再论清代朝贡体制

尽管近年来学界从不同视角探讨清代对外关系，并对费正清的朝贡体制研究提出挑战，但仍有诸多问题值得进一步探讨。清代初期传统意义上的“厚往薄来”不具实证意义，朝贡体制的本质属性是政治关系，而非贸易关系；向为清廷所重的朝贡礼仪，具有象征性特点。故而从体制与观念互动的角度，才能对朝贡体制主导下的清代对外关系的实际形态做出更具说服力的阐释。

More on the Qing Tributary System

In spite of the fact that the academic circles have probed into the Sino-foreign relations of the Qing Dynasty from different perspectives,and have challenged John King Fairbanks’s studies on its tributary system,there is still many an issue worth further discussing."Stressing on giving instead of taking"(hou wang bo lai)does no bear any empirical connotations in its traditional sense,rather the essential attribute of the tributary system is of political relations other than those of commerce and trade;the tributary rituals always highly valued by the royal court of the Qing Empire are actually endowed with symbolic character.Therefore,only from the perspective of the interaction between concept and system,can a more convincing and persuasive interpretation be achieved of the actual configuration of the Sino-Foreign relations dominated by the Qing tributary system.