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A Study on the Personnel Appointments of Qing Imperial Envoys to Korea: Reconsidering Korea’s Position in the World Order under Qing Hegemony

구범진 1

1서울대학교

Accredited

ABSTRACT

Since Manchu army broke through the Shanhai pass 山海關and the Qing court moved its capital to Beijing, hundreds of Qing officials, as imperial envoys with either political or ritual missions, visited Seoul, Korea. In this paper, it has been revealed that Qing emperors selected their envoys to Korea exclusively from bannermen 旗人officials of higher ranks, or rank 3 and above. In other words, Han Chinese 漢人officials were systematically and consistently excluded from the diplomatic missions to Korea. In stark contrast, Qing imperial envoys to Liuqiu 琉球and Vietnam 安南/越南were chosen from officials of lower ranks, or rank 5 and below, and Qing emperors did not care whether they were bannermen or Han Chinese. According to Mark Mancall, Qing tributary states could be classified into two groups, or “the southeastern crescent” group and “the northwestern crescent” one. The countries of sedentary agricultural economy belonged to the former, while those of nomadic economy to the latter. In this dichotomy, Korea is considered as a member of the first group along with Liuqiu and Vietnam. Having discovered the difference between the appointment pool of Qing imperial envoys to Korea and that of Liuqiu and Vietnam, I think it necessary to reconsider Korea's membership in “the southeastern crescent” group and to give a second thought to the Qing view of the world as has been advocated by Mancall. Korea had much in common with the northwestern societies, such as Mongol tribes. Korea, along with the nomadic societies in Manchuria and Inner Mongolia, accepted Qing hegemony and joined the Qing tribute system by Qing military force before Manchu conquest of Ming China, while Liuqiu and Vietnam, former Ming tributary countries, came to be included, not by force but in their volition, in the list of Qing tributary states, as a corollary of Manchu conquest of Ming China. Diplomatic mission to Korea was not regarded as business of Han Chinese but that of bannermen, as was the case with the Qing adminstration of Mongol nomadic tribes, while Han Chinese officials were allowed to participate in the missions to Liuqiu and Vietnam without discrimination against them. Taking into account these facts, I argue the organizing principle that governed the Qing tribute system was the time when the society in question was incorporated into the Qing hegemonic world order, not the ecological system where it belonged, on which Mancall put primary importance.

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* References for papers published after 2023 are currently being built.

This paper was written with support from the National Research Foundation of Korea.
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