From the "Non-Chinese Other" to a Contested Civilization: Joseon Intellectuals' Encounter with Qing and the Transformation of the View of Civilization

Abstract

This article examines how Joseon intellectuals rethought the concept of civilization during their encounter with the Qing Dynasty. Grounded in the Hua-Yi worldview and the sadae (serving the great) relationship with the Ming, Joseon had regarded the Manchu Qing as a culturally inferior "Non-Chinese Other"; after its submission in 1637 it nevertheless presented itself as the true heir of the Ming and claimed the title "Little China." Drawing on the Yeon Haeng Rok, especially Pak Chiwon's Jehol Diary, and on Jeong Yagyong's Gyeongse Yupso, the article argues that firsthand observation of Qing cities, commerce, communications and the imperial examination system confronted Joseon envoys with a reality that inherited Hua-Yi thought could not accommodate. Rather than abandoning the Hua-Yi framework altogether, Joseon intellectuals adopted a more differentiated standard of judgment that separated moral legitimacy from practical governance, and some moved from observation to concrete proposals for institutional change in Joseon. A comparison with the Goryeo-Yuan precedent shows that the lighter, largely ceremonial character of the Qing tributary order, together with the envoys' residence in Beijing and the circulation of their records at home, gave Joseon intellectuals a critical distance that Goryeo elites had never enjoyed. The article therefore reads the transformation of the view of civilization in late Joseon as a coexistence of conceptual continuity and pragmatic adaptation, and as a contested process in which civilization was redefined rather than simply rejected or accepted.