China’s Understanding Of The Elements Of International Law And Its Application In The Late Qing Dynasty

Translation of the books on international law is not only an important research field ofwestern knowledge be introduced into China, but also an area of the China International LegalStudies. From it, we can get some image on the change of sino—western relations.International Law is not only a title, but also the Western international law call in the late19thcentury.The book of the American jurist Wheaton’s Elements of International Law was translatedinto Chinese by Martin in1962.1864, this book was published by the devotion ofTsungliYamen. Chinese people understood the current situation at that time by this book, tounderstand the new world order, new knowledge and new value systems. China began tograsp of international order, in order to protect themselves, and then hoped that through avariety of political, social, and economic reform, the abolition of the unequal treaties, to builda sovereign state to strive for the international community with the Western powers on anequal basis.The academic world for International Law in the Late Qing Dynasty has yielded fruitfulresults, but the specific event in the Late Qing Dynasty, how to understand and apply theInternational Law, still deserve study.This article analyze the spread, development of international law, especially focused onthe early20thcentury at national level, local officials dealing with foreign-related disputes.This article also tries from a specific event to show the use and its impact.