However, as the ritsuryo system (a system of centralized government based on the ritsuryo code) was established, a 'small empire' came to be established with a kind of Sino-centrism, which distinguished people in inland Japan under the Emperor's rule from Tang as a neighbor country, Silla and Balhae as foreign countries, and Emishi as barbarians as well as Hayato (ancient tribe in Kyushu) looking upon them as social outcasts.
しかし、律令制が確立していくにつれて、唐を「隣国」、新羅・渤海_(国)を「蕃国」、そして蝦夷を「化外の民」として隼人とともに「夷狄」として、天皇の統治下にある日本内地の王民と峻別する一種の小中華思想を掲げた「小帝国」が成立することになる。