Pax Sinica

English

Etymology

Learned borrowing from New Latin Pāx Sīnica, from pāx (“peace”) + Sīnica (“Chinese”) after the model of the imperial Roman Pax Romana, former British Pax Britannica, and present Pax Americana.

Proper noun

Pax Sinica

1. (historical) All or any of various periods of general peace in East Asia occasioned by a hegemonic dynasty in China, particularly
   1. The general peace under the Han dynasty.
   2. The general peace under the Tang dynasty.
   3. Synonym of Pax Mongolica, the general peace under the Yuan dynasty.
   4. The general peace under the Ming dynasty.
   5. The general peace under the Qing dynasty.

      Synonym: Pax Manjurica

2. A hypothetical period of future international peace based on submission to prospective Chinese dominance over international affairs.
   • 1993, Samuel S. Kim, “Mainland China and a New World Order”, in Bih-jaw Lin, James T. Myers, editors, Forces for Change in Contemporary China, University of South Carolina Press, →ISBN, page 38:

     Pax Sinica via the Third World—major diplomatic efforts at shoring up its position in the Third World and the unabashed assumption of the Third World leadership that it had previously declined as evidence of its anti-hegemonic pledge