Maritime Frontiers, Territorial Expansion and Haifang 63
seas” (guojia fuyou sihai),^15 the territory extended only up to the sea-coast
in the east. As the author of the Haiguo tuzhi, Wei Yuan (1794‒1857),
observed, even when China was ruled by the great emperors, who were
“diligent in conquering new territories” (hao qin yuanlue zhi jun), it did
not reach the ends of the land mass except on the eastern coastline. An
unprecedented expansion [beyond the coastline] into the South Seas took
place during the times of the Great Khan Khubilai, but the Yuan forces
only temporarily occupied Champa and Java.^16
Conversely, domains were lost from time to time. One example is
the 16 districts ceded by Shi Jingtang of the Later Jin during the Five
Dynasties period (907‒60). Shi, who was aided by the Liao in his founding
of the Later Jin, ceded 16 districts in the northern part of modern Hobei
and Shansi provinces to the Qidan (Khitans). Nevertheless, Yue Shi, a
Song Dynasty compiler, continued to include these places as part of the
Song territories. However, an introduction to his work prepared by the
chief compilers of the Siku quan shu (The complete library of the four
treasures) during the Qianlong reign point out that these districts had not
in fact formed part of the Song domain; their inclusion in Yue Shi’s works
probably indicated that the early Song government was determined
to recover the lost territories.^17 Apparently, in the minds of the chief
compilers during the Qing, the term domain (bantu) implied only the
territory under effective administration with demarcated boundaries,
within which the registered households (hukou) and the land tax (tianfu)
subsequently paid formed two foundations of the administration.
Although the Song government was not responsible for the loss of the
16 districts, it perceived their cession as a humiliation and therefore it had
a moral obligation as a successor dynasty to recover them. There were also
rare occasions on which territorial losses were accepted matter-of-factly.
The Yongzheng Emperor (r. 1723‒35), for example, showed βlexibility
and generosity in conceding a loss of territory to Annam in 1725, when
the Yun-Guei Governor-General, Gao Qizhuo, reported the encroachment
on China’s borders by Annam. The emperor replied that, in a choice
between boundary demarcations and neighborly spirit, between the use
of force and inducing willing submission, he would prefer the latter in
each case. He said:
- HGTZ, 49: 11b.
- Ibid., 2: 24a.
- “Introduction” to Taiping huanyu zhi 太平寰宇记 [A geographical encyclopedia
compiled during the Taiping Xingguo years (976–984)] ((hereafter TPHYZ),
comp. Yue Shi (930–1007) 樂史撰，la–b, in Siku quan shu 四庫全書 [The
complete library of the four treasures] (hereafter SKQS), “History Section”; also
“Zongmu” 總目 [main table of contents], SKQS, 68: 6b.