Pax Sinica

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Pax Sinica (Latin for "Chinese peace"; Template:Zh) is a historiographical term referring to periods of peace and stability in East Asia,<ref name="EASEA">Template:Cite book</ref> Northeast Asia,<ref name="NEA">Template:Cite book</ref> Southeast Asia,<ref name="EASEA" /> and Central Asia<ref name="CA">Template:Cite book</ref> led by China. A study on the Sinocentric world system reveals that the multiple periods of Pax Sinica, when taken together, amounted to a length of approximately two thousand years.<ref name="2000years">Template:Cite book</ref>

The first Pax Sinica of the Eastern world emerged during the rule of the Han dynasty and coincided with the Pax Romana of the Western world led by the Roman Empire.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="enckre135" /> It stimulated long-distance travel and trade in Eurasian history.<ref name="enckre135">Template:Cite book</ref> Both the first Pax Sinica and the Pax Romana eroded at circa AD 200.<ref name="enckre135" />

Periods of historical Pax SinicaEdit

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The Portraits of Periodical Offering of Liang. A 6th-century painting in National Museum of China depicting tributary envoys from right to left: Uar (Hephthalites); Persia; Baekje (Korea); Qiuci; Wo (Japan); Langkasuka (in present-day Malaysia); Dengzhi (鄧至) (Qiang) Ngawa; Zhouguke (周古柯), Hebatan (呵跋檀), Humidan (胡密丹), Baiti (白題, similar to the Hephthalite people), who dwell close to Hephthalite; Mo (Qiemo).

Han dynastyEdit

The first period of Pax Sinica came into being during the Han dynasty of China.<ref name=Han1>Template:Cite book</ref> Domestically, the power of the emperor was consolidated following the devastation of the feudal system.<ref name=Han2>Template:Cite book</ref> The Rule of Wen and Jing (文景之治) and the Rule of Ming and Zhang (明章之治) were periods of societal stability and economic prosperity. Externally, the Han dynasty neutralized the threat posed by the nomadic Xiongnu following a series of wars.<ref name=Han3>Template:Cite book</ref> The boundaries of China were extended into what is modern-day western Xinjiang, South Korea (near modern Seoul), and Vietnam (around modern Huế).<ref name=Han2A>Grousset (1964). p. 60.</ref> The Silk Road emerged as a major route that connected the East and the West after the Han diplomat Zhang Qian established contact with the numerous Central Asian tribes and states, thus facilitating commerce and cultural exchanges.<ref name=Han2B>Grousset (1964). p. 85.</ref>

The Pax Sinica established by the Han dynasty is often compared to the Pax Romana of the Roman Empire.<ref name=Han1 /><ref name=Han5>Template:Cite book</ref> The Pax Sinica of the Han dynasty ended following decades of internal turmoil that later led to the downfall of the Han dynasty and a period of fragmentation in Chinese history.

Tang dynastyEdit

The Tang dynasty was one of the golden ages in Chinese history and presided over another period of Pax Sinica.<ref name=Tang1>Template:Cite book</ref> The Tang capital, Chang'an, was a major economic and cultural hub, and was the world's largest urban settlement at the time.<ref name=Tang2>Template:Cite book</ref> The Silk Road facilitated economic and cultural exchanges between China and the outside world, with Persians and Sogdians among those who benefited the most from such exchanges with China.<ref name=Tang1 /> In the north, the First Turkic Khaganate was defeated and annexed;<ref name=Tang3>Template:Cite book</ref> in the west, the Tang dynasty extended its control as far as modern-day Afghanistan and the Aral Sea;<ref name=Tang4>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name=Tang5>Template:Cite book</ref> in the east, Tang control reached Sakhalin.<ref name=Tang5 /> During its peak, the Tang dynasty maintained hegemony over 72 tributary states.<ref name=Tang6>Template:Cite book</ref> During this period, Chinese culture was revitalized and became more diverse and cosmopolitan.<ref name=Tang1 /> The amount of interaction between China and Japan increased; Chinese influence on Japanese culture and politics became more prominent since the Tang dynasty.<ref name=Tang7>Template:Cite book</ref>

Yuan dynastyEdit

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The Yuan dynasty was an imperial dynasty of China ruled by ethnic Mongol and was the main successor to the Mongol Empire. While the Yuan dynasty is often considered a legitimate Chinese dynasty that bore the Mandate of Heaven, historians usually classify this period of peace under the Pax Mongolica.<ref name=Yuan1>Template:Cite book</ref>

Ming dynastyEdit

The Ming dynasty of China presided over another period of Pax Sinica.<ref name=Ming1>Template:Cite book</ref> This period saw the formal institutionalization of the Chinese tributary system, illustrating the great political power of China at the time.<ref name=Ming2>Template:Cite book</ref> The seven maritime expeditions led by Zheng He projected the imperial power of the Ming dynasty across Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, and East Africa.<ref name=Ming3>Template:Cite book</ref> During this period, China also exerted a great amount of influence on the culture and politics of Korea.<ref name=Ming4>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name=Ming5>Template:Cite book</ref>

Qing dynastyEdit

The Qing dynasty of China heralded another period of Pax Sinica.<ref name=Qing1>Template:Cite book</ref> At its peak, it ruled over the fourth largest empire territorially, constituting 9.87 per cent of the world's total land area.<ref name=Qing2>Template:Cite book</ref> The High Qing era was a period of sustained population growth,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> economic prosperity and territorial expansion.<ref name=Qing3>Template:Cite book</ref> The multicultural and multiethnic nature of the Qing dynasty was fundamental to the subsequent formation of the modern nationalist concept of Zhonghua minzu. As the rulers of the Qing dynasty were ethnic Manchu, this period of peace is also sometimes known as "Pax Manjurica".<ref name=Qing4>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name=Ming1A>Horner (2010). p. 54.</ref><ref name=2000yearsA>Smolnikov (2018). p. 141.</ref>

Analogy For Modern ChinaEdit

The People's Republic of China, in the immediate aftermath of the reforms of Deng Xiaoping, adopted an semi-free-market economy, and since then, has been a prominent and preeminent power when it comes to the manufacturing of cheaply made goods, with manufacturing making up 36.5% of China's total economy,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and because of this, alongside other factors, China has rose immensely as a superpower, whereas America has declined somewhat in international power and influence, thus leading to China's new period being defined as Pax Sinica by some scholars.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

ReferencesEdit

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