The gentle civilizer of the far east: a re-examination of the encounter between ‘China’ and ‘international law’

Abstract

The narrative of ‘imposition’, whereby ‘international law’ is said to have been imposed by Western powers on China, was shared by both English and Chinese literatures, albeit each holding contrasting views on the meaning and consequences of such ‘imposition’. This paper seeks to highlight the nuances in the shared ‘imposition’ narratives and challenge many of its presumptions through a chronological re-examination. First, by tracing the ‘encounter’ back to the 16th century, the unity and diversity between the Sinocentric and Eurocentric orders were re-examined. Second, by comparing the Chinese and English texts of the Opium War Treaties, this paper reveals how the Qing Empire also sought to accommodate the Eurocentric order in its own terms from 1842 to 1860. Third, by seeing the ‘encounter’ as an evolutionary rather than a revolutionary process, this paper demonstrates how the concept of ‘China as a state’ evolved from the Celestial Empire’s ‘encounter’ with ‘international law’