In this system, ambassadors gave gifts and respect to the Chinese emperor.
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Chinese Tributary System History and Practice
The Chinese tributary system served to create order in the relationship between sovereign kingdoms and principalities in East Asia. In exchange for recognizing the authority of China, other sovereign states gained greater autonomy and freedom to determine their own course in other affairs.
Confucianism, which was the dominant Chinese philosophy for many centuries, argued that society should be organized on hierarchical lines, with the emperor filling the role of the father of all peoples. China imagined the Chinese emperor as being the preeminent and supreme person on Earth; similar to European emperors, the Chinese emperor framed himself as ruling on behalf of God or Heaven.
In the ideal form of the system for China, foreign emissaries from Korea, Japan, Vietnam, or Mongolia came to the court of the Chinese emperor and recognized his authority. This was usually accompanied by the giving of gifts, including sums of gold and silver.
However, this did not work so well in practice. China was frequently divided by internal civil wars between rival warlords and at times even emperors; this disrupted and divided the tributary system. Furthermore, China was not always the dominant state. On occasion, empires of northern Asia defeated China in wars and reversed the tributary relationship by forcing whatever Chinese empire existed at the time to pay tribute to them. In extreme circumstances, foreign empires even conquered China, seizing control of the tributary relationship. The Mongol and Manchu states, for example, seized control of China at different times and forged the Yuan and Qing Dynasties, respectively.
Tributary System Rituals
China, for much of its existence, was a deeply ritualistic society. The formal giving of tribute to the Chinese emperor therefore had a carefully organized ritual, known as kowtowing. In kowtowing, emissaries from foreign countries would bow deeply to the Chinese emperor. If one refused to kowtow to the emperor, as emissaries from powerful foreign countries did on occasion, it was a symbol that the country viewed itself as an equal and perhaps even a rival to China.
Decline of the Tribute System
The tribute system continued to be the defining factor of East Asian relations for many centuries. As mentioned, at times the tributary system was disrupted or even hijacked by new empires, but it nevertheless persisted. This changed when China entered a plummeting decline in the 19th century.
In 1793, Britain sent a diplomat by the name of George Macartney, armed with gifts, to China. His mission was to convince the Qing Empire (which ruled China) to open its ports to British trade. At the time, China was a net exporter of goods and products; Britain aimed to balance its trade by selling its wares to the Chinese people. While the Netherlands and Portugal had gained access to China by performing the kowtow to the Chinese emperors, Britain was reluctant to do so. After extensive negotiations, Macartney agreed to simply genuflect. The mission was a failure; China rejected Macartney's request.
While it may be interpreted as simply one of many incidents in British diplomatic history, the Macartney Mission marked the beginning of a new era for China. After its failure, Britain opted to make up for its trade deficit by illicit means: smuggling opium, a highly addictive drug, into China. Drug addiction proliferated soon afterward. When China attempted to block Britain, war erupted in 1839: the First Opium War. Britain, with its superior military technology, completely defeated China. The Second Opium War saw similar results. These Opium Wars, together with other military conflicts, eliminated China as a regional power; instead, European imperial powers gained control of the Chinese economy and Chinese ports, while Japan soon invaded border areas. The tributary system completely reversed. Eventually, China crumbled into civil strife.
While China today is again a major world power with trade relationships across the planet, the tributary relationship has not been recreated.
Tributary States and China
Over the centuries, the various Chinese empires extracted tribute from neighboring countries. These included:
- Korea, which paid tribute to China frequently over the centuries and at times was even conquered by China
- Japan, which on occasion paid tribute to powerful Chinese empires, but not frequently
- Thailand, which paid tribute to China for much of its existence
- Vietnam, which paid tribute to China for centuries and was at times invaded by China
- The Ryukyu Kingdom (a small island state) paid tribute to China during its existence
However, at times declining Chinese empires were forced to pay tribute to foreign states. These included:
- The Xiongnu, who extracted tribute from the Western Han Dynasty in the 100s BCE
- The First Turkic Khaganate, which extracted tribute from the Qi and Zhou dynasties in the late 500s CE
- The Second Turkic Khaganate, which extracted tribute from the Tang Dynasty in the late 600s CE
- The Uighur Khaganate, which extracted tribute from the Tang Dynasty in the late 700s CE
- The Liao Empire, which extracted tribute from the Song Dynasty in the early 1000s CE
- The Jin Empire, which extracted tribute from the Song Dynasty in the second half of the 1100s CE
- The Tumed Mongol Empire, which extracted tribute from the Ming Dynasty in the second half of the 1500s CE
- The Northern Yuan Empire, which extracted tribute from the Ming Dynasty in the early 1600s
Technically, these often consisted of simple briberies and payments paid by China to its northern rivals. However, since the payment of gifts and gold from the tributary state to its superior was one key defining feature of the tributary system, these extractions are very often characterized as tribute. As mentioned earlier, China was sometimes invaded and taken over by northern empires, which then took control of the tributary system.
Lesson Summary
The Chinese tributary system refers to a system wherein weaker tributary states paid gifts and performed a bowing ceremony called kowtowing to the Chinese emperor, symbolizing their subservience. In exchange for this, they were allowed autonomy in their own affairs. China extracted tribute due to its preeminent position of strength. In the philosophy of Confucianism that dominated China for many centuries, all things had their part in an ascending hierarchy. The Chinese emperor was the foremost person in the world and ruled on behalf of God or Heaven.
The Chinese tributary system was not always neat and orderly. It depended upon the power of the Chinese emperor. When China descended into civil war, which happened frequently, the tributary system split apart. At times, weak Chinese dynasties were even forced to pay tribute to powerful northern empires, who on occasion even conquered China and took control of the tributary system. The downfall of the tributary system came in 1793, when British ambassador George Macartney appeared before the Chinese emperor, refused to kowtow, and was rejected in his requests for trade access. Afterward, Britain defeated China in the Opium Wars, driving China into decline, collapse, and civil war. The tributary system has not returned.
