Items of Tributary Gifts (Pangmul 方物) Sent to the Ming Dynasty by Chosŏn and their Changing Trends

Abstract

This paper examines changes and trends in tributary gifts (pangmul 方物) sent by Chosŏn regular envoys to the Ming Emperor during the 15th and 17th centuries. First, pangmul items sent by the Chosŏn to the Ming were partially inherited from the Koryŏ era. Second, it examines how King Sejong’s 1429 request that the Chosŏn court pay its tribute by means other than gold and silver led the court to offer specialty goods as tribute instead of precious metals. It then moves on to explore how economic scarcity resulting from the Imjin Wars of 1592 led Chosŏn pangmul to be composed mostly of folding fans and stationery items such as paper (kyŏngmyŏnji, paekmyŏnji, and oil paper), inkstones (hwayŏn), ink (chinmuk and yumaemuk) and writing brushes (hwangmopil)–the dynasty’s common, major export goods. After the war, the Chosŏn dynasty regained stability and returned to its pre-war pangmul practices. However, the pangmul were not completely fixed and showed tentative patterns, going back and forth between the practices of the 15th century and the new circumstances of the 17th century. In short, this paper explores how pangmul practices were not completely fixed, and how contingencies such as the war and the changing landscape of manufacturing in 16th-century Korea influenced the composition of Chosŏn pangmul.