| Summary: | <p>This thesis argues that Sun Yat-sen's intellectual engagement with China’s entry into international society should be seen through the prism of tianxia wei gong (all-under- heaven is shared by all), the crown jewel in his ideas on international relations. While the literature on the expansion of international society essentially frames China as a passive recipient of the standard of civilization, Sun’s conceptualization of tianxia shows an active in-depth engagement with worldviews emanating from aspiring entrant nations which have hitherto been neglected. His conceptualization of tianxia rests on his belief in the possibility of equality and justice between nations, including those yet to attain full membership in international society, anchored by a moral hierarchy centered around wangdao and self-rectification. The analysis of Sun’s tianxia presented here suggests that standards of civilization are far more multi-dimensional and nuanced than the existing literature portrays. In essence, the standard of civilization should not be seen merely as a one-dimensional checklist of objective and discrete items to be checked off one by one. Sun’s ideas on tianxia and international relations suggest that there is more agency on the part of new entrants than commonly assumed. However, Sun’s privileging of the moral over the political dimension of self-rectification, while being the defining characteristic of his ideas, is also its key weakness, because Sun never effectively addresses the issue of what happens in the event that countries start prioritizing their immediate political or economic interests over morality. Finally, it is open to question whether nations not rooted in Confucian culture or familiar with the concept of wangdao could ever self-rectify and center themselves in Sun’s tianxia.</p>
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