Rethinking International Legal Narrative Concerning Nineteenth Century China: Seeking China’s Intellectual Connection to International Law

Abstract

The standard of civilization is haunting international legal studies. The problem remains whether the non-Western traditions are legitimate sources for international governance. Although legal scholars sometimes approach international law from different perspectives or from a particular experience, at last, they are still writing about one international law that are supposed to apply to all nation-states without differentiation. The future outlook of international law partly depends on if there are real and lasting Asian intellectual connections with international law and whether the Asian inspirations could find their expression in the existing international legal framework. After exploring the existing discourse on China’s reception of international law in the nineteenth century, the paper suggests that Qing China’s statesmen had a vision for co-existence of international legal system and the China oriented tributary system.