Tribute, Hostages, and Marriage Alliances: A Close Reading of Diplomatic Strategies in the Northern Wei Period

IF 0.3 4区 社会学 0 ASIAN STUDIES Early Medieval China Pub Date : 2019-01-01 DOI:10.1080/15299104.2019.1660088
Armin Selbitschka
{"title":"Tribute, Hostages, and Marriage Alliances: A Close Reading of Diplomatic Strategies in the Northern Wei Period","authors":"Armin Selbitschka","doi":"10.1080/15299104.2019.1660088","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Early imperial and early medieval Chinese foreign relations have been mainly viewed through the prism of the so-called tributary system. Consequently, tribute relations with the Northern Wei court are either reduced to business ventures undertaken by foreign polities, or empty ideological exercises by the Tuoba emperors, who were only interested in having their worldview confirmed. Such views disregard the actual political and diplomatic value of tribute offerings to the Northern Wei. This article will provide a corrective through a close reading of diplomatic interactions recorded largely in the Wei shu that involved tribute offerings. Since these interactions sometimes also involved diplomatic hostages and marriage alliances, they will be briefly analyzed as well. I will show that tribute, in fact, was a political tool that was successfully utilized to meet various ends by both parties involved in bilateral exchanges. In the true sense of diplomatic interaction, tribute relations were highly effective means to negotiate peace.","PeriodicalId":41624,"journal":{"name":"Early Medieval China","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.3000,"publicationDate":"2019-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/15299104.2019.1660088","citationCount":"2","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Early Medieval China","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1080/15299104.2019.1660088","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"0","JCRName":"ASIAN STUDIES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 2

Abstract

Early imperial and early medieval Chinese foreign relations have been mainly viewed through the prism of the so-called tributary system. Consequently, tribute relations with the Northern Wei court are either reduced to business ventures undertaken by foreign polities, or empty ideological exercises by the Tuoba emperors, who were only interested in having their worldview confirmed. Such views disregard the actual political and diplomatic value of tribute offerings to the Northern Wei. This article will provide a corrective through a close reading of diplomatic interactions recorded largely in the Wei shu that involved tribute offerings. Since these interactions sometimes also involved diplomatic hostages and marriage alliances, they will be briefly analyzed as well. I will show that tribute, in fact, was a political tool that was successfully utilized to meet various ends by both parties involved in bilateral exchanges. In the true sense of diplomatic interaction, tribute relations were highly effective means to negotiate peace.
查看原文
分享 分享
微信好友 朋友圈 QQ好友 复制链接
本刊更多论文
进贡、人质与联姻:北魏时期外交策略细读
帝国早期和中世纪早期中国的对外关系主要是通过所谓的朝贡制度的棱镜来看待的。因此,与北魏朝廷的朝贡关系要么沦为对外政策的商业冒险,要么沦为拓跋皇帝空洞的意识形态练习,他们只对自己的世界观得到证实感兴趣。这种观点忽视了向北魏进贡的实际政治和外交价值。本文将通过仔细阅读《魏书》中主要记录的涉及贡品的外交互动来提供纠正。由于这些互动有时也涉及外交人质和婚姻联盟,因此也将对其进行简要分析。我将说明,事实上,贡品是一种政治工具,被参与双边交往的双方成功地用于实现各种目的。在真正意义上的外交互动中,朝贡关系是谈判和平的非常有效的手段。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
求助全文
约1分钟内获得全文 去求助
来源期刊
Early Medieval China
Early Medieval China ASIAN STUDIES-
CiteScore
0.30
自引率
0.00%
发文量
8
期刊最新文献
Animality, Humanity, and Divine Power: Exploring Implicit Cannibalism in Medieval Weretiger Stories Nonhuman Self-cultivators in Early Medieval China: Re-reading a Story Type Mistaken Identities: Negotiating Passing and Replacement in Chinese Records of the Strange Diverging Conceptions of Apotheosis in Fourth-Century CE Upper Purity Daoism Lore and Verse: Poems on History in Early Medieval China
×
引用
GB/T 7714-2015
复制
MLA
复制
APA
复制
导出至
BibTeX EndNote RefMan NoteFirst NoteExpress
×
×
提示
您的信息不完整,为了账户安全,请先补充。
现在去补充
×
提示
您因"违规操作"
具体请查看互助需知
我知道了
×
提示
现在去查看 取消
×
提示
确定
0
微信
客服QQ
Book学术公众号 扫码关注我们
反馈
×
意见反馈
请填写您的意见或建议
请填写您的手机或邮箱
已复制链接
已复制链接
快去分享给好友吧!
我知道了
×
扫码分享
扫码分享
Book学术官方微信
Book学术文献互助
Book学术文献互助群
群 号:481959085
Book学术
文献互助 智能选刊 最新文献 互助须知 联系我们:info@booksci.cn
Book学术提供免费学术资源搜索服务,方便国内外学者检索中英文文献。致力于提供最便捷和优质的服务体验。
Copyright © 2023 Book学术 All rights reserved.
ghs 京公网安备 11010802042870号 京ICP备2023020795号-1