Sovereignty in China: A Genealogy of a Concept since 1840 (Cambridge Studies in International and Comparative Law, Series Number 141)

"This book provides a comprehensive history of the emergence and the formation of the concept of sovereignty in China from the year 1840 to the present. It contributes to broadening the history of modern China by looking at the way the notion of sovereignty was gradually articulated by key Chinese intellectuals, diplomats and political figures in the unfolding of the history of international law in China, rehabilitates Chinese agency, and shows how China challenged Western Eurocentric assumptions about the progress of international law. It puts the history of international law in a global perspective, interrogating the widely-held belief of international law as universal order and exploring the ways in which its history is closely anchored to a European experience that fails to take into account how the encounter with other non-European realities has influenced its formation"-- Provided by publisher 04.0_pp_iv_iv_Copyright_page 05.0_pp_v_vi_Dedication 06.0_pp_vii_ix_Contents 07.0_pp_x_x_Figures 08.0_pp_xi_xvi_Acknowledgments 09.0_pp_1_17_Introduction 10.0_pp_18_46_International_Law_and_the_Sinocentric_Ritual_System 11.0_pp_47_81_Secularizing_a_Sacred_Empire 12.0_pp_82_108_Chinas_Struggle_for_Survival_and_the_New_Darwinist_Conception_of_International_Society_18951911 13.0_pp_109_151_China_Rejoining_the_World_and_Its_Fictional_Sovereignty_19121949 14.0_pp_152_182_From_Proletarian_Revolution_to_Peaceful_Coexistence 15.0_pp_183_219_Historical_Legacies_Globalization_and_Chinese_Sovereignty_since_1989 16.0_pp_220_226_Conclusion 17.0_pp_227_263_Bibliography 18.0_pp_264_274_Index Provides a comprehensive history of the emergence and formation of the concept of sovereignty in China from the year 1840 to the present. It will be of interest to students and scholars of international and comparative law as well as scholars of modern China and policy makers.