Maritime Frontiers, Territorial Expansion and Haifang 69
governor, Xu Xueju, memorialized the throne that “the turbulent state of
the seas cautions us to safeguard the dignity of our country. We appeal
to the throne to reconsider the dispatch of the conferment envoy.” They
feared that the country’s dignity would be jeopardized were the two
envoys to be confronted by the Japanese. Their concern also extended to
the few hundred lives on board the ship.^41 In the end, their anxiety proved
unwarranted. The Japanese soldiers chose to play the role of observers at
the ceremony and did not cause any trouble. Envoy Xia clearly sensed the
precarious position of Liuqiu, and he said in his record of the mission that,
“Liuqiu is so close to Japan that, once Korea is lost to the latter, it would
not be able to survive.”^42 By then, the Chinese were under no illusions
about the threat of an expansionist Japan on the maritime frontier.
The practice of sending an imperial conferment mission upon request
continued under the Qing. During the reign of Kangxi (r. 1662‒1722),
a scholar-ofβicial named Wang Shizhen comments that, “among the
various countries, Liuqiu was the most keen on Chinese culture. China
also treated it most favorably.”^43 Another scholar, Jiang Dengyun, thought
Liuqiu was no different from a Chinese domain because it had observed
the duty of ministers for generations. “Their cap and robes (yiguan) and
culture (wenwu) manifest Chinese inβluence. Other countries cannot
compare with them [in this regard].”^44 By the mid-nineteenth century,
reform-minded scholars equated tributary states with “dependencies” in
the modern meaning of the term. For example, the well-known expert on
the management of foreign trade and maritime defense, Liang Tingnan
(1796‒1861), lists Liuqiu as a “shuguo” (dependency).^45 The late-Qing
author Wang Tao (1828‒97) also perceived that, following the βirst
sending of a tribute mission in the early Ming, “[Liuqiu] became a Chinese
dependency for successive generations (shi wei shuguo)”.^46 Wang was
aware of Japanese records indicating that Satsuma had once occupied
Liuqiu, in 1609, and that from 1670 to 1842 Japan had received ten
tribute missions from Liuqiu. Nevertheless, Wang Tao argues that, while
Liuqiu was sending tribute missions to Japan, it remained a Chinese
vassal because “when it paid tribute to Japan, it had long submitted itself
- See TWWXCK, no. 289, p. 196.
- Xia Ziyang, “Shi Liuqiu lu”, p. 171
- Wang Shizhen, “Liuqiu ju taixue shimo”, p. 18.
- In Xiaofanghu zhai yudi congchao 小方壺齋輿地叢鈔 [Collected texts on
geography from the Xiaofanghu studio] (hereafter XFHZYDCC), comp. Wang
Xiqi 王錫祺 (1855–1913) 編撰, 10: la. - Liang Tingnan 梁廷枬 (1796–1861), Haiguo si shuo 海國四說 [Four essays on
maritime countries] (reprint; Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1993), p. 164. - Wang Tao, “Liuqiu xiangguei riben bian”, in TWWXCK, no. 292, p. 275.