The Theory Of The Western Han Dynasty To The Huns And Harmony "diplomacy"

Paying equal attention to placation and control, the thoughts of "HalteringDiplomacy" originated from the pre-Qin period, and gradually matured and improvedthrough the diplomatic practice between the Western Han Empire and the Hun Empire. TheWestern Han Dynasty’s "Haltering Diplomacy" towards the Hun not only gave the itself anupper hand in the diplomatic game with its powerful neighbor, but also laid the iconicstatus for the Diplomacy of Western Han Dynasty in ancient Chinese diplomatic history,which exerted a profound impact on the later Sino-Foreign relations and left the Chinesepeople a precious legacy of diplomatic philosophy. For a long time, academic monographson Han-Hunnish relations are numerous. However, academic monographs with thetheoretical vision of "Haltering Diplomatic" to examine and analyze its function ofsafeguarding major powers’ interests are relatively rare.Especially, in the current political situation that China is rising peacefully, the absenceof international relations theory with Chinese characteristics makes Chinese diplomacyunconfident to some extent, restricting China’s pace towards a higher level of internationalstatus. Therefore, it is necessary for the Chinese scholars to systematically arrange cases ofdiplomatic practice of the Western Han Dynasty’s "Haltering Diplomacy" towards the Hunand scientifically promote the research of traditional Chinese diplomatic philosophy,thereby refining a set of international relations theory with both empirical meaning andChinese characteristics. Intensive study of the Western Han Dynasty’s "HalteringDiplomacy" towards the Hun helps to awaken people to Chinese diplomacy tradition, lay afoundation of theoretical innovation for China’s International Relations scholars, andprovide vivid revelations for Chinese diplomacy nowadays.Through systematic research of official history books, academic monographs,archaeological reports and archaeological finds, this thesis aims to portray the start,transition and stability phases of The Western Han Dynasty’s "Haltering Diplomacy"towards the Hun in two hundred years, summarize "Marriage","Gifting","Trading", "Active Defense","Vassal","Political&Material Rewarding","Pilgrimage" and "Hostageas eight primary means and their significance of the said diplomacy, and explore theireffectiveness of maintaining national interests and promoting international status for theWestern Han Dynasty in a particular historical context, thus extracting the essence ofaccepting different opinions with an open mind “,winning people by virtue”,“employingboth kindness and severity, and having foresight on national benefits with a vision ofthe past serve the present, from traditional Chinese diplomatic wisdom to facilitatetheoretical breakthroughs by Chinese scholars in fields of International Relations andDiplomacy.