La conception de l'ordre mondial dans la Chine impériale

Imperial China's conception of the world order, by René Servoise The Middle Empire, a vast enclosed world physically defended by formidable natural barriers, has always been surrounded by peoples whose level of civilization was inferior to its own. In the course of time, the Chinese established a system which formed the basis of their relationship with neighbouring peoples: the tribute system, which developed over a period of almost twenty- five centuries. It was a complicated system of feudal origin, with religious, philosophical, political and trade aspects, and was applied to a widely varying number of foreign entities - from a dozen to a hundred, depending on the era. The States of Korea, Vietnam, the Ryu-Kyu archipelago, Siam, Burma, Laos, Nepal, etc. were among the tributary States during this span of history. Almost up till 1911, the Chinese thought that the universal order should be established around the centre of the world, i.e. China. [Revue française de science politique XXIII (3), juin 1973, pp. 550-569.]La conception de l'ordre mondial dans la Chine Impériale, par René Servoise L'Empire du Milieu, vaste monde clos sur lui-même et défendu physiquement par de formidables barrières naturelles, a toujours été entouré de peuples de civilisation inférieure à la sienne. Les Chinois ont au cours des temps établi un système régissant leurs relations avec les peuples limitrophes : le système des tributs qui a évolué sur près de vingt-cinq siècles. D'origine féodale, ce système complexe - aux aspects religieux, philosophiques, politiques et commerciaux, s'est appliqué, selon les époques, à un nombre très variable d'entités étrangères - de la douzaine à la centaine. Les Etats de Corée, du Vietnam, de archipel Ryu-Kyu, du Siam, de la Birmanie, du Laos, du Népal, etc. furent parmi les Etats-tributaires au cours de cette histoire. Jusqu'en 1911 pratiquement, les Chinois ont estimé que l'ordre universel devait s'établir autour du centre du monde, c'est-à-dire la Chine. [Revue française de science politique XXIII (3), juin 1973, pp. 550-569.] IMPERIAL CONCEPTION OF THE WORLD ORDER REN SERVOISE The Middle Empire vast enclosed world physically defended by formidable natural barriers has always been surrounded by peoples whose level of civi lization was inferior to its own In the course of time the Chinese established system which formed the basis of their relationship with neighbouring peoples the tribute system which developed over period of almost twenty- five centuries II was complicated system of feudal origin with religious philosophical political and trade aspects and was applied to widely varying number of foreign entities from dozen to hundred depending on the era The States of Korea Vietnam the Ryu-Kyu archipelago Siam Burma Laos Nepal etc were among the tributary States during this span of history Almost up till 1911 the Chinese thought that the universal order should be established around the centre of the world China .Revue -fran aise de science politique XXIII 3) juin 1973 pp 550-569.Servolse René. La conception de l'ordre mondial dans la Chine impériale. In: Revue française de science politique, 23ᵉ année, n°3, 1973. pp. 550-569