ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the role of kinship concepts in Chinese foreign policy. Starting with an overview of key literature on metaphorical kinship in politics, and pointing out some critical omissions of East Asian empirics, the chapter continues with detailing traditional Confucian thinking on kinship, and how it has been related to concepts of the international. Next, it explores how Chinese metaphorical kinship, and in particular the traditional hierarchical concept of brotherhood, has been related to foreign policy through history.
