The Rise and Fall of Tribute System in Ming Dynasty

Keywords; China tribute trade. K23 document identification code: An article number:1006-027804-191-02 Tribute was first seen in Hanshu, with hundreds of articles: Hanxing meatballs and Erkuo tributes, each of which performed its duties. This form of tribute existed in the Shang and Zhou Dynasties. There is a song: Once upon a time, there was soup. What about you? I have become a monk. Dare not enjoy it. No, I dare not see the king. Businessmen are often. This tributary relationship was the bond to maintain the friendly relations between China and neighboring countries at that time. From thick to thin in tribute trade, it has been formed at the latest. After the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, it became the guiding ideology in tribute trade. The formation of China was based on the concept of propriety, which spread the prestige of the emperor as the son of heaven, expanded its influence and built a unified situation. Tribute envoys from neighboring countries paid tribute to Dihua, and Dihua rewarded them. In addition, some incidental personal belongings are also traded in China. This trade in goods was called tribute trade in history. The concept of Gunnar originated from Gunnar, which is essentially the same as the principle of internal governance. Moreover, in view of the coexistence of the central government and local governments during the domestic rule, although the system is centralized, the actual operation is dominated by local governments. Coupled with other factors, in foreign relations, it is more appropriate to form domestic and foreign parts, one of which dominates the other, than to form a way in which domestic rule gradually expands outward. As a prerequisite for tribute, the tributary country accepted the opportunity for China and the United States to recognize the local king and grant him a title, and went to the occasion where King China appeared in front of the king. Holding various activities around submission to the central government is the basic way to maintain relations with China. According to the record of the poem Ode to Shang Dynasty, the only mistake is Yi. Salute salt, kudzu vine and seafood. The "Yi" mentioned here refers to the "Dongyi" in Gong Yu's years in Shangshu. In the Xia Dynasty, they provided salt, kudzu vine cloth and all kinds of seafood to the Central Plains Dynasty. The rulers of the central plains dynasty will also give back. This may be the earliest tribute trade in the history of China. The Book of the Later Han Dynasty recorded Dongyi's poems about doing business: a fortune teller was fierce and was hacked overseas. In other words, the king's fortune teller is majestic, and all overseas countries have surrendered. The more you worship pheasants, the more powerful the Japanese are. It can be seen that both Vietnamese and Japanese came to gunnar at that time. At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, as soon as he ascended the throne, he immediately sent envoys to neighboring countries. At the beginning of HongChu, overseas vassal states had contacts with China, and envoys came in an endless stream. Zhu Yuanzhang wqmttx also listed Korea, Japan, Annan, Zhenla, Siam, Zhancheng, Sumatra, Java, Yiheng, Baihua, Sambucci and Nepal. As a form of state that will not be expropriated, the ancestors said: I am afraid that future generations will rely on China's prosperity, covet temporary military achievements, launch wars for no reason, and kill people. Remember this. This policy is obviously conducive to the development of friendly relations between China and Asian and African countries. On the surface, the relationship between Ming Dynasty and neighboring countries was a vassal relationship. Neighboring countries should pay tribute to the Ming Dynasty, give titles to China, and seal calendars for Emperor China. In fact, this suzerain-vassal relationship is only a form of maintaining friendly relations between China and neighboring countries, and it does not have the essence of political rule and supplementary rule. Since ancient times, China has been a unified country with a high degree of civilization development. Because of the low level of civilization development in neighboring countries, China's deep influence and China's great national strength, it has always regarded itself as a vassal. They paid tribute to China, and China pursued the policy of favoring one over the other, and got much more in return than they paid. In this so-called tribute trade, neighboring countries benefited a lot, so they paid tribute in succession, which led to a lot of Ming Dynasty. They have repeatedly strictly controlled the time, ships and quantity of tribute, but all countries refused to abide by it. they

In a sense, the maritime ban is Zhu Yuanzhang's narrow thought. He doesn't know that I don't know what's going on overseas. He thinks that China is a paradise-like country with everything. Without me, I don't need foreign goods. On the other hand, he himself is very frugal, not extravagant, and not interested in overseas treasures. Therefore, under the sea ban, this official tribute trade, as a channel, can not only satisfy his vanity of coming to South Korea from all over the world, but also obtain necessary overseas goods, which makes him think that it is unnecessary to conduct private maritime trade. Therefore, the implementation of the sea ban policy actually pushed the tribute trade to the peak. Zhu Yuanzhang established the principle of favoritism from the beginning. No matter how much tribute he pays, he can accumulate a lot of money. In the tribute trade, it became the basic policy of the Ming Dynasty. When foreign envoys pay tribute to China, they are not only treated with courtesy by the trade department, but also transported by post stations and local officials along the way, hosting banquets and conducting duty-free transactions. For foreign tribute envoys, tribute is a good thing that benefits a lot, so the tributors are very enthusiastic. From the above, it is not difficult to see that the tribute trade under the condition of maritime ban is official trade, strictly controlled by the government from beginning to end, not for the purpose of seeking economic benefits, and shrouded in a strong political color; Only by paying tribute can foreign countries trade some commodities and profit from them. In essence, tribute trade is only a means to win over other countries, mainly for political purposes, and has no economic value in itself. From the form of trade, we can also see that the exchange activities represented by tributes and rewards do not have the nature of trade in the modern sense. It also violates the basic principles of economics to pursue the use value without considering the exchange value without following the economic principles of equivalent exchange. Therefore, the political purpose of this tribute trade is not to develop overseas trade, but to promote the so-called tribute etiquette obedience. From this point of view, it indicates that the tributary trade system will inevitably rise and fall with the rise and fall of the suzerain and eventually die out. Tribute trade was a part of the Ming Dynasty's maritime ban policy. At the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China, People's Republic of China (PRC) (PRC) imposed a maritime ban, and foreign merchant ships were not allowed to enter China. However, since the Song and Yuan Dynasties, the overseas trade between China and the United States has developed to a fairly high level. If it is banned suddenly, the resistance will be great. Foreign countries need China's goods, and China also needs foreign goods, which must not be exchanged. In order to implement the maritime ban more effectively, such a channel of goods exchange strictly controlled by the government, that is, tribute trade, was reserved.