Empire and Righteous Nation: 600 Years of China-Korea Relations
(The Edwin O. Reischauer Lectures #14)
by
Odd Arne Westad
3.75 · Rating details · 8 ratings · 0 reviews
From an award-winning historian, a concise overview of the deep and longstanding ties between China and the Koreas, providing an essential foundation for understanding East Asian geopolitics today.
In a concise, trenchant overview, Odd Arne Westad explores the cultural and political relationship between China and the Koreas over the past 600 years.
Koreans long saw China as a mentor. The first form of written Korean employed Chinese characters and remained in administrative use until the twentieth century. Confucianism, especially Neo-Confucian reasoning about the state and its role in promoting a virtuous society, was central to the construction of the Korean government in the fourteenth century. These shared Confucian principles were expressed in fraternal terms, with China the older brother and Korea the younger.
During the Ming Dynasty, mentor became protector, as Korea declared itself a vassal of China in hopes of escaping ruin at the hands of the Mongols. But the friendship eventually frayed with the encroachment of Western powers in the nineteenth century.
Koreans began to reassess their position, especially as Qing China seemed no longer willing or able to stand up for Korea against either the Western powers or the rising military threat from Meiji Japan. The Sino-Korean relationship underwent further change over the next century as imperialism, nationalism, revolution, and war refashioned states and peoples throughout Asia. Westad describes the disastrous impact of the Korean War on international relations in the region and considers Sino-Korean interactions today, especially the thorny question of the reunification of the Korean peninsula.
Illuminating both the ties and the tensions that have characterized the China-Korea relationship, Empire and Righteous Nation provides a valuable foundation for understanding a critical geopolitical dynamic. (less)
Illuminating both the ties and the tensions that have characterized the China-Korea relationship, Empire and Righteous Nation provides a valuable foundation for understanding a critical geopolitical dynamic. (less)
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Empire and Righteous Nation: 600 Years of China-Korea Relations (The Edwin O. Reischauer Lectures Book 14) by [Odd Arne Westad]
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From an award-winning historian, a concise overview of the deep and longstanding ties between China and the Koreas, providing an essential foundation for understanding East Asian geopolitics today.
In a concise, trenchant overview, Odd Arne Westad explores the cultural and political relationship between China and the Koreas over the past 600 years.
Koreans long saw China as a mentor. The first form of written Korean employed Chinese characters and remained in administrative use until the twentieth century. Confucianism, especially Neo-Confucian reasoning about the state and its role in promoting a virtuous society, was central to the construction of the Korean government in the fourteenth century. These shared Confucian principles were expressed in fraternal terms, with China the older brother and Korea the younger. During the Ming Dynasty, mentor became protector, as Korea declared itself a vassal of China in hopes of escaping ruin at the hands of the Mongols. But the friendship eventually frayed with the encroachment of Western powers in the nineteenth century. Koreans began to reassess their position, especially as Qing China seemed no longer willing or able to stand up for Korea against either the Western powers or the rising military threat from Meiji Japan. The Sino-Korean relationship underwent further change over the next century as imperialism, nationalism, revolution, and war refashioned states and peoples throughout Asia. Westad describes the disastrous impact of the Korean War on international relations in the region and considers Sino-Korean interactions today, especially the thorny question of the reunification of the Korean peninsula.
Illuminating both the ties and the tensions that have characterized the China-Korea relationship, Empire and Righteous Nation provides a valuable foundation for understanding a critical geopolitical dynamic.
207 pages
Language
English
Publisher
Harvard University Press
Publication date
12 January 2021
---------------------------------
Product description
Review
Valuable and wide-ranging...As two thousand years of history have shown, China's role in Korea is a complex one. Westad's short and stimulating study provides many clues to understanding that relationship.--J. E. Hoare "Literary Review" (2/1/2021 12:00:00 AM)
Westad offers a sweeping historical overview of what is arguably the most important relationship in Asia today, that between China and the Korean Peninsula. How that relationship is managed and plays out in the coming years is central to questions of national and regional interests as well as to global issues of war and peace. Unique in its broad perspective and engagingly written, this is a timely must-read primer on the China-Korea relationship in its longue durée and its impact on and implications for our world today.--Carter J. Eckert, author of Park Chung Hee and Modern Korea
A smart and engaging work, with a provocative, sweeping narrative that is a pleasure to read. Anyone interested in Sino-Korean relations and the current standoff on the peninsula would be well advised to start with this book.--Andre Schmid, author of Korea Between Empires, 1895-1919
In this incisive and engaging overview, Westad offers a new framework for understanding China and Korea that weaves their interconnected histories together in a concise, thoughtful way. The themes of 'empire' and 'righteous nation' offer some excellent insights into both the differences between the two countries and their long, complex relationship.--Gregg Brazinsky, author of Nation Building in South Korea
The relationship between China and Korea is one of the most important, and least understood, in Asia. With the wisdom and clarity we have come to expect from Westad, this book illuminates the long history of these two neighbors. He tells a story both of closeness brought about by Confucianism and Communism and of prickliness that comes from two fierce and rival nationalisms, providing compelling insights on the future of this volatile partnership.--Rana Mitter, author of China's Good War --This text refers to the hardcover edition.
About the Author
Odd Arne Westad is Elihu Professor of History and Global Affairs at Yale University. A Fellow of the British Academy, he is the author of Restless Empire: China and the World since 1750 and The Global Cold War: Third World Interventions and the Making of Our Times, which won the Bancroft Prize. --This text refers to the hardcover edition.
Product details
ASIN : B08KN4PDVZ
Publisher : Harvard University Press (12 January 2021)
Print length : 207 pages
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« previous | next »
Feb 2021
Categories
China, History, Korea
J E HOARE
Friends or Neighbours?
Empire and Righteous Nation: 600 Years of China–Korea Relations
By Odd Arne Westad
Belknap Press 205pp £23.95 order from our bookshop
Odd Arne Westad is a professor of history at Yale University and has a distinguished record of publication on East Asian history and politics and the Cold War. This new work is based on the Edwin O Reischauer Lectures that he gave at Harvard in 2017. Such lectures generally fall into two categories. They either present a piece of ground-breaking research in an accessible form or, as Westad does here, provide a valuable and wide-ranging assessment of a particular subject.
The China–Korea relationship has puzzled the West since at least the 18th century. While Korea seemed to be a separate political entity from China, those wishing to trade or have another form of involvement with the country soon came up against an obstacle. Koreans insisted that they could not do things without Chinese permission, while still maintaining that Korea was an independent country. Westerners, convinced that their system of fully independent states, developed after the 1648 Peace of Westphalia, was the norm, failed to see in the Chinese approach characteristics that had once prevailed in Europe. Westad hints at this but does not explore it in detail. He also hints at, but again does not examine, the long-standing special relationship between China and Korea in the 1,300 years before the Ming dynasty came to power in the former in 1368 and the Chosun dynasty in the latter in 1392. During that time, Chinese dynasties had been closely, if spasmodically, involved with Korea as the disparate kingdoms on the peninsula slowly coalesced into one unified entity. Sometimes, the relationship had been a peaceful one. From China came a writing system that has faded from use only in the last seventy years. Korean government, architecture, city layout and religion all had their origins in China. In time, of course, they were modified and changed to become something recognisably different, but even today Chinese links can be discerned in both Koreas.
Not all interactions were peaceful. The Yuan dynasty that ruled China from 1271 to 1368 and its predecessor, the Mongol empire of Kublai Khan, treated Korea very harshly and effectively imposed subjugation on the country. The Koreans welcomed the overthrow of the Yuan and its replacement by the Ming. But the experience of the Mongol period also led them to seek ways to accommodate their large neighbour. This approach was known as sadae (‘looking up to the great’). To prevent interference in the peninsula, the Korean monarchy formally deferred to the emperor in Beijing. The Koreans notified the Ming court of important developments, such as the death of a monarch and the accession of his successor. The Chinese did not become involved in the succession itself but imperial approval conferred legitimacy. Korean congratulatory missions visited Beijing on auspicious occasions, while the Koreans also looked to China for assistance when threatened by outside forces, such as the Japanese in the 1590s. The Chinese were not always keen to fulfil their side of the bargain, but, given that Korea might provide a route into China itself, which the Japanese certainly sought to exploit, on that occasion they eventually did send assistance.
It was two-way traffic. When the Ming empire came under Manchu attack in 1616, it sought and received Korean aid. Korean troops went to support the Chinese but ended up surrendering in the hope of saving their own country from attack. This worked in the short term, but as the Manchu prepared to attack the Ming again in the 1620s, they first invaded Korea. The north of the country was devastated and the king and the court were captured. The Manchu, whose leader, Hongtaiji, began styling his family as the Qing dynasty in 1636, established themselves as rulers of China in 1644, whereupon the Koreans shifted their support from the Ming to the Qing.
The Koreans may have looked down on the Qing as parvenus, but the traditional pattern of relations continued until the Qing defeat by the British in the 1840s. Koreans still sought Chinese advice on the handling of foreign affairs, yet were also aware of the problems facing China. From the 1860s, Western pressure grew on Korea to ‘open up’, as China and Japan had done. By the 1870s, the Japanese too had their eyes on Korea. As usual, the Koreans turned to China for support. But China was unable to help them, instead encouraging the Koreans to conclude treaties with Japan and Western powers in the face of growing pressure. China and Korea continued to claim that Korea was both a dependency of China and independent. Foreign powers sometimes followed one tack, sometimes the other.
Japan settled the issue. When Korea asked for Chinese help in 1894 to cope with a major rebellion, China responded, effectively breaking an earlier agreement with Japan to consult with Tokyo before taking action of this sort. This led to the 1894–5 Sino-Japanese War and China’s unexpected defeat. Under Japanese pressure, Korea declared its independence from China, but what it got in exchange was a new form of subservience to Japan. Only Russia challenged the Japanese hegemony, leading in 1904–5 to the Russo-Japanese War, which Japan won. Korea became a Japanese protectorate and then was annexed by the country in 1910. There followed thirty-five years of increasingly harsh colonial rule. Westad sees this in a more benevolent light than I would. There were improvements in areas such as communications and education, but they mostly benefited the Japanese. He also plays down the continued role of China in Korean affairs during this period. Political turmoil did not end China’s cultural pull, while Koreans of all political hues fled to China, which became a base from which to oppose Japan.
Developments after 1945, with the emergence of two Korean states on the peninsula, one communist, the other nominally democratic, and the eventual victory of the Communist Party in the Chinese Civil War, clearly changed the dynamic. The great powers once again involved themselves in Korean matters, not necessarily to the advantage of the Koreans. Westad, who has written a major study of the Cold War, sees the Korean War (1950–53) very much in the context of that struggle, playing down the civil nature of the conflict. What it did reveal, he makes clear, is China’s ongoing influence on the peninsula, which continues to this day. But as two thousand years of history have shown, China’s role in Korea is a complex one. Westad’s short and stimulating study provides many clues to understanding that relationship. It does not fully penetrate it, but it is good place to begin.
« previous | next »
Feb 2021
Categories
China, History, Korea
J E HOARE
Friends or Neighbours?
Empire and Righteous Nation: 600 Years of China–Korea Relations
By Odd Arne Westad
Belknap Press 205pp £23.95 order from our bookshop
Odd Arne Westad is a professor of history at Yale University and has a distinguished record of publication on East Asian history and politics and the Cold War. This new work is based on the Edwin O Reischauer Lectures that he gave at Harvard in 2017. Such lectures generally fall into two categories. They either present a piece of ground-breaking research in an accessible form or, as Westad does here, provide a valuable and wide-ranging assessment of a particular subject.
The China–Korea relationship has puzzled the West since at least the 18th century. While Korea seemed to be a separate political entity from China, those wishing to trade or have another form of involvement with the country soon came up against an obstacle. Koreans insisted that they could not do things without Chinese permission, while still maintaining that Korea was an independent country. Westerners, convinced that their system of fully independent states, developed after the 1648 Peace of Westphalia, was the norm, failed to see in the Chinese approach characteristics that had once prevailed in Europe. Westad hints at this but does not explore it in detail. He also hints at, but again does not examine, the long-standing special relationship between China and Korea in the 1,300 years before the Ming dynasty came to power in the former in 1368 and the Chosun dynasty in the latter in 1392. During that time, Chinese dynasties had been closely, if spasmodically, involved with Korea as the disparate kingdoms on the peninsula slowly coalesced into one unified entity. Sometimes, the relationship had been a peaceful one. From China came a writing system that has faded from use only in the last seventy years. Korean government, architecture, city layout and religion all had their origins in China. In time, of course, they were modified and changed to become something recognisably different, but even today Chinese links can be discerned in both Koreas.
Not all interactions were peaceful. The Yuan dynasty that ruled China from 1271 to 1368 and its predecessor, the Mongol empire of Kublai Khan, treated Korea very harshly and effectively imposed subjugation on the country. The Koreans welcomed the overthrow of the Yuan and its replacement by the Ming. But the experience of the Mongol period also led them to seek ways to accommodate their large neighbour. This approach was known as sadae (‘looking up to the great’). To prevent interference in the peninsula, the Korean monarchy formally deferred to the emperor in Beijing. The Koreans notified the Ming court of important developments, such as the death of a monarch and the accession of his successor. The Chinese did not become involved in the succession itself but imperial approval conferred legitimacy. Korean congratulatory missions visited Beijing on auspicious occasions, while the Koreans also looked to China for assistance when threatened by outside forces, such as the Japanese in the 1590s. The Chinese were not always keen to fulfil their side of the bargain, but, given that Korea might provide a route into China itself, which the Japanese certainly sought to exploit, on that occasion they eventually did send assistance.
It was two-way traffic. When the Ming empire came under Manchu attack in 1616, it sought and received Korean aid. Korean troops went to support the Chinese but ended up surrendering in the hope of saving their own country from attack. This worked in the short term, but as the Manchu prepared to attack the Ming again in the 1620s, they first invaded Korea. The north of the country was devastated and the king and the court were captured. The Manchu, whose leader, Hongtaiji, began styling his family as the Qing dynasty in 1636, established themselves as rulers of China in 1644, whereupon the Koreans shifted their support from the Ming to the Qing.
The Koreans may have looked down on the Qing as parvenus, but the traditional pattern of relations continued until the Qing defeat by the British in the 1840s. Koreans still sought Chinese advice on the handling of foreign affairs, yet were also aware of the problems facing China. From the 1860s, Western pressure grew on Korea to ‘open up’, as China and Japan had done. By the 1870s, the Japanese too had their eyes on Korea. As usual, the Koreans turned to China for support. But China was unable to help them, instead encouraging the Koreans to conclude treaties with Japan and Western powers in the face of growing pressure. China and Korea continued to claim that Korea was both a dependency of China and independent. Foreign powers sometimes followed one tack, sometimes the other.
Japan settled the issue. When Korea asked for Chinese help in 1894 to cope with a major rebellion, China responded, effectively breaking an earlier agreement with Japan to consult with Tokyo before taking action of this sort. This led to the 1894–5 Sino-Japanese War and China’s unexpected defeat. Under Japanese pressure, Korea declared its independence from China, but what it got in exchange was a new form of subservience to Japan. Only Russia challenged the Japanese hegemony, leading in 1904–5 to the Russo-Japanese War, which Japan won. Korea became a Japanese protectorate and then was annexed by the country in 1910. There followed thirty-five years of increasingly harsh colonial rule. Westad sees this in a more benevolent light than I would. There were improvements in areas such as communications and education, but they mostly benefited the Japanese. He also plays down the continued role of China in Korean affairs during this period. Political turmoil did not end China’s cultural pull, while Koreans of all political hues fled to China, which became a base from which to oppose Japan.
Developments after 1945, with the emergence of two Korean states on the peninsula, one communist, the other nominally democratic, and the eventual victory of the Communist Party in the Chinese Civil War, clearly changed the dynamic. The great powers once again involved themselves in Korean matters, not necessarily to the advantage of the Koreans. Westad, who has written a major study of the Cold War, sees the Korean War (1950–53) very much in the context of that struggle, playing down the civil nature of the conflict. What it did reveal, he makes clear, is China’s ongoing influence on the peninsula, which continues to this day. But as two thousand years of history have shown, China’s role in Korea is a complex one. Westad’s short and stimulating study provides many clues to understanding that relationship. It does not fully penetrate it, but it is good place to begin.
===
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