III Regions, II Asia, 19 China

This chapter discusses how international law was received in China from the Chinese point of view. As is well known, China had treaty relations with Western countries, for example the Treaty of Nerchinsk of 7 September 1689.1 However, it was only when William Martin translated Henry Wheaton's Elements of International Law2 as Wanguo Gongfa (Immanuel CY Hsü translates it as public law of all nations), which was then published by the Zongli Yamen (government body in charge of foreign affairs during the late Qing Dynasty) in 18653 that China first received...