{"id":190,"date":"2019-08-31T21:52:23","date_gmt":"2019-08-31T21:52:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chosonhistory.org\/SixWang\/?page_id=190"},"modified":"2019-08-31T22:05:28","modified_gmt":"2019-08-31T22:05:28","slug":"dissertation-co-constructing-empire-in-early-choson-korea-knowledge-production-and-the-culture-of-diplomacy-1392-1592","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/chosonhistory.org\/SixWang\/dissertation-co-constructing-empire-in-early-choson-korea-knowledge-production-and-the-culture-of-diplomacy-1392-1592\/","title":{"rendered":"Dissertation: Co-constructing Empire in Early Chos\u014fn Korea: Knowledge Production and the Culture of Diplomacy, 1392\u20131592"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1 style=\"text-align: center;\">Co-constructing Empire in Early Chos\u014fn Korea:<br \/>\nKnowledge Production and the Culture of Diplomacy, 1392\u20131592<\/h1>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Sixiang Wang<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Submitted in partial fulfillment of the<br \/>\nrequirements for the degree of<br \/>\nDoctor of Philosophy<br \/>\nin the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY<br \/>\n2015<\/p>\n<div id=\"write\" class=\"is-node\">\n<h1><a class=\"md-header-anchor\" name=\"abstract\"><\/a>Abstract<\/h1>\n<p>Political, military, and economic power alone cannot explain how empires work, for empire-making is also a matter of theories, narratives, ideas and institutions. To sustain themselves, empires both coerce and persuade. Tools of persuasion, however, were seldom the monopoly of those who sought to dominate, for they could also be contested and appropriated by those who sought to resist. This dissertation on Chos\u014fn Korea\u2019s (1392\u20131910) interactions with Ming China (1368\u20131644) offers a cultural history of interstate orders and diplomatic institutions in early modern Korea and East Asia. I illustrate how Chos\u014fn appropriated the persuasive technologies that sustained Ming empire as a political imaginary to contest Ming imperial claims and ultimately reshape imperial ideology.<\/p>\n<p>Chos\u014fn-Ming relations have long been described in terms of \u201ctributary relations.\u201d This paradigm, as conceived by John K. Fairbank and others, understands these relations as the logical consequence of a shared Confucian ideology and illustrative of Korea\u2019s historical status as China\u2019s model tributary. These approaches privilege a metropole-centered vantage and have failed to account for Korean agency. They treat Korean envoy missions, ritual performances, and literary production as scripted gestures that can only reflect stable ideology. Meanwhile, they miss how these acts were contesting and transforming ideology in the process. I argue that the Chos\u014fn court in fact exercised enormous agency through these ritualized practices. The discourses of the Ming as moral empire and Korea as a loyal vassal, long held to be emblematic features of the tributary system, were a large part reified products of Chos\u014fn diplomatic strategy. They did not reflect a pre-existing political order, but constituted its very substance. They were part of the \u201cknowledge of empire\u201d produced by the Chos\u014fn court for comprehending the Ming and its institutions and influencing imperial ideology. Facilitated by institutional practices at the Chos\u014fn court, this \u201cknowledge of empire\u201d allowed Chos\u014fn to manage successfully asymmetrical relations with the Ming and co-construct Ming empire in the process.<\/p>\n<p>Chapter 1 examines Korean diplomatic epistles to show how the Korean court used its knowledge of historical precedents, ritual logics, and literary tropes of empire-making to contest symbols of imperial legitimacy. Chapter 2 discusses how Korean emissaries appealed to ideals of moral empire and reified particular understandings of Korea\u2019s relationship with the Ming to achieve their diplomatic ends. Chapter 3 treats Korean envoy missions as a conduit for information on Ming institutions and politics. As a result, the Chos\u014fn was able to construct a dynamic of knowledge asymmetry where it knew more about the Ming than vice-versa. Once empire was constructed, its symbols and institutions were subject to appropriation. Chapter 4 looks at one such example, where a Korean prince manipulated diplomacy with the Ming to usurp the Chos\u014fn throne. Chapter 5 shows how the practices of envoy poetry associated with the <em>Brilliant Flowers Anthology<\/em> (<em>Hwanghwajip<\/em>) became a site where competing narratives of how Chos\u014fn\u2019s relationship to empire, civilization, and the imperial past could stand together. Chapter 6 continues the discussion of envoy poetry by turning to its associated spatial practices. Chos\u014fn court poets invested the city of P\u2019y\u014fngyang with symbolic resonances that asserted Korean cultural parity with China, legitimized Korean autonomy and denounced historical imperial claims on Korean territory, all without infringing on Ming claims of universal empire.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Co-constructing Empire in Early Chos\u014fn Korea: Knowledge Production and the Culture of Diplomacy, 1392\u20131592 Sixiang Wang Submitted in partial fulfillment&hellip; <a class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/chosonhistory.org\/SixWang\/dissertation-co-constructing-empire-in-early-choson-korea-knowledge-production-and-the-culture-of-diplomacy-1392-1592\/\">Read more <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Dissertation: Co-constructing Empire in Early Chos\u014fn Korea: Knowledge Production and the Culture of Diplomacy, 1392\u20131592<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-190","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/P8Nhqs-34","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":26,"url":"https:\/\/chosonhistory.org\/SixWang\/","url_meta":{"origin":190,"position":0},"title":"About","author":"Sixiang Wang","date":"May 30, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"\u738b\u601d\u7fd4 Associate Professor Asian Languages and Cultures, UCLA Ph.D., Columbia University Cultural, literary, intellectual, and political history of Chos\u014fn period Korea, literary culture in East Asia, Sino-Korean relations, science and knowledge production in early modern East Asia, comparative empire, and the history of diplomacy.","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chosonhistory.org\/SixWang\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/photo-3-1-e1496219381254-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":249,"url":"https:\/\/chosonhistory.org\/SixWang\/collaborative-projects\/","url_meta":{"origin":190,"position":1},"title":"Collaborative Projects","author":"Sixiang Wang","date":"March 7, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"UCLA Korean History and Culture Digital Museum The aim of the Korean History and Culture Digital Museum is to bridge the widening gulf between public and academic knowledge. The on-going project features the work of UCLA students and faculty produced during their course of study. As students engage with the\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":303,"url":"https:\/\/chosonhistory.org\/SixWang\/for-prospective-graduate-students-faq\/","url_meta":{"origin":190,"position":2},"title":"For Prospective Graduate Students (FAQ)","author":"Sixiang Wang","date":"November 22, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"FAQ for Prospective Graduate Studentsinterested in premodern Korean history Updated for December 2022 Only applies to those interested in studying Premodern Korean history with me at the PhD level in the Department of Asian Languages and Cultures @ UCLA The answers here reflect my PERSONAL thoughts on the INTELLECTUAL direction\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chosonhistory.org\/SixWang\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/image.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chosonhistory.org\/SixWang\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/image.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chosonhistory.org\/SixWang\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/image.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chosonhistory.org\/SixWang\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/image.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chosonhistory.org\/SixWang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/190","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chosonhistory.org\/SixWang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chosonhistory.org\/SixWang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chosonhistory.org\/SixWang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chosonhistory.org\/SixWang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=190"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/chosonhistory.org\/SixWang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/190\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":200,"href":"https:\/\/chosonhistory.org\/SixWang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/190\/revisions\/200"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chosonhistory.org\/SixWang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=190"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}