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From Shiji (史記), or the Records of the Grand Scribe, to Mingshi (明史), the History of Ming, each work of official Chinese history includes accounts of foreign countries referred to as waiguo zhuan (外國傳). Such accounts documenting the countries and tribes surrounding Chinese dynasties have been translated, annotated, and compiled into a series published by the Northeast Asian History Foundation.

In traditional China, jizhuanti (紀傳體), or the annal-biography style Sima Qian used to author the work Shiji not only set the standard for all official historical narratives that came after Shiji, but has become as a classic style that stands even to this day. Official histories recorded by Chinese dynasties, known as zhengshi (正史), would usually contain entries of ranked biographies called liezhuan (列傳), and waiguo zhuan would be placed within those entries, offering abundant details about neighboring countries, regions, and tribes. The compilation of annotated translations of waiguo zhuan is therefore expected to function as an important source of information about each dynasty that occupied China's central plains as well as the political powers nearby and traces of the people who used to live in areas outside those central plains.

Studying Traditional China's External Relations More Comprehensively

First, the published series makes it possible to grasp how dynasties that occupied the central plains of traditional China used to chart their neighboring countries and tribes. The annal-biography style Shiji established as an exemplar for writing official histories also passed down the ideas Chinese dynasties had about nearby areas or the rest of the world, which in turn reflects the characteristics of each era.

Regions and tribes surrounding the central plains are mentioned in Chinese official histories under the names of tribes or classified by their location, and sometimes labeled with names that reveal a Sinocentric view of the world. For instance, in the beginning, the names of tribes like Xiongnu (匈奴), Nanyue (南越), and Wuhuan (烏桓) were used to indicate nearby countries and tribes or they were described according to the way dynasties categorized regions nearby with labels such as Xiyu (西域 western regions), Xinanyi (西南夷 southwestern barbarians), and Dongyi (東夷 eastern barbarians). Then descriptions of them changed to show a uniform notion of foreign countries and tribes nearby. Later narratives reveal how China considered itself to be at the center of the universe and recognized all else depending on whether they were located to their north, south, east, or west of itself.

Since the series is a collection of waiguo zhuan from each work of official Chinese history, it should be able to facilitate in carrying out comprehensive studies on the external relations traditional China formed and maintained with its neighboring regions and tribes.

Second, the series could assist in creating a new paradigm for understanding international relations in the past in East Asia. Reviewing the series in chronological order offers detailed aspects of international relations in East Asia, including the Chinese dynasties Qin (秦), Han (漢), and Ming (明). These dynasties came into contact with countries and regions not only in East Asia, but also interacted with those from the central, southeastern, and southwestern parts of Asia as well as the European and African continents. Some of those contacts ended as one-time affairs and some developed into targets that Chinese empires actively sought to influence and take over.

Clues to the Actual Tribute-Investiture System

Yet, when it comes to describing the relations Chinese dynasties had with foreign countries or regions, the official histories only used two terms to explain them: "tribute" (冊封) and "investiture" (朝貢). For example, the waiguo zhuan in Mingshi mentions many East Asian or Southeast Asian countries including Annam (安南, today's northern Vietnam), Ryukyu (today's Okinawa), Zhancheng (占城, today's southern Vietnam), Boni (渤泥, today's Brunei), and Guri (古里, today's Calcutta). It also cited European countries such as France, Italy, and the Netherlands, and even African countries as well. However, without exception, relations with all those countries are defined with the terms "tribute" and "investiture."

The published series thus again invites the question of whether those two terms had been sufficient for depicting traditional China's external relations with such a wide spectrum of countries, each formed according to their individual circumstances. There is, of course, a term called "tribute-investiture system," but since its operation or makeup had not been specifically fixed, it is possible to confirm that the system was run differently depending on time and place.

Third, the Waiguo zhuan series could offer a framework for understanding the idea of "ethnicity" within China. The coverage of ethic "minorities" in zhengshi, works of official Chinese history, are sources significant to gaining a grasp on the history of East Asia. Especially for southwest China including the provinces of Hubei (湖北), Hunan (湖南), Yunnan (雲南), and Sichuan (四川) where a diversity of ethnicities co-exist in a sublime natural environment, the region's history and culture would have been different from that of the Han Chinese at the center of traditional China.

Using the Annotated Translation of Waiguo zhuan allows the foreign relations of past empires on China's central plains to be reviewed under a macroscopic framework. It also provides a foundation for obtaining a more accurate understanding about the history and culture of various ethnicities such as those in southwest China. That particular area has not been one to receive attention for actively attempting to separate itself from China like Tibet or the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, but the various histories and cultures of the area would still be worth learning through the published series.