A Study On The Suzerain-vassal Relation Between China And Burma

China and Myanmar are close to each other by mountains and rivers and share a history of friendly exchanges of more than2,000 years.As early as the Western Han Dynasty,China and Myanmar started their economic and culture exchanges by using the “Trade Route from Sichuan to India”.In the ninth year of Yongyuan in the Eastern Han Dynasty(97 AD),the King of the Shan State in Burma,Yong youdiao,sent tribute to the Eastern Han Dynasty.Emperor He of Han sent him golden seal and purple ribbons,which opened the prelude to the suzerain-vassal state relationship between China and Myanmar.After the change of dynasties,China and Myanmar have continued their political contacts.In the Yuan Dynasty,the Mongols used force to force the Burmese to claim tribute,and Burma became a vassal state of the Yuan Dynasty,and the suzerain-vassal state relationship between China and Myanmar was formally established.At the end of the Qing Dynasty,Burma was annexed by Britain and became a British colony.The Qing Dynasty,as the suzerain-state of Burma,was forced to sign the "Burma Treaty" with the British government,and the suzerain-vassal state relationship between China and Myanmar formally ended.This paper divides the development process of the suzerain-vassal state relationship between China and Myanmar into nine stages:emergence,germination,formation,establishment,adjustment,development,maturity,decline and end,and from the development and change of each stage,the causes and effects,key and hot issues and other perspectives,a relatively systematic combing and discussion,and finally analyses the characteristics of the suzerain-vassal state relationship between China and Myanmar,explores the suzerain-vassal state relationship between China and Myanmar orientation.The content of this paper includes introduction,seven chapters and conclusion.The introduction first explains that the reason for selecting this topic is to comprehensively explore the development context of the suzerain-vassal relationship between China and Myanmar,which has a good reference value for us to study the model of ancient Chinese foreign relations.Meanwhile,the political,economic,cultural and ethnic relations between China and Myanmar and the “Paukphaw”friendship between the two peoples are the continuation of the suzerain-vassal relationship between China and Myanmar in history.For Myanmar,an important country in Southeast Asia and our neighbor,we must have a more comprehensive and in-depth understanding of its suzerain-vassal relationship with China.Then the concept of suzerain-vassal relationship is defined briefly.Then it introduces and sorts out the research trends of domestic and foreign scholars,and makes a brief evaluation,and point out the inadequacy of the studies in the past.Finally,the research value,thinking,framework and method of this paper are summarized,and the innovation of this paper is explained.The first chapter mainly describes the early Sino-Burmese relations and the germination of Sino-Burmese suzerain-vassal relations.Starting from the early political exchanges between China and Myanmar,this paper mainly explains and analyzes the tributary activities between China and Myanmar from the Eastern Han Dynasty to the Tang Dynasty,and probes into the location of the Shan State and the political relations among the Tang Dynasty,the Pyu and Nanzhao.The second chapter mainly describes the formation and adjustment of Sino-Burmese suzerain-vassal relationship.Firstly,the tributary activities between the Song Dynasty and the Pagan Dynasty of Burma were explained and analyzed,and the political relations among the Song Dynasty,the Pagan Dynasty and the Dali Kingdom were analyzed,and the factors that promote the formation of Sino-Burmese suzerain-vassal relationship were explored.Secondly,the background,process and results of the establishment of Sino-Myanmar suzerain-vassal relationship are discussed.This paper expounds again the twists and turns of Sino-Burmese suzerain-vassal relationship,and introduces the efforts made by the Yuan Dynasty to consolidate the suzerain-vassal relationship with Burma.Finally,the characteristics of suzerain-vassal relationship between the Yuan Dynasty and Burma are analyzed.The third chapter mainly describes the development of suzerain-vassal relationship between China and Myanmar.After the Ming Dynasty replaced the Yuan Dynasty,it soon established suzerain-vassal relationship with Burma.The Ava,the Pegu and other separatist regimes in Burma frequently sent tributary to the Ming Dynasty,and the Ming Dynasty set up “Sanxuan liuwei”,which further promoted the development of suzerain-vassal relationship between China and Myanmar.By the middle and late Ming Dynasty,war broke out between China and Myanmar in the border area,which led to a significant decrease in tributary activities.In addition,this chapter also makes a comprehensive analysis of the reasons for the decline of the suzerain-vassal relationship between Ming and Burma,the influence of Ming-Burma war on suzerain-vassal relationship of Ming-Burma,and the characteristics of suzerain-vassal relationship between Ming and Burma.The fourth chapter mainly describes the maturation of Sino-Myanmar suzerain-vassal relationship.After the Qing Dynasty entered the Central Plains,it followed the tributary system of the Ming Dynasty.The Qing Dynasty did not establish suzerain-vassal relationship with Burma until the war with the Kon-baung Dynasty of Myanmar broke out in the Qianlong period.After the war,both sides signed the Kaungton Treaty and finally established suzerain-vassal relationship.On this basis,the Qing government institutionalized the tributary period,tributary route,tributary scale,tributary goods,knighted and reward,which laid a foundation for the Sino-Burmese suzerain-vassal relationship to enter the stage of maturation.This paper focuses on the tributary activities of Burma from Qianlong to Xianfeng,including tributary time,tributary route,tributary goods,reward and so on.This paper analyzes the cause and process of the maturation of Sino-Burmese suzerain-vassal state relationship from three aspects:politics,economy and culture,and explains the characteristics of suzerain-vassal relationship between Qing and Burma in this period.The fifth chapter mainly describes the impact of the colonial invasion of Western powers on the suzerain-vassal relationship between China and Myanmar.Due to the colonial invasion of East Asian countries by Western powers in modern times,the East Asian suzerain-vassal system with China as the core gradually disintegrated.In this process,the serial strategy adopted by Britain to dissolve the suzerain-vassal relationship between China and Myanmar had a great impact on the suzerain-vassal relationship between China and Myanmar.The sixth Chapter mainly describes the decline and end of Sino-Burmese suzerain-vassal relationship.The specific manifestations,causes and results of the decline are explained.This paper systematically discusses the destruction of the Suzerain-Vassal relationship between Qing and Burma by Britain,the Qing government’s attitude to the British destruction of the relationship between the Qing-Burma suzerain-vassal states,including the Qing government’s attitude towards the Burma issue and the negotiation between China and Britain on the Burma issue.Finally,the process of the ending of Sino-Myanmar suzerain-vassal relationship is described in detail.In addition,this chapter also summarizes the characteristics of the suzerain-vassal relationship between Qing and Burma.The seventh chapter mainly describes the characteristics of Sino-Myanmar suzerain-vassal relationship.This paper compares the suzerain-vassal relationship between China and Myanmar with that between China and Korea,China and Ryukyu,China and Vietnam,China and Siam,China and Nanzhang,and China and Sulu,analyzes the characteristics of Sino-Myanmar suzerain-vassal state relationship and discusses the positioning of Sino-Myanmar suzerain-vassal state relationship.The last chapter is the conclusion.On the basis of tracing back to the beginning and end of Sino-Burmese suzerain-vassal relationship,this paper explains why the suzerain-vassal relationship between China and Burma was established in Yuan Dynasty,analyzes the different attitudes of Yuan Dynasty and Qing Dynasty towards the suzerain-vassal relationship between China and Burma,discusses the reasons why Myanmar did not integrate into the Confucian cultural circle like Vietnam,explores the root of the misunderstanding of suzerain-vassal relationship between China and Myanmar by Burmese official history books and scholars,expounds the influence of the end of Sino-Myanmar suzerain-vassal relationship on the politics,economy and culture of the two countries.