When did the tribute trade in ancient China begin?

The origin of the tribute system can be traced back to the pre-Qin period. China's foreign relations in ancient times were based on the traditional "Yi Xia" relationship. Ancient people in China thought that "the sky is round". Since the world is square, there must be a difference between the central and local governments. It can be said that our ancestors were not humble at this point: they thought they were "kings" and lived in the center of the world, while those living in other places were barbarians and barbarians. The system of the Western Zhou Dynasty is a typical representative. Through the enfeoffment system, the Zhou Dynasty formed a pattern in which the emperor was the patriarch and the governors and governors were the governors. There are nine clothes in Shangyu Shugong: Hou, Dian, Male, Cai, Wei, Man, Yi, Zhen and Fan; Its core content is to take Ji Wang, where the son of heaven lives, as the center, and clothes radiate outward in turn like concentric circles, and divide the world into grades according to the relationship between distance and distance. The relationship between the patriarch and the vassal is maintained by "guest ceremony", and its original content is a memorial ceremony, that is, the emperor of the Central Plains accepted the pilgrimage of the vassal and sent envoys to greet him.

Tribute system really sprouted in Han Dynasty, matured in Tang Dynasty and flourished in Ming Dynasty. In the Qing Dynasty, the tributary system was weakened by one treaty after another until it finally declined.