@article{ART003244314},
author={Kim, Jong-Hak},
title={The Formation of the Concept of “宗主權” (Suzerainty) in Modern East Asian Historiography: Focusing on the Diplomatic History Studies of the Tsinghua School in Early 20th-Century China},
journal={Journal of Humanities, Seoul National University},
issn={1598-3021},
year={2025},
volume={82},
number={3},
pages={293-332},
doi={10.17326/jhsnu.82.3.202508.293}
TY - JOUR
AU - Kim, Jong-Hak
TI - The Formation of the Concept of “宗主權” (Suzerainty) in Modern East Asian Historiography: Focusing on the Diplomatic History Studies of the Tsinghua School in Early 20th-Century China
JO - Journal of Humanities, Seoul National University
PY - 2025
VL - 82
IS - 3
PB - Institute of Humanities, Seoul National University
SP - 293
EP - 332
SN - 1598-3021
AB - This article traces the origin of the key historical concept and historiographical term ‘宗主權’(suzerainty) in premodern East Asian history to the diplomatic history studies of the Tsinghua School, led by Tsiang Tingfu (蔣廷黻, 1895–1965) in the 1920s and 1930s. Although ‘宗主權’ had long been widely used in the historiography of China, Japan, and Korea, it was in fact a modern construct that first gained popular currency through the Japanese press around the time of the Russo-Japanese War. This study analyzes the changing meanings of ‘宗主權’ in early twentieth-century Chinese and Japanese newspapers by distinguishing between its “traditional” and “modern” usages. As a concept premised on inequality between states and their sovereignty, ‘宗主權’ disappeared from Japanese discourse once the sovereignty of the Korean Empire was completely extinguished in 1910, only to reemerge in Chinese newspapers as a claim to historical suzerainty over Korea.
The historiography of Tsiang Tingfu and the Tsinghua School can be understood as an attempt to reconcile these two divergent usages of ‘宗主 權’: they adopted the modern sense of the term but reinterpreted it as a transhistorical and absolute right through historical arguments. Yet this move not only deviated from Jiang’s own principle of “reliability” in source compilation but also had the effect of perpetuating a hierarchical order between China and Korea by importing into historiography a concept that was in fact a product of early twentieth-century international politics.
Since the modern East Asian notion of ‘宗主權’ was predicated on the existence of subordinate states, Japan’s and China’s successive claims to suzerainty over Korea reveal not only the persistence of a characteristically East Asian vision of international order as a familial hierarchy but also the deeply rooted sense of superiority and disparagement held by the two empires.
KW - Tsiang Tingfu;Tsinghua School;Suzerainty (zongzhuquan);;Suzerain State (zongzhuguo);Diplomatic History
DO - 10.17326/jhsnu.82.3.202508.293
ER -
Kim, Jong-Hak. (2025). The Formation of the Concept of “宗主權” (Suzerainty) in Modern East Asian Historiography: Focusing on the Diplomatic History Studies of the Tsinghua School in Early 20th-Century China. Journal of Humanities, Seoul National University, 82(3), 293-332.
Kim, Jong-Hak. 2025, "The Formation of the Concept of “宗主權” (Suzerainty) in Modern East Asian Historiography: Focusing on the Diplomatic History Studies of the Tsinghua School in Early 20th-Century China", Journal of Humanities, Seoul National University, vol.82, no.3 pp.293-332. Available from: doi:10.17326/jhsnu.82.3.202508.293
Kim, Jong-Hak "The Formation of the Concept of “宗主權” (Suzerainty) in Modern East Asian Historiography: Focusing on the Diplomatic History Studies of the Tsinghua School in Early 20th-Century China" Journal of Humanities, Seoul National University 82.3 pp.293-332 (2025) : 293.
Kim, Jong-Hak. The Formation of the Concept of “宗主權” (Suzerainty) in Modern East Asian Historiography: Focusing on the Diplomatic History Studies of the Tsinghua School in Early 20th-Century China. 2025; 82(3), 293-332. Available from: doi:10.17326/jhsnu.82.3.202508.293
Kim, Jong-Hak. "The Formation of the Concept of “宗主權” (Suzerainty) in Modern East Asian Historiography: Focusing on the Diplomatic History Studies of the Tsinghua School in Early 20th-Century China" Journal of Humanities, Seoul National University 82, no.3 (2025) : 293-332.doi: 10.17326/jhsnu.82.3.202508.293
Kim, Jong-Hak. The Formation of the Concept of “宗主權” (Suzerainty) in Modern East Asian Historiography: Focusing on the Diplomatic History Studies of the Tsinghua School in Early 20th-Century China. Journal of Humanities, Seoul National University, 82(3), 293-332. doi: 10.17326/jhsnu.82.3.202508.293
Kim, Jong-Hak. The Formation of the Concept of “宗主權” (Suzerainty) in Modern East Asian Historiography: Focusing on the Diplomatic History Studies of the Tsinghua School in Early 20th-Century China. Journal of Humanities, Seoul National University. 2025; 82(3) 293-332. doi: 10.17326/jhsnu.82.3.202508.293
Kim, Jong-Hak. The Formation of the Concept of “宗主權” (Suzerainty) in Modern East Asian Historiography: Focusing on the Diplomatic History Studies of the Tsinghua School in Early 20th-Century China. 2025; 82(3), 293-332. Available from: doi:10.17326/jhsnu.82.3.202508.293
Kim, Jong-Hak. "The Formation of the Concept of “宗主權” (Suzerainty) in Modern East Asian Historiography: Focusing on the Diplomatic History Studies of the Tsinghua School in Early 20th-Century China" Journal of Humanities, Seoul National University 82, no.3 (2025) : 293-332.doi: 10.17326/jhsnu.82.3.202508.293
