This book provides a comprehensive history of the emergence and the formation of the concept of sovereignty in China from the year 1840 to the present. It contributes to broadening the history of modern China by looking at the way the notion of sovereignty was gradually articulated by key Chinese intellectuals, diplomats and political figures in the unfolding of the history of international law in China, rehabilitates Chinese agency and shows how China challenged Western Eurocentric assumptions about the progress of international law. It puts the history of international law in a global perspective, interrogating the widely-held belief of international law as universal order and exploring the ways in which its history is closely anchored to a European experience that fails to take into account how the encounter with other non-European realities has influenced its formation.

Provides a comprehensive history of the concept of sovereignty in China, exploring where China's claim to sovereignty originated and might be heading in the future

Shows how the Chinese conceptions diverted from Western Eurocentric legal norms and contributed to the globalisation of international law

Demonstrates how Chinese diplomats used sovereignty and new legal categories to defend against Western imperialism and successfully expand China's interests