Sino-Korean Relations Research Articles

The Influence of Sino-US Trade War on China-ROK Relations

For China and the United States, South Korea is an important trading partner, and it is also highly concerned about the Sino-US trade war. Because South Korea's economy relies heavily on the external environment, it has also been impacted to a certain extent by the Sino-US trade war. Although some studies believe that the Sino-US trade war has brought new development opportunities to South Korea, from a practical perspective, South Korea's gross domestic product, export trade, and stock market have been greatly impacted, especially by the intensified competition among big countries and the reshaping of global value chains brought about by the Sino-US trade war. With the intensification of the Sino-US trade war, both China and South Korea should think about how to reduce the influence of Sino-US relations and maintain the stability of Sino-Korean relations. Therefore, South Korea needs to actively adjust its economic policies, speed up the upgrading of its economic cooperation with China, take the initiative to seize the American market, and play a certain role in promoting regional multilateral economic cooperation and economic and trade diversification, especially avoiding taking sides between China and the United States. China, on the other hand, should strengthen its economic and political cooperation with South Korea so as to alleviate other countries' worries about Sino-US competition and the rise of China and thus realise the stable, healthy, and sustainable development of China-South Korea relations.

Note from the Editor

Note from the Editor John P. DiMoia, Editor-in-chief With this edition serving as the first of the journal to appear with me as editor, I want to thank Prof. Sem Vermeersch of SNU for his extensive help as I have encountered, and continue to have, many questions throughout the process. Previously an Associate Editor at the journal, and teaching at the Department of Korean History at SNU since 2018, I had little idea of how much additional work goes on "behind the scenes" into transforming a diverse collection of submissions and book reviews into a journal, yielding if not a single overarching theme, then certainly a set of related concerns and questions. Along with Prof. Vermeersch, I also want to thank Kyujanggak, and its entire staff, for undertaking the bulk of the work involved, for which I am extremely grateful. This volume includes four research articles, accompanied by two book reviews, continuing the journal's approach of engaging with the most recent scholarship possible in the field of Korean Studies, with that category meant as broadly construed, and one very much in progress. The first research article, by Ilsoo Cho, examines the "limits of Sinocentrism," looking specifically at the legacy of nativist discourse in Joseon, here meaning language tied to, and constitutive of forms of Korean identity over the long term. Tracking the transition to the Ming in the fourteenth century, Cho argues that Joseon Korea's positioning within the imperial system did not necessarily mean a complete submission, as evidenced by these earlier and persisting forms of language. The implications of this line of argument not only hold significance for the period, and Joseon's relations with its foreign partners, but also presumably for observations to be made about Sino-Korean relations in other contexts, spanning diverse periods and state formations. Lee Min Young contributes the second article, concerning the March First Movement and its function in Korean memory, especially as it appeared in the literature and frequent debates surrounding the period of liberation following August 1945. In referring to this act as "failed," Lee recognizes the challenge of controlling memory in terms of shaping the incoming state's mandate and the [End Page v] corresponding plurality of possible uses for the colonial past. Rather than reading the event strictly as a failure, this conclusion opens the possibility for a dialogue concerning the Korea to follow after August 1945. The third research article, contributed by Jinyoung Park, examines the formation and dissemination of crime fiction, more specifically, the detective novel, within the East Asian context, here referring to China and Korea. In both cases analyzed, Park notes the presence of female detectives as protagonists and considers the possibilities for a gendered reading of the genre and its reception within an audience. If the detective novel in English, and perhaps more globally, is often considered the mid-nineteenth-century work of Poe, this understanding is often framed in terms of the prevalence of a certain view of rationality. Along with this comes urban crime, migration, and nativist fears of changing demographics within certain spaces (e.g., London, Paris). While noting these tropes of origin, Park considers the case anew for East Asia, building on a recent trend in which Korean literature receives greater attention. The final article, taking up the authorship of sijo songs, comes from Jaemin Park and tracks the lengthy and complicated process of unpacking the layering of meaning contained within these works. In Park's argument, the songs have a later point of origin than some of their attributions, meaning that there has been a historical process of transforming and winnowing the meaning over time. In making this case, Park works through specific passages and tropes, arguing for acts of consolidation and dissemination taking place in mid- to late Joseon. For the two book reviews, Yoonjung Seo considers Maya Stiller's Carving Status at Kŭmgangsan, in which the significance of various inscriptions and markings in northern Korea invites inquiry not only to the sites in question, but also potentially addresses the growing body of scholarship on various forms of writing practice in Joseon. In turn, Sungoh Yoon looks at David Robinson's Korea and...

淸의 駐韓公館과 韓淸 近代外交

This study examined the way in which the Qing dynasty had introduced the diplomatic office system through unequal treaties and the Western international law books and figured out the relevance between Qing’s diplomatic offices in Korea and Sino-Korean modern diplomacy. In particular, this article paid attention to the manifestation that rationality and empireness of the diplomatic offices appeared and the aspect that the traditional diplomacy and modern diplomacy competed.<BR> Qing’s diplomatic offices in Korea can be explained in terms of rationality and empireness, and the change of Qing’s diplomatic offices in Korea can be divided into the following two periods. The first phase is the founding period of the Qing’s diplomatic offices in Korea. In this period, Qing aimed at making the Chosun her vassal state through the Commercial Affair Office. Qing made use of modern diplomacy and traditional diplomacy arbitrarily. The second phase is the completing period of the Qing’s diplomatic offices in Korea. In this period, the minister or consul had developed to enhance the rationality of modern diplomacy using treaties and Western international law but had to defend against Korean or Japanese empireness.<BR> This study has the following meanings in terms of supplementation of prior research and expansion of research horizon. First, this article revealed that Qing’s empireness before the Sino-Japanese War came from both traditional diplomacy and modern diplomacy. Therefore, preceding researches that have judged Qing’s Chosun policy traditional or modern need to be reconsidered. Second, this article discovered the rationality of modern diplomacy in proceeding with Sino-Korean relations. Several preceding kinds of research did not stress the development of Sino-Korean relations. It is clear that the rationality of modern diplomacy increased at this time.

중국중세] 2018~2019년 魏晉隋唐史 연구의 동향

During the 2018-2019 period, Korean researchers of Wei-Jin-Sui-Tang history produced approximately 110 papers and several books. Interest in newly unearthed materials, such as the epitaph and carved stones, is a catalyst for the study of medieval china in recent times. Using the written records and such new sources, important research papers are being produced in various fields, including document administration and urban history, daily life history, gender issues, and religious history. This shows that Korean chinese history academia is keeping pace with the world’s academic trends and standards. This trend is likely to continue in the future.<BR> On the other hand, the history of international relations and the study of Sino-Korean relations are still the most frequent. The history of international relations has studied micro-problems such as the movement of envoys and entry procedures, and using cemetery data, the paper on how the Goguryeo people lived in the Tang Dynasty deepened the understanding of medieval Sino-Korean relations.<BR> One thing to remember in particular is that Professor Park Han-je published four books on the theory of the ‘Sino-Barbarian Synthesis’, which he has long studied. This is an important achievement in this period.

중국 신문보도에 나타난 한중관계 위협요인 분석: 한반도 사드배치 문제를 중심으로

본 연구는 한반도 사드배치 이후 한중관계 변화추이를 살펴봄에 그 주목적이 있다. 그리고 두 요인, 한중관계와 사드배치 간 상호 관계를 확인하기 위해 단어 간 상호관계망을 그려낼 수 있는 사회관계망분석(SNA)을 활용하였다. 그 분석대상은 한국정부가 한반도 사드배치를 공식화한 2016년 7월 이후의 수집 가능한 주요 중국 공산당 기관지(党报) 신문보도였다. 분석결과, 첫째 중국 신문보도에서 사드배치와 한중관계 간 상관관계는 분명했다. SNA 분석을 통해 ‘한국’, ‘중국’ 양국은 한편으로 ‘사드’, ‘배치’와 다른 한편으로는 ‘한중’, ‘관계’ 단어들과 밀접하게 연결되어져 있음을 확인하였다. 둘째 중국은 한반도 사드배치가 한중관계는 물론 양국의 경제에도 악영향을 미칠 것을 강조하고 있었다. 셋째 중국은 한반도 사드배치가 한반도는 물론 동북아 평화에도 도움이 되지 않을 것임을 주장하고 있었다.

Recent Korean Scholarship on Sino-Korean Relations During the Ming-Qing Period

Recent Korean Scholarship on Sino-Korean Relations During the Ming-Qing Period* Seunghyun Han Korean scholarship on Ming-Qing history was introduced forty years ago by Korean scholars in Ch'ing-shih wen-t'i, the former title of the journal Late Imperial China.1 Since then, Korean scholarship on Ming-Qing history has grown exponentially. Many articles and books on Ming-Qing history have recently been published in South Korea, but this essay will focus on work on Sino-Korean relations during the Ming-Qing period published in the last twenty years. In the twenty-first century, among Korean scholars of late imperial Chinese history, Sino-Korean relations has been arguably the most important and innovative area of research. The theme of Sino-Korean relations, therefore, provides a useful overview of recent and original contributions of Korean scholars to the understanding of Ming-Qing China. Korean scholars' interest in the theme stems partly from the launch of the "Northeast Project" (Dongbei gongcheng) in the People's Republic of China, a state-sponsored research project to interpret the history of Northeast China from a perspective that emphasizes Chinese claims to ancient kingdoms in the region while stressing unity among different ethnic groups. Subsequent conflicts of historical interpretation between China and Korea triggered Korean scholars' rising interest in the borders and the historical relations between the two countries. Fundamentally, the intensification of interest in this topic resonates with, and is heavily influenced by, global research trends that challenge idealistic, and even mystified perspectives of the political center, and also trends that [End Page 181] situate historical events in a larger regional/global context beyond the boundary of the modern nation-state. Just as a new understanding of Chinese history challenges the paradigms constructed from the center by illuminating the limits of such paradigms in specific peripheral contexts, Korean scholars have similarly challenged the China-centric view of traditional tributary relations by developing new paradigms centered on Korea, a peripheral area in the regional order. Korean scholars have also explored cross-border flows of ideas, people, and objects in order to understand Korean history in a broader context. The maturation of these new research trends has resulted in a blurring of the conventionally rigid line distinguishing scholars of Korean history from those of Chinese history. Those who study the history of Chosŏn Korea (1392–1910) are deepening their knowledge of late imperial China, while students of Ming-Qing history are increasing their use of primary sources in Korean history. The scholarly exchanges between the two groups have accelerated to the point that it is now difficult to strictly categorize scholarly publications as pertaining to Chinese or Korean history. Due to space restrictions, this essay focuses mainly on the work of self-identified historians of Ming-Qing China. Where appropriate, however, the scholarly contributions of historians of Chosŏn Korea are also included. While their research interests span a variety of topics, this essay introduces a few select topics that I consider most important in the field of Sino-Korean relations during the Ming-Qing period and where the bulk of related research is concentrated. The Yuan Influence on Koryŏ and Chosŏn Wŏnho Pak, an authority on Sino-Korean relations in the early Ming period, has identified the thirteenth century, when the Koryŏ kingdom (918–1392) was under the strong influence of the Yuan Dynasty, as a turning point in the relations between China and Korea.2 Tonghun Chŏng is one of the pioneers in this area. His work underscores the impact of the 1280 establishment of the Eastern Expedition Field Headquarters (K. Chŏngdong haengsŏng; C. Zhengdong xingsheng), a Yuan institution established in Koryŏ by Khubilai Khan for the invasion of Japan at first and for influence in Koryŏ politics later. The fact that this institution [End Page 182] was headed by the kings of Koryŏ signified that they were now not only foreign vassals but also administrative officials of the Yuan, just like regular officials in China proper. According to Chŏng, Koryŏ's role as an administrative unit of the Yuan exerted a lasting influence upon the rituals, administration, and politics of Koryŏ and Chos...

Interpreting the Maritime and Overland Trade Regulations of 1882 between Chosŏn and the Qing: How logics of appropriateness shaped Sino–Korean relations

Prior research on Qing China’s relationship towards Chosŏn Korea in the late 19th century suggested that China’s influence over Korea was a continuation of the tribute system. However, the Qing’s awareness of Westphalian laws altered Sino–Korean relations. In 1882, Qing China signed the Maritime and Overland Trade Regulations with Chosŏn Korea. Unlike the previous treaties that China signed with western states, the Qing negotiated terms economically beneficial to China in the agreement. The Qing officials determined much of the terms found in the Regulations. The Qing officials had leverage over Chosŏn officials partly because China had amassed cultural capital through centuries of tributary exchanges. The logics of appropriateness (LoA) or ‘bounded rationality’ of the tribute system shaped the Qing’s and Chosŏn’s responses, even in treaty negotiations. We argued that the Regulations reflected the Qing’s attempts to ‘modernize’ tributary relations with Westphalian LoA in light of the Qing’s own domestic crisis. Domestic insurrections such as the Taiping Rebellion led members of the self-strengthening ( Ziqiang) movement to focus on foreign affairs and adopt Westphalian international laws. The Qing’s goals to self-strengthen via an unequal agreement with Chosŏn, however, failed when westerners criticized China’s perceived suzerain authority over Korea. The criticisms highlighted the cleavages between the tributary and Westphalian systems as individuals attempted to justify their roles within these institutions.

중국 근세Ⅰ] 연구주제의 다양화와 새로운 경향 : 송요금원사 회고와 전망 2016~2017

Over the last two years between 2016 and 2017, researchers in the Song-Liao-Jin-Yuan studies have greatly expanded the research scopes. They have dealt with not only the traditional research fields such as political and diplomatic history and socio-economic history but also the relatively new areas such as cultural history or history of Sino-Korean relations. This article mainly deals with the overall impression on the qualitative growth in the researches of the Song-Liao-Jin- Yuan studies. Lastly, I would like to mention two significant challenges to solve.BR Firstly, it is obvious that both the researchers and researches on the socio-economic history of the Song-Liao-Jin-Yuan studies have gradually declined since the early 2000s. Although it became conspicuous in the aftermath of obsolete socialism in the 1990s, it will be serious matter since a comprehensive understanding of the socio-economic history may become basis to carry out researches on various fields. Therefore, it is necessary to invigorate the field through finding a new detailed topic.BR Secondly, researches on the history of Sino-Korean relations also need to expand the range of the researches. The researchers will understand the relations between the Korean Dynasties and the Chinese ones more clearly if they see it from the broader perspective of the history of multilateral relations among the ancient East Asian regimes, which includes Kamakura Shogunate, Ryukyu Kingdom, and Tamra(Jeju). By doing so, for instance, we will find out the right answer to the problems that we could not have understood from the narrow perspective so far.

THAAD Controversies and Post-THAAD New Normal in Korea-China Relations

사드갈등으로 한국과 중국이 수교 이후 지난 25년간 유지해왔던 양국 우호관계에 상당한 충격을 받았다는 점은 주지의 사실이다. 또한 사드갈등의 충격으로 한·중관계가 사드 이전으로 돌아갈 수 없다는 점에서 포스트 사드 한·중관계가 신창타이에 진입했다는 점도 많은 사람들이 공감하고 있다. 이 글은 왜 포스트 사드 한·중관계가 신창타이에 들어서야 하고, 또 어떤 점에서 신창타이의 변화가 나타나는지에 대해서 분석하는 것을 그 목적으로 하고 있다. 일단 사드갈등은 지난 25년 동안 양국관계에서 누적되어온 정치·경제문제들과 혼재되어 상당히 복잡한 양상을 띠고 있으며, 따라서 포스트 사드 한·중관계의 복원은 이러한 문제들의 해결과 동시에 이루어져야 한다. 우선 북한문제 해결을 위한 한·중협력이 변화해야 한다. 전통적으로 한국은 중국과의 외교적 밀착을 통해서 중국의 대북정책 변화를 추구했었고, 그 바탕에는 중국의 대북영향력을 이용하려는 계산이 깔려있었다. 그러나 최근 중국의 대북영향력이 약화되었고 또 사드갈등에서 나타났듯이 북한에 대한 중국의 인식 및 태도가 변화할 가능성이 없기 때문에 포스트사드 신창타이에서는 중국에 대한 의존성을 벗어난 대북정책을 추구해야 한다. 둘째로 중국은 사드배치를 철회해야만 한·중관계 정상화가 가능하다고 주장하고 있으나, 한국의 입장에서는 사드배치는 전혀 고려의 대상이 아니다. 따라서 한국이 사드배치를 철회하지 않는 한 포스트사드 한·중관계 회복은 제한적일 수밖에 없고 한·미동맹을 중심으로 한 한·중동반자관계의 새로운 정립이 필요하다.In the wake of THAAD controversies, the Sino-Korean relations have got into an unprecedented dimension of new normal. Amicable and cooperative bilateralism for a quarter century has been damaged by a relatively short period of Chinese economic sanctions and diplomatic restrictions over Korea. Thereafter, post-THAAD bilateral relations between Korea and China may not be restored to the pre-THAAD level of intimacy and cooperation. For Korea, in particular, Sino-Korean diplomatic cooperation and management on North Korea should be renewed. Korea under the leadership of Park Geun-hye has struggled to make close bilateral relations with China in pursuit of weakening Sino-North Korea ties. Unveiled during the THAAD controversies, however, China has no intention to give up Pyongyang whatsoever. Therefore, Korea has to devise a new approach to China for managing North Korea, which should not be dependent on China’s influence over the North. Sino-Korean relations vis-a-vis US-Korean relations should also be reoriented. China claims that Sino-Korean relations cannot be restored properly without the withdrawal of THAAD system on Korea, while Korea insists the withdrawal of THAAD to be unthinkable. As far as THAAD deployed in Korea, Sino-Korean relations cannot be restored to the status of pre-THAAD bilateralism. Therefore, Korea should continue to develop its economic and cultural relationship with China, putting US-Korea alliance as the core of Korea’s security and diplomacy.

15세기 한중 관계사 : 禮制的-一元的 책봉·조공의 확립

This article mainly deals with 15SUPth/SUP century’s sino-korean relations based on recent research as a founding stone for comprehensive reexamination of sino-korean relationship from 15SUPth/SUP century to 19th century.BR In the beginning of 15SUPth/SUP century, going through the chaotic and turbulent period of the latter of 14SUPth/SUP century, so called ‘Ming Order’ which had functioned as a basic framework for Ming-Choson relationship was established. The sino-korean relationship was very closely linked with China(Yuan and Ming)’s external policy and international change of relationships, so the extent of this relation’s change around 1400 was an unprecedented level. Therefore we have no choice but to pay attention to international relationships in which China played a central role first in order to fully understand Korea-China relations during 15SUPth/SUP century.BR For this purpose, this article at first described the wholistic big picture of East Asian world. Second, I try to embody the detail of sino-korean relationship which was constantly connected with international relations. At last, I manage to reshape the sino-korean relations through several and comprehensive perspectives of korea-japan relations and sino-japan relations.BR Ming china exercised her political influence mainly through the ritual protocol toward neighboring countries such as Korea, Annam, which was totally different way of method with Mongol’s world order or Yuan system. At the same time, influential Ming emperors, especially Hongwu and Yongle, reestablished traditional, powerful, and monistic tributary system. This system conveys the idea, “Hua-yi yi jia”, which means that northern Yi(barbarian) and southern Hua(Chinese people) were unified as one family. This idea was completely the legacy of Yuan experience. Given such continuity and change of east asian history, ‘special relationship’ rather than ‘typical relationship’ should be more suited for describing the 15SUPth/SUP century sino-korean relations as they were.BR

16세기 초중반 한중관계의 이념성과 중층성

Under the so-called Ming order in premodern East Asia, which lasted for about 250 years from the turn of the 1400s and the early 1700s, there were big differences between the 1400s and the 1500s in the features of the Sino-Korean relations. In the 1400s, sadae (事大), which means serving a bigger country, inferred a sort of utilitarian and contractual relations with the Ming, implying that the suzerain state could be replaced anytime depending on the political situation. In the early 1600s, however, this trend began to change to unconditional relations based on Confucian moral values in which the Koreans viewed the Ming as a ritual father as well as the suzerain. The reasons for this change can be approached from several perspectives, including Chungjong

TOUCHSTONE, WIREPULLER AND TRANSITION: SINO-KOREAN BOOK-DIPLOMACY AND POLITICAL FIGHTS IN 1597-1599

Embodying an optimistic diplomatic mind in early Joseon Dynasty, haidongzhuguoji written by Shin Suk-ju became a main evidence of Chinese official Ding Yingtai impeaching Joseon in the Jeongyu War occurring in 1597 because of Toyotomi Hideyoshi’s second invasion. Ding Yingtai’s impeachment involved Joseon’s king, Chinese generals in Joseon and officials in Beijing in a political maelstrom, which aroused strong reactions of Joseon king and ministers. In this situation, Joseon’s diplomatic corps were dispatched to Beijing in order to justify and defend. They made preparations and took action zealously, winning the final victory and achieving the goal consequently. However, this book-diplomacy surpassed the problem of justifying a book, thus there were some complicated and subtle meanings in the process. Firstly, This book-diplomacy provided a touchstone of Sino-Korean relationship in Ming Dynasty, explaining the political essence of the relationship. Secondly, This diplomacy resulted from Ming Dynasty’s political fights and calmed down also because of Ming Dynasty’s political fights, intensively showing both Sino-Korean interdependent political fights and each liege fights. Thirdly, The book-diplomacy became an important turning point of the transformation of Joseon’s foreign concept, and Joseon’s “Smaller China” mind began to emphasize excluding barbarians, which made an idealistic preparation for the rising “Smaller China” mind in Qing Dynasty.

In the Service of His Korean Majesty: William Nelson Lovatt, the Pusan Customs, and Sino-Korean Relations, 1876–1888 by Wayne Patterson

Reviewed by: In the Service of His Korean Majesty: William Nelson Lovatt, the Pusan Customs, and Sino-Korean Relations, 1876–1888 by Wayne Patterson Keiran Macrae In the Service of His Korean Majesty: William Nelson Lovatt, the Pusan Customs, and Sino-Korean Relations, 1876–1888 by Wayne Patterson. Berkeley: Institute of East Asian Studies, University of California, 2012. 193pp. Patterson’s short monograph presents, contextualizes and analyzes the correspondence of William Nelson Lovatt, an American customs officer stationed in Pusan in the 1880s, and his family. The letters feature both personal and professional content, covering everything from mundane daily events to critical historical incidents, and the career trajectory of Lovatt as he moves from the customs office in Shanghai to one newly established in Pusan. By shifting focus away from the political epicenter in the royal capital, Patterson’s narrative provides a rather refreshing view of Korea at the time, depicting the daily events of the peripheral, but by no means insignificant, southern port city. While it is primarily biographical in nature, the author carefully links this narrative to the greater political dynamics on the Korean peninsula and in East Asia. The content of the book can be roughly divided into two categories. On the one hand, it is a personalized account of the Lovatts’ daily life in Pusan. Here perhaps what is most striking, considering the locale, is the distinct lack of Korean characters. The Lovatts’ social and business interactions are mainly with foreigners, most of which are Japanese. Pusan is, after all, a city dominated by Japanese trade—a “microcosm of Japan,” as Patterson writes (44). What is also notable is the general dissatisfaction the Lovatts display with their circumstances. They describe socializing with the Japanese, for example, as burdensome, disliking sitting on the floor and eating unfamiliar foods (74). This situation is [End Page 97] only compounded by the fact that the “Western community” is decidedly small, and thus they find themselves the victims of boredom and loneliness (67). Meanwhile, what little they do have to say about Korea and Koreans tends to be negative. Lovatt observes “lawlessness” and “lack of technological development” (73). As with other foreign accounts at the time, moreover, he notes the “shiftlessness” of the Korean people, though he interprets this as an inevitable result of the exploitative social structure: “The people have been tyrannized until they have no enterprise to do work for themselves” (81). The Lovatts’ experience in Pusan, then, can be summed up as mainly Japanese and rather unpleasant, with what little contact with Koreans generally colored by negative perceptions. On the other hand, the book is also a historical account of the 1880s, also known as the “Chinese decade,” in which Chinese influence over Korean affairs reached its apex. The greatest strength of the book, in fact, lies in the manner in which Patterson links the Lovatts’ epistolary musings with the greater regional geopolitical dynamics. Lovatt’s employment is the result of his association with the German Paul Georg von Möllendorf, himself appointed by the agent of Chinese power on the peninsula, Li Hung-chang. East Asian foreign affairs thus frequently feature in Lovatt’s letters. He keenly follows the Sino-French War in 1884, for instance, considering its effect on trade and the position of the Chinese. More locally, the Kapsin coup, taking place in the same year, works in his favor as the Chinese gain the decisive upper hand over the Japanese. But his connections with the Chinese are later undermined when Möllendorf backs the Russian bid for power in Korea—Möllendorf’s dismissal ultimately leads to Lovatt’s as well. If links between biographical content and geopolitical dynamics serve as the book’s greatest strength, however, it is when these links are not so apparent that the book tends to lose momentum. Indeed, some discussions verge on the overly mundane if not trivial. One might be interested to know the Lovatts’ daily diet, for instance (incidentally it did not seem to consist of anything too outlandish: fish, chicken, eggs etc.), but perhaps can do without descriptions of household insects and molding wood (50–51). Meanwhile, there are other times when the attempt to...

In the Service of His Korean Majesty: William Nelson Lovatt, the Pusan Customs, and Sino-Korean Relations, by Wayne Patterson

1 In the Service of His Korean Majesty: William Nelson Lovatt, the Pusan Customs, and SinoKorean Relations, 1876–1888, by Wayne Patterson. Berkeley, CA: Institute of East Asian Studies, 2011. 209 pages. $20.00 paperback. ISBN-10: 1-55729-100-4 ISBN-13: 978-155729-100-4 Daniel C. Kane University of British Columbia Pacific Affairs Vancouver, BC Canada With In the Service of His Korean Majesty, Wayne Patterson has given us a detailed and meticulously researched portrait of the Sino-Korean landscape of the early 1880s. At its heart a biography of the English-American William Nelson Lovatt (1838–1904)—at least during his service in Korea (1883–1886), it is in fact more than the story of one man. Using the bountiful Lovatt letters as his primary source, Patterson has succeeded admirably in the difficult task of weaving the thread of Lovatt’s life into the larger fabric of the historical period, testament to the author’s painstaking research and command of a patchwork of sources beyond just the letters themselves. It is divided into four parts that segregate in somewhat dramatic fashion the stages of what one might term Lovatt’s “Korean interlude,” with an epilogue detailing his dismissal from the Korean Customs and departure from Korea. In a helpful and concise concluding chapter, the 2 author brings the larger strands of the story together, drawing more substantial geopolitical conclusions from the microcosm of Lovatt’s own trials and experiences. William Nelson Lovatt began his career in the East as a young artillery soldier in India and then China. Discharged from the British Army, Lovatt next took service with the Chinese Imperial Maritime Customs Service under the direction of the Irishman Robert Hart. Lovatt’s relationship with Korea—both its beginning and premature end—owed itself more than anything to his close, and at times troubled, friendship with Paul Georg von Möllendorff, also employed by the Chinese Customs. Thanks to Möllendorff, Lovatt arrived in Korea in late 1883 with a five-year contract to serve as Commissioner of Customs at Pusan, then a sleepy backwater with a large Japanese population but very few Westerners. But beyond Pusan, this is also a story about the early years of Korea’s modernization and the workings of its infant Customs Service during Korea’s “Chinese decade” (ca. 1884–1894). In writing this work, Patterson relies more than anything else on the Lovatt letters, which the author informs us fell serendipitously into his hands during a trip to China in the 1980s (the story of the trajectory of the letters themselves would have made interesting reading, but the author is rather silent on this point). They are indeed a trove of valuable information, for they have allowed Patterson to essentially, and successfully, recreate a decade-long story from their details. The author does not limit himself to Lovatt’s experiences, but takes as his overarching theme, “the transformation of China’s policy toward Korea from the ritualistic hands-off and largely benevolent policy . . . before 1880, to an increasingly interventionist policy in the first half of the 1880s . . . and finally [by the late 1880s] . . . to a policy that has been variously termed as ‘indirect,’ ‘informal,’ or ‘secondary’ imperialism” (p. vi). It is this theme that dominates the 3 background to Lovatt’s story. I could do no better than paraphrase the author as well regarding the insights the Lovatt letters can provide us. The first is their depictions of the general conditions of Korea, and specifically Pusan, in this period. Second, are the insights they provide into the workings (and failures) of the Korean Customs during its infancy. Third, are the windows they open to the lives of Western expats in Korea. And finally, there are the new details they provide on key figures, particularly regarding the motivations and personalities of Möllendorff and his eventual replacement, Henry Merrill. Patterson’s book succeeds admirably in all the ways enumerated above. The Lovatts’ experiences in Pusan, and interactions with local Korean officials and eyewitness accounts of the lives of average Koreans, provide us details on the poverty, corruption, and social divisions of the place and period. The challenges and experiences of...

In the Service of His Korean Majesty: William Nelson Lovatt, the Pusan Customs, and Sino-Korean Relations, 1876 1888 by Wayne Patterson

In the Service of His Korean Majesty: William Nelson Lovatt, the Pusan Customs, and Sino-Korean Relations, 1876 1888 by Wayne Patterson

Conflicting Images of Korea

This article examines the complicated and even conflicting images of Korea represented by the Shenbao 申報(Shanghai Newspaper) between the 1870s and the 1890s, when the relationship between Qing China and Joseon Korea was being fundamentally transformed as the Qing court changed its Korean policy from the tributary laissez-faire policy into an interventionist policy beginning in the early 1880s. In particular, I investigate the ways in which the Shenbao invoked, redefined, and used the age-old Confucian and tributary ideas for the purpose of justifying the Qing’s non-Confucian and non-tributary actions toward Korea. For example, the Confucian ideal of familism was enthusiastically invoked by the Shenbao when the very familistic Sino-Korean relationship was broken by the Qing’s pursuit of non-familistic interests. In addition, the Shenbao eagerly reproduced the long-standing metaphor of the lips and teeth in order to defend the Qing’s interventions toward Korea. The fact that the traditional ideas were relentlessly called upon and served the Shenbao’s defense of the Qing’s pursuit of practical interests clearly shows that the traditional way of thinking neither disappeared nor was passively replaced by the present reality; rather, it constantly interplayed and was intertwined with the non-traditional values of the present time.

In the Service of His Korean Majesty: William Nelson Lovatt, the Pusan Customs, and Sino-Korean Relations, 1876-1888, written by Wayne Patterson

In the Service of His Korean Majesty: William Nelson Lovatt, the Pusan Customs, and Sino-Korean Relations, 1876-1888, written by Wayne Patterson

The Afterlives of An Chunggŭn in Republican China: From Sinocentric Appropriation to a Rupture in Nationalism

This article examines Sino-Korean cultural relations in the 1920s and 1930s, focusing on representations of Korean anticolonial activist An Chunggŭn’s assassination of Japanese prime minister Itō Hirobumi (1909). Two different junctures in particular are considered: the release of the film Patriotic Spirit by Chŏng Kitak in 1928 and the Wanbaoshan Incident in 1931. Patriotic Spirit , a transnational dramatization of An’s story, was the first Chinese film directed by a Korean; the Wanbaoshan Incident was a violent conflict between Chinese and Koreans caused by the unofficial “discord-provoking policy” of the Japanese empire. The article tracks changes in Chinese responses to An’s story before and after these two junctures, showing that Patriotic Spirit subtly communicated transnationalism while also catering to the Sinocentric taste of Chinese audiences. It also examines how Chinese print media in 1928 appropriated Patriotic Spirit for nationalist ends. Following the Wanbaoshan Incident, An’s story resurfaced in China. Despite heightened anti-Korean sentiment in China at this time, An avoided Chinese condemnation because the Chinese unwittingly categorized him as Korean yet not Korean. Hence, while An’s story became integrated into Chinese discourse, this study reveals, the sign of An Chunggŭn caused a rupture in the Han/non-Han divide embedded in Republican-era Chinese nationalism.

카이로회담과 한중관계 -­ ‘國際共管論’에 대한 충칭임시정부와 중국국민정부의 대응 -­

카이로회담과 한중관계 -­ ‘國際共管論’에 대한 충칭임시정부와 중국국민정부의 대응 -­

A Study on the Sino-Korean Relations in the 1930s: With Special Reference to Christianity

A Study on the Sino-Korean Relations in the 1930s: With Special Reference to Christianity