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Dissertation Information for Peter I. Yun

NAME:
- Peter I. Yun

DEGREE:
- Ph.D.

DISCIPLINE:
- History

SCHOOL:
- University of California, Los Angeles (USA) (1998)

ADVISORS:
- John B. Duncan

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
- Henry Em
- Gi-wook Shin

MPACT Status: Fully Complete

Title: Rethinking the tribute system: Korean states and northeast Asian interstate relations, 600-1600

Abstract: Traditional Chinese dynasties viewed their interactions with foreign people in terms of the tribute system. Although the Chinese side always represented the relationship as its suzerainty over other states, the actual relations between China and its neighbors encompassed a wide range of political relationships from total subjugation to virtual equality. No single framework or generalization such as the tribute system can explain patterns of Northeast Asian foreign relations for two millennia. There have been recent studies re-examining the tribute system, but they have focused primarily on relations between China and Central Asian or Manchurian entities. Any comprehensive reassessment of the Fairbankian model of the tribute system and its applicability to the full historical range of interstate relations in East Asia must take into account the case of Korea, the so-called "model tributary state." Scholars often trace traditional Korea-China tributary relations back to the fourth century and assume that Korea-China relations persisted unchanged until the nineteenth century. However, it was the Choson-Ming relations that gave rise to a notion of the Korean state as the model tributary in the Chinese world order. Choson was an exception in its adherence to the ideals of the tribute system, but the historically unique Choson-Ming relations have been ahistorically taken as typical and representative of all Korea-China relations throughout history.

A dramatic change in Northeast Asian foreign relations came about as a result of the Mongol conquest. Before the Mongol conquest of the thirteenth century, there were triangular geopolitical configurations that maintained an equilibrium of military power. Continental conflicts and rivalry between Manchurian and Chinese states afforded maneuvering rooms for Korean states to pursue a pragmatic and independent foreign policy. Even in the early Choson period, the Koreans showed a pragmatic and flexible attitude. However, the Korean elites gradually began to develop a strong ideological belief in the Neo-Confucian orthodoxy and inherent moral correctness of the tribute system. By the sixteenth century, the practical political and military decisions of the fourteenth century have been transformed into an ideological commitment, one that was validated and strengthened by Ming assistance to Choson against Japanese invaders at the end of the sixteenth century. Thus, the notion of the Korean state as a "model tributary" was a recent and unique historical phenomenon applicable only to the mid-Choson period.

MPACT Scores for Peter I. Yun

A = 0
C = 0
A+C = 0
T = 0
G = 0
W = 0
TD = 0
TA = 0
calculated 2008-10-08 22:02:38

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Students under Peter I. Yun

ADVISEES:
- None

COMMITTEESHIPS:
- None