conclusion 675In this fashion, the Chinese surrounded themselves with ficticious
armies and Area Commands on all their borders except Tibet, and
reached out as far as maritime South Asia and Persia. This may
have had an ideological significance to them but served no purpose
in practice.
In reality, none of the 121 foreign countries and tribes, which have
accounts under their own headings in the sources and are discussed
in this work, recognized the Son of Heaven.^86 None was subservient
to China, and only Chiao-chih/Annam at times paid what amounted
to tribute. On the contrary, China was the lesser partner in its rela-
tions to Hsia, Liao, and Chin and had to buy itself peace. A tributary
system centred on China did not exist
The Chinese graded foreign states in accordance with their supposed
importance, but the hierarchy cannot be reconstructed. All which is
known is that the Sung authorities considered Chiao-chih/Annam,
She-p’o, Pagan, Chu-lien, and the Arabs as equals, and that Koryo
from 1105 outranked Hsia. Chiao-chih/Annam, Koryo, and Hsia
seem to have occupied a special position, in that the Sung granted
only their rulers the title of Meritorious Subject. The foreign states
were status conscious, and quarrels arose among their envoys about
prescedence.
The aim of the Chinese governments was to keep potentially danger-
ous neighbours off-balance by supporting internal rivals and forming
alliances against them, or to create a milieu in which China and its
neighbours could coexist peacefully. As part of the latter policy, all
Chinese dynasties recognized foreign rulers and and gave them and
their envoys nominal and usually appreciated titles. In special cases,
they granted the imperial surname, which meant that the recepients
were entered into the imperial family registers.
The T’ang conferred its imperial surname of Li on Tang-hsiang
chiefs between 627 and 649 and in c.883, on the Yi-mi-ni-shu-ssu-
li-pi Qaghan of the Eastern Turks in 639, on a Khitan chief in 648,
on Hsi chiefs in 648 and 808, on a Black River Mo-ho chief in 728,
probably on an Indian prince visiting Ch’ang-an in 741, on a Uighur
prince who was a rival of the Wu-chieh Qaghan and his five younger
(^86) East Turkestan during the times of T’ang occupation is, of course, a different
matter.