interdependence of humans and ecology not just by virtue of a Han-
barbarian self-other dichotomy.
Even tribute, a primary measure of Hanspace ostensibly defined by
ethnically diverse human relations, is bounded by ecological links forged
by distance and distinct types offlora, fauna, and minerals. Hanspace
manifests itself metaphysically in that it always exists to some degree every-
where and, since the beginning of Chinese recorded history, at every time in
essentially the same way. However, it is not absolutely unlimited, and tribute
appears as a result of spatial confines and differences. In Hu’sviewthe
influence ofshengjiaoextended beyond the empire’s physical administrative
boundaries (jiangli) that encompassed the Nine Provinces. Nevertheless,
although“there is no distance [shengjiao] does not reach,”it was consider-
ably attenuated by distance from the Han core of the state. Indeed, tribute, in
its most basic sense as the local produce,flora, and fauna presented by
subordinates to superiors, was the primary tangible evidence of the oper-
ation ofshengjiaooutside the exclusively Han core of the state.^23 This ethnic
core also attenuates through the two transitional outer domains culminating
in the“four seas,”which are not really bodies of water and entirely inhabited
by the non-Han Yi, Di, Rong, and Man peoples. As Hu in effect states, these
groups rule their own lands and people.^24
The force ofshengjiaonevertheless remains sufficient to tie the Han
core and non-Han periphery together and even portend their eventual
unification by assimilation:
The lords of the Domain of Restraint and the Wild Domain, which lie beyond [the
three domains of the Sovereign, Nobles, and Pacification],...all present [tribute] in
order to express their sincere desire to move toward assimilation by proper
emulation...Tribute relations even extend to the island barbarians of the east
beyond the seas and the various western barbarians, who all come to make offerings
and be governed...Tribute should be taken in the sense of wide, of great. For...
taxation is limited to the core of the state, but tribute links the world. To say
“taxation”does not include tribute, but to say“tribute”does include taxation.
Thus, when historians use tribute for the name of this section [i.e., the“Yugong”],
they actually mean it in the sense of the greater unity [da yitong]fromeasttowest.^25