During the Han, and later the Ming dynasty, the Silk Road and the Maritime Silk Road connected Western merchants and missionaries with China. Until the introduction of the New Treaty System in 1842, China regulated international trade and diplomacy with its neighbors through the tributary system. A further analysis of the historical causes for the demise of the tributary system is fundamental to understanding the 21st century China’s new worldview emerging from the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
            Behind the concept of the tributary system, there was the common belief that China was the central kingdom whereas the other countries were peripheral and removed from the cultural center of the universe. Moreover, foreigners were perfect animals who were incapable of understanding the Chinese civilization. They were eventually allowed to conduct a controlled trade with China only after a ritual prostration, the kowtow, before the Chinese emperor (Spence 1999, 116-117). However, the tribute system was not only characterizing the political and social system, in which the Confucian theory of hierarchal social order shaped the unilateral diplomacy with its neighbors, but also interfered with the economic system. The Qing dynasty could regulate the foreign trade with China, deciding upon the location, the frequency, and the amount of good of the trading (Spence 1999, 118).
          It is commonly accepted that the demise of the tribute system coincides with the end of the Opium War in 1842. After the Treaty of Nanjing, China replaced its unilateral trade and diplomacy system with a bilateral system, losing control of vital elements of its commercial, social, and foreign policies (Spence 1999, 161). 171 years later, President Xi launched the BRI based on the model of the ancient Silk Road and Maritime Silk Road, reaffirming the role of China as a global leader (Xi 2017, May 14). By doing so, President Xi did not propose to go back to a tributary system or to ultimately adopt a free trade system, but instead, presented a further step from the past. The BRI is opening a new chapter of Chinese history, in which, now more than ever, connectivity and centralization are harmoniously blended. As President Xi puts it, China should pursue the BRI giving equal emphasis to “bringing in” and “going global” (Xi 2017, 30). On the one hand, China will uphold a multilateral trading system, promoting economic ties with foreign countries that are involved in the BRI. On the other hand, the Chinese government will control through policies the degree of liberalization and facilitation of trade and investments (Xi 2017, May 14). In other words, China will ensure a mutual benefit based on economic interests between the member countries, but, at the same time, will act as the guarantor and the majority shareholder of the BRI.
       Overall, it may be said that the BRI represents the “Hegelian’s synthesis” originated from the reconciliation of two conflicting ideas: the thesis, that is the tributary system, and the antithesis, that is the free trade. Therefore, China is proving to the entire world its economic and political capability to maintain the balance between the two systems, establishing itself as the future global leader.

​Bibliography
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1. Spence, Jonathan D. 1999. The Search for Modern China. New York: W.W. Norton.
2. Xi Jinping. 2017. Speech at the 19th CPC Congress Meeting. October 17, 2017
3. Xi, Jinping. 2017. Speech at the Opening of the Belt and Road Forum. May 14, 2017.