‘外國’과 ‘屬國’의 사이 ― 正史를 통해 본 청의 조선 인식 ―

Abstract

By focusing on Qing narratives of the Chosŏn in Official Histories (正史, zhengshi), especially the Mingshi (明史, History of the Ming) and the Qingshigao (淸史稿, Draft History of the Qing), this paper aims to address specific meanings and contexts of Qing-Chosŏn relationship, and explain the ways in which Qing’s internal transformation caused changes in its foreign relations. Both the Mingshi and the Qingshigao have a section of “Chaoxianzhuan” (朝鮮傳, Biographies of the Chosŏn), but they classified this same neighbor in different names. While the Mingshi named the Chosŏn “waiguo” (外國, foreign country), the Qingshigao called it “shuguo” (屬國, subordinate state). This paper argues that the two Biographies of the Chosŏn included in the Mingshi and the Qingshigao depicted ideal images of the Chosŏn – a loyal neighbor serving for China – as the way that the Qing emperors in the eighteenth century and the former Qing officials in the early twentieth century expected. They were not necessarily intended to introduce correct and detailed information on the Chosŏn, but instead demonstrated Qing perspectives of the Chosŏn as well as itself in the eighteenth century and the twentieth century, respectively. As much as the eighteenth-century Qing was different from the twentieth-century China, the description of the Chosŏn – and Qing’s self-description – in the Mingshi was different from those in the Qingshigao. By exploring the differences in these two Official Histories, this paper seeks to highlight that the Qing and the Chosŏn were not an eternal, unchanging entity, but instead, they had established an ever-changing relationship throughout the long history of their contacts.