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3 - Contextualizing Soju

Political Relations and Cultural Transfers between the Mongol Empire and Koryŏ Korea

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 January 2021

Hyunhee Park
Affiliation:
City University of New York
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Summary

Chapter 3 examines cross-cultural contacts between the Koryŏ dynasty (918–1392) in Korea and the Yuan dynasty (1271–1368) in China and Mongolia (and the broader Mongol Empire), in order to refine our historical context to make clear the kind of Sino-Korean interactions that made the transfer of distilled liquors to Korea possible. As its suzerain state on Koryŏ’s border for nearly 150 years, the Mongols were able to exert considerable influence on Korea. This opened the way to a wide range of cross-cultural interactions, from the stationing of Mongol soldiers on Cheju Island to trade to court relations and intermarriage, situations that created opportunities for the exchange of such things as liquors, concepts of drinking culture, and still technologies, laying the foundations for soju’s development. Such a process is not excusive to alcohol; we see similar patterns in a variety of cultural artifacts (even Korean foods and national dress). Cross-cultural interactions between the Yuan and Koryŏ realms provided Koreans with access to genuinely cosmopolitan societies in Eurasia, so the range of influences went well beyond China or the Mongols. In this way, soju provides an excellent vehicle for understanding both the extent of Eurasian influence on Korea and also Korea’s place in Eurasia under the Pax Mongolica.

Type
Chapter
Information
Soju
A Global History
, pp. 96 - 126
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

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  • Contextualizing Soju
  • Hyunhee Park, City University of New York
  • Book: Soju
  • Online publication: 21 January 2021
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108895774.004
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  • Contextualizing Soju
  • Hyunhee Park, City University of New York
  • Book: Soju
  • Online publication: 21 January 2021
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108895774.004
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Contextualizing Soju
  • Hyunhee Park, City University of New York
  • Book: Soju
  • Online publication: 21 January 2021
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108895774.004
Available formats
×