Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gxg78 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T05:55:23.021Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Comforting Fictions: The Tribute System, the Westphalian Order, and Sino-Korean Relations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 January 2016

Kirk W. Larsen
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Observers and practitioners of Sino-Korean relations in both the pre- and post-nineteenth century have utilized powerful “comforting fictions” to describe and justify power asymmetry. In the pre-nineteenth-century period, the idea of the “tribute system” put a veneer of Confucian benevolence on what a closer examination reveals to have been unequal and coercive relations. Western proponents of the Westphalian system of sovereign equality saw the new norms of international relations as potentially liberating to Korea, a way to free Korea from the Chinese yoke. However, Westphalian equality, too, was a comforting fiction that masked the reality of imperialism—both formal and informal. The Qing empire played a heretofore neglected role in both types of unequal coercive relations between Korea and the outside world.

Keywords

Chosòn Korea (1392–1910)Ming China (1368–1644)Qing China (1644–1910)tribute systemWestphalian systemimperialism
Type
Articles
Information
Journal of East Asian Studies , Volume 13 , Issue 2: Special Issue: International Relations and East Asian History: Impact, Meaning, and Conceptualization , August 2013 , pp. 233 - 257
Copyright
Copyright © East Asia Institute 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bradley, James. 2009. The Imperial Cruise. New York: Little, Brown.Google Scholar
Brook, Timothy. 2010. The Troubled Empire: China in the Yuan and Ming Dynasties. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Chay, Jongsuk. 1990. Diplomacy of Asymmetry: Korean-American Relations to 1910. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chun, Hae-jong. 1968. “Sino-Korean Tributary Relations in the Ch'ing Period.” In The Chinese World Order, ed. Fairbank, John K. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 90–111.Google Scholar
Chung, Chai-sik. 1995. A Korean Confucian Encounter with the Modern World: Yi Hang-no and the West. Berkeley, CA: Institute of East Asian Studies.Google Scholar
Clark, Donald. 1998. “Sino-Korean Tributary Relations Under the Ming.” In The Cambridge History of China, ed. Twitchett, Denis and Mote, Frederick W. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 272–300.Google Scholar
Confucius. 1979. The Analects. New York: Penguin.Google Scholar
Crossley, Pamela Kyle. 1999. A Translucent Mirror: History and Identity in Qing Imperial Ideology. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Davis, Calvin DeArmond. 1975. The United States and the Second Hague Peace Conference. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.Google Scholar
de Heer, Philip. 1993. “Three Embassies to Seoul: Sino-Korean Relations in the 15th Century.” In Conflict and Accommodation in Early Modern East Asia: Essays in Honour of Erik Zurcher, ed. Blusse, Leonard and Zurndorfer, Harriet T. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 240–258.Google Scholar
Deni munsŏ. Kuksa pyŏnch'an wiwŏnhoe, ed. 1981. Deni Munsŏ. Han'guk Saryo, 28. Seoul: Kuksa p'yŏnch'an wiwŏnhoe.Google Scholar
Denny, Owen N. 1888. China and Korea. Shanghai: Kelly and Walsh.Google Scholar
di Cosmo, Nicola, ed. 2009. Military Culture in Imperial China. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Dower, John. 1999. Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II. New York: Norton.Google Scholar
Dudden, Alexis. 2005. Japan's Colonization of Korea: Discourse and Power. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.Google Scholar
Eyffinger, Arthur. 2007. “A Highly Critical Moment: Role and Record of the 1907 Hague Peace Conference.” Netherlands International Law Review 54: 197–228.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fairbank, John King. 1968. “A Preliminary Framework.” In The Chinese World Order: China's Foreign Relations, ed. Fairbank, John. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1–20.Google Scholar
Gale, James Scarth, and Rutt, Richard. 1972. James Scarth Gale and His History of the Korean People: A New Edition of the History Together with a Biography and Annotated Bibliographies by Richard Rutt. Seoul: Royal Asiatic Society.Google Scholar
Gills, Barry. 1993. “The Hegemonic Transition in East Asia: A Historical Perspective.” In Gramsci, Historical Materialism, and International Relations, ed. Gill, Stephen. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 186–212.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haboush, , Ja-hyun, , Kim, . 2001. The Confucian Kingship in Korea: Yŏngjo and the Politics of Sagacity. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Han, Sukhee. 1998. “Beyond the Celestial Sinic Sphere: King Kojong and Korea's Pursuit of Modernization.” PhD diss., Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.Google Scholar
Han, Woo-keun. 1970. The History of Korea. Honolulu: East-West Center.Google Scholar
Han, Yŏng-u. 1997. Tasi ch'anŭn uri yŏksa. Seoul: Kyŏngsewŏn.Google Scholar
Hevia, James. 1995. Cherishing Men from Afar: Qing Guest Ritual and the Macartney Embassy of 1793. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.Google Scholar
Johnston, Alastair Iain. 1998. Cultural Realism: Strategic Culture and Grand Strategy in Chinese History. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Jung, Walter. 1998. Nation Building: The Geopolitical History of Korea. Lanham, MD: University Press of America.Google Scholar
Kang, David. 2010. East Asia Before the West: Five Centuries of Trade and Tribute. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Kang, Etsuko Hai-Jin. 1997. Diplomacy and Ideology in Japanese-Korean Relations: From the Fifteenth to the Eighteenth Century. New York: St. Martin's.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kim, Chŏng-gi. 1997. “Ch'ŏng ŭi Chosŏn chŏngch'aek (1876–1894).” In 1894 nyŏn Nongmin Chŏnjaeng Yŏn'gu 3, ed. Han'guk yŏksa yŏn'guhoe. Seoul: Yŏksa pip'yŏngsa, 31–68.Google Scholar
Kim, Hak-chun. 1993. Korea's Relations with Her Neighbors in a Changing World. Elizabeth, NJ: Hollym.Google Scholar
Kim, Key-hiuk. 1980. The Last Phase of the East Asian World Order: Korea, Japan, and the Chinese Empire, 1860–1882. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Kojong sillok. Kuksa p'yŏnch'an wiwŏnhoe, eds. Chosŏn wangjo sillok . Accessed at http://sillok.history.go.kr/main/main.jsp. All references refer to the classical Chinese original (wŏnmun).Google Scholar
Kye, Seung B. 2005. “The Posthumous Image and Role of Ming Taizu in Korean Politics.” Ming Studies 50: 107–130.Google Scholar
Kye, Seung B. 2006a. “P'abyŏng nonŭi rŭl t'onghae pon Chosŏn chŏngi tae Myŏnggwan ŭi pyŏnhwa.” Taedong munhwa yŏn'gu 53: 309–346.Google Scholar
Kye, Seung B. 2006b. “In the Shadow of the Father: Court Opposition and the Reign of King Kwanghae in Early Seventeenth-Century Choson Korea.” PhD diss., University of Washington.Google Scholar
Larsen, Kirk. 2008. Tradition, Treaties, and Trade: Qing Imperialism and Chosŏn Korea, 1850–1910. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Asia Center.Google Scholar
Lee, Hyun-hee, Park, Sung-soo, and Yoon, Nae-hyun. 2005. New History of Korea. Trans. Lee, Gilsang. P'aju: Jinmoondang.Google Scholar
Lee, Jeong Il. 2007. “Universality, Civilization, and Politics in Late Chŏson Korea: 1600–1800.” PhD diss., East Asian Languages and Cultures, UCLA.Google Scholar
Lee, Ki-baik. 1984. A New History of Korea. Seoul: Ilchogak.Google Scholar
Lee, Yur-bok. 1988. West Goes East: Paul Georg Von Mollendorff and Great Power Imperialism in Late Yi Korea. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.Google Scholar
Lin, T. C. 1935. “Li Hung-Chang: His Korea Policies, 1870–1885.” Chinese Social and Political Science Review 19: 202–223.Google Scholar
Mancall, Mark. 1984. China at the Center: 300 Years of Foreign Policy. New York: The Free Press.Google Scholar
Myŏngjong sillok. Kuksa p'yŏnch'an wiwŏnhoe, eds. Chosŏn wangjo sillok. Accessed at http://sillok.history.go.kr/main/main.jsp. All references refer to the classical Chinese original (wŏnmun).Google Scholar
Nelson, Melvin Frederick. 1945. Korea and the Old Orders in Eastern Asia. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press.Google Scholar
Nish, Ian, ed. 1989. British Documents on Foreign Affairs: Reports and Papers from the Foreign Office Confidential Print: Korea, the Ryukyu Islands, and North-East Asia, 1875–1888. Vol. 2. Frederick, MD: University Publications of America.Google Scholar
Osterhammel, Jurgen. 1986. “Semi-Colonialism and Informal Empire in Twentieth-Century China: Towards a Framework of Analysis.” In Imperialism and After: Continuities and Discontinuities, ed. Mommsen, Wolfgang J. and Osterhammel, Jurgen. London: Allen and Unwin.Google Scholar
Palais, James. 1996. Confucian Statecraft and Korean Institutions: Yu Hyŏngwŏn and the Late Chosŏn Dynasty. Seattle: University of Washington Press.Google Scholar
Palmer, Spencer, ed. and comp. 1963. Korean-American Relations: Documents Pertaining to the Far Eastern Diplomacy of the United States. Volume 2: The Period of Growing Influence, 1887–1895. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Park, Eugene Y. 2007. Between Dreams and Reality: The Military Examination in Late Chosŏn Korea, 1600–1894. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Asia Center.Google Scholar
Robinson, Kenneth R. 1992. “From Raiders to Traders: Border Security and Border Control in Early Chosŏn, 1392–1450.” Korean Studies 16: 94–114.Google Scholar
Sands, William Franklin. 1904. Undiplomatic Memories: The Far East, 1896–1904. London: John Hamilton.Google Scholar
Schmid, Andre. 1996. “Constructing Independence: Nation and Identity in Korea, 1895–1910.” PhD diss., Columbia University.Google Scholar
Schmid, Andre. 2002. Korea Between Empires, 1895–1919. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Shambaugh, David. 2004/5. “China Engages Asia: Reshaping the Regional Order.” International Security 29, 3 (Winter): 64–99.Google Scholar
Swartout, Robert R. 1980. Mandarins, Gunboats, and Power Politics: Owen Nickerson Denny and the International Rivalries in Korea. Honolulu: Asian Studies Program.Google Scholar
Swope, Kenneth. 2009. A Dragon's Head and a Serpent's Tail: Ming China and the First Great East Asian War, 1592–1598. Normal: University of Oklahoma Press.Google Scholar
T'aejo sillok. Kuksa p'yŏnch'an wiwŏnhoe, eds., Chosŏn wangjo sillok. Accessed at http://sillok.history.go.kr/main/main.jsp. All references refer to the classical Chinese original (wŏnmun).Google Scholar
T'aejong sillok. Kuksa p'yŏnch'an wiwŏnhoe, eds., Chosŏn wangjo sillok. Accessed at http://sillok.history.go.kr/main/main.jsp. All references refer to the classical Chinese original (wŏnmun).Google Scholar
“The Second Peace Conference of the Hague.” 1907. American Journal of International Law 1, 4 (October): 945–954.Google Scholar
Thucydides. 1989. The Peloponnesian War: The Complete Hobbes Translation. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Tongmunsŏn. 1966. Seoul: Kyŏnghŭi.Google Scholar
Tsai, Henry Shih-san. 1995. The Eunuchs of the Ming Dynasty. New York: State University of New York Press.Google Scholar
Tsiang, T. F. 1933/34. “Sino-Japanese Diplomatic Relations, 1870–1894.” Chinese Social and Political Science Review 17: 1–106.Google Scholar
van Lieu, Joshua. 2010. “Divergent Visions of Serving the Great: The Emergence of Chosŏn-Qing Tributary Relations as a Politics of Representation.” PhD diss., University of Washington.Google Scholar
Wade, Geoff, trans. 2005. Southeast Asia in the Ming Shi-lu: An Open Access Resource. Singapore: Asia Research Institute and the Singapore E-Press, National University of Singapore. http://www.epress.nus.edu.sg/msl.Google Scholar
Yang, Zhaoquan. 1988. Zhong-Chao guanxishi lunwenji. Beijing: Shijie zhishi chupanshe.Google Scholar
Zhang, Ruogu, ed. 1939. Ma Xiangbo xiansheng nianbu. Zhangsha: Shangwu yinshiguan.Google Scholar
ZRHGX. Academia Sinica, Institute of Modern History, ed. 1972. Qingji Zhong-Ri-Han Guanxi Shilaio. 11 vols. Taipei: Academia Sinica, Institute of Modern History.Google Scholar