brought about by the introduction of the treaty system in China’s international relations after the Opium War in 1840, with the conclusion of the Treaty of Nanjing in 1842. It is a matter of intense debate how stable and uniform the tribute system was throughout China’s tumultuous dynastic histories and whether its existence was highly precarious, with occasional breakdowns and constant reconfigurations. There are clear contradictions in the enduring Chinese discourse and varied practices of the tribute system. The precise meaning of the tribute system is equally hotly contested. It is sometimes said to have principally served the instrumental purpose of managing China’s trade with its neighbors and of instigating frontier pacification. It is also claimed to have been constitutive of a Sinocentric Chinese world order in historical East Asia. It is not clear, however, whether those participating in the Chinese world order actually accept the civilizational assumptions embedded in the tribute system and the Sinocentric conception of superiority and inferiority in their relationship. The centrality and usefulness of the tribute system model as an overarching analytical and explanatory framework in understanding traditional China’s foreign relations have therefore been a subject of controversy. More-recent contributions highlight the historically and culturally contingent nature of the tribute system. While the existing literature has been dominated until recently by contributions from historians, contemporaneous interest from scholars of international relations in the subject has expanded the field of inquiry and has enriched the relevant scholarship. Some works listed here reflect this particular dimension of recent scholarship.
  4.  
  5. General Overviews
  6. The number of published works that discuss the tribute system in a general fashion is relatively limited. The most influential is Fairbank 1968, which contains fourteen essays discussing varied practices of the tribute system in China’s handling of its relations with its neighbors. The most systematic and comprehensive overview of the evolution and operation of the tribute system from the pre-Qin period to the end of the Qing dynasty is provided in Li 2004, which also outlines in some detail central institutions of the tribute system, such as the investiture and diplomatic rituals. Cohen 2000 is perhaps the most lucid, sweeping historical narrative about the changing East Asian international order for four millennia and also an alternative view both to Fairbank and Li. Chen 2007 contains essays that discuss a diverse range of topics about ideas and institutions of traditional Chinese foreign relations, and it is particularly useful for gaining a glimpse of current research on the tribute system in China. He 1998 is a brief but well-rounded discussion of the historical Chinese world order as an international system in East Asia. Kang 2010 focuses on the operation of the tribute system among China and three Sinic states—namely, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam—and offers a non-Sinocentric perspective on the tribute system. Zhang 2009 contains criticism of the conceptual deficiency of the tribute system with regard to understanding traditional China’s international relations. Zhang and Buzan 2012 deals with the integration of historical studies of the tribute system into the theorization of international relations.
  7.  
  8. Chen Shangsheng 陈尚胜, ed. Zhongguo chuantong duiwai guanxi de sixiang zhidu yu zhengce (中国传统对外关系的思想制度与政策). Jinan, China: Shandong daxue chubanshe, 2007.
  9.  
  10. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  11.  
  12. A collection of twenty-two essays from conference presentations. Topics covered range from the theoretical origin of the tribute system to the Qianlong emperor’s foreign policy, and also to Sino-Vietnamese relations.
  13.  
  14. Find this resource:
  15.  
  16. Cohen, Warren I. East Asia at the Center: Four Thousand Years of Engagement with the World. New York: Columbia University Press, 2000.
  17.  
  18. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  19.  
  20. Offers a regional rather than Sinocentric perspective on the history of international relations in East Asia and can be used as a textbook. The first nine chapters cover the period from ancient China to the end of the Qing dynasty.
  21.  
  22. Find this resource:
  23.  
  24. Fairbank, John King, ed. The Chinese World Order: Traditional China’s Foreign Relations. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1968.
  25.  
  26. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  27.  
  28. Pioneering work that defines the field, which conceptualizes the tribute system as consisting of a Chinese world order. It provides both an innovative analytical framework and substantive discussions of how the tribute system operates to regulate China’s relationship with its neighbors as well as the Dutch, primarily in the Ming-Qing period.
  29.  
  30. Find this resource:
  31.  
  32. He Fangchuan “Huayi zhixu lun” (华夷秩序论). Beijing daxue xuebao: Zhexue shehui kexue ban 北京大学学报—哲学社会科学版 35.6 (1998): 30–45.
  33.  
  34. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  35.  
  36. Looks at “Pax Sinica” as a unique Sinocentric international system in East Asian history and traces the inclusiveness and exclusiveness of this system throughout China’s dynastic histories.
  37.  
  38. Find this resource:
  39.  
  40. Kang, David C. East Asia before the West: Five Centuries of Trade and Tribute. New York: Columbia University Press, 2010.
  41.  
  42. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  43.  
  44. Takes an explicitly international-relations-related approach, focuses on the intense interactions between China and the Sinic states between 1400 and 1900, and is rich in interpretation rather than historical details.
  45.  
  46. Find this resource:
  47.  
  48. Li Yunquan 李云泉. Chaogong zhidu shi lun: Zhongguo gudai duiwai guanxi tizhi yanjiu (朝贡制度史论: 中国古代对外关系体制研究). Beijing: Xinhua chubanshe, 2004.
  49.  
  50. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  51.  
  52. Follows a chronological order, with methodical examinations of the evolution of the tribute system in China’s dynastic histories, and provides a critical comparison of institutional practices of the tribute system between the Ming and the Qing.
  53.  
  54. Find this resource:
  55.  
  56. Zhang Feng. “Rethinking the ‘Tribute System’: Broadening the Conceptual Horizon of Historical East Asian Politics.” Chinese Journal of International Politics 2.4 (2009): 545–574.
  57.  
  58. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  59.  
  60. Offers a number of strong critiques of the prevailing conceptualization of the tribute system as inadequate and limiting in studying traditional international relations in East Asia.
  61.  
  62. Find this resource:
  63.  
  64. Zhang, Yongjin, and Barry Buzan. “The Tributary System as International Society in Theory and Practice.” Chinese Journal of International Politics 5.1 (2012): 3–36.
  65.  
  66. DOI: 10.1093/cjip/pos001Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  67.  
  68. Engages in social analysis of the construction and constitution of the tributary system either as a particular historical social structure in East Asia, or as a particular set of institutional and discursive practices that define, govern, and regulate the so-called Pax Sinica.
  69.  
  70. Find this resource:
  71.  
  72. Primary Sources
  73. Published primary sources in English that relate to the tribute system before the Opium War are very limited. Morse 2007 is a rare exception; it provides important original documents related to the British East India Company’s commercial operation in China. There is also Macartney 1962, which is an edited version of the journal that Lord Macartney kept during his embassy appointment to China in 1793–1794. Wade’s Southeast Asia in the Ming Shi-lu is a valuable source of all references to Southeast Asia contained in Ming shilu 明实录 (The veritable records of the Ming dynasty), translated into English. Of primary sources in Chinese, the most widely used are Ming shilu, Da Qing lichao shilu, Da Qing (wuchao) huidian, and Da Qing huidian shili. Chouban yiwu shimo is most useful in research on China’s early dealing with the European powers, particularly in the emergence of the treaty system in China.
  74.  
  75. Chouban yiwu shimo (筹办夷务始末). 8 vols. Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 2008.
  76.  
  77. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  78.  
  79. A collection of important official documents during 1836–1874 of the Qing’s early dealing with Western powers, covering most of the important events in bilateral relations from the two Opium Wars to the opening and administration of treaty ports and missionary activities.
  80.  
  81. Find this resource:
  82.  
  83. Da Ming huidian (大明会典). Beijing: Zhongguo shehui kexue chubanshe, 2009.
  84.  
  85. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  86.  
  87. A collection of statutes, laws, and rules of the Ming dynasty officially compiled during the Ming.
  88.  
  89. Find this resource:
  90.  
  91. Da Qing huidian shili (大清会典事例). Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1991.
  92.  
  93. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  94.  
  95. A companion to Da Qing huidian, which records precedents in the practice of the statutes, laws, and rules of the Qing dynasty.
  96.  
  97. Find this resource:
  98.  
  99. Da Qing lichao shilu (大清历朝实录). Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1986.
  100.  
  101. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  102.  
  103. Official annals compiled during the Qing, which constitute one of the most important primary texts of the Qing dynasty and contain a wealth of materials unrecorded in other sources, concerning politics, economy, military, and foreign affairs.
  104.  
  105. Find this resource:
  106.  
  107. Da Qing (wuchao) huidian (大清（五朝）会典). Beijing: Xianzhuang shuju, 2006.
  108.  
  109. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  110.  
  111. A collection of statutes, administrative laws, and rules of the Qing dynasty, compiled during the reigns of Kangxi, Qianlong, Yongzheng, Jiaqing, and Guangxu.
  112.  
  113. Find this resource:
  114.  
  115. Macartney, George. An Embassy to China: Being the Journal Kept by Lord Macartney during His Embassy to the Emperor Ch’ienlung, 1793–1794. Edited by John L. Cranmer-Byng. London: Longmans, 1962.
  116.  
  117. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  118.  
  119. An edited version of Lord Macartney’s journal about his embassy appointment to China during the reign of emperor Ch’ien Lung 弘曆, including preparations for it and his reflections.
  120.  
  121. Find this resource:
  122.  
  123. Ming shilu (明实录). Taipei: Institute of History and Philology, Academia Sinica, 1962.
  124.  
  125. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  126.  
  127. Official annals compiled during the Ming, which constitute one of the most important primary texts of the Ming dynasty and contain a wealth of materials unrecorded in other sources, concerning politics, economy, military, and foreign affairs.
  128.  
  129. Find this resource:
  130.  
  131. Morse, Hosea Ballou. The Chronicles of the East Asia Company Trading to China, 1635–1834. 5 vols. Mansfield Center, CT: Martino, 2007.
  132.  
  133. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  134.  
  135. An abstract of documentary and statistical information about the British East India Company’s activities in the China trade. More of a source book than a finished study of British trade with China. Originally published in 1926 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press).
  136.  
  137. Find this resource:
  138.  
  139. Wade, Geoff, ed. Southeast Asia in the Ming Shi-lu.
  140.  
  141. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  142.  
  143. A valuable source that provides all the references to Southeast Asia contained within the Ming shilu (The veritable records of the Ming dynasty) in English-language translation, including a useful guide “Ming Shi-lu as a Source for Southeast Asian History” provided by Wade.
  144.  
  145. Find this resource:
  146.  
  147. Traditional Chinese Worldview
  148. As noted widely in the existing literature, both the ideational conception and institutional design of the tribute system were heavily influenced by the traditional Chinese worldview. Schwartz 1985 offers significant insight into the ancient Chinese philosophical discourse on the universal kingship and cosmological and moral order. Zhao 2009 is a modern reinterpretation of the ancient Chinese idea of Tianxia (All-under-Heaven). Poo 2005 is a comparative study of how three ancient civilizations—the Mesopotamian, the Egyptian, and the Chinese—each perceived the civilizational “other” in its own part of the world. Yan 2011 represents the most recent attempt to rediscover how ancient Chinese political philosophy speculates on interstate relations in the pre-Qin period and informs modern Chinese foreign-policy behavior. Zhang 2007 traces the evolution and mutation of the idea of Tianxia throughout China’s dynastic histories and the introduction of the idea of the territorial state as the Chinese Empire was confronted with relentless assault by imperial Russia in its border areas. Li 2002 provides a succinct synthesis of existing scholarship on the Chinese world order, while Cranmer-Byng 1973 offers a Fairbankian interpretation of traditional Chinese worldview as embodied in the tribute system.
  149.  
  150. Cranmer-Byng, John. “The Chinese View of Their Place in the World: An Historical Perspective.” China Quarterly 53 (January–March 1973): 67–79.
  151.  
  152. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  153.  
  154. An effective summary of the Fairbankian conception of the tribute system and the traditional assumptions about the centrality and superiority of Chinese civilization associated with such a conception. Available online for purchase or by subscription.
  155.  
  156. Find this resource:
  157.  
  158. Li Zhaojie (James Li). “Traditional Chinese World Order.” Chinese Journal of International Law 1.1 (2002): 20–58.
  159.  
  160. DOI: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.cjilaw.a000418Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  161.  
  162. Follows the analytical framework suggested by Fairbank, synthesizes various discussions of traditional Chinese worldview, and offers a critique of the idea of the tribute system.
  163.  
  164. Find this resource:
  165.  
  166. Poo, Mu-chou. Enemies of Civilization: Attitudes toward Foreigners in Ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt, and China. New York: State University of New York Press, 2005.
  167.  
  168. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  169.  
  170. A comparative study of cultural consciousness and civilizational assumptions about the “other” in ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt, and China, arguing that in all three civilizations, “us” and “them” are distinguished not because of biophysical differences, but in civilizational terms.
  171.  
  172. Find this resource:
  173.  
  174. Schwartz, Benjamin I. The World of Thought in Ancient China. Cambridge, MA: Belknap, 1985.
  175.  
  176. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  177.  
  178. Arguably the best single volume available that offers both a comprehensive survey and the most authoritative account of ancient Chinese thought, particularly insightful regarding the ancient Chinese conception of Tianxia 天下 (All-under-Heaven) as an ideal political and moral order.
  179.  
  180. Find this resource:
  181.  
  182. Yan Xuetong. Ancient Chinese Thought, Modern Chinese Power. Edited by Daniel A. Bell and Sun Zhe. Translated by Edmund Ryden. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2011.
  183.  
  184. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  185.  
  186. An ambitious attempt to rediscover and reclaim international political and philosophical thinking of pre-Qin Chinese philosophers and to revive interest in the ancient Chinese philosophical discourse on how to handle relations between states.
  187.  
  188. Find this resource:
  189.  
  190. Zhang Wen 张文. “Lun gudai Zhongguo de guojiaguan yu Tianxiaguan” (论古代中国的国家观与天下观). Zhongguo bianjiang shidi yanjiu 中国边疆史地研究 17.3 (2007): 16–23.
  191.  
  192. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  193.  
  194. Traces the dominance of the idea of Tianxia in the ancient Chinese conception of its relationship with the non-Chinese world and sees imperial China’s awareness and acceptance of the concept of territorially bounded state only in the 18th century, with imperial Russia’s relentless assault on Chinese territories.
  195.  
  196. Find this resource:
  197.  
  198. Zhao Tingyang 赵汀阳. Tianxia tixi: shijie zhidu zhexue daolun (天下体系：世界制度哲学导论). Nanjing, China: Jiangsu jiaoyu chubanshe, 2005.
  199.  
  200. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  201.  
  202. English title: The Tianxia System: An Introduction to the Philosophy of a World Institution. Offers a fuller and extended statement of the ideas in Chinese elaborated in Zhao 2009.
  203.  
  204. Find this resource:
  205.  
  206. Zhao Tingyang 赵汀阳. “A Political World Philosophy in Terms of All-under-Heaven (Tian-xia).” Diogenes 56.1 (2009): 5–18.
  207.  
  208. DOI: 10.1177/0392192109102149Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  209.  
  210. Argues for a philosophical renewal of the idea of All-under-Heaven and presents a new framework for the philosophical analysis of political problems in world politics as internationality versus “worldness.” Available online by subscription or for purchase.
  211.  
  212. Find this resource:
  213.  
  214. Imperial China and the Non-Chinese World before 1500
  215. The tribute system is said to be a dominant institution that governed and regulated interactions between imperial China and the non-Chinese world before the European expansion into Asia around 1500. There was, however, neither a uniform configuration of the tribute system nor a set of consistently applicable principles over this historical period. The tribute system was fiercely contested in particular in China’s encounters with its northern nomadic neighbors, who challenged relentlessly the cultural, physical, and psychological frontiers of the Chinese Empire. Also intensely disputed was its underlying assumption of a superior sedentary and civilized heartland encountering inferior barbarian and nomadic peripheries, as can be found in Di Cosmo 2002 (cited under the Han-Tang Period), Rossabi 1983 (cited under From the Song Dynasty to the Ming Dynasty), and Barfield 1989 (cited under Nomadic Encounters).
  216.  
  217. The Han-Tang Period
  218. The Han dynasty (206 BCE–220 CE) is commonly regarded as the formative period of the tribute system. Di Cosmo 2002 is a definitive study of the early institutional practice of the tribute system from pre-Qin to the Han dynasty in ancient China’s relations with the nomadic powers to its north. Yu 1967 is a major contribution to the study of the tribute system as it operated in the Han dynasty. Between the Han dynasty and the Tang dynasty (618 CE–907 CE), the Chinese Empire was more divided than united. Lewis 2009a provides an instructive example of how political chaos and internal division affected the conduct of China’s foreign relations during the Southern and Northern Dynasties period. Lewis 2009b records the rapid and aggressive expansion and institutionalization of the tribute system when imperial unity was reestablished during the Tang dynasty, which saw the participation of many non-Chinese states and polities in central, South, and Southeast Asia. Li 1998 traces the institutional evolution and diverse range of practices of the tribute system as a key institution in regulating China’s foreign relations between the Han and Tang dynasties. Moses 1976 focuses on China’s relations with the Turk and the Uighur Empires during the Tang, while Wang 2005 examines diplomacy between China and Japan within the tributary system in premodern Asia.
  219.  
  220. Di Cosmo, Nicola. Ancient China and Its Enemies: The Rise of Nomadic Power in East Asian History. Cambridge, UK, and New York: Cambridge University Press, 2002.
  221.  
  222. DOI: 10.1017/CBO9780511511967Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  223.  
  224. A major contribution to the study of China’s early foreign relations, offering a nuanced chronicle of the turbulent interactions between China and its northern nomadic neighbors both within and beyond the tribute system, from the pre-Qin period to the end of the Han dynasty.
  225.  
  226. Find this resource:
  227.  
  228. Lewis, Mark Edward. China between Empires: The Northern and Southern Dynasties. Cambridge, MA: Belknap, 2009a.
  229.  
  230. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  231.  
  232. See especially chapter 6, “China and the Outer World” (pp. 144–169). Fills a significant gap in the studies of traditional China’s foreign relations during a period of civil war and internal division during the 5th and 6th centuries.
  233.  
  234. Find this resource:
  235.  
  236. Lewis, Mark Edward. China’s Cosmopolitan Empire: The Tang Dynasty. Cambridge, MA: Belknap, 2009b.
  237.  
  238. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  239.  
  240. See especially chapter 3, “Warlords and Monopolists” (pp. 58–84), and chapter 6, “The Outer World” (pp. 145–178). Provides an analytical summary account of the practice and expansion of the tribute system during the Tang dynasty.
  241.  
  242. Find this resource:
  243.  
  244. Li Hu 黎虎. Han-Tang waijiao zhidu shi ( 汉唐外交制度史). Lanzhou, China: Lanzhou daxue chubanshe 1998.
  245.  
  246. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  247.  
  248. English title: An Institutional History of China’s Diplomatic System from the Han Dynasty to the Tang Dynasty. Outlines the institutional evolution and a diverse range of practices of the tribute system as a key institution in dealing with imperial China’s foreign relations from the Han to the Tang dynasties.
  249.  
  250. Find this resource:
  251.  
  252. Moses, Larry W. “T’ang Tribute Relations with the Inner Asian Barbarian.” In Essays on T’ang Society: The Interplay of Social, Political and Economic Forces. Edited by John C. Perry and Bardwell L. Smith, 61–89. Leiden, The Netherlands: E. J. Brill, 1976.
  253.  
  254. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  255.  
  256. Focuses on China’s relations with the Turk and the Uighur Empires to the north. Despite its title, the essay discusses the relations between the Tang dynasty and its “barbarian” neighbors as equals.
  257.  
  258. Find this resource:
  259.  
  260. Wang Zhenping. Ambassadors from the Islands of Immortals: China-Japan Relations in the Han-Tang Period. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 2005.
  261.  
  262. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  263.  
  264. Based on recent archaeological findings and archival materials, offers sophisticated analysis of diplomacy between China and Japan within the framework of the tribute system in premodern Asia.
  265.  
  266. Find this resource:
  267.  
  268. Yu Ying-shih Trade and Expansion in Han China: A Study in the Structure of Sino-barbarian Economic Relations. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1967.
  269.  
  270. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  271.  
  272. An important early contribution to the study of the historically pervasive tribute system in traditional China’s trade and diplomacy during the Han dynasty, mostly with the Xiongnu.
  273.  
  274. Find this resource:
  275.  
  276. From the Song Dynasty to the Ming Dynasty
  277. The tribute system had its most precarious existence during the Song dynasty. Rossabi 1983 highlights the argument that imperial China operated effectively in a multistate system among equals during this period. Franke and Twitchett 1994 is a discussion in some detail of the expansion and contraction of the Chinese world between the 10th and 14th centuries. Bielenstein 2005 documents China’s trade and diplomacy with its neighbors, near and far, including the Xi Xia, Liao, and Jin Dynasties. Twitchett and Mote 1998 contains four chapters on Ming foreign relations, which give a glimpse of the reinstatement of the tribute system and its operation and institutionalization during the Ming. Chen 2005 briefly explores Ming efforts to reestablish the tribute system in Southeast Asia, while Levathes 1996 is insightful about how the Ming, China’s most illustrious scientific and technological era, was perceived by other cultures.
  278.  
  279. Bielenstein, Hans. Diplomacy and Trade in the Chinese World, 589–1276. Handbuch der Orientalistik: Vierte Abteilung, China 18. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 2005.
  280.  
  281. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  282.  
  283. From the Handbook of Oriental Studies series, perhaps the most comprehensive overview of China’s diplomatic and trade relations with its major and minor Asian neighbors, covering the period from the establishment of the Sui dynasty to the fall of the Southern Song dynasty.
  284.  
  285. Find this resource:
  286.  
  287. Chen Shangsheng 陈尚胜. “Zheng-He xia xiyang yu Dongnanya huayi zhixu de goujian: Jianlun mingchao shifou xiang Dongnanya kuozhang wenti” (郑和下西洋与东南亚华夷秩序的构建－兼论明朝是否向东南亚扩张问题). Shandong daxue xuebao: Zhexue shehui kexue ban 山东大学学报－哲学社会科学版 2005, 4: 63–72.
  288.  
  289. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  290.  
  291. Explores the Ming efforts to reestablish the tribute system in Southeast Asia associated with Zhe He’s exploratory expeditions, countering the claim of the Ming as expansionist in Southeast Asia.
  292.  
  293. Find this resource:
  294.  
  295. Franke, Herbert, and Denis Twitchett, eds. The Cambridge History of China. Vol. 6, Alien Regimes and Border States, 907–1368. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1994.
  296.  
  297. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  298.  
  299. Traces the rise and fall of four non-Chinese regimes: the Qidan (Khitan) Liao dynasty, the Tangut state of Xi Xia, the Jurchen Empire of Jin, and the Mongolian Yuan dynasty. Treats the period not within the tribute system framework but against a broad background of international relations in northern and central Asia.
  300.  
  301. Find this resource:
  302.  
  303. Levathes, Louise. When China Ruled the Seas: The Treasure Fleet of the Dragon Throne, 1405–1433. New York: Oxford University Press, 1996.
  304.  
  305. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  306.  
  307. Sheds new light on the historical and cultural context in which the Ming thrived, as well as the perception of others of the Chinese Empire at the time.
  308.  
  309. Find this resource:
  310.  
  311. Rossabi, Morris, ed. China among Equals: The Middle Kingdom and Its Neighbors, 10th–14th Centuries. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1983.
  312.  
  313. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  314.  
  315. Makes a major claim against the conventional understanding of the tribute system as dominating traditional China’s foreign relations. Contributing chapters focus heavily on China’s trade and diplomacy during the Song dynasty.
  316.  
  317. Find this resource:
  318.  
  319. Twitchett, Denis, and Frederick W. Mote, eds. The Cambridge History of China. Vol. 8, The Ming Dynasty, 1368–1644, Part 2. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1998.
  320.  
  321. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  322.  
  323. Contains four chapters on Ming foreign relations, which, taken together, provide historical insight into the reinstatement and operation of the tribute system during the Ming dynasty. These four chapters were written by Morris Rossabi (“The Ming and Inner Asia,” pp. 221–271), Donald Clark (“Sino-Korean Tributary Relations under the Ming,” pp. 272–300), Wang Gung-wu (“Ming Foreign Relations: South-East Asia,” pp. 301–332), and John Wills (“Relations with Maritime Europeans, 1514–1662,” pp. 333–375).
  324.  
  325. Find this resource:
  326.  
  327. Nomadic Encounters
  328. China’s encounters with its nomadic northern tribes and states posed perennial challenges to the tribute system both in theory and practice. Di Cosmo 1999 is most useful for such encounters in the pre-Qin period. Barfield 1989 covers almost the entire imperial period from the establishment of the Qin to high Qing in the 18th century. Perdue 2005 details the expansion of Qing imperialism to exercise direct rule in central Eurasia in the 18th and 19th centuries, while Di Cosmo 1998 presents a close examination of imperial domination of Inner Asia. Lattimore 1988 remains a classic, offering a general analytical account of China’s historical encounters with its central Asian neighbors from ancient times to the early 20th century. Serruys 1967 is unrivaled as a definitive study of China’s relations with Mongols during the Ming. Yu 1986 offers a concise but also comprehensive survey of Han China’s relationship with the Xiongnu, Qiang, Wuhuan, and Xianbi peoples.
  329.  
  330. Barfield, Thomas J. The Perilous Frontier: Nomadic Empires and China, 221 BC to AD 1757. Oxford: Blackwell, 1989.
  331.  
  332. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  333.  
  334. Offers a 2,000-year history of the nomadic tribes and states of Inner Asia: the Xiongnu, the Mongols, the Turks, the Uighurs, and others and their encounters with the Chinese Empire. Provides a non-Sinocentric view of their interactions.
  335.  
  336. Find this resource:
  337.  
  338. Di Cosmo, Nicola. “Qing Colonial Administration of Inner Asia.” International History Review 20.2 (1998): 287–309.
  339.  
  340. DOI: 10.1080/07075332.1998.9640824Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  341.  
  342. Looks at the Qing’s dominance and control of Inner Asia as its colonial empire building not extending the traditional tribute system. Available online for purchase or by subscription.
  343.  
  344. Find this resource:
  345.  
  346. Di Cosmo, Nicola. “The Northern Frontier in Pre-imperial China.” In The Cambridge History of Ancient China: From the Origins of Civilization to 221 B.C. Edited by Michael Loewe and Edward L. Shaughnessy, 885–909. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1999.
  347.  
  348. DOI: 10.1017/CHOL9780521470308Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  349.  
  350. Traces the civilizational encounters between the Chinese world and the non-Chinese world to the pre-imperial period.
  351.  
  352. Find this resource:
  353.  
  354. Lattimore, Owen. Inner Asian Frontiers of China. New York: Oxford University Press, 1988.
  355.  
  356. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  357.  
  358. A classic in the studies of China’s encounters with its central Asian neighbors, from ancient times to the early 20th century. Features an introduction by Alastair Lamb. Originally published in 1940 (New York: American Geographical Society).
  359.  
  360. Find this resource:
  361.  
  362. Perdue, Peter C. China Marches West: The Qing Conquest of Central Eurasia. Cambridge, MA: Belknap, 2005.
  363.  
  364. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  365.  
  366. Chronicles imperial China’s aggressive expansion into the heart of central Eurasia during the Qing, which achieved lasting domination over the eastern half of the Eurasian continent. Offers valuable comparisons of the Qing imperialism to other colonial empires and discusses the legacy left by the Qing’s frontier expansion.
  367.  
  368. Find this resource:
  369.  
  370. Serruys, Henry. The Tribute System and Diplomatic Missions (1400–1600). Mélanges chinois et bouddhiques 14. Brussels: Institut belge des hautes études chinoises, 1967.
  371.  
  372. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  373.  
  374. A definitive study of the Ming’s relationship with the Mongols, on the basis of primary sources.
  375.  
  376. Find this resource:
  377.  
  378. Yu Ying-Shih. “Han Foreign Relations.” In The Cambridge History of China. Vol. 1, The Ch’in and Han Empires, 221 B.C.–A.D. 220. Edited by Denis Twitchett and Michael Loewe, 377–462. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1986.
  379.  
  380. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  381.  
  382. Extensively discusses imperial China’s relations during the Han dynasty with the Xiongnu and Qiang in the West, but also with the so-called Eastern Barbarians, the Wuhuan, and the Xianbei.
  383.  
  384. Find this resource:
  385.  
  386. Southeast Asia
  387. In contrast to its nomadic encounters, the tribute system was less fiercely contested by China’s neighbors in East Asia and Southeast Asia, as Liu 2010 and Stuart-Fox 2003 show. It played a historically important role in facilitating China’s trade and diplomacy with Southeast Asia, as seen in two case studies provided in Heng 2009 and Viraphol 1977; this is supported in He 2003. The role of the tribute system in frontier pacification is illustrated in Dai 2004. Zhuang 2005 contests the pretensions of the tribute system in its application to Southeast Asia. Sen 2003 examines Sino-Indic encounters between the 7th and 15th centuries and offers a perspective on China’s foreign relations beyond the tribute system.
  388.  
  389. Dai, Yingcong. “A Disguised Defeat: The Myanmar Campaign of the Qing Dynasty.” Modern Asian Studies 38.1 (2004): 145–189.
  390.  
  391. DOI: 10.1017/S0026749X04001040Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  392.  
  393. An interesting case study instructive of the important role both of the tribute system and military campaign in frontier pacification during the Qing dynasty. Available online for purchase or by subscription.
  394.  
  395. Find this resource:
  396.  
  397. He Hongyong 和洪勇. “Ming qianqi Zhongguo yu dongnanya guojia de chaogong maoyi” (明前期中国与东南亚国家的朝贡贸易). Yunnan shehui kexue 云南社会科学 2003, 1: 86–90.
  398.  
  399. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  400.  
  401. A study of the expansion of the tribute system into Southeast Asia in early Ming and the importance of tributary trade in the Ming relationship with Southeast Asia.
  402.  
  403. Find this resource:
  404.  
  405. Heng, Derek. Sino-Malay Trade and Diplomacy from the Tenth through the Fourteenth Century. Athens, OH: Ohio University Press, 2009.
  406.  
  407. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  408.  
  409. Provides a rich, multilayered picture of Sino–Southeast Asian relations in the precolonial era, addressing both the Chinese and Southeast Asian perspectives with rich archaeological and textual data.
  410.  
  411. Find this resource:
  412.  
  413. Liu Xinjun 刘信君. “Zhong Chao yu Zhong yue chaogong zhidu bijiao yanjiu” (中朝与中越朝贡制度比较研究). Jilin daxue shehui kexue xuebao 吉林大学社会科学学报 2010, 5: 78–87.
  414.  
  415. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  416.  
  417. An analytical comparison of different institutions and practices governing the tributary relationship between China and Korea and China and Vietnam.
  418.  
  419. Find this resource:
  420.  
  421. Sen, Tansen. Buddhism, Diplomacy, and Trade: The Realignment of Sino-Indian Relations, 600–1400. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 2003.
  422.  
  423. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  424.  
  425. Examines the historical Sino-Indic encounter from the 7th to 15th centuries and the transformation in Sino-Indian relations from Buddhist-dominated to trade-centered exchanges. Provides an additional dimension and understanding of China’s traditional foreign relations beyond the tribute system.
  426.  
  427. Find this resource:
  428.  
  429. Stuart-Fox, Martin. A Short History of China and Southeast Asia: Tribute, Trade and Influence. Crows Nest, Australia: Allen & Unwin, 2003.
  430.  
  431. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  432.  
  433. Helpful in gaining a broad view of how the tribute system operated in regulating relations between China and Southeast Asia, including a brief chapter discussing the traditional Chinese worldview, and the European encounter with the Chinese world order in Southeast Asia.
  434.  
  435. Find this resource:
  436.  
  437. Viraphol, Sarasin. Tribute and Profit: Sino-Siamese Trade, 1652–1853. Harvard East Asian Monograph 76. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1977.
  438.  
  439. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  440.  
  441. Acknowledging the semblance of the tribute system in governing relations between China and Siam, focuses on the dynamic interactions between Siamese mercantilism and South Chinese commercial expansionism that clearly defy the ideological dogma of the tribute system.
  442.  
  443. Find this resource:
  444.  
  445. Zhuang Guotu 庄国土. “Lue lun chaogong zhidu de xuhuan: yi gudai zhongguo yu dongnanya guanxi weili” (略论朝贡制度的虚幻：以古代中国与东南亚关系为例). Nanyang wenti yanjiu 南洋问题研究 2005, 3: 1–8.
  446.  
  447. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  448.  
  449. Acknowledging the importance of the tributary trade between China and Southeast Asia during the Ming and the Qing, nonetheless contends that neither the Ming nor the Qing attempted to use the tribute system to exert political influence on Southeast Asian tributary states.
  450.  
  451. Find this resource:
  452.  
  453. The Tribute System and European Expansion
  454. European expansion into Asia brought with it a number of challenges and assaults on the tribute system. Between 1500 and 1800, the tribute system prevailed as the key institutional complex that governed relations between China and Europe, particularly in conducting trade and diplomacy. In their own unique ways, Hudson 1961, Mungello 2009, and Tsiang 1936 provide instructive general background reading.
  455.  
  456. Hudson, Geoffrey Francis. Europe and China: A Survey of Their Relations from the Earliest Times to 1800. Boston: Beacon, 1961.
  457.  
  458. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  459.  
  460. A classic, originally published in 1931, that provides a broad survey of Europe’s historical relationship with China and situates European expansion between 1500 and 1800 in that context.
  461.  
  462. Find this resource:
  463.  
  464. Mungello, David E. The Great Encounter of China and the West, 1500–1800. 3d ed. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2009.
  465.  
  466. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  467.  
  468. Focuses on religious, cultural, and civilizational encounters between China and Europe from 1500 to 1800.
  469.  
  470. Find this resource:
  471.  
  472. Tsiang, Tingfu Fuller “China and European Expansion.” Politica 2.5 (March 1936): 1–18.
  473.  
  474. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  475.  
  476. A short English-language essay published by a prominent Chinese scholar, discussing the early encounter between the tribute system and European expansion.
  477.  
  478. Find this resource:
  479.  
  480. Trade
  481. European traders spearheaded European expansion into China after 1514. Their encounters with and contestations of the tribute system, which sought to accommodate them, are well documented. This can be seen in Zhang 1973, Tang 1999, and Fairbank 1942. The Canton System, as a contested institutional innovation within the tribute system, is discussed both in Perdue 2006 and Van Dyke 2005. Wills 1974 studies in meticulous detail the negotiations between the Qing rulers and the Dutch East India Company for the opening of China to Dutch trade. Chauduri 1978 provides a comprehensive history of the English East Asia Company from 1660 to 1760.
  482.  
  483. Chauduri, Kirti N. The Trading World of Asia and the English East India Company, 1660–1760. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1978.
  484.  
  485. DOI: 10.1017/CBO9780511563263Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  486.  
  487. Offers a comprehensive history of the English East Asia Company from 1660 to 1760, on the basis of extensive research of the company’s archives, with an analytical discussion of the company’s trading system, its operation and policy (in chapter 4), and the company’s imports from China (in chapter 17).
  488.  
  489. Find this resource:
  490.  
  491. Fairbank, John King. “Tributary Trade and China’s Relations with the West.” Far Eastern Quarterly 1.2 (February 1942): 129–149.
  492.  
  493. DOI: 10.2307/2049617Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  494.  
  495. A meticulous analysis of the origin and functions of the tribute system in facilitating frontier defense and trade for traditional China, with special attention to how tributary trade affected its relations with the West before the Opium War. Available online by subscription.
  496.  
  497. Find this resource:
  498.  
  499. Perdue, Peter C. Rise & Fall of the Canton Trade System. Vol. 1, China in the World (1700–1860s). In Visualizing Cultures. Cambridge, MA: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2006.
  500.  
  501. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  502.  
  503. Provides a brief but instructive discussion of the rise and fall of the Canton System, with good visual effect. Most useful for teaching purposes. Vol. 2, Macau and Whampoa Anchorage; Vol. 3, Canton and Hong Kong; and Vol. 4, Image Galleries.
  504.  
  505. Find this resource:
  506.  
  507. Tang Kaijian 汤开建. Aomen kaibu chuqishi yanjiu (澳门开埠初期史研究). Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1999.
  508.  
  509. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  510.  
  511. A definitive study of the opening of Macau as a trading port in the 16th and 17th centuries, on the basis of extensive research on Chinese sources.
  512.  
  513. Find this resource:
  514.  
  515. Van Dyke, Paul A. The Canton Trade: Life and Enterprise on the China Coast, 1700–1845. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2005.
  516.  
  517. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  518.  
  519. Traces the evolution of the Canton System from its creation in the early 17th century to its collapse in 1842, focusing on the practices and procedures rather than protocols and official policies in evaluating the successes or failures of the Canton trade.
  520.  
  521. Find this resource:
  522.  
  523. Wills, John Elliot, Jr. Pepper, Guns and Parleys: The Dutch East India Company and China, 1662–1681. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1974.
  524.  
  525. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  526.  
  527. On the basis of meticulous examination of Chinese and Dutch sources, this book traces in considerable detail the torturous course of negotiations between the Qing rulers and Dutch East India Company’s representatives to forge an alliance to fight the Ming loyalist force led by Zheng Chenggong 鄭成功, highlighting the two contrasting systems of world values, which eventually resulted in an abortive alliance.
  528.  
  529. Find this resource:
  530.  
  531. Zhang, Tianze. Sino-Portuguese Trade from 1514 to 1644: A Synthesis of Portuguese and Chinese Sources. New York: AMS Press, 1973.
  532.  
  533. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  534.  
  535. A study of Portuguese traders’ encounters with the tribute system as it regulated Sino-Portuguese trading relations, rich in historical details based on primary sources. Chapter 1 traces the development of China’s maritime trade between the 4th century CE and 1513. Originally published in 1934 (Leiden, The Netherlands: E. J. Brill).
  536.  
  537. Find this resource:
  538.  
  539. Diplomacy
  540. Trade and diplomacy can hardly be separated in any discussion of early European expansion into China. Although no formal diplomatic relations were established between China and Europe until the second half of the 19th century, European diplomats and embassies were sent and treaties were negotiated and concluded. Boxer 1938 records early Portuguese attempts to win trade privileges by offering military aid to the Ming court. De Bruyn Kops 2002 and Wills 1984 study in some detail European embassies to China in the 17th century. Tang 2007 is a close examination of Dutch diplomatic interactions with the early Qing court during the reign of the Shunzhi emperor in the 17th century, by making good use of primary sources in Chinese. Mancall 1971 and Sebes 1961 examine negotiations and conclusions of treaties between China and Russia in the 17th and 18th centuries. While the tribute system prevailed, such diplomatic encounters were accompanied by systemic conflicts and compromises between European norms, rules, and institutions and those embodied in the tribute system. Such conflicts culminated in the Macartney mission (1792–1794), which is richly documented in Peyrefitte 1993 and is critically reinterpreted in Hevia 1995.
  541.  
  542. Boxer, Charles Ralph. “Portuguese Military Expeditions in Aid of the Mings against the Manchus, 1621–1647.” T’ien-Hsia Monthly 7.1 (1938): 24–50.
  543.  
  544. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  545.  
  546. A discussion of Portuguese involvement in the Ming-Qing political and dynastic transition, through the offering of military aid to the Ming court as an attempt to win trade privileges. Similar attempts by the Dutch later in the 17th century are discussed in Wills 1984.
  547.  
  548. Find this resource:
  549.  
  550. de Bruyn Kops, Henriette Rahusen. “Not Such an ‘Unpromising Beginning’: The First Dutch Trade Embassy to China, 1655–1657.” Modern Asian Studies 36.3 (2002): 535–578.
  551.  
  552. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  553.  
  554. A detailed investigation of the first embassy sent by the Dutch East India Company to Beijing, on the basis of extensive research on the Dutch original sources. Available online for purchase or by subscription.
  555.  
  556. Find this resource:
  557.  
  558. Hevia, James L. Cherishing Men from Afar: Qing Guest Ritual and the Macartney Embassy of 1793. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1995.
  559.  
  560. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  561.  
  562. Offers a strong postmodern critique of the conventional view of the Macartney mission as embodying the conflict between tradition (the tribute system) and modernity (European diplomacy), and explores the Qing and British imperial formations in the late 18th century as the cultural production of two expansive imperialisms with equally universalist pretensions.
  563.  
  564. Find this resource:
  565.  
  566. Mancall, Mark. Russia and China: Their Diplomatic Relations to 1728. Harvard East Asian Series 61. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1971.
  567.  
  568. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  569.  
  570. Discusses and evaluates the confrontations between the Chinese and Russian Empires and contends that a working compromise was reached between the tribute system and European norms of sovereignty and legitimacy of commerce, through the signing of the Nerchinsk Treaty (1689) and Kiaktha Treaty (1727) by China and Russia.
  571.  
  572. Find this resource:
  573.  
  574. Peyrefitte, Alain. The Collision of Two Civilisations: The British Expedition to China in 1792–4. Translated by Jon Rothschild. London: Harvill, 1993.
  575.  
  576. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  577.  
  578. Rich in historical details, including preparations for the Macartney mission and its daily activities in China, but short of critical interpretation compared with Hevia 1995.
  579.  
  580. Find this resource:
  581.  
  582. Sebes, Joseph, S. J. The Jesuits and the Sino-Russian Treaty of Nerchinsk (1689): The Diary of Thomas Pereira, S. J. Bibliotheca Instituti Historici S. I. 18. Rome: Institutum Historicum, 1961.
  583.  
  584. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  585.  
  586. Consists of two parts, the first of which is a long introduction providing an account of early Russo-Chinese relations. The second part, the edited diary of Father Thomas Pereira, provides an eyewitness account of negotiations between the Manchus and Russians at Nerchinsk, which led to the signing of the first treaty between China and a Western power.
  587.  
  588. Find this resource:
  589.  
  590. Tang Kaijian 汤开建. “Shunzhi shiqi helan dongyindu gongsi yu Qing wangchao de zhengshi jiaowang” (顺治时期荷兰东印度公司与清王朝的正式交往). Wenshi 文史 2007, 1.
  591.  
  592. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  593.  
  594. Explores early Dutch diplomacy toward the newly established Qing court during the reign of the Shunzhi emperor in the 17th century, by making good use of primary sources in Chinese.
  595.  
  596. Find this resource:
  597.  
  598. Wills, John E., Jr. Embassies and Illusions: Dutch and Portuguese Envoys to K’ang-hsi, 1666–1687. Harvard East Asian Monograph 113. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1984.
  599.  
  600. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  601.  
  602. Traces the long journeys and progress of four European embassies in the 17th century—two Dutch and two Portuguese—to the Qing capital Beijing during the reign of K’ang-hsi (Kangxidi) 康熙帝, by using multilingual archival and printed sources. Contends that the domestic political and strategic concerns of K’ang-hsi courts, rather than imperatives of the tribute system, better explain the success or failure of these embassies.
  603.  
  604. Find this resource:
  605.  
  606. Japan and the Tribute System
  607. Historically, Japan has occupied a special place in the China-centered tribute system. It is a Sinic state and had paid tribute to imperial China in sporadic fashion before the 15th century. In the Tokugawa period, it was formally outside the hierarchical Sinocentric world order in East Asia, since it maintained no official relations with China. This is discussed in Jansen 1992. Mizuno 2003 and Swope 2002 highlight the ambivalent and ambiguous attitudes on the part of Tokugawa Japan toward the Chinese tribute system. Tokugawa’s attempts to create a Japan-centered international order in East Asia, incorporating Korea, Ryukyu, and China, are studied in Toby 1984 and Sakai 1968. Suzuki 2009 gives emphasis to Japan’s role in dismantling the Chinese tribute system from within the East Asian region in its empire building, following the example of European imperialism.
  608.  
  609. Jansen, Marius B. China in the Tokugawa World. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1992.
  610.  
  611. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  612.  
  613. A short book that recounts the importance of China economically and culturally to Japan in the early modern era, when Tokugawa Japan was formally outside the China-centered tribute system in East Asia.
  614.  
  615. Find this resource:
  616.  
  617. Mizuno Norihito. “China in Tokugawa Foreign Relations: The Tokugawa Bakufu’s Perception of and Attitudes toward Ming-Qing China.” Sino-Japanese Studies 15 (2003): 108–144.
  618.  
  619. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  620.  
  621. Contains a brief summary of contentions in the existing literature on Tokugawa Bakufu’s perceptions of the tribute system during the Ming-Qing transition,arguing that while there was explicit Tokugawa rejection of becoming an inferior constituent of the Sinocentric world order, the Tokugawa attitudes remained ambiguous in terms of the status relationship between Japan and Qing China.
  622.  
  623. Find this resource:
  624.  
  625. Sakai, Robert K. “The Ryukyu (Liu-Ch’iu) Islands as a Fief of Satsuma.” In The Chinese World Order: Traditional China’s Foreign Relations. Edited by John King Fairbank, 112–134. Harvard East Asian Series 32. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1968.
  626.  
  627. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  628.  
  629. Explores how the Ryukyu became a vassal of Satsuma, while remaining a loyal tributary of China.
  630.  
  631. Find this resource:
  632.  
  633. Suzuki, Shogo. Civilization and Empire: China and Japan’s Encounter with European International Society. London and New York: Routledge, 2009.
  634.  
  635. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  636.  
  637. A comparative study of how China and Japan responded to European expansion into Asia in the second half of the 19th century, offering compelling arguments about Japan’s role in dismantling the tribute system through empirical examinations of the 1874 Japanese expedition to Taiwan, the annexation of the Ryukyu Kingdom in 1879, and Sino-Japanese rivalry over Korea leading to the Sino-Japanese War, 1894–1895.
  638.  
  639. Find this resource:
  640.  
  641. Swope, Kenneth M. “Deceit, Disguise, and Dependence: China, Japan, and the Future of the Tributary System, 1592–1596.” International History Review 24.4 (2002): 757–782.
  642.  
  643. DOI: 10.1080/07075332.2002.9640980Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  644.  
  645. Offers historical analysis of the Japanese invasion of Korea in 1592 and the ensuing peace negotiations with Ming China, explaining why the failure of the Sino-Japanese peace talks represented the first serious challenge to China’s position as a preeminent power in East Asian world order. Available online for purchase or by subscription.
  646.  
  647. Find this resource:
  648.  
  649. Toby, Ronald P. State and Diplomacy in Early Modern Japan: Asia in the Development of the Tokugawa Bakufu. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1984.
  650.  
  651. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  652.  
  653. Provides a revisionist critique of traditional scholarship that separates the study of foreign relations from domestic developments in the Tokugawa era, arguing that the Tokugawa Bakufu pursued a dynamic foreign policy designed to legitimate the exercise of shogunal authority and to place Japan at the center of a self-determined international order, involving most importantly Korea, Ryukyu, China, and Holland.
  654.  
  655. Find this resource:
  656.  
  657. The Disintegration of the Tribute System
  658. The tribute system persisted, not without adaptation, as the dominant institution in governing China’s foreign relations during the Qing. Its disintegration started only in the mid-19th century with the Opium War, which introduced a treaty system in the Qing’s handling of its relations with European powers. Mancall 1968 discusses the ideational aspect of the tribute system as it prevailed during the Qing. Ning 1993 presents a study of Lifanyuan as a particular institutional innovation of the tribute system initiated by the Qing. Fairbank and Teng 1960 is a classic that reconstructs the tribute system as an institutional complex during the Qing. Kim 1980 develops a study of the gradual disintegration of the tribute system under the impact of European expansion. Hamashita 1990 is valuable in placing the tribute system in the analytical context of the emerging regional political economy of East Asia as it was increasingly incorporated into the global market. Qi 2006 critiques the existing literature, highlighting different institutional practices between the Ming and the Qing.
  659.  
  660. Fairbank, John King and Ssu-yü Teng. “On the Ch’ing Tributary System.” In Ch’ing Administration: Three Studies. By John King Fairbank, and Ssu-yü Teng, 107–218. Harvard-Yenching Institute Studies 19. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1960.
  661.  
  662. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  663.  
  664. Pathbreaking study that provides a comprehensive investigation of the tribute system as inherited from the Ming and institutionalized during the Qing dynasty, making extensive use of Chinese primary sources such as Collected Statutes of the Ming and the Qing. Originally published in 1941.
  665.  
  666. Find this resource:
  667.  
  668. Hamashita Takeshi 滨下武志. Kindai chugoku no kokusaiteki keiki: Chokō boeki shisutemu to kindai Ajia (近代中国の国際的契機: 朝貢貿易システムと近代アジア). Tokyo: Daigaku shuppankai, 1990.
  669.  
  670. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  671.  
  672. Employing a combination of modernization, Marxist, and world-system approaches, the author examines many critical issues concerning the Chinese tributary trade system, in the context of East Asia’s historical incorporation into the world economy. A bold attempt to reconceptualize the position of imperial China in the East Asian regional order and in the emerging international/global trade and economic order. Chinese edition: Zhu Yingui 朱荫贵 and Ouyang Fei 欧阳菲, trans., Jindai Zhongguo de guoji qiji: Chaogong maoyi tixi yu jindai Yazhou jingjiquan (近代中国的国际契机 : 朝贡贸易体系与近代亚洲经济圈) (Beijing: Zhongguo shehui kexue chubanshe, 1999).
  673.  
  674. Find this resource:
  675.  
  676. Kim, Key-Hiuk. The Last Phase of the East Asian World Order: Korea, Japan, and the Chinese Empire, 1860–1882. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1980.
  677.  
  678. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  679.  
  680. A synthesis of diplomatic and institutional history that examines the disintegration of the traditional world order of East Asia and the process by which China, Japan, and Korea gradually altered their traditional conduct of relations with one another in response to the intrusion of the West in East Asia.
  681.  
  682. Find this resource:
  683.  
  684. Mancall, Mark. “The Ch’ing Tribute System: An Interpretive Essay.” In The Chinese World Order: Traditional China’s Foreign Relations. Edited by John King Fairbank, 63–89. Harvard East Asian Series 32. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1968.
  685.  
  686. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  687.  
  688. Discusses the ideational aspect of the tribute system as it prevailed during the Qing, with emphasis on the relationship between tribute and trade.
  689.  
  690. Find this resource:
  691.  
  692. Ning Chia. “The Lifanyuan and the Inner Asian Rituals in the Early Qing (1644–1795).” Late Imperial China 14.1 (1993): 60–92.
  693.  
  694. DOI: 10.1353/late.1993.0011Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  695.  
  696. Studies Lifanyuan 理藩院 (court of colonial affairs) as an institutional innovation of the Qing court in dealing with various groups of Inner Asian peoples, arguing that the unique Qing Inner Asian rituals provide symbolic instruments to recast relations between the Qing and its Inner Asian neighbors, from a problem of foreign policy to a matter of internal imperial administration. Available online by subscription.
  697.  
  698. Find this resource:
  699.  
  700. Qi Meiqin 祁美琴. “Dui Qingdai chaogong tizhi diwei de zai renshi” (对清代朝贡体制地位的再认识). Zhongguo bijiang shidi yanjiu 中国边疆史地研究16.1 (2006): 47–55.
  701.  
  702. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  703.  
  704. A critical assessment of the Qing tribute system, with an instructive comparison of institutional practices between the Ming and the Qing.
  705.  
  706. Find this resource:
  707.  
  708. The Creation of the Treaty System
  709. The opening of treaty ports after the Opium War and the introduction of a treaty system between 1840 and 1860 governing China’s relations with the European powers are commonly regarded as spelling the end of the tribute system. Greenberg 2008 is a valuable study of British trading activities and conflicts in China in the early years of the 19th century, leading to the Opium War and the signing of the Nanjing Treaty. Fairbank 1953 remains authoritative in accounting for the establishment of the treaty port system in China in the wake of the Opium War. Both Fairbank 1968 and Fairbank 1978 note the parallel existence of the tribute system and the treaty system in China’s foreign relations in the second half of the 19th century. Morse 2008, clearly outdated, remains useful as a reference because it is rich in historical record. Mancall 1984 provides an analytical historical account of the collapse of the tribute system, complementary to Fairbank 1968 and Fairbank 1978.
  710.  
  711. Fairbank, John King. Trade and Diplomacy on the China Coast: The Opening of the Treaty Ports, 1842–1854. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1953.
  712.  
  713. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  714.  
  715. Offers a classic account of the emergence of the treaty port system in China in the mid-19th century, following the Opium War.
  716.  
  717. Find this resource:
  718.  
  719. Fairbank, John King. “The Early Treaty System in the Chinese World Order.” In The Chinese World Order: Traditional China’s Foreign Relations. Edited by John King Fairbank, 257–275. Harvard East Asian Series 32. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1968.
  720.  
  721. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  722.  
  723. Argues that the creation of the treaty system after the Opium War was not just the endeavor by Western powers to bring China into the world, but an attempt by the Qing to accommodate the Western presence in the Chinese world. It spelled not the end of the tribute system, but the beginning of its long twilight.
  724.  
  725. Find this resource:
  726.  
  727. Fairbank, John King. “The Creation of the Treaty System.” In The Cambridge History of China. Vol. 10, Late Ch’ing: 1800–1911, Part 1. Edited by John King Fairbank, 213–263. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1978.
  728.  
  729. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  730.  
  731. Expands and elaborates the arguments made in Fairbank 1968.
  732.  
  733. Find this resource:
  734.  
  735. Greenberg, Michael. British Trade and the Opening of China, 1800–1842. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2008.
  736.  
  737. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  738.  
  739. Gives an analytical account of the activities of British merchants in the crucial years leading to the Opium War and the Treaty of Nanjing. Originally published in 1951.
  740.  
  741. Find this resource:
  742.  
  743. Mancall, Mark. China at the Center: 300 Years of Foreign Policy. New York: Free Press, 1984.
  744.  
  745. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  746.  
  747. Provides an overview of the tribute system in institutional terms and as a mentality in dominating China’s foreign relations, as well as a historical account of its collapse under the assault of Western powers. The attempt to combine a historian’s insights with the systemic approach of an international-relations scholar is not particularly successful.
  748.  
  749. Find this resource:
  750.  
  751. Morse, Hosea Ballou. The International Relations of the Chinese Empire. 3 vols. Kent, UK: Global Oriental, 2008.
  752.  
  753. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  754.  
  755. Digital versions for all three volumes are available in the Internet archive of the University of California’s California Digital Library: Vol. 1, The Period of Conflict, 1834–1860; Vol. 2, The Period of Submission, 1861–1893; and Vol. 3, The Period of Subjection, 1894–1911. Certainly dated, but contains some valuable historical records otherwise unavailable and provides a chronological account of some important events informative of historical perspectives at the time. Originally published 1910–1918 (London: Longmans, Green).
  756.  
  757. Find this resource:
  758.  
  759. Institutional Changes
  760. The disintegration of the tribute system was facilitated by a number of institutional changes that took place in the second half of the 19th century, as China moved slowly to adopt some institutions of the expanding European international society in conducting its foreign relations. Banno 1964 is a study of perhaps the most important institutional change in China’s handling of its relations with European powers: the establishment of the Zongli Yamen 總理衙門 (foreign office). Hsü 1960 is a detailed look at China’s gradual acceptance of three standard European diplomatic practices as the preconditions for China’s entry into the family of nations. Gong 1984 puts such acceptance into the context of China’s socialization into expanding European international society and its attempt to fulfill the standard of “civilization” in order to be accepted by that society. Svarverud 2007 is a more detailed and focused examination of the introduction of international law into China in late Qing. Teng and Fairbank 1982 largely provides a chronological discussion, supported by selected original-source documents, of how China responded to Western impact through a series of institutional changes.
  761.  
  762. Banno, Masataka. China and the West, 1858–1861: The Origins of the Tsungli Yamen. Harvard East Asian Series 15. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1964.
  763.  
  764. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  765.  
  766. Remains a classic in tracing the establishment of the Zongli Yamen 總理衙門 (foreign office) as an institutional innovation of the Qing in dealing with its relations with expanding European powers, without totally abandoning the tribute system. Reprinted as recently as 1987.
  767.  
  768. Find this resource:
  769.  
  770. Gong, Gerrit W. The Standard of “Civilization” in International Society. Oxford: Clarendon, 1984.
  771.  
  772. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  773.  
  774. A definitive study of how non-European countries tried to enter expanding European international society in the 19th century, by fulfilling the standard of “civilization” set by the European society of states. Individual chapters on Turkey, China, and Japan, as well as Siam entry, are instructive for comparative purposes.
  775.  
  776. Find this resource:
  777.  
  778. Hsü, Immanuel C. Y. China’s Entrance into the Family of Nations: The Diplomatic Phase, 1858–1880. Harvard East Asian Series 5. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1960.
  779.  
  780. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  781.  
  782. A detailed examination of China’s acceptance and adoption of three important institutional practices in European diplomacy: a resident foreign embassy in the Chinese capital, Beijing; international law; and the establishment of Chinese diplomatic missions in European capitals.
  783.  
  784. Find this resource:
  785.  
  786. Svarverud, Rune. International Law as World Order in Late Imperial China: Translation, Reception and Discourse, 1847–1911. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 2007.
  787.  
  788. DOI: 10.1163/ej.9789004160194.i-322Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  789.  
  790. A systematic analysis of the introduction, translation, and discourse of international law in late Qing China as an important international institution in governing relations between states.
  791.  
  792. Find this resource:
  793.  
  794. Teng, Ssu-yü, and John King Fairbank, eds. China’s Response to the West: A Documentary Survey, 1839–1923. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1982.
  795.  
  796. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  797.  
  798. Provides an excellent combination of commentary and documents in an analytical discussion, arranged chronologically, of Chinese elites’ understanding of the nature of the clash between China and the West in the second half of the 19th century and the attendant new ideas that led to institutional reform, political revolution, and ideological reconstruction in China. Originally published in 1954.
Advertisement
Add Comment
Please, Sign In to add comment
Advertisement
Public Pastes
Advertisement
We use cookies for various purposes including analytics. By continuing to use Pastebin, you agree to our use of cookies as described in the Cookies Policy.  OK, I Understand
Not a member of Pastebin yet?
Sign Up, it unlocks many cool features!