Ryukyuan missions to Imperial China were diplomatic missions that were intermittently sent from the Ryukyuan kings to the
Ming
The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last ort ...
and
Qing
The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speaki ...
emperors. These diplomatic contacts were within the
Sinocentric
Sinocentrism refers to the worldview that China is the cultural, political, or economic center of the world. It may be considered analogous to Eurocentrism.
Overview and context
Depending on the historical context, Sinocentrism can refer to ...
system of bilateral and multinational relationships in East Asia. A total of 347 Ryukyuan missions to China have been recorded.
History
King
Satto
Satto (察度) (1321 – November 17, 1395) was King of Chūzan. He is the first ruler of Okinawa Island who was recorded by contemporary sources. His reign was marked by expansion and development of Chūzan's trade relations with other states, ...
of
Chūzan
was one of three kingdoms which controlled Okinawa in the 14th century. Okinawa, previously controlled by a number of local chieftains or lords, loosely bound by a paramount chieftain or king of the entire island, split into these three more so ...
established formal relations with China in 1374. Satto became the first Ryukyuan king to send a mission to China. He was also the first to receive investiture and to submit to Chinese suzerainty in 1372.
The Ming and Qing archival records identify the Ryukyu Islands among the "unconquered barbarian countries" rather than among China's colonies. The Ryukyuan missions to China were managed by the Reception Department of the Board of Ceremonies rather than by some other Imperial bureau or agency.
[Kerr, ]
The 500-years old tributary missions ended in the late 19th century when the Sinocentric tributary state system was superseded by the Westphalian multi-state system,
[Kang, David C. (2010). ] i.e. in 1875 during the forced annexation period of the
Ryukyu Kingdom
The Ryukyu Kingdom, Middle Chinese: , , Classical Chinese: (), Historical English names: ''Lew Chew'', ''Lewchew'', ''Luchu'', and ''Loochoo'', Historical French name: ''Liou-tchou'', Historical Dutch name: ''Lioe-kioe'' was a kingdom in the ...
(then
Ryukyu Domain
The was a short-lived domain of the Empire of Japan, lasting from 1872 to 1879, before becoming the current Okinawa Prefecture and other islands at the Pacific edge of the East China Sea.
When the domain was created in 1872, Japan's feudal han ...
) by the
Empire of Japan
The also known as the Japanese Empire or Imperial Japan, was a historical nation-state and great power that existed from the Meiji Restoration in 1868 until the enactment of the post-World War II 1947 constitution and subsequent fo ...
.
See also
*
Imperial Chinese missions to the Ryukyu Kingdom Imperial Chinese missions to the Ryukyu Kingdom were diplomatic missions that were intermittently sent by the Yuan, Ming and Qing emperors to Shuri, Okinawa, in the Ryukyu Islands. These diplomatic contacts were within the Sinocentric system of ...
*
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 cul ...
*
Ryukyuan missions to Joseon Ryukyuan missions to Joseon were diplomatic and trade ventures of the Ryūkyū Kingdom which were intermittently sent in the years 1392–1879. These diplomatic contacts were within the Sinocentric system of bilateral and multinational relationship ...
*
Joseon missions to the Ryukyu Kingdom Joseon missions to the Ryukyu Kingdom were diplomatic and trade ventures of the Joseon dynasty that were intermittently sent after 1392. These diplomatic contacts were within the Sinocentric system of bilateral and multinational relationships in Ea ...
*
Ryukyuan missions to Edo
Over the course of Japan's Edo period, the Ryūkyū Kingdom sent eighteen , the capital of Tokugawa Japan. The unique pattern of these diplomatic exchanges evolved from models established by the Chinese, but without denoting any predetermined re ...
*
Ryūkyū-kan
were institutions serving as homes and bases of operations for Ryukyuan missions in early modern Fuzhou (Fujian province, China) and Kagoshima (Satsuma Domain, Japan).
Fuzhou
The Chinese ''Ryūkyū-kan'' (''Liúqiú guǎn'' in Mandarin Chines ...
*
Kōchi Chōjō
was a Ryukyuan aristocrat known for leading a movement to petition the government of Qing Dynasty China to rescue the Ryūkyū Kingdom from annexation by Imperial Japan, following the 1872 announcement by the government of Meiji Japan to do so.
...
Notes
References
* Kang, David C. (2010). ''East Asia Before the West: Five Centuries of Trade and Tribute.'' New York : Columbia University Press. ;
*
*
Kerr, George H. (1965). ''Okinawa, the History of an Island People.'' Rutland, Vermont: C.E. Tuttle Co.
Further reading
* Goodrich, Luther Carrington and Zhaoying Fang. (1976)
''Dictionary of Ming biography, 1368-1644'' (明代名人傳), Vol. I ''Dictionary of Ming biography, 1368-1644'' (明代名人傳), Vol. II.
New York: Columbia University Press
Columbia University Press is a university press based in New York City, and affiliated with Columbia University. It is currently directed by Jennifer Crewe (2014–present) and publishes titles in the humanities and sciences, including the fiel ...
. ;
* Mizuno, Norihito. (2003)
''China in Tokugawa Foreign Relations: The Tokugawa Bakufu’s Perception of and Attitudes toward Ming-Qing China,'' p. 109.
excerpt from ''Japan and Its East Asian Neighbors: Japan's Perceptionf of China and Korea and the Making of Foreign Policy from the Seventeenth to the Nineteenth Century,'' Ph.D. dissertation, Ohio State University, 2004, as cited in Tsutsui, William M. (2009)
''A Companion to Japanese History,'' p. 83.
* Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2002).
Japan Encyclopedia
'' Cambridge: Harvard University Press
Harvard University Press (HUP) is a publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University, and focused on academic publishing. It is a member of the Association of American University Presses. After the retirem ...
. ;
* Suganuma, Unryu. (2000). ''Sovereign Rights and Territorial Space in Sino-Japanese Relations: Irredentism and the Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands.'' Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. ;
* Toby, Ronald P. (1991).
State_and_Diplomacy_in_Early_Modern_Japan:_Asia_in_the_Development_of_the_Tokugawa_Bakufu''._Stanford:_Stanford_University_Press
._
*_Yoda,_Yoshiie._(1996)._''The_Foundations_of_Japan's_Modernization:_a_comparison_with_China's_Path_towards_Modernization.''_Leiden:_Brill._;_{{OCLC.html" ;"title="Stanford University Press">State and Diplomacy in Early Modern Japan: Asia in the Development of the Tokugawa Bakufu''. Stanford: Stanford University Press
.
* Yoda, Yoshiie. (1996). ''The Foundations of Japan's Modernization: a comparison with China's Path towards Modernization.'' Leiden: Brill. ; {{OCLC">246732011
Foreign relations of the Ryukyu Kingdom
Foreign relations of the Ming dynasty
Foreign relations of the Qing dynasty