A Study On The Ryukyuan Students In China

The ancient Ryukyu Kingdom was an island nation located at the intersection of the Korean Peninsula,Southeast Asia and East Asia where China and Japan lie.Since it presented tribute to the Ming Dynasty in 1372,Ryukyu had thereupon served as a member of the East Asian Tributary System in which the Chinese Empire played a dominant role.During the five hundred years when the Grant and Tribute Relationship between China and Ryukyu lasted,their ties were successively subjected to the huge impacts brought by Japan and the West,but Ryukyu had still maintained the close political,economic and cultural communications with China all along.The Chinese civilization had been a strong appeal to China’s nerighboring countries since the Han and Tang Dynasties,thereupon the other East Asian countries were all drawn into the Sinosphere,with no exception of Ryukyu,which once sent a large number of government-sponsored and self-supported students to China in the Ming and Qing Dynasties.In terms of both Ryukyu and China,all the procedures were under the suzerain-vassal system of East Asia,from the application for admission,selection and appointment of students,request for return to the acceptance,reception and education of China.The Ryukyuan students finished their studies in China and returned to serve their nation,many of whom held important government positions,serving for the tributary system and assisting in governance of the country,or initiating schools to improve education and spread Chinese culture,or promoting advanced technologies to boost the domestic economy.Those students contributed a lot to Ryukyu’s transition from an impoverished and uncivilized country to a maritime trading hub and a nation of courtesy.They played a positive part in strengthening the suzerain-vassal relationship between China and Ryukyu,enhancing the economic and cultural exchanges and the mutual friendship between the peoples.Furthermore,the students as well had a certain influence on faciliating communications among the countries in East Asia.This paper is targeted on the students from Ryukyu Kingdom to China in the context of the development of suzerain-vassal relationship between China and Ryukyu,and the change of the regional order in East Asia.It tries to make a multidimensional exploration on the origin and evolution of the student-dispatching system,the improvement of the reception and education mechanism by the Ming and Qing governments,the study and life of both the government-sponsored and self-supported students in China,as well as their historical contributions to the social progress in Ryukyu and to its contacts with other East Asian countries.Considering that the Ryukyuan students’ success was attributed to the education and training they received in China,this paper also probes into the educational concepts and cultivating policies of China in the Ming and Qing Dynasties on the basis of the Huayi concept.Through the analysis and disscusion,it offers an insight into how the Ming and Qing governments cultivated the Ryukyuan students through either government-run or privately-run education and spread Chinese civilization throughout East Asia via those students.