ABSTRACT
The barbarians' goodwill in responding to China's benevolence was shown symbolically by their tribute mission. China had enjoyed a continuously favourable balance of trade for as much as two centuries at a time when mercantilism dominated economic thought. China's foreign policy was born in military humiliation. In the long run no foreign policy could succeed unless backed by efficient military power. The rise to power of a new generation of diplomats, mostly Western-trained, after 1900, brought a deeper understanding of the West to China's foreign service, against the background of an upsurge of nationalism that came to dominate Chinese political thinking in the twentieth century. Apart from pursuing their individual imperialist aims, the Western powers had never, in the past hundred years, had a concerted policy towards China. The basic elements of China's modernization must be sought in stimulus and response. The chapter also presents an overview of this book.
