16세기 초중반 한중관계의 이념성과 중층성

초록

Under the so-called Ming order in premodern East Asia, which lasted for about 250 years from the turn of the 1400s and the early 1700s, there were big differences between the 1400s and the 1500s in the features of the Sino-Korean relations. In the 1400s, sadae (事大), which means serving a bigger country, inferred a sort of utilitarian and contractual relations with the Ming, implying that the suzerain state could be replaced anytime depending on the political situation. In the early 1600s, however, this trend began to change to unconditional relations based on Confucian moral values in which the Koreans viewed the Ming as a ritual father as well as the suzerain. The reasons for this change can be approached from several perspectives, including Chungjong's submissive attitude toward the Ming in order to secure his throne by borrowing the Ming authority, the spread of the consciousness of Little China (小中華) and the sinocentric world view, and a new Korean mindset in which obedience to Ming China was regarded as natural law, like the yin-yang and father-son relations. With emphasis on such differences, this article is aimed to provide a new approach to the Sino-Korean relations, focusing on the 1500s, from diverse perspectives, not only political aspects but also intellectual ones. In the 1500s, the relations were based on the practical interests of the two countries in non-economic profits such as national security and sharing Confucian knowledge and values. In the 1500s, however, the Ming-Chosŏn relations gradually yet steadily evolved into a new relation based on Confucian ideology. In the 1500s, for example, a new obligation such as father-son relations was added to the preexisting obligation like lord-subject relations. This change implies that Ming China was now the father of Chosŏn Korea as well as the lord, suggesting that the Chosŏn relied much more heavily on Ming China. At the same time, however, the ruling elites of Chosŏn did not follow Ming China blindly; for example, they tended to somewhat look down the current systems of Ming China in the fields of culture and Confucian values. With this critical view of the Sino-Korean relations in the 1500s, this article looks at the two different aspects of the Sino-Korean relations. One was the lord-subject and father-son relations in terms of political and military aspects. Going against such visible politico-military relations, the other was the somewhat underground stream, in which Korean ruling elites never hesitated to reject the Wang Yangming Learning for their own interests as a existing-powered ruling status. This article examines such dual structure of the Sino-Korean relations in the 1500s from an ideological perspective.

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