The Late Qing Dynasty To Use International Law To Maintain The Concept And Practice Of The Imperial Clan

The Qing Empire with the name of"the Celestial Empire"was invaded and harassed by the western world from the middle of the 19th century. The Qing government gradually gave up the dignity of the master of world after the First and the Second Opium War between the Qing Empire and the western world with the powerful force. The officials sought a way on which the Qing government could not only preserve the Suzerain-Vassal System but also develop the diplomatic relations with the western world. China followed the Suzerain-Vassal System when the foreign affairs need to be managed. The Suzerain-Vassal System was a traditional system of ancient China about the foreign relations under the control of Confucianism. It was ruled that China was the center and suzerain state. It was the development of Chinese inner institution about the foreign relations. China coordinated the relations with neighboring countries by the Suzerain-Vassal System, while the western world took the international law as the criterion of development of the foreign relations. Therefore the men of insight advocated and translated the international law in the Late Qing Dynasty. Thus the international law could be transmitted widely. In this procedure it was adsorbed and applied by the Qing government.The paper was divided into four parts mainly. It illustrated and explained the thought and practices about that the international law was used to preserve the Suzerain-Vassal System in the Late Qing Dynasty.In the first part, the introduction and the spread of the international law were discussed, including the effects of the introduction of the international law on the scholars in the Late Qing Dynasty. The international law was the outcome of the western civilization. Facing to the foreign ideology and culture, the scholars had to have some reliability to accept it. This made the analogy between the international law and the public law of the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. This analogy was benefit to the spread of the international law in the Chinese society. The international law gradually integrated into the scholars'world of thought in the Late Qing Dynasty.The second part was divided into three sections. In the first section, the theoretical sources of the Suzerain-Vassal System was resumed in terms of the superiority of Chinese culture, the legal system, the world view and the view of Hua and Yi. In the second section, the international order of East Asia in the Qing Dynasty and the transitions and limitations were discussed. At last, the generation of the western diplomatic system under the criterion of the international law was illustrated, including the generation of the diplomatic notion in the Late Qing Dynasty. These transitions of diplomatic notion laid the groundwork for the utilization of the international law in the foreign affairs.In the third part, the utilization of the international law in the foreign affairs between China and France about the Vietnam issue was illustrated. First the period background of Sino-French War was introduced, also including the cause of France-Vietnam relationship. Then this part discussed the response of the Qing government and Vietnam when facing the invasion of France. The relationship between Vietnam and the Qing government had deep historical origin. If the security of Vietnam was facing threaten, as the suzerain state, the Qing government could not pay no attention. As a result, we can see how the scholars in the Late Qing Dynasty preserved the relationship between China and Vietnam by the thought of international law. The thought of international law was applied in the foreign affairs between China and France about Vietnam issue; however, its effects were very little.In the fourth part, the utilization of the international law in the foreign affairs between China and Japan about the Korea issue was discussed. First this part introduced that Japan invaded Korea and Korea was forced to sign Treaty of Kanghwa. This challenged the tributary relation between China and Korea. Then the second section illustrated how the officials of Qing government negotiated with Japan by the thought of international law and preserved the Suzerain-Vassal relationship between China and Korea. Nevertheless when Korea opened its ports and traded with the western world, this predicted that the Suzerain-Vassal relationship began to be impacted. The treaty system and the Suzerain-Vassal System survived together. But at last the Sino-Japanese War of Jiawu broke out. The signature of Treaty of Shimonoseki declared that the ending of the Suzerain-Vassal System. The scholars in the Late Qing Dynasty tried to preserve the Suzerain-Vassal System. This meant that they made the last efforts and struggle for preserving traditional dominant order. The treaty system would replace the Suzerain-Vassal System. It is the progress of society and the necessity of history.Because of the limitation of time and energy, this article still has some inadequacy. First, the article is a little long. It is not concise enough. Second, too many historical materials were piled up. Some parts are short of the author's subjective analysis. Third, the discussion about the utilization of international law was not comprehensive. It is up for digging out historical materials further.