Chinese World Order
The Chinese World Order: From Tribute to Treaties
Submitted by: MEISNAM RAJESHWOR MEITEI M.A EAST ASIAN STUDIES 2nd semester
Introduction Chinese civilization with nearly five-thousand years of recorded history is one of the oldest in the world. China’s vast historical record have well documented about the so called Chinese world order (china’s relation with others neighboring and foreign countries). Chinese world order was fundamentally based on the very idea of middle kingdom. Tang dynasty had been the golden age of Chinese contact with foreign civilization. Age, culture, size and wealth had made China the natural center of East Asia and perchance, also one of the most powerful countries in the world, until the middle of the Qing Dynasty (1644—1911). Geographical barriers kept the whole region of East Asia separate from the rest of the world. The Chinese did not comprehend their world the same way the Westerners did. Thus Chinese view of East Asia is different from rest of the world. For china East Asia became Tianxia, literally, "all under Heaven," of which Chinese grasp itself to be the very center, betoken a sense of "the central country" or Middle Kingdom which embraced the whole world known to it. Such traditional Chinese understanding of its place in the world is what Western historians have meant by the term, "Sinocentrism", which in general is used to characterize traditional China's relations with other nations. Thus, China was named, Zhonghua.
Historical background of Chinese world order
China's self-image as the center of the world is a spurious notion in modern geographical terms. This area was sequestered from the rest of the world by geographical impediment, and surrounded by nonage tribal groups, Man, Ti, Xiong and Di, the four quarters. They were "alien"
Submitted by: MEISNAM RAJESHWOR MEITEI M.A EAST ASIAN STUDIES 2nd semester
Introduction Chinese civilization with nearly five-thousand years of recorded history is one of the oldest in the world. China’s vast historical record have well documented about the so called Chinese world order (china’s relation with others neighboring and foreign countries). Chinese world order was fundamentally based on the very idea of middle kingdom. Tang dynasty had been the golden age of Chinese contact with foreign civilization. Age, culture, size and wealth had made China the natural center of East Asia and perchance, also one of the most powerful countries in the world, until the middle of the Qing Dynasty (1644—1911). Geographical barriers kept the whole region of East Asia separate from the rest of the world. The Chinese did not comprehend their world the same way the Westerners did. Thus Chinese view of East Asia is different from rest of the world. For china East Asia became Tianxia, literally, "all under Heaven," of which Chinese grasp itself to be the very center, betoken a sense of "the central country" or Middle Kingdom which embraced the whole world known to it. Such traditional Chinese understanding of its place in the world is what Western historians have meant by the term, "Sinocentrism", which in general is used to characterize traditional China's relations with other nations. Thus, China was named, Zhonghua.
Historical background of Chinese world order
China's self-image as the center of the world is a spurious notion in modern geographical terms. This area was sequestered from the rest of the world by geographical impediment, and surrounded by nonage tribal groups, Man, Ti, Xiong and Di, the four quarters. They were "alien"