Foreign relations of Imperial China

: ''For the later history after 1800 see History of foreign relations of China.''
The foreign relations of Imperial China from the Qin dynasty until the Qing dynasty encompassed many situations as the fortunes of dynasties rose and fell. Chinese culture had influenced neighboring and distant countries, while being transformed by outside influences as well as being conquered. During the Western Han dynasty, the Silk Road trade routes were established and brought Hellenistic Central Asia, Persia under the Parthian Empire, and South Asia into contact with the Chinese empire. During the 2nd century BC, Zhang Qian became the first known Chinese diplomat to venture deep into Central Asia in search of allies against the Mongolic Xiongnu confederation. Han Chinese attempts were made at reaching the Roman Empire and although the mission led by Gan Ying in 97 AD was a failure, Chinese historical records nevertheless maintain that the Romans traveled to southern China and Vietnam via the Indian Ocean. Buddhism from India was introduced to China during the Eastern Han period and would spread to neighboring Vietnam, Korea, and Japan, all of which would adopt similar Confucian cultures based on the Chinese model.

Following the fall of Sasanian Persia to the Rashidun Caliphate, Chinese contacts with the Islamic world were initiated during the Tang dynasty. Foreign faiths entered China at this time, such as Zoroastrianism, Nestorian Christianity and Islam, although Chinese Buddhism and Taoism remained prominent. The Song dynasty dealt on a basis of equality with the neighboring Liao and Jin dynasties until falling to the Mongol conquest. The Mongol Empire became the dominant state in Asia, and the Pax Mongolica encouraged trade of goods, ideas, and technologies from east to west during the early and mid-13th century. Marco Polo could safely travel back and forth, for instance. The Mongol-led Yuan dynasty founded by Kublai Khan ruled from the capital of Khanbaliq (modern Beijing). The Yuan dynasty's failed diplomacy with the Kamakura Shogunate of Japan led to the Mongol invasions of Japan, which also ended in failure for the Yuan Empire.

Following the collapse of the Yuan dynasty and the formation of the Ming dynasty by the Hongwu Emperor in 1368, imperial Chinese power was projected abroad with the 15th-century Chinese treasure fleet of Admiral Zheng He. As representatives of the Yongle Emperor, Zheng's fleet sailed throughout Southeast Asia, the Indian Ocean and to East Africa exacting tribute, granting lavish gifts to vassal states, and even invaded Sri Lanka. However, the fleet was later dismantled and the Ming emperors thereafter fostered ''Haijin'' isolationist policies that limited international trade and foreign contacts to a handful of seaports and other locations. These policies saw a gradual reversal after the arrival of European explorers such as Jorge Álvares (the first foreigner to travel to China by sea) and Rafael Perestrello and, although a war was initially fought against the Portuguese Empire, the Portuguese were granted a colonial settlement at Macau in the 16th century. Catholic Jesuit missions in China were also introduced, with Matteo Ricci being the first European allowed to enter the Forbidden City of the Ming emperors in Beijing. During the subsequent Qing dynasty Jesuits from Europe such as Giuseppe Castiglione gained favor at court until the Chinese Rites controversy and most missionaries were expelled in 1706.

The dissolution of the Mongol empire in the fourteenth century made Central Asian trade routes dangerous and forced Western European powers to explore ocean routes. Following the Portuguese and Spanish Empire, Protestant powers such as the Dutch Empire and the British Empire began trading with China in the early 17th century. The Kingdom of Great Britain granted a monopoly of trade with China to the British East India Company in 1600, and Qing court moved to control this burgeoning trade with the West by creating the Canton System in 1756, granting a monopoly of trade to the merchants of the Thirteen Factories and restricted it to Canton (as Guangzhou was then known) in the south. The British Macartney Embassy of 1793 failed to convince the Qianlong Emperor to open northern Chinese ports for foreign trade or establish direct relations. The growing British importation of goods such as tea was offset by the illicit British sale of opium to smugglers. However, the Qing unilateral banning of the sale of opium led to the Opium Wars and Chinese defeat. The 1842 Treaty of Nanking replaced the Canton system with a series of treaty ports, ending the tributary system as well.

Background

In premodern times, the theory of foreign relations of China held that the Chinese Empire was the Celestial Dynasty, the center of world civilization, with the Emperor of China being the leader of the civilized world. This view saw China as equivalent to "all under heaven". All other states were considered to be tributaries, under the suzerain rule of China. Some were direct vassals. Theoretically, the lands around the imperial capital were regarded as "five zones of submission", - the circular areas differentiated according to the strength of the benevolent influence from the Son of Heaven.

There were several periods when Chinese foreign policy took on isolationist tones, because of the view that the rest of the world was poor and backward with little to offer.

Nevertheless, China was a center of trade from early on in its history. Many of China's interactions with the outside world came via the Silk Road. This included, during the 2nd century AD, contact with representatives of the Roman Empire, and during the 13th century, the visits of Venetian traveler Marco Polo.

Chinese foreign policy was usually aimed at containing the threat of so-called "barbarian" invaders (such as the Xiongnu, Mongols, and Jurchen) from the north. This could be done by military means, such as an active offense (campaigns into the north) or a more passive defense (as exemplified by the Great Wall of China). The Chinese also arranged marriage alliances known as ''heqin'', or "peace marriages."

Chinese officers distinguished between "matured/familiar barbarians" (foreigners influenced by Chinese culture) and "raw barbarians".

In many periods, Chinese foreign policy was especially assertive. One such case was exemplified by the treasure voyages of Admiral Zheng He during the Ming dynasty.

Qin Dynasty

Although many kings of the Shang and Zhou dynasties ruled beforehand, in 221 BC, the ruler of the Qin state, Ying Zheng (Qin Shi Huang), was the first to conquer the different vassal states under the Zhou dynasty, as well as other non-sinicized states. He was able to transform these different states into a relatively unified and uniform empire, the Qin Empire. Under his leadership and a society modelled around strict adherence to legalist philosophy, his once backwater western frontier state conquered all of the rivaling Warring States in ancient China. The Chinese domain was also extended into Inner Mongolia and Manchuria to the north, and with naval expeditions sent to the south, the indigenous Baiyue of modern-day Guangdong and northern Vietnam (the latter called Jiaozhi, and then Annam during the Tang dynasty) were also quelled and brought under Chinese rule.Mark Edward Lewis, ''The Early Chinese Empires: Qin and Han'' (2007).

Han dynasty

The time of the Han dynasty (202 BC–AD 220) was a groundbreaking era in the history of Imperial China's foreign relations, during the long reign of Emperor Wu of Han (r. 141–87 BC), the travels of the diplomat Zhang Qian opened up China's relations with many different Asian territories for the first time. While traveling to the Western Regions in order to seek out an alliance with the Yuezhi against the Xiongnu, Zhang Qian was imprisoned by the Xiongnu for many years, but he brought back detailed reports of lands that had been previously unknown to the Chinese. This included details of his travels to the Greek-Hellenized kingdoms of Fergana (Dayuan