위태로운 천하: 명말 時事小說 ≪遼海丹忠錄≫에 나타난 對 明⋅後金⋅朝鮮 인식

Abstract

Liaohai Danzhonglu (遼海丹忠錄), the current-affair novel (時事小說) in the late Ming Dynasty (明末) describes situations among the Ming Dynasty, Later jin, and the Joseon Dynasty (明⋅後金⋅朝鮮) in the rapidly changing East Asian situation by focusing on the wars between the Ming Dynasty and the Later jin in the early 17th century. The work ‘realistically’ narrates acute international dynamics and vividly reveals the aspects of awareness of the contemporary interested countries from the viewpoint of the Ming-Qing transition period when ideals of “Chinese world order” are farthest from the realities. Awareness of each country in the work generally reveals double aspects and shows the aspects that relative recognition and vigilance awareness are remarkable. In the case of the Ming Dynasty, it still reveals the ideal ideology as the Celestial Empire (天朝大國) and the Chinese empire, but it shows the tendency which reveals relative recognition or vigilance awareness to be very aware of peripheral/external powers and look at itself on the defensive in the realities of the acute international relationships more strongly. And “China consciousness” is emphasized as a country that has a nationalistic tendency. In case of the Later Jin, it basically shows the tendency to reveal the negative perception of degrading and despising the other countries consistently based on the traditional perspectives of Chinese and Barbarian (華夷觀). On the other hand, it often cast light on their strong points and reveals awareness of looking at the Later jin and “China” as the relative relationships as each country. And it reveals that it actually regarded the Later Jin as “the neighboring enemy country” (隣敵國) by expressing thorough antagonism as another aspect of relative recognition in the meantime. In case of the Joseon Dynasty, the relative view which look at it as the independent foreign country and the viewpoint of the perspectives of Chinese and Barbarian to look at it as a representative foreign “subordinate country” that supports the “Chinese world order” are generally mixed. In the work, the Joseon Dynasty shows the tendency to be regarded as the small and weak “subordinate state” and at the same time, is recognized as the foreign country to make sure to cooperate with to defend the country called the Ming Dynasty and object to check not to make it cooperate with the Later Jin, “the neighboring enemy country.” On the other hand, the work continues to cause nationalistic sentiment and appeal to the heart to defend “the country.” It is worthy of a representative example which makes people get a sense of the aspect that a kind of discussion on patriotism is narrated and becomes popular through the popular medium called the novel as the development of Chinese narrative genre meets the historical background of the Ming-Qing transition period. And it is also another good example to show that the genre of the novel played a unneglectable role of reflecting and reproducing “China”’s perception of the self and others.