CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2023
| Author | Ken B Beckers |
|---|---|
| Title | Territoriality and the Transformation of Sovereignty an Analysis of British Treaty Ports in China |
| Summary | The Opium Wars and the creation of a Treaty Port System are seen as perhaps the most impactful historical events in recent Chinese history. Yet in 1842 this change was not yet acknowledged, nor was the presence of foreigners taken seriously. The idea of Tianxia, or all under heaven, in which the Chinese emperor sits in the centre of the universe, ruling an ecumenic empire, was not compatible with the idea that foreign ‘barbarians’ posed any threat. So how did this realisation come? And how did the Chinese state as we know it today begin its development? The introduction of the concept of territoriality is at the centre of this. In the decades, through the possession of the treaty ports the British and other foreign powers were able to exert power and authority over Qing lands, people, trade and even political institutions. After the loss of the Second Opium War, many of the Qing started to reconceptualise their ideas of order, sovereignty and legitimacy, especially in relation to space, or the loss of territory. Through the building of bureaucracies such as the Tsungli Yamen, partially from own motivations but also due to continued pressure of foreign powers, China transformed from an ecumenic empire into a territorial state in less than a century. The beginnings of which lie in the application of territoriality to the logic of her governance. |
| Supervisor | Riedl, Matthias; Tokić, Mate Nikola |
| Department | History MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2023/beckers_ken.pdf |
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