Chinese modern history seems to coincide with its quest for sovereignty. In general, when sovereignty is not threatened it “lies dormant,” but when it is at stake, strong claims for it are more likely to occur. If sovereignty in China lay dormant for millennia, since the introduction of international law as a world order almost two hundred years ago, it has continually been contentious. It has been used as a shield against Western imperialism, as a tool for democratizing international society and to gain recognition as a legitimate international actor. At the same time, it has been understood as an instrument for forceful national unification of former Qing colonies, and most recently as a way to claim new territories from the sea, the internet, aerospace, and the Arctic. If it is the hard-won prize against Western colonialism and the imperial other, it is also a hard-won prize of China’s imperial self within its domesticated frontiers.