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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 History of China and Japan 2 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 History of China and Japan 3 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 History of China and Japan 4 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 History of China and Japan 5 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 History of China and Japan 6 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 History of China and Japan 7 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. History of China and Japan 8 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 History of China and Japan 9 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 History of China and Japan 10 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 History of China and Japan 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 History of China and Japan 12 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 History of China and Japan 13 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. History of China and Japan 14 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.