East Asian Regional Order pre-1800

Question 1

How can East Asian Relations`tions be characterised before 1800

Answer 1

“Harmonious relations”

Long periods of relative peace – Korea and China have relatively few wars

Question 2

Give an old model of the East Asian regional order

Answer 2

Tributary Model

China at the centre of the world order, with outer tributary states radiating out from the Chinese centre (Korea, Mongolia etc.)

Question 3

What new research is amending the tributary model

Answer 3

Increasing emphasis on Korea

Question 4

How did Korea view itself

Answer 4

The second most civilised country, after China.

Korean maps exaggerated their sze and imporotnace to China

Question 5

When and what was the Yaun dynasty

Answer 5

1279-1368

Established by the Mongols and ruled by Kublai Khan (1260-1279), grandson of Genghis Khan

The Mongols’ reign in China came to an end after a series of famines, plagues, floods and peasant uprisings

Question 6

When was the Ming dynasty

Answer 6

1368-1644

Question 7

How long did Choson Korea last

Answer 7

1392-1910

Question 8

What language was used on the political circles in Korea

Answer 8

Until the 20th C, most Korean elites wrote in Classical Chinese. Used Chinese, as many Europeans used Latin.

Korean language has similarities to japaneese and Mongolian, but linguiostic origins still debated

Question 9

Give two Korean origin myths

Answer 9

Tan’gun

Kija

Question 10

What is the Tan’gun myth

Answer 10

Idea that all Koreans originate from Tan’gun, establishing the city of Asadal in 2333BCE (present-day P’yongyang)

Question 11

What is the Kija myth

Answer 11

Traced Korena civilisation from China.

Kija is a supposed relative of the Shang emperor, fled to the Korean peninsula to establish a new state

Question 12

Which Korean myth is more prevalent

Answer 12

Kija myth took residences in the chosen dynasty but reverted to Tan’gun after 1910

Question 13

What was the significance of the Kija myth

Answer 13

Elevation of Kija myth helped secure cultural and diplomatic ties with Ming China and gave Korea a powerful civilisation identity

Argued that Chinese culture does not belong to any particular state, but emerged in the central plains and its values/ideas can be adopted by anyone
Koreans can access stream of Chinese ideas better than anyone else can

Question 14

How was the filial daughter of Kwaksan exploited by the political elites in Korea and China

Answer 14

Was exploited by male elites in both Korea and China to establish a Confucianism civilisation - even when the story itself isn’t necessarily Confucian

Question 15

Give two examples that highlight the close reliance Korea had towards China

Answer 15

Yeonsangun was overthrown (1476-1506)
Corruption and lechery led to his removal. His younger brother is pout in power. However, Korea didn’t tell China what had happened. Lied and hid the coup from China in order to maintain good relations

1592-98 Imjin War, Ming Chineese assistance was crucial

Question 16

How does the relationship between Kore and China change in the late 19th century

Answer 16

Previously relate s were very stable

In the late 19thc however, the rise of modern Japan saw Korea become the centre for imperial powers
The peaceful Chinese order dramatically deteriorates

Russian, Japanese and Chinese armies vied for control of Korea

Question 17

How did attitudes change in Korea from 1880

Answer 17

Koreans stopped seeing themselves as mere subsets of China but as Koreans first

According to Sin Chaeho (1880-1936) the Kija myth ruined Korea

Chaeho argued that only the full embrace of a blood-based ethnic identity of Koreans (and exclusively for Koreans) could save Korea from its current plight

• New concept of Korea as an ethnic nation, originates in the late 19th C
• Sin sees Tan’gun myth as superior to the kija myth
• Drove a militaristic nationalism and south Korean modernisation

The regional order that’s siatined eace in East Asia for centrueis – was drmticlaly otherthrown