This is the first systematic analysis of the early introduction and reception of international law as a Western political and legal science in China. International law in late imperial China is studied both as part of the introduction of the Western sciences and as a theoretical orientation in international affairs between 1847 and 1911. The first chapters serve the purpose of analysing the political, institutional, intellectual and linguistic process of adapting the theories of international law to the Chinese context language. The second major part of the book is dedicated to the discourse on China and world order within this framework.