“This highly readable account of Sino-Japanese official relations during the first thousand years or so of the interaction of these two great East Asian powers forms an excellent complementary study to the volume published in 1985 by Charlotte von Verschuer in French. . . . The author fully deserves the enthusiastic support of the eminent scholars quoted on the jacket of his work.” —Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies (69:2, 2006)

“A vivid narrative . . . a delightful read.” —Monumenta Nipponica (61, 2006) (Access full review at Project Muse)

“This work is packed with useful information on a variety of topics that have received scant attention in English. . . . The primary and secondary research in Chinese and Japanese sources is impressive. . . . An indispensable reference work for specialists of premodern Chinese or Japanese foreign relations.” —Choice

“Ambassadors from the Islands of the Immortals provides, in wonderful detail, the inside story of a series of important embassies sent from the Japanese islands to Sui and Tang China. These missions shaped the future course of Japanese history. Through them Japan learned the details of Chinese imperial rule, government institutions, tax systems, Buddhist and Confucian ideas, art, and architecture. Zhenping Wang, who is equally fluent in the Japanese and Chinese documentary sources, weaves from a wide range of texts the clearest analysis yet of these missions. Challenging the standard approach, which emphasizes the Chinese rulers insistence on tributary relations, Professor Wang stresses the importance of reciprocity and mutual self-interest in the international relations of the period.” —Martin Collcutt, Princeton University

“This splendid work, with its well-selected illustrations and copious and stylish translations, covers in detail the relations between China and Japan during the long period from late Han until the end of the Tang. It presents a new and convincing interpretation of the ‘Chinese Tribute System,’ which the author sees not as a system of submission to the Chinese ruler, but as a relationship voluntarily accepted and based on mutual self-interest. It lets us see medieval diplomacy between the two countries, and the individuals involved, in vivid detail and with a new clarity.” —Denis Twitchett, professor emeritus, Princeton University, co-editor of The Cambridge History of China

Using recent archaeological findings and little-known archival material, Wang Zhenping introduces readers to the world of ancient Japan as it was evolving toward a centralized state. Competing Japanese tribal leaders engaged in “ambassador diplomacy” and actively sought Chinese support and recognition to strengthen their positions at home and to exert military influence on southern Korea. They requested, among other things, the bestowal of Chinese insignia: official titles, gold seals, and bronze mirrors. Successive Chinese courts used the bestowal (or denial) of the insignia to conduct geopolitics in East Asia.

Wang explains in detail the rigorous criteria of the Chinese and Japanese courts in the selection of diplomats and how the two prepared for missions abroad. He journeys with a party of Japanese diplomats from their tearful farewell party to hardship on the high seas to their arrival amidst the splendors of Yangzhou and Changan and the Sui-Tang court. The depiction of these colorful events is combined with a sophisticated analysis of premodern diplomacy using the key concept of mutual self-interest and a discussion of two major modes of diplomatic communication: court reception and the exchange of state letters. Wang reveals how the parties involved conveyed diplomatic messages by making, accepting, or rejecting court ceremonial arrangements. Challenging the traditional view of China’s tributary system, he argues that it was not a unilateral tool of hegemony but rather a game of interest and power in which multiple partners modified the rules depending on changing historical circumstances.

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Wang Zhenping is associate professor at the National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.

Read the introduction (PDF).