22 CHINA'S UNPREPAREDNESS would not have been as pronounced a century earlier,for China was caught by the West at a moment of weakness,in the trough of the so-called dynastic cycle.But at the same time the old China suffered from inherent weaknesses CHAPTER II in thought and in institutions which would have made her at any time a prey to the modern West. Among these latter factors we may discern,first,a degree of intellectual TRIBUTE AND THE GROWTH OF TRADE blindness or inability to face the crisis presented by the West.This intellec- tual failure was due in part to China's ancient ethnocentricity,institu- As INDICATED ABOVE,the Manchu-Chinese response to the West in the tionalized in the tribute system for the conduct of foreign relations and nineteenth century was predetermined by an ideological structure of as- evident also in the traditional idea of the barbarians.Second,there was a sumptions,expectations,and evaluations inherited from China's long his- persistent lack of effective political leadership.This may be attributed tory and institutionalized in the tribute system.Tribute was a Chinese- partly to an administrative system which stultified initiative and was barbarian institution.It had been jointly created on the Sino-barbarian dominated by alien rulers,who sometimes may have put the defense of frontiers of China and jointly operated as the medium for Sino-foreign their dynasty before that of China.It came also from a social and eco- intercourse over the centuries.The ideology of tributary relations occupied nomic system in which gentry and officials were traditionally in league a place in Chinese-Manchu thinking not unlike that which nationalism and and sometimes on the defensive against the peasantry.Finally,beneath international law had come to occupy in the Western mind.The idea of these institutional weaknesses,lay the broad fact that the Confucian society tribute was closely connected with that amazing characteristic of the Con- was agrarian and bureaucratic,of a type not able to adapt itself to the fucian monarchy-the fact that barbarian invaders could so often take it commercial,industrial,and nationalist revolutions brought about by free- over and become the rulers of China.There is more to this problem than trade and free contact under the Western treaties. the myopia of Western political scientists has yet permitted them to see. The following chapters of Part I concern this theme of China's unpre- The Confucian monarchy was a peculiarly non-national institution.It paredness for Western contact-as seen in the tribute system and its rested on a Confucian-Chinese social and cultural base but could be seized application to the West before 1842.Later sections deal with the Sino- and manipulated by barbarian invaders quite as well as by Chinese rebels, British contact which led to the working out of the first treaty system,its sometimes indeed even more easily.It is hardly too much to say that by attempted application at the treaty ports,its gradual breakdown,and the modern times the Confucian monarchy in China had itself become a joint beginning of its resuscitation through the creation of the Foreign In- Sino-barbarian institution. spectorate of Customs at Shanghai in 1854. The role of the barbarians in the Chinese state.The barbarian role had grown out of a great,continuing geographical fact,which limited the Chinese empire as a political body-namely,that the intensive agricul- ture which could be widely practiced in Eastern Asia,south of the soil-and- rainfall boundary marked by the Great Wall,could not be extended far beyond it to the north.The expansion of the most ancient Chinese state, which appears first in archeology as a culture-island around the Shang dynasty capital at Anyang north of the Yellow River in Honan,led to the gradual absorption and acculturation of areas and peoples to the south and east,all the way to the borders of Burma,Siam,and southern Indo- china.In the course of three thousand years the Chinese way of life has incorporated a great variety of native tribes and Chinese colonists in central and south China,where an intensive rice culture permits a dense agrarian population.Yet in all these millennia the Chinese way has not expanded far onto the Mongol steppe,where cultivation must give way to an extensive pastoral economy and the tribal social institutions which accompany it.22 CHINA'S UNPREPAREDNESS would not have been as pronounced a century earlier, for China was caught by the West at a moment of weakness, in the trough of the so-called dynastic cycle. But at the same time the old China suffered from inherent weaknesses in thought and in institutions which would have made her at any time a prey to the modern West. Among these latter factors we may discern, first, a degree of intellectual blindness or inability to fact;) the crisis presented by the West. This intellec￾tual failure was due in part to China's ancient ethnocentricity, institu￾tionalized in the tribute system for the conduct of foreign relations and evident also in the traditional idea of the barbarians. Second, there was a persistent lack of effective political leadership. This may be attributed partly to an administrative system which stultified initiative and was dominated by alien rulers, who sometimes may have put the defense of their dynasty before that of China. It came also from a social and eco￾nomic system in which gentry and officials were traditionally in league and sometimes on the defensive against the peasantry. Finally, beneath these institutional weaknesses, lay the broad fact that the Confucian society was agrarian and bureaucratic, of a type not able to adapt itself to the commercial, industrial, and nationalist revolutions brought about by free￾trade and free contact under the Western treaties. The following chapters of Part I concern this theme of China's unpre￾paredness for Western contact - as seen in the tribute system and its application to the West before 1842. Later sections deal with the Sino￾British contact which led to the working out of the first treaty system, its attempted application at the treaty ports, its gradual breakdown, and the beginning of its resuscitation through the creation of the Foreign In￾spectorate of Customs at Shanghai in 1854. CHAPTER II TRIBUTE AND THE GROWTH OF TRADE As INDICATED ABOVE, the Manchu-Chinese response to the West in the nineteenth century was predetermined by an ideological structure of as￾sumptions, expectations, and evaluations inherited from China's long his￾tory and institutionalized in the tribute system. Tribute was a Chinese￾barbarian institution. It had been jointly created on the Sino-barbarian frontiers of China and jointly operated as the medium for Sino-foreign intercourse over the centuries. The ideology of tributary relations occupied a place in Chinese-Manchu thinking not unlike that which nationalism and international law had come to occupy in the Western mind. The idea of tribute was closely connected with that amazing characteristic of the Con￾fucian monarchy - the fact that barbarian invaders could so often take it over and become the rulers of China. There is more to this problem than the myopia of Western political scientists has yet permitted them to see. The Confucian monarchy was a peculiarly non-national institution. It rested on a Confucian-Chinese social and cultural base but could be seized and manipulated by barbarian invaders quite as well as by Chinese rebels, sometimes indeed even more easily. It is hardly too much to say that by modern times the Confucian monarchy in China had itself become a joint Sino-barbarian institution. The role of the barbarians in the Chinese state. The barbarian role had grown out of a great, continuing geographical fact, which limited the Chinese empire as a political body - namely, that the intensive agricul￾ture which could be widely practiced in Eastern Asia, south of the soil-and￾rainfall boundary marked by the Great Wall, could not be extended far beyond it to the north. The expansion of the most ancient Chinese state, which appears first in archeology as a culture-island around the Shang dynasty capital at Anyang north of the Yellow River in Honan, led to the gradual absorption and acculturation of areas and peoples to the south and east, all the way to the borders of Burma, Siam, and southern Indo￾china. In the course of three thousand years the Chinese way of life has incorporated a great variety of native tribes and Chinese colonists in central and south China, where an intensive rice culture permits a dense agrarian population. Yet in all these millennia the Chinese way has not expanded far onto the Mongol steppe, where cultivation must give way to an extensive pastoral economy and the tribal social institutions which accompany it