A Preliminary Study on Pine Nuts as Tribute

There are plentiful researches about tribute both in China and overseas, but specific case study on tribute is few. Pine nuts had been one of the most important tributes from Tang to Qing Dynasty in China. The reasons that pine nuts became tribute were as: firstly, people were influenced by aboriginal Taoism of pursuing young and living forever; secondly, it was the need of maintaining the stable political relationship between dependencies and suzerain. The feature of pine nuts as tribute in each historic stage was different. During Tang and Ming Dynasty, the pine nuts to Central Plains Dynasties by ancient Korea, Mohe and Jurchen were the imperial tribute. During Qing Dynasty, the pine nuts contributed by Dasheng Wula were the native tribute. Pine nuts as tribute had experienced the change from the imperial to the native one. Pine nuts served as tribute implied the significances: first, pine nuts as tribute played a key role in maintaining the stable political relationship between the dependencies and suzerain; second, pine nuts as imperial tribute promoted the development of the local trade of pine nuts; third, the Bohai Tribute Road played a similar role as the Silk Road did; fourth, the history of pine nuts as tribute reflected the history of natives collecting habits in the Changbai Mountain area; fifth, the development history of the pine nuts as imperial tribute reflected the history of native tribute system in ancient Korea; sixth, the pine nuts as tribute enriched people爷s daily life.