Yang Zewei, in her article, Western International Law and China’s Confucianism in the 19th Century, explains the intricacies of Confucianism and its difficult and complicated transition to modern times. Confucianism stems from China’s long and very ancient history—tradition, values, ideas, virtues, superstitions, etc. Yang Zewei simplified Confucianism into two categories: the concept of Celestial Empire and the Tributary System.
The Celestial Empire appears to be a more exotic form of absolutism with layers of harmony. Zewei writes of three factors that influenced the concept of the Celestial Empire: geography ignorance, unbalanced superiority over surrounding area, and over empowerment of the emperors, “Chinese authority regarded China as a Celestial Empire with ultimate supremacy over other countries…China is the center of the world…and every emperor claimed himself to be chosen by Heaven” (Zewei 2011, 287-288). China is surrounded by borders whether it be sea or …show more content…
Western and European influence would put hot coals on China. The realization that China was not the center of the world was a reality check; its first knee jerk reaction was closing its borders to foriegners, “fears that the relationship with foreign states would endanger the Empire, Qing adapted a closed-door policy” (Zewei 2011, 297). Zewei refers to Chinas engagement to Western culture as a collision. It was the realization of survival that perhaps truly motivated China to change and accept modernization, thus leaving its long held Confucianism; “devotion to production, agriculture, commerce, and industry makes a country rich, and improvements of weapons and troops makes a country powerful.” (Zewei 2011, 306). In conclusion, it took outside influence to challenge China into change from Confucianism (mystic self centeredness) to Western modernization and technology
The Celestial Empire appears to be a more exotic form of absolutism with layers of harmony. Zewei writes of three factors that influenced the concept of the Celestial Empire: geography ignorance, unbalanced superiority over surrounding area, and over empowerment of the emperors, “Chinese authority regarded China as a Celestial Empire with ultimate supremacy over other countries…China is the center of the world…and every emperor claimed himself to be chosen by Heaven” (Zewei 2011, 287-288). China is surrounded by borders whether it be sea or …show more content…
Western and European influence would put hot coals on China. The realization that China was not the center of the world was a reality check; its first knee jerk reaction was closing its borders to foriegners, “fears that the relationship with foreign states would endanger the Empire, Qing adapted a closed-door policy” (Zewei 2011, 297). Zewei refers to Chinas engagement to Western culture as a collision. It was the realization of survival that perhaps truly motivated China to change and accept modernization, thus leaving its long held Confucianism; “devotion to production, agriculture, commerce, and industry makes a country rich, and improvements of weapons and troops makes a country powerful.” (Zewei 2011, 306). In conclusion, it took outside influence to challenge China into change from Confucianism (mystic self centeredness) to Western modernization and technology