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Ho-fung Hung Johns Hopkins University In the early modern times, East Asia was dominated by a Sino-centric tribute-trade system centered on the Chinese empire. This system originated earlier in Tang Empire’s (CE 618-907) relation with Central Eurasian states and extended to the maritime zone of Asia in around the twelve century and consolidated under the Ming empire (CE 1368-1644). Amidst the weakening and collapse of the Ming empire beginning in the late seventeenth century, maritime East Asia witnessed the rise of formidable armed Chinese trading networks. These networks later consolidated into a mercantilist maritime empire headed by the Zheng family (known to the Europeans as the Koxinga family), modeled after the Dutch VOC, and founded a territorial state based in Taiwan in the mid-seventeenth century. The rise of the Zheng empire opened the possibility of the genesis of a capitalist interstate system at the time when the Westphalia system was taking shape in Europe. The rise and final dissipation of this possibility is the exception that proves the distinct politico-economic rule of the East Asian tribute-trade system.
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