{"id":473,"date":"2025-03-01T11:05:22","date_gmt":"2025-03-01T19:05:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chosonhistory.org\/SixWang\/?p=473"},"modified":"2025-04-01T13:35:43","modified_gmt":"2025-04-01T20:35:43","slug":"korea-and-early-modernity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chosonhistory.org\/SixWang\/korea-and-early-modernity\/","title":{"rendered":"Korea and Early Modernity"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

2025<\/strong> \u201cKorea and Early Modernity.\u201d In The Routledge Handbook of Early Modern Korea<\/strong><\/em>. Edited by Eugene Y. Park. Routledge<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.taylorfrancis.com\/chapters\/edit\/10.4324\/9781003262053-3\/korea-early-modernity-sixiang-wang<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chapter 1 by Sixiang Wang problematizes understanding Chos\u014fn as Korea’s early modern. Wang notes two rival conventions in the historiography of Korea. A \u201cshort convention,\u201d which refers to precolonial Korea’s Open Port Period (1876\u20131910) as early modern (Ko. k\u016dndae), is out of line in the sense that historians working on all other regions generally speak of the early modern era from the fifteenth to nineteenth century. A \u201clong convention,\u201d which places Korea on the same temporal scale as other regions, raises the question of how to situate Korea within a larger story of global early modernity. The problem with \u201cearly modernity\u201d as a Eurocentric concept is its presumption that history follows a universal trajectory as understood in liberal positivism and Marxist teleology, according to which each stage has distinct characteristics. While arguing that the global early modern tropes of, among others, commerce, connection, and cosmopolitanism do not apply neatly to Chos\u014fn, Wang urges readers to view global periodization as a tool for drawing connections and making comparisons rather than a proxy for essentialization.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

2025 \u201cKorea and Early Modernity.\u201d In The Routledge Handbook of Early Modern Korea. Edited by Eugene Y. Park. Routledge https:\/\/www.taylorfrancis.com\/chapters\/edit\/10.4324\/9781003262053-3\/korea-early-modernity-sixiang-wang… Read more Korea and Early Modernity<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":461,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[10,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-473","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-book-chapters","category-publications"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chosonhistory.org\/SixWang\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Handbook.png?fit=641%2C927&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8Nhqs-7D","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":455,"url":"https:\/\/chosonhistory.org\/SixWang\/choson-history-society-simulating-korea-in-early-modern-diplomacy-on-eurocentrism-agency-and-world-history-in-eu-iv-march-7-2023\/","url_meta":{"origin":473,"position":0},"title":"[Chos\u014fn History Society] Simulating Korea in Early Modern Diplomacy: On Eurocentrism, Agency, and World History in EU IV (March 7, 2023)","author":"Sixiang Wang","date":"March 7, 2023","format":"video","excerpt":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=T4a0jz5CLK8","rel":"","context":"In "Lectures, Talks, and Interviews"","block_context":{"text":"Lectures, Talks, and Interviews","link":"https:\/\/chosonhistory.org\/SixWang\/category\/public-lectures\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/T4a0jz5CLK8\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":260,"url":"https:\/\/chosonhistory.org\/SixWang\/korea-vietnam-working-group-connections-and-comparisons-in-humanities-scholarship\/","url_meta":{"origin":473,"position":1},"title":"Korea-Vietnam Working Group: Connections and Comparisons in Humanities scholarship","author":"Sixiang Wang","date":"March 7, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"The histories of Korea and Vietnam are marked by many parallels. Before the traumas of division, civil war, and colonial occupation in the modern period, both were countries of \u201cmanifest civility,\u201d polities ruled by an elite who prided themselves as cultural heirs to a Confucian antiquity. Both were countries touched\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Collaborative Projects"","block_context":{"text":"Collaborative Projects","link":"https:\/\/chosonhistory.org\/SixWang\/category\/collaborative-projects\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":287,"url":"https:\/\/chosonhistory.org\/SixWang\/history-of-korean-civilization\/","url_meta":{"origin":473,"position":2},"title":"History of Korean Civilization","author":"Sixiang Wang","date":"November 21, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Listed as Korea 50 in UCLA Registrar This course surveys the history of the Korean peninsula from the period of early state formation to contemporary North and South Korea. Taking account of Korea's pivotal geographical and cultural position in East Asia, the course will cover topics such as the emergence\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Teaching"","block_context":{"text":"Teaching","link":"https:\/\/chosonhistory.org\/SixWang\/category\/teaching\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chosonhistory.org\/SixWang\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/k50-Winter-2023-poster.png?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chosonhistory.org\/SixWang\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/k50-Winter-2023-poster.png?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chosonhistory.org\/SixWang\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/k50-Winter-2023-poster.png?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chosonhistory.org\/SixWang\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/k50-Winter-2023-poster.png?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":449,"url":"https:\/\/chosonhistory.org\/SixWang\/korea-questions-s1-ep-3-do-unicorns-exist-in-north-korea-sixiang-wang-september-7-2016\/","url_meta":{"origin":473,"position":3},"title":"Korea Questions S1 | Ep 3: Do Unicorns exist in North Korea? | Sixiang Wang (September 7, 2016)","author":"Sixiang Wang","date":"September 7, 2016","format":"video","excerpt":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=_bHWz_DiiIM","rel":"","context":"In "Publications"","block_context":{"text":"Publications","link":"https:\/\/chosonhistory.org\/SixWang\/category\/publications\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/_bHWz_DiiIM\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":290,"url":"https:\/\/chosonhistory.org\/SixWang\/boundless-winds-of-empire-rhetoric-and-ritual-in-early-choson-diplomacy-with-ming-china\/","url_meta":{"origin":473,"position":4},"title":"Boundless Winds of Empire: Rhetoric and Ritual in Early Chos\u014fn Diplomacy with Ming China","author":"Sixiang Wang","date":"November 21, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"2023. Boundless Winds of Empire: Rhetoric and Ritual in Early Chos\u014fn Diplomacy with Ming China. New York: Columbia University Press. For more than two hundred years after its establishment in 1392, the Chos\u014fn dynasty of Korea enjoyed generally peaceful and stable relations with neighboring Ming China, which dwarfed it in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Monographs"","block_context":{"text":"Monographs","link":"https:\/\/chosonhistory.org\/SixWang\/category\/publications\/monographs\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Book Cover","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chosonhistory.org\/SixWang\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Boundless-Winds-Cover.png?fit=441%2C662&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":451,"url":"https:\/\/chosonhistory.org\/SixWang\/the-korea-now-podcast-110-literature-series-sixiang-wang-the-politics-of-language\/","url_meta":{"origin":473,"position":5},"title":"The Korea Now Podcast\u00a0#110\u00a0(Literature Series) \u2013 Sixiang Wang \u2013 \u2018The Politics of Language…","author":"Sixiang Wang","date":"August 1, 2021","format":"audio","excerpt":"This episode of the Korea Now podcast features an interview that Jed Lea-Henry conducted with Sixiang Wang. They speak about the exchanges between Choson Korea (1392-1910) and Ming China (1368-1644), the Korean envoys and interpreters who mediated between the two dynasties, the need of these interpreters to master spoken Chinese,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Lectures, Talks, and Interviews"","block_context":{"text":"Lectures, Talks, and Interviews","link":"https:\/\/chosonhistory.org\/SixWang\/category\/public-lectures\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/r5xm7Mr00NM\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chosonhistory.org\/SixWang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/473","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chosonhistory.org\/SixWang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chosonhistory.org\/SixWang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"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=473"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/chosonhistory.org\/SixWang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/473\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":507,"href":"https:\/\/chosonhistory.org\/SixWang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/473\/revisions\/507"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chosonhistory.org\/SixWang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/461"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chosonhistory.org\/SixWang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=473"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chosonhistory.org\/SixWang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=473"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chosonhistory.org\/SixWang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=473"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}