Between Tribute and Unequal Treaties: How China Saw the Sea World in the Early Nineteenth Century

Abstract

AbstractThis article attempts to analyse the Chinese ideology and practice in the sea world from the perspective of the Jiaqing emperor (r. 1796–1820), whose 25‐year reign ushered in modern China in historiography.1 Since the seventeenth century, the Manchu Chinese rulers and civil and military officials had increasingly acknowledged that China was inferior to European naval powers, while at the same time holding fast to their claim to universal greatness as expressed in the tribute system. It took the collusion of all sides involved – including the complicity of foreign powers – to sustain this dual ideology and practice. Qing China did not bear sole responsibility. Contrary to prevailing scholarly interpretations, such duality did not result in abject defeat for China, or total victory for western countries as embodied in the unequal treaties later on, but rather bestowed a measure of success on all parties.