Abstract
What can Chinese history tell us about China’s rise? “Chinese exceptionalism” holds that historical China has a peaceful culture rooted in Confucianism that cherishes harmony and abhors wars. China’s unique historical legacy suggests that the country will not follow the conflict-ridden path of the West. This article refutes the four popular myths of Chinese exceptionalism: 1) the myth of no foreign expansion; 2) the myth of Zheng He’s voyages; 3) the myth of the Great Wall; and 4) the myth of the kingly way. The historical record does not support the claims of Chinese exceptionalism. Historical China behaved like a realist power, much in the same way as other great powers did elsewhere. The distribution of power, not historical and cultural legacy, holds the key to understanding Chinese foreign policy. Demystifying China’s historical and cultural legacy will help us better assess the implications of China’s rise today.
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Notes
- 1.
- 2.
Government of China (2005).
- 3.
“Interview with Qian Qichen,” People’s Daily, 18 December 1997.
- 4.
“Remarks of Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao: ‘Turning Your Eyes to China,’” Harvard University Gazette, 10 December 2003.
- 5.
“People’s Daily Calls for Peaceful Development in Spirit of Ancient Navigator,” People’s Daily, 12 July 2005.
- 6.
Government of China (2011).
- 7.
- 8.
Mearsheimer (2001).
- 9.
- 10.
Gilpin (1981, 23–24).
- 11.
The case of American hegemony is illustrative. The US, between 1898 and 1934, intervened over 30 times to dictate the internal affairs of the Caribbean states. President Theodore Roosevelt, following the Monroe Doctrine, declared that the US might exercise “international police power” over the domestic and foreign affairs of its southern neighbors. As David Lake points out, these activities and a subsequent series of US military interventions in Central America in the mid-1980s, in Panama in 1989, and in Haiti in 1994, together with opposition to the Sandinista government in Nicaragua, economic sanctions on Cuba, and support of the coup against Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez, are evidence that America’s southern neighbors are not free to defy the authority of the US. See Lake (2006, 26).
- 12.
Dreyer (2007, 105).
- 13.
Wang (2011, 109–113).
- 14.
Farmer (1976, 104).
- 15.
Rossabi (1998, 224–225); Waldron (1990, 74).
- 16.
Cao (1991, 18); Dreyer (1982, 142); Langlois (1998, 157–159).
- 17.
Farmer (1976, 90).
- 18.
Hui (2010).
- 19.
- 20.
Chinese Military History Writing Group (1986, 514).
- 21.
- 22.
- 23.
Rossabi (1975, 227–228).
- 24.
- 25.
- 26.
Farmer (1976, 107–108).
- 27.
Mote (1999, 610).
- 28.
- 29.
Whitmore (1985, 82).
- 30.
Ming Shi Lu, Taizong 56: 0824. John K. Whitmore also suggests that “[t]he Chinese Emperor… wished merely to correct the Vietnamese situation and not to conquer the land. The goal of the massive expedition was to restore the Tran dynasty to the Vietnamese throne.” See Whitmore (1977, 52).
- 31.
Ming Shi Lu, Taizong 60: 0868; 68: 0944. See also Mao and Li (1994, 239–240); and Zhao (1993, 344). The number of 800,000 recorded in Ming Shi Lu may be an exaggeration, but it reflects the large scale of the campaign. Whitmore suggested that the invasion forces probably numbered 215,000 men. Whitmore (1985, 89).
- 32.
Ming Shi Lu, Taizong 56: 0824.
- 33.
The official Ming history Ming Shi Lu recorded that some one thousand Vietnamese gentry came to Zhang Fu’s camp and told him that “the Tran family have all been killed by the Le thief. There were no heirs left to inherit the throne. Annan was originally a Chinese territory, but was later lost, immersing itself in barbarian culture and not hearing the teachings of rite and righteousness. Fortunately, the Saintly Dynasty has exterminated the criminals. Soldiers, civilians, the elderly and children can witness the glory and prosperity of Chinese culture. We feel so lucky! Please revert Annan as a prefecture like before so that we can gradually eradicate barbarian culture and forever immerse in saintly culture.” Ming Shi Lu, Taizong 66: 0917. However, we have reason to believe that Zhang Fu engineered this request, since members of the Tran family had joined him against Le. See Whitmore (1977).
- 34.
Ming Shi Lu, Taizong 80:1070.
- 35.
Wang (1965, 213).
- 36.
Ming Shi Lu, Taizong 80: 1070.
- 37.
Dreyer (1982, 209).
- 38.
- 39.
Chan (1988, 289–291).
- 40.
Lo (1969, 57).
- 41.
Dreyer (2007, 105).
- 42.
- 43.
Levathes (1996, 21, 80).
- 44.
Dreyer (2007, 128).
- 45.
“Biography of Zheng He,” in Ming Shi, 304: 7766–7768; Levathes (1996, 87); Mao and Li (1994, 251); Swanson (1982, 33); Zheng (1985, 102, 105). The numbers of crew and ships vary in these accounts. I use Dreyer’s data because it is a relatively new study, and his treatment of the sources is reasoned and cautious. Dreyer (2007, Chapter 6).
- 46.
Dreyer (2007, 129).
- 47.
“Biography of Zheng He,” in Ming Shi, 304: 7766–7768.
- 48.
Dreyer (2007, 147).
- 49.
- 50.
Dreyer (2007).
- 51.
Wang (1998, 306).
- 52.
Schelling (1966, 2).
- 53.
“Biography of Zheng He,” in Ming Shi, 304: 7767; Li (1978, 283).
- 54.
Dreyer (2007, 87).
- 55.
Quoted in Dreyer (2007, 148, 192). The other inscription erected in Changle in 1431 had almost identical words. Ibid., 196.
- 56.
Farmer (1976, 106).
- 57.
Ming Shi Lu, Xuanzong 67: 1576–1577; “Biography of Zheng He,” in Ming Shi, 304: 7768.
- 58.
Dreyer (2007, xii).
- 59.
Kissinger (2011, 20).
- 60.
Waldron (1990, 46–49).
- 61.
Mote (1988, 389).
- 62.
Ming Shi Lu, Xianzong 30: 602–603.
- 63.
Ming Shi Lu, Xianzong 108: 2118–2120; Pokotilov (1947, 74).
- 64.
Ming Shi Lu, Xianzong 108: 2120.
- 65.
Ming Shi Lu, Xianzong 108: 2109–2110; Waldron (1990, 101).
- 66.
Ming Shi Lu, Xianzong 111: 2161–2162.
- 67.
Ming Shi 178: 2091–2092; Ming Shi Lu, Xianzong 111: 2161–2162; Waldron (1990, 102–103).
- 68.
Waldron (1990, 103).
- 69.
Ibid., 141.
- 70.
- 71.
Yan (2011, 66, 99).
- 72.
Qin (2007, 330).
- 73.
Kissinger (2011, 19).
- 74.
Fairbank (1968).
- 75.
Knoblock (1988).
- 76.
- 77.
Wang (1968, 60).
- 78.
Fairbank (1992, 129).
- 79.
- 80.
Rossabi (1983).
- 81.
Clark (1998).
- 82.
- 83.
- 84.
“Japan,” in Ming Shi, 322: 8343; Dreyer (1982, 120).
- 85.
- 86.
Fletcher (1968, 209–216).
- 87.
Quoted in Larsen (2008, 28).
- 88.
Ibid., 29–35.
- 89.
Clark (1998, 272).
- 90.
- 91.
Lam (1968, 178).
- 92.
Woodside (1971, 18).
- 93.
Ibid., 19–20.
- 94.
Womack (2006, 136).
- 95.
Tao (1988, 4, 8).
- 96.
Lieberthal and Wang (2012). The authors note that strategic distrust runs deeper on the Chinese side.
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Wang, Yk. (2015). The Myth of Chinese Exceptionalism: A Historical Perspective on China’s Rise. In: Aggarwal, V., Newland, S. (eds) Responding to China’s Rise. The Political Economy of the Asia Pacific, vol 15. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-10034-0_3
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