Tribute trade

Japanese: 朝貢貿易 - ちょうこうぼうえき

This refers to China's premodern trade relations. China has had the Sinocentrism and Hua-Yiism since ancient times, and trade with barbarians was considered a blessing from China. This applied the feudal relationship between China and its vassals to foreign countries, with China considered to be the suzerain and the foreign countries considered to be vassals. When the rulers of foreign countries came to China with tribute (tribute) out of admiration for the virtue of the Chinese emperor, the emperor would give them a gift as a blessing and appoint them as kings (investment). This allowed the emperor to demonstrate his own virtue, and the king to secure his relationship with China and gain legitimacy within the country. Once a country was recognized as a tributary of China, it would pay tribute at the designated time, route, and ceremony. It was the Ming Dynasty that expanded this diplomatic relationship to trade, and this was continued by the Qing Dynasty, which established the principle of inseparability between politics and economics, and imposed strict trade controls on the number of tribute trades, tribute ships, and number of people in response to political distrust from foreign countries. On the other hand, this order was a kind of security measure to guarantee peaceful relations between the two sides. It was basically a collection of one-to-one relationships between China and other countries, but each country could obtain products and information from other countries that had gathered in China through the exchange of tribute envoys. Although it was an unequal hierarchical structure with China at the top, the fact that the tributary states admired the virtue of the emperor was merely a one-sided afterthought from the Chinese side, and as long as certain procedures were followed, China did not question the reality of the countries or interfere in their internal affairs, so other countries were basically able to maintain their autonomy. This is considered a hierarchical world order that was established with China at the center, and is sometimes called a tributary system or a tributary system. However, this hierarchical order and trade as a benefit were in conflict with modern Western international relations based on sovereign equality and the principles of free trade, and were destroyed in the 19th century by the Opium Wars.

Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica Concise Encyclopedia About Encyclopaedia Britannica Concise Encyclopedia Information

Japanese:

中国の前近代的な貿易関係をいう。中国には古来，中華思想，華夷思想があり，夷狄 (いてき) に対する貿易は，中国が与える恩恵であると考えられた。これは国内の封建的な君臣関係を諸外国に適用するもので，中国は宗主国，諸外国は藩属国とみなされ，諸外国の君長が中国皇帝の徳を慕い，貢物をもってやってくる (朝貢) と，皇帝は恩恵として回賜を与え国王に任命する (冊封) 。これによって皇帝はみずからの徳を示し，また国王は中国との関係を確保し，国内において正統性を獲得できた。中国の朝貢国と認められると，定められた時期・ルート・儀礼を守って朝貢することになる。このような外交関係を貿易面にまで拡大したのは明朝で，さらに清朝にも受継がれ，政経不分離の原則を打出し，諸外国の政治的不信に対しては朝貢貿易の回数，貢船，人数などに制限を加える厳重な貿易統制となった。しかし一方，この秩序が両者の平和的関係を保障するため，一種の安全保障措置となっていた。これは基本的には中国と諸外国との一対一の関係の集積だったが，各国は朝貢使節の往来を通じて，中国に集ってきた他の国の物産・情報も入手することができた。中国を上位とする不平等な階層的構造ではあったものの，朝貢国が皇帝の徳を慕うというのはあくまでも中国側の一方的なあとづけにすぎず，一定の手続が守られているかぎり中国はその内実を問うことはなく内政に干渉することもなかったので，諸外国は基本的に自主性を保てた。これを中国を中心に成立していた階層的な世界秩序ととらえ，朝貢体制あるいは冊封体制ということもある。しかしこうした階層的秩序や恩恵としての貿易は，主権平等に基づく近代西欧の国際関係や自由貿易の原則と対立し，19世紀，アヘン戦争により打ち破られた。

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