The Tributary System: The Collapse Of The Zhou Dynasty

First, the Sino-Japanese war caused the collapse of the tributary system, the Qing government lost the leading position in the East Asia. Tributary system had a long history in China and could be traced back to the Zhou Dynasty. The tributary system was a reciprocal relationship between superior and inferior comparable to the Three Bonds that kept China’s domestic society in order. After the establishment of the Zhou Dynasty, the Zhou emperor established a “feudal” network, enfeoffing (fengjian 封建) sons of the Zhou emperors to preside the vassal states. There were also tributary relationships between the Zhou emperors and the vassal states. The rulers of the vassal state had to tribute to the Zhou emperors regularly, to strengthen the position
The Han and Tang emperors followed the idea of Confucianism to differ the Chinese people and the foreigners. The Chinese emperors treated China itself as the “Central Country” and called the civilians as Wa (華) and the foreigners were Yi (夷), which meant the “barbarians”. The Chinese emperors treated the surrounding “barbarians” as “uncivilized” countries that lacked Chinese culture. Therefore, by military forces or economic incentives, the Chinese emperors build up tributary relationships with the foreign countries and treated them as tributary states, instead of uncontrolled barbarians. The emperors also assigned the tributary routes and frequency for the tribute states, which depended on the relationships with the tribute states. The tribute states which had closer relationships with the emperors, could have tributes to the emperors frequently and had economic benefits or lavish gifts from the emperors, such as the exemption of the tariff in the trade. The following dynasties: the Song, the Ming, and the Qing, also continued to run the tributary