Histories of International Law in China: All Under Heaven? offers a groundbreaking exploration of China's engagement with international law over the past two centuries. Written by an interdisciplinary group of international law scholars and legal historians, it provides a longue dur�e perspective, revealing both enduring patterns and profound shifts in China's approach to the global legal order.
Beginning with China's millennia-old Sino-centric worldview-rooted in the Confucian concept of
Tianxia (All under Heaven)-the book traces China's evolving relationship with international law from its period of isolation to its forced entry into the Western legal system during the First Opium War (1839-1842). It examines the transformation of China's legal landscape through the fall of the Qing Dynasty (1911), the Republican era (1912-1949), and the establishment of the People's Republic of China (1949). The book explores China's relationship with international law from 1949-including through the Cultural Revolution-until the 'reform and opening-up' era and the end of the Cold War.
Histories of International Law in China sheds light on often-overlooked historical episodes and key conceptual legacies shaping China's approach to the international legal order. A unique feature is its curated biographies, including multiple long-forgotten or invisible protagonists, such as pioneering women in the history and theory of international law and China.
Engagingly written and meticulously researched, this volume offers invaluable insights for legal scholars and researchers interested in understanding China's historical and contemporary role in shaping and making international law.
Ignacio de la Rasilla, Han Depei Chair and One Thousand Talents Professor, Wuhan University, Jiangyu Wang, Professor of Law, City University of Hong Kong School of Law, Congyan Cai, Professor of International Law, Fudan University School of Law, Shanghai
Ignacio de la Rasilla holds the Han Depei Chair and is a One Thousand Talents Plan Professor at the Wuhan University Institute of International Law and the Wuhan Academy of International Law and Global Governance in China. He is the author or editor of eight books including The Cambridge Handbook of China and International Law (CUP 2024), International Law and History. Modern Interfaces (CUP 2021), Experiments in International Adjudication: Historical Accounts (CUP 2019), and In the Shadow of Vitoria: A History of International Law in Spain (1770-1953) (Brill-Nijhoff 2017).
Jiangyu Wang is a Professor of Law and the Director of the Centre for Chinese and Comparative Law at the City University of Hong Kong's School of Law. His research and teaching focus on international economic law, public international law-particularly the intersection of international law and international relations-and comparative corporate and securities law. He has written and edited numerous books with esteemed international publishers, including
China, India and the International Economic Order (CUP 2010),
A Financial Centre for Two Empires: Hong Kong's Corporate, Securities and Tax Laws in its Transition From Britain to China (CUP 2014), and
Company Law in China: Regulation of Business Organizations in a Socialist Market Economy (Edward Elgar 2015). He is currently Editor in Chief of the
Asia Pacific Law Review and
The Chinese Journal of Comparative Law.
Congyan Cai is a professor of international law at the School of Law and an adjunct professor at the School of International Relations and Public Affairs at Fudan University, China. His books, as author or editor, include
The UN Security Council and the Maintenance of Peace in a Changing World (CUP 2024),
The Cambridge Handbook of China and International Law (CUP 2024) and
The Rise of China and International Law: Taking Chinese Exceptionalism Seriously (OUP 2019).
