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The Edwin O. Reischauer Lectures
Empire and Righteous Nation: 600 Years of China-Korea Relations
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.
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.
216 pages, Hardcover
Published January 12, 2021
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208 people want to read
About the author
Odd Arne Westad
41 books148 followersOdd Arne Westad, FBA, is a Norwegian historian specializing in the Cold War and contemporary East Asian history. He is currently the ST Lee Professor of US-Asia Relations at Harvard University, teaching in the John F. Kennedy School of Government.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
December 18, 2023
When the Mongol-controlled Yuan Dynasty collapsed in China, both the new Ming Dynasty and Chosŏn (Korea) wanted to build their government/culture on similar Confucian values. Chosŏn had an interesting dynamic with the Ming Dynasty; it was never ruled or directly administrated by China, but it often paid tribute to the Ming Dynasty, and the author describes it as a "vassal state" of China. In return, China considered Chosŏn to be a "civilized" state, unlike the "barbarians" in Japan or Mongolia, a relationship the author analogizes to an older-little brother dynamic (is this offensive? accurate? idk).
The Ming Dynasty helped Chosŏn repel a Japanese invasion in the 1590s, but soon the Manchurians overthrew the Ming Dynasty and established the Qing Dynasty. This was very unpopular in Chosŏn, and Korea had much more frigid relations with the Qing dynasty than it did with the Ming. By the 19th century, the Qing Dynasty was collapsing under pressure from European invasions, and in 1895, Japan beat China in a war that would eventually lead to Korea falling under Japanese control. Unlike China, Japan directly colonized Korea and was extremely brutal; sexual slavery of Korean women, banning of the Korean language, and harsh suppression of Korean resistance.
Today, the China-Korea relationship is complicated because of the division of Korea. Even though they're both (nominally) socialist, North Korea's erratic behavior causes a lot of headaches for China, especially as China grows into more of a superpower. Both Koreas have sometimes felt that China has had a paternalistic or overbearing attitude towards Korea, and today, there's a big question mark on how involved China is going to be in North-South Korea relations.
Strong recommend this book, it's not too long, but you get a great overview of Chinese-Korean relations historically, and how they impact modern international relations. Also, a great intro to East Asian history.
Quotes
"The implied meaning of this ritual intercourse was always the same: The Ming were the older brother of the Chosŏn. The rights and obligations that existed between older and younger brothers in the Confucian rulebook also went for the relationship between the two states. The younger brother should respect and obey the older, come to his aid when needed, and laud his qualities to all others. The older brother should protect and enlighten the younger, represent him toward others, and treat him with care and forgiveness. ”
The Ming Dynasty helped Chosŏn repel a Japanese invasion in the 1590s, but soon the Manchurians overthrew the Ming Dynasty and established the Qing Dynasty. This was very unpopular in Chosŏn, and Korea had much more frigid relations with the Qing dynasty than it did with the Ming. By the 19th century, the Qing Dynasty was collapsing under pressure from European invasions, and in 1895, Japan beat China in a war that would eventually lead to Korea falling under Japanese control. Unlike China, Japan directly colonized Korea and was extremely brutal; sexual slavery of Korean women, banning of the Korean language, and harsh suppression of Korean resistance.
Today, the China-Korea relationship is complicated because of the division of Korea. Even though they're both (nominally) socialist, North Korea's erratic behavior causes a lot of headaches for China, especially as China grows into more of a superpower. Both Koreas have sometimes felt that China has had a paternalistic or overbearing attitude towards Korea, and today, there's a big question mark on how involved China is going to be in North-South Korea relations.
Strong recommend this book, it's not too long, but you get a great overview of Chinese-Korean relations historically, and how they impact modern international relations. Also, a great intro to East Asian history.
Quotes
"The implied meaning of this ritual intercourse was always the same: The Ming were the older brother of the Chosŏn. The rights and obligations that existed between older and younger brothers in the Confucian rulebook also went for the relationship between the two states. The younger brother should respect and obey the older, come to his aid when needed, and laud his qualities to all others. The older brother should protect and enlighten the younger, represent him toward others, and treat him with care and forgiveness. ”
Read
July 26, 2022This is a concise and fun to read history of relations between China (the Empire of the title) and Korea (the self-proclaimed righteous nation). Some choice bits:
- The Koreans were fond of sending tributary missions to the Ming -- usually three times a year, for the New Year, the Emperor's birthday, and the crown prince's birthday -- and sometimes had to be discouraged from sending more. This enthusiasm may have been partly out of Confucian propriety, partly because the noble families in charge discovered they could make a pretty penny out of trading the tributary surplus and bringing valuable Chinese goods back.
- Some of these rare Chinese goods were books -- everything from technical manuals to erotica. "A late sixteenth-century Beijing scholar noted that 'People from Chosón really like books. The number of their envoys is limited to fifty, but even in the early morning they are out visiting book markets, copying down titles, and asking whomever they meet [about books). They do not spare money to buy books they do not own, whether an old classic, a new book, or a popular novel.'"
- I had forgotten the crucial role of the PRC under Hu Jintao in convening the Six Party Talks to peacefully denuclearize North Korea. Those days of great power cooperation seem long distant.
- As recently as 2002, 66% of South Koreans had a favorable of China, compared to just 52% for America. These favorable views collapsed because of Chinese silence after the 2009 sinking of the Cheonan and the 2010 shelling of Yeonpyeong Island, and later the Chinese uproar over the installation of THAAD.
- There are 3 Chinese army groups with 200,000 soldiers on the border with North Korea. China's largest and best-equipped army group, the 79th, is prepared to secure a buffer zone of 50 miles inside North Korea within hours.
- The Koreans were fond of sending tributary missions to the Ming -- usually three times a year, for the New Year, the Emperor's birthday, and the crown prince's birthday -- and sometimes had to be discouraged from sending more. This enthusiasm may have been partly out of Confucian propriety, partly because the noble families in charge discovered they could make a pretty penny out of trading the tributary surplus and bringing valuable Chinese goods back.
- Some of these rare Chinese goods were books -- everything from technical manuals to erotica. "A late sixteenth-century Beijing scholar noted that 'People from Chosón really like books. The number of their envoys is limited to fifty, but even in the early morning they are out visiting book markets, copying down titles, and asking whomever they meet [about books). They do not spare money to buy books they do not own, whether an old classic, a new book, or a popular novel.'"
- I had forgotten the crucial role of the PRC under Hu Jintao in convening the Six Party Talks to peacefully denuclearize North Korea. Those days of great power cooperation seem long distant.
- As recently as 2002, 66% of South Koreans had a favorable of China, compared to just 52% for America. These favorable views collapsed because of Chinese silence after the 2009 sinking of the Cheonan and the 2010 shelling of Yeonpyeong Island, and later the Chinese uproar over the installation of THAAD.
- There are 3 Chinese army groups with 200,000 soldiers on the border with North Korea. China's largest and best-equipped army group, the 79th, is prepared to secure a buffer zone of 50 miles inside North Korea within hours.
Read
January 3, 2024Short but not shallow, an excellent overview of its topic. Here I found the answers to many questions that have fluttered around in my consciousness since coming to Korea, either just in observing the passing political scene or in random mentions in the English versions of informational placards attached to historical monuments around Seoul, at art exhibits, etc. (Why did the Japanese kill Queen Min in 1895? What was the deal with the Jeju uprising in 1948? What, actually, has prevented the Koreas from being united or even having a proper peace treaty, so long after the end of the Korean War?)
But even a reader who has not been troubled by such questions will find value in this book, I think. Its brief but trenchant look at the last 600 years provides a useful context for the more recent history, which the author rightly devotes more space to. Not only of the Korea-China relationship, but the different ways those two countries dealt with the challenges posed by modernization via more technologically advanced nations, from which they'd largely shut themselves off from and ignored, until they no longer could.
My pleasure in reading this book was marred only its typos, something you never want to see in a book. They were of a minor sort that a good proofreading would have caught-- "one the other hand" when "on the other hand" was wanted, that kind of thing, but it made me wonder if the carelessness went deeper.
But even a reader who has not been troubled by such questions will find value in this book, I think. Its brief but trenchant look at the last 600 years provides a useful context for the more recent history, which the author rightly devotes more space to. Not only of the Korea-China relationship, but the different ways those two countries dealt with the challenges posed by modernization via more technologically advanced nations, from which they'd largely shut themselves off from and ignored, until they no longer could.
My pleasure in reading this book was marred only its typos, something you never want to see in a book. They were of a minor sort that a good proofreading would have caught-- "one the other hand" when "on the other hand" was wanted, that kind of thing, but it made me wonder if the carelessness went deeper.
December 2, 2022
"[A] small book about a very big topic,": that is, the history of China-Korea relations starting from the Ming Dynasty and continuing to the near past. Earlier chapters are loosely organized around the concepts of the Chinese imperial system and subsequent positioning by Korean kingdoms, the development of a Korean national identity, and the role played by Confucian thought. These concepts are useful in framing the first chapter of the book, but are not necessarily relevant in the later chapters of the book, which move from the mid-19th century to the present.
In the later chapters, Westad also quotes from academic sources as well as a think-tank set. And for all of the easy comparisons that could be made between the past and the present, he avoids cliches and sloganeering. I read this hoping for an informed and serious introduction to a complicated and important diplomatic relationship and I got it.
In the later chapters, Westad also quotes from academic sources as well as a think-tank set. And for all of the easy comparisons that could be made between the past and the present, he avoids cliches and sloganeering. I read this hoping for an informed and serious introduction to a complicated and important diplomatic relationship and I got it.
December 3, 2022
enjoyable run-through, however more than half of the book covers the end of 19th century up to now which, as far as I can tell, is a pretty small excerpt of the 600 years mentioned in the title (I did like how the book tackles the issues in the very recent years though)
July 8, 2024
2.75 stars rounded up.
January 12, 2025
Provided a great overview of Chinese and Korean relationships mainly as well as Japanese in the early years. Great to learn how it plays a role with the countries currently
August 26, 2022
An excellent short survey of Sino-Korean relations from the Ming and Qing dynasties through the 20th century. The tributary system is well surveyed here and Westad reviews all the relevant literature.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews