Tianxia: The Threefold Connotation, Vehicle of Language, and Journey to Reestablishment


Tianxia 天下 has recently become a buzzword in Chinese academia. The word’s threefold connotation in relation to geographical, political, and international systems needs to be analyzed to illustrate its different meanings. These three meanings were centered around China in the self-sufficient traditional Chinese civilization; however, they all need reinterpretation in the current age of globalization. Reinterpreting tianxia requires an appropriate vehicle of language: weak and regressive language, early modern language that has undergone transformation, and pretentious usage cannot effectively reinterpret tianxia. A non-literati, nonpolitical approach to linguistic expression is necessary to avoid the corruption of language and reinterpret the word from a universal perspective. The principal matter to be addressed in reinterpreting tianxia is its notion in relationship to nationalism and cosmopolitanism. Merely reinterpreting the best intentions of tianxia is insufficiently convincing for the concept in the age of globalization. How tianxia is elucidated through the lens of the individual, state, and international world determines the reliability and credibility of the interpretation.