The Gentle Civilizer of the Far East – A Re-Examination of the Encounter between ‘China’ and ‘International Law’

Bibliographic Data

ID12627065
AuthorsSze Hong Lam (0000-0002-3481-4665, Internal PhD Candidate, Grotius Centre of International Legal Studies, Leiden University Leiden the Netherlands, corresponding author)
Year2024
Volume26
Issue1
Pages1-45
Publication date2024-05-13
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of the History of International Law / Revue d’histoire du droit international (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1388-199X • E-ISSN: 1571-8050
PublisherBrill (PUBLISHER • NL)
DOI10.1163/15718050-bja10096
OpenAlexW4408182321
LanguageEN
References cited26

The narrative of ‘imposition’, whereby ‘international law’ is said to have been imposed by Western powers on China, was shared by both English and Chinese literatures, albeit each holding contrasting views on the meaning and consequences of such ‘imposition’. This paper seeks to highlight the nuances in the shared ‘imposition’ narratives and challenge many of its presumptions through a chronological re-examination. First, by tracing the ‘encounter’ back to the 16th century, the unity and diversity between the Sinocentric and Eurocentric orders were re-examined. Second, by comparing the Chinese and English text of the Opium War Treaties, this paper reveals how the Qing Empire also sought to accommodate the Eurocentric order in its own term from 1842 to 1860. Third, by seeing the ‘encounter’ as an evolutionary rather than a revolutionary process, this paper demonstrates how the concept of ‘China as a state’ evolved from the Celestial Empire’s ‘encounter’ with ‘international law’

China · Far East · Political science · History · Law · Political Conflict and Governance · Russia and Soviet political economy · Soviet and Russian History

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