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History of China and Japan
1
HISTORY
Subject
:
History
Paper No.
:
Paper - VIII
History of China & Japan Unit No. & Title
:
Unit- 1
History of China
Topic No. & Title
:
Topic - 1
China & Imperialism during 19th
Century
Lecture No. & Title
:
Lecture - 3
Sino-centrism
(For under graduate student)
Script
The concept of Sino-centrism is also known as the concept
of “Central Kingdom” or “Middle Kingdom”, according to
which China stands at the centre of human civilization and
all other countries stand at the periphery. Thus in the eyes
of the Chinese, people in all other countries (‘men from
afar’) were considered ‘barbarians’ and uncivilized. This
concept of ‘Central Kingdom’ was fed also by the Confucian
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ideology. The ‘tribute system’ was the application of
Confucian principles to foreign affairs.
China is one of the largest countries of the world, her
territory being about the size of Europe. She can boast of
being in possession of the largest written, uninterrupted
tradition of historical records of the world. It is frequently
possible to know the year, month and day when a particular
event took place from records. China is the home of fifty-six
nationalities of which the Han comprises more than ninetysix per cent of the population. The concept of Sino-centrism
arose out of the need of the Chinese ruling classes to unify
the vast country and to exercise its suzerainty over the
other countries and “men from afar”. The emperor of China
(huangti) was regarded as the only legitimate emperor of
the entire world.
As China was massive in size and there was ethnic
diversity, it needed an ideology, which could unify its
peoples and give them a national identity. The view is that
Sino-centrism was invented and used as a political ideology
to achieve domestic unity and to justify her domination over
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neighbouring countries. According to Joseph Needham, that
is the reason why comparative history as a subject did not
develop in China. Later on, the concept of cultural Sinocentrism developed which perceived neighbouring countries
as mere cultural offshoots of China, and denied the
uniqueness or validity of surrounding countries as separate
cultures.
The Sino-centric system was a hierarchical model of
international relations, dominated by China that prevailed in
East Asia until the weakening of the Ching/Manchu dynasty
and the encroachment of the European and Japanese
imperialists in the second half of the 19th century. At the
centre of the system stood China, ruled by the three
dynasties that had gained the Mandate of Heaven. This
Celestial Empire, distinguished by its Confucian codes of
morality
and
propriety,
regarded
itself
as
the
only
civilization in the world. The emperor of China was regarded
as the only legitimate emperor of the entire world.
Surrounding countries such as Japan, Korea and Vietnam
were regarded as vassals of China, and relations between
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the Chinese Empire and these peoples were interpreted as
tributary relationships under which these countries offered
tribute to the emperor of China and received titles and
privileges in return. Only China had an emperor, or huangti,
who was the “Son of Heaven” and had divine qualities;
rulers of other countries were given lesser titles such as
king or Wan. Peoples from states outside China were
regarded as ‘barbarians”.
Two essential aspects of Sino-centrism were identification of
the heartland and the legitimacy of dynastic succession.
Originally the centre was synonymous with the North China
Plain, an area that was expanded through conquests over
many centuries. But Sino-centrism, unlike Han chauvinism,
did not necessarily have a racial basis in Han Chinese
ethnicity. Successive peoples from the north, such as
Xianbei, Jurchens, and Manchus, took their place at the
centre with varying degrees of success. The Xianbei
empires during the Southern and Northern dynasties, for
example, regarded the Han Chinese regimes of southern
China as “barbarians” because they refused to submit to
Xianbei rule. Similarly, the Manchu dynasty regarded the
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initial wave of Europeans who endeavoured to enter China
during the 19th century as “barbarians”.
Beyond the centre were several concentric circles. Local
ethnic minorities were not regarded as foreign countries,
but were governed by their own leaders, subject to the
recognition by the emperor, and were exempt from the
Chinese bureaucratic system.
Outside this circle were
tributary states, which offered tribute to the emperor of
China and over which China exercised sovereignty.
Under the Ming dynasty, when the tribute system entered
its peak, these states were classified into a number of
groups. The southwestern barbarians included some of the
major states of East Asia and Southeast Asia, such as
Korea, Japan, the Ryukyo Kingdom, Annam, Cambodia,
Vietnam, Siam, Champa and Java. A second group of
southwestern barbarians was made up of countries such as
Malacca, Sri Lanka and others, many of which were modern
independent
states.
In
barbarians,
northeastern
addition,
there
barbarians,
were
and
northern
two
large
categories of western barbarians, none of which have
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survived into modern times as separate states. The system
was complicated by the fact that some tributary states had
their own tributaries. Laos was a tributary of Vietnam and
the Ryukyo Kingdom paid tribute to both China and Japan.
Beyond the circle of tributary states were countries, which
were involved in a trading relationship with China. The
Portuguese, for example, were allowed to trade with China
from leased territory in Macau, but did not officially enter
the tributary system.
Tribute System
The ‘Tribute System’ was an integral part of the Sinocentric system. The relations between countries standing at
the periphery and those of the West were based on the
‘Tribute System’. It was influenced to a large extent by
Chinese outlook towards the world and history. The concept
of ‘Central Kingdom’ made China stand at the centre of the
earth, while all others stood at the periphery. That led to
the development of the idea of China being the centre of
civilization and all others as uncivilized and as’ barbarians’.
In fact, although China excelled in many spheres, Chinese
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rulers and philosophers had a very poor knowledge of the
world outside. The ‘tribute system’ was the application of
Confucian principles to foreign affairs, by which the Chinese
rulers got the moral authority to establish their political
control over others. As the Chinese emperor had gained the
‘Mandate of Heaven’ to rule over mankind, it was his
believed to be his duty to be kind and benevolent to all
‘men from afar’. As he stood at the top of the ‘central
Kingdom’, it was expected of the foreigners to offer their
loyalty to the emperor. There was a reciprocal relationship
here. This imperial benevolence was to be reciprocated by
loyalty to the emperor expressed in a ritual form, by the
handing over of gifts and the offer of tribute to the
emperor. This ‘tribute system’ thus became one of the rites
of the Chinese court, which betokened the admission of a
barbarian to the Chinese civilization. This assumed a ritual
form popularly known as kowtow. It meant bowing low,
thrice before the emperor. This Chinese custom left no
doubt in anyone’s mind as to who was superior and who
inferior.
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The
cultural
and
economic
centrality
of
China
was
recognized throughout Asia, and most countries submitted
to the Sino-centric model, in order to enjoy the benefits of
political recognition and trade with China. However, the
attitudes of the various tributary nations towards China
varied according to their political strength and physical
distance from China. While they received many elements of
culture, such as Chinese written language, Confucianism
and Buddhism from China, they at various times asserted
their autonomy and attempted to deliberately exclude
Chinese influence.
The Japanese are described in China’s Book of Han
(completed in 111AD) as “the people of Wo, who are
divided into more than a hundred states, and who bring
tribute at fixed intervals”. In the seventh century, however,
Shotoku
Taishi
(574-622),
prince
regent
of
Japan,
antagonized the emperor of China by sending him a letter
starting with the words: “The emperor of the land where
the sun rises sends a letter to the emperor of the land
where the sun sets to ask if you are healthy?” Soon after
this (after the Taika Reforms), the Japanese court reformed
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its administrative apparatus and system of land distribution
to resemble the Chinese system, initiating a prolonged
period of Chinese influence on all aspects of Japanese
culture.
Japan experienced alternating periods of interaction with
China, during which Chinese influence on Japanese culture
was strong, and periods of isolation during which a
heightened
sense
of
Japanese
cultural
superiority
developed. In the Late 13th century, when two attempted
Mongol invasions were thwarted with the help of typhoons—
which they called kamikaze or ‘divine wind’—Japan acquired
a strong national unity. During the Tokugawa era, a
movement
emerged
to
reconstruct
and
recover
the
authentic native roots of Japanese culture, particularly
Shinto, and exclude elements borrowed from China.
Later on, as a rival of China for political and economic
dominance of East Asia, Japan remained critical of Sinocentrism. After Japan defeated China in the First and
Second Sino-Japanese Wars—in 1894-95 and 1937-45, the
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Japanese insisted for several decades on using the name
Shina for China, based on the Western word ‘China’.
Vietnam was under Chinese rule for approximately a
thousand years before gaining independence in the 10th
century. In subsequent centuries, the Vietnamese drove out
Chinese invaders on a number of occasions, and conflict
with China may be seen as one of the major themes of
Vietnamese
history.
However,
Vietnam
was
heavily
Sinicized by the influence of classical Chinese architecture,
philosophy,
religion
and
literature
of
China.
Vietnam
persistently identified itself as the “Kingdom of the South”
in relation to China in the north. The name “Viet” itself is
cognate with ‘Yue’, referring to peoples of southern China
who were largely conquered by the North under the Chin
Dynasty. The current name of the country, Vietnam, is
derived from Nam Viet, meaning Southern Yue, the name of
a post-Chin kingdom covering southern China and northern
Vietnam.
Unlike East Asian states, which communicated in written
Chinese, Burma used a different written language in
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11
communication
with
China.
While
China
consistently
regarded Burma as a vassal, Burmese records indicate that
Burma considered itself as China’s equal. The Burmese
interpreted ‘Burma’ as the “younger brother” and China as
the “elder brother”.
The
Korean
peninsula
was
greatly
influenced
by
its
geographic and historical proximity to China. Until the era
of the Three Kingdoms of Korea, Korean states had been
protected from Chinese invasions by militarily powerful
states such as Goguryeo, which ruled northern region of
Korean peninsula and Manchuria. Goguryeo considered
herself as an equally supreme state as China and adopted
her own centric system to neighbouring countries. They
refused to pay tribute and continued to conquer the eastern
territories of China; that led to massive Chinese invasions
from 598 to 614, which led to the fall of the Sui Dynasty in
618 AD.
After the fall of Goguryeo due to conflicts with other forces
within Korea, Goryeo became the new powerful state. Its
relationship with the Chinese Sung Dynasty remained
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equal.
But
close
and
very
profitable
bilateral
trade
prospered without the tribute system as Goryeo’s porcelain
and ginseng were highly priced in China whereas Chinese
silk was in high demand in Korea. This peaceful relationship
ended when Mongol invasions of Korea, as part of a general
campaign to conquer China, occurred in 1231. After 30
years of fierce resistance, Goryeo finally sued for peace and
became a tributary of the Mongol Yuan Dynasty in China.
Soon after the weakening of the Yuan Dynasty, Goryeo
retook her lost territories from the Mongol empire and
regained her sovereignty.
Europe
As in the cases of other countries, the relations between the
capitalist West and China were based on the ‘tribute
system’ and the trade around the port city of Canton. When
the first Europeans reached Canton in the 18th century, they
became part of China’s tributary system. Britain and other
countries of Europe had a great demand for Chinese goods
such as silk, tea, porcelain and brocade, but there was
hardly any demand for British goods in the Chinese market.
That resulted in the inflow of bullion into China and thus the
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balance of trade became unfavourable for Britain. In order
to turn the balance in their favour the British and Americans
introduced opium into China. That started a long process
leading to the First Opium War (1840-42, China’s defeat
and the signing of the Treaty of Nanking in 1842—the first
of a long series of humiliating defeats in the history of
China. That was followed by the defeat of the Chinese
imperial army at the hands of the Anglo-French joint
forces—known as the Second Opium War and the signing of
the Treaty of Tientsin (1858). These two treaties marked
the end of Sino-centrism as a system of international
relations in Asia.
It
is
important
to
note
that
Sino-centrism
is
not
synonymous with Chinese nationalism. The successive
dynasties of China were Sino-centric in the sense that they
regarded Chinese civilization to be universal in its reach and
application. Chinese nationalism, in contrast, is a more
modern concept focused primarily on the idea of a unified,
cohesive and powerful Chinese nation, as one of the nations
of the world. And this concept arose in course of her
confrontation with the West.
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The period between the end of the First Opium War in 1842
and the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949
was known as the “Century of Humiliation”. The capitulation
of the Ching government to foreign powers, the series of
unequal and humiliating treaties that a weak China was
forced to sign, the birth of the Kuomintang party under Sun
Yat-sen, the treaty of Versailles, which gave Chinese
territory taken by the Germans during the First World War
to the Japanese roused strong public sentiment particularly
during the May 4 Movement of 1919 and led to the rise of
the Communist Party of China and the accomplishment of
New Democratic Revolution in1949.