The tribute system, in theory, seemed to echo the greatness of Rome, in some sense. I think Strayer captures the underlying motivation well - pride.
As for its practice, the case definitely is that they were paying protection money. As often as I have criticized other cultures for violent takeovers and harsh conquests, I wonder why the Chinese empire under the Han dynasty didn't deal with the nomads more harshly. I'm sure they were capable. I remember reading about how at one time, they were producing so and so amounts of body armor and arrow tips. I also remember reading how they kept clashing with nomads as a function of their pushing north. Did they realize the raids were merely repercussions to their expansion? Few empires of the time seemed to. Can anyone provide any insight?
The tribute system is still in play, no? In South America, it comes in the form of you can pay the ticket now, or you can pay it later. In the US, it comes in the form of political pressure, lobbyist, and campaign financing. I am not sure the the Chinese Empire really took the Nomads all that seriously, but I too was left with the same question. I think they likely looked at them as nuisance as opposed to a threat.
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