Frontier Discourse and China's Maritime Frontier: China's Frontiers and the Encounter with the Sea through Early Imperial History

This article provides a model for the analysis of China's land and maritime frontiers through early imperial history (through the first millennium C.E. ), arguing that three basic types of frontier existed: the "static continental frontier," the "expanding continental frontier," and the "maritime frontier." Through his definition of "frontier" and a comparative discussion of the dynamics of all three frontier types, and with reference to the better known analyses of frontiers in the histories of Europe and North America, the author approaches all frontiers as zones of conflict between civilization and barbarism.