This paper is a study on the process of establishing diplomatic relations between Joseon and Later jin, Qing. Until now, many studies have been conducted on the relationship between Joseon and Qing, from the perspective of ‘Serving the Great(事大)’ or ‘Tribute System(朝貢體系).’ It is true that Joseon maintained a formal relationship based on ‘Justice of the king and his subjects(君臣義理)’ and developed relations through the acts of ‘Tribute(朝貢)’ and ‘Installation(冊封).’ Such a relationship was referred to as “deplomacy based on Serving the Great(事大外交)” in Joseon. Joseon's “deplomacy based on Serving the Great” toward Qing denied the traditional Joseon-Ming relations, but borrowed it from the ceremonial aspect. Therefore Joseon’s relationship with Ming and Qing was based on the ‘Tribute System.’
Even if Joseon-Ming and Joseon-Qing relations had similar ways of operating in terms of ritual, it was not essentially the same thing. Joseon recognized the ‘World(天下)’ established around the Ming and claimed to be a member of the world, calling itself ‘the Little Confucian Sino-centrism(小中華).’ By doing so, Joseon tried to put itself in the realm of civilization, distinguishing it from ‘Babarism(夷狄)’ that existed ‘outside.’ On the other hand, Joseon's diplomacy with Qing was not only coerced by force, but also destroyed the view of the world from the roots. Therefore Joseon’s diplomacy with Qing, even borrowing the existing method with Ming in terms of formality, did not lead to a change in the concept of recognizing the Qing as a master of the world. Joseon's diplomacy with Qing was rather a break in civilization than a succession of that with Ming and from this point on, ‘Confucian Sino-centrism(中華)’ was established as Joseon’s identity.
From this perspective, this paper traced the step-by-step and gradual process of establishing diplomacy between Joseon and Qing. The diplomatic relations between Joseon and Qing were to convert the existing policy on Later jin into diplomacy toward the state and to adjust it again based on Joseon-Ming diplomacy. As for Qing's domination of ‘Geographical Area of China(中原)’, Joseon perceived ‘Barbarism’ as establishing a state, and that the country occupied the space of ‘Midfield of China.’ In other words, Joseon accepted changes in relations with Jurchen→Later jin→Qing, but did not recognize ‘Barbarism’ as ‘Confucian Sino-centrism’ Joseon established foreign policy toward the ‘Barbarian’ country, and only applied the previous method in a perfunctory way. Therefore, the reality of ‘Serving the Great’ and the idea of ‘Justice to Ming’ continued to contradict each other in the late Joseon Period. This was a marked difference from diplomacy with Ming, whose ideas were in sync with reality.
Joseon changed its marginal policy toward Jurchen, which was treated as ‘Barbarism’, to its foreign policy toward the country it established. In the early 17th century, Jurchen, which was scattered and united in the frontier of Joseon and Ming, was transformed into Later jin centered on Jianzhou Jurchen. In Joseon, Jianzhou Jurchen were perceived as betraying the Ming Dynasty, so they hesitated to recognize them as a state. On the other hand, the Khan Nurhaci sought negotiations with Joseon before starting a war with Ming, which began before the founding of Later jin. The recognition of Later jin as an independent state from the standpoint of Joseon was a delicate matter directly related to ‘Justice to the Ming Dynasty’.
Joseon understood Jurchen by dividing them into two parts, ‘Boundary Jurchens(藩胡)’ on the frontier and ‘Deep Dwelling Jurchens(深處胡)’ on the outside. Among them, those who Joseon directly contacted were Boundary Jurchens. From the end of the 16th century to the beginning of the 17th century, Nurhaci extended its influence and placed ‘Boundary Jurchens’ under its influence, which gradually expanded its contact with Joseon. Joseon responded to the threat on the frontier by using the mediation of Ming, but at the same time, Joseon held “Behind-the-Scenes Negotiation” because it had questions about the realistic capabilities of Ming. With the ‘Boundary Jurchens’ gone, Joseon tried to establish a new relationship by applying 'Boundary Jurchens Regulations(藩胡規例)' to Jianzhou Jurchen, who belonged to the countryside.
Joseon's response based on ‘Boundary Jurchens Regulations’ has lost its effectiveness as Jianzhou Jurchen virtually unified the Jurchen forces. In addition, when Nurhaci declared the construction of a state called Later jin, the relationship was forced to be redefined. In the process, Joseon cooperated with Ming to overcome Nurhaci, but the defeat in the Battle of Sarhū led to the ‘Dual Diplomacy’ of Ming and Later jin. Gwang-hae-gun, the King of the Joseon Dynasty, attempted to make progress in relation to Late Jin by delivering the National Documents(國書), but he was abolished by a group of political forces who protested against it. As a result, Joseon and the Later Jin returned to hostile relations.
The relationship between Joseon and Later Jin has undergone a great change in the wake of the Later Jin invasion of Joseon. The two countries established a peace treaty on the premise of the liquidation of hostile relations and mutual inviolability in the future. After two years of additional negotiations, various matters such as National Documents, envoy, and trade were regularized and diplomatic relations were strengthened. The diplomatic relations between the two countries lasted for about 10 years from 1627 to 1636, and there were numerous conflicts in the process, but they were resolved through negotiation. The establishment of diplomatic relations between Joseon and Late Jin was a great step forward in relations as an opportunity to shift in the policy to ‘Barbarism’ to foreign policy toward the state.
The diplomatic relations between the two countries were not complete. Joseon agreed to form a friendly relationship on the premise that it would maintain the ‘serving Ming as the great.’ Although progress on diplomatic relations was possible because Later Jin agreed, the relationship between Joseon and Later Jin was in fact contradictory, given that Later Jin continued to wage war with Ming. The fact that diplomatic relations were maintained while the two countries had different ideas was the result of both countries considering strategic interests. This meant that diplomatic relations between the two countries were variable due to changes in the external political landscape.
A big change occurred between 1634 and 1635 when Later Jin had the upper hand over Monggo. In 1635, Late Jin’s Khan Hong Taiji was crowned emperor, but he sent a envoy to Joseon, saying that Joseon's consent was a rite of passage. The following year, Hong Tai-ji's envoys entered Joseon and urged Joseon to recognize that he was an emperor. Such an act led to the collapse of diplomatic relations between the two countries, which had been based on the premise of Joseon-Ming relation. As Joseon began to discuss ending ‘good relations’, diplomatic relations with Later Jin were severed. Before long, Joseon was aware of the dangers of war and attempted to negotiate to revive traditional diplomatic relations based on ‘Brothers’, but failed and was invaded by Qing.
As a result of the war, Joseon was subjugated to Qing and reestablished diplomatic relations based on the relationship between the king and his subjects. This initiated Joseon's ‘serving the great’ diplomacy with Qing. For some time, however, the diplomatic relations between Joseon and Qing were unstable, as Ming existed as a political entity. Depending on the outcome of the war between Ming and Qing, Joseon's ‘serving the great’ diplomacy with Qing remained likely to change. Therefore, Qing showed a coercive attitude toward Joseon and did not stop the eyes of surveillance. The Qing Dynasty pressured Joseon through serious issues such as sending troops and sending hostages back, and brought anti-Qing officials to Shenyang for questioning. In the end, there was a tendency in Joseon to be seemingly friendly with Qing, which gradually eased the pressure of Qing.
With the fall of the Ming dynasty in 1644, and the relocation of the capital to Beijing, diplomatic relations between Joseon and Qing were finally able to get on track. However, unlike the formalities, which had a clear tone of ‘serving the great’, the desire to avenge internally rebounded, which was expressed as ‘Justice to the Ming Dynasty.’ As time goes by, Qing's control of the ‘Geographical Area of China’ becomes a reality that is hard to deny, and ‘Justice to the Ming Dynasty’ was changed into ‘Cardinal Principle of Revering the Zhou(尊周大義)’, becoming a driving force to confirm its own identity. There was a perception that ‘Serving Qing as the Great’ in Joseon was not a ‘serving the great(事大)’ to ‘Confucian Sino-centrism’, but a ‘serving the great’ to ‘barbarism’, which allowed a coexistence that contradicted the principle of ‘Justice to Ming’ behind the reality.
This paper is written with the above contents. This paper is characterized by the fact that the process of establishing diplomatic relations between Joseon and Qing was viewed as a step-by-step establishment and coordination of diplomatic relations with Qing, not as a departure from the order of Ming and incorporation into the order of Qing. The most important step in the process is to recognize Jurchen as a country, which was regarded as a ‘Barbarian.’ This was not only the idea of the biggest transformation, but also the reason why Qing, which was the state of Jurchen, could not be put the same as Ming. By arguing that the relationship between Joseon and Qing was greatly different from the origin of Joseon and Ming, Joseon-Qing relations were formalized to ‘serve the great’ but it was actually diplomacy between countries that clearly distinguish between 'self and others'. It is also important to note the origin of diplomacy with Qing as a distant cause for Joseon's development of its identity as an independent state, not as part of ‘Confucian Sino-centrism’ It is believed that this provided a small clue to the political and ideological currents of the late Joseon Dynasty from a new perspective.