The historical narrative of the Wanli Korean campaign in the Qing Official Ming History

Abstract

The Ming History (明史 Mingshi) by Qing official historians took more than 90 years to complete, and Wan Sitong's 萬斯同 Draft Ming History (明史稿 Mingshi gao), Wang Hongxu's 王鴻緒 Draft Ming History, and the Ming History palace edition overseen by Zhang Tingyu 張廷玉 were the most important histories of the Ming over its different stages of compilation. Wan Sitong gave much attention to the writing of history in the biographies from the Wanli Korea Campaign, Wang Hongxu did not give them much attention, and Zhang Tingyu repudiated and even negated them. In Zhang Tingyu's Ming History, the Annals of Shenzong (神宗本紀 Shenzong benji) set the tone of repudiating the Korea campaign. Due to their clan, the Bozhou Campaign (播州之役 Bozhou zhiyi), or the Liaodong Incident (遼東事變 Liaodong shibian), nearly none of the Ming generals from the eastern expedition to Korea were given biographies due to their participation in the Korean War. The History of the Choson (朝鮮傳 Chaoxian zhuan) gives a negative evaluation that denies or undervalues relevant people and battles. On the one hand, this was due to the influence of historical sources. Due to Yang Gao’s 楊鎬 responsibility for defeat in the Battle of Saerhu 薩 爾 滸 之 役, the compilers of the Veritable Records of Ming Shenzong (明神宗實錄 Ming Shenzong shilu) followed the account of Ding Yingtai 丁應泰 in their records and denied the accomplishments of Yang Gao and the Ming army in Korea. On the other hand, due to real political needs, as the commanders of the eastern expedition to Korea later became the military rival of the Later Jin in Liaodong, an attitude of denial had to be adopted against them to create legitimacy for the Qing dynasty. These were the two main factors that determined the way in which the Qing official Ming History wrote the history of the Wanli Korean War.     

华人网络与韩人网络的比较研究

通过当前韩国对于海外华人四个方面的"似是而非"认识的分析,对华商网络的倾向与特征、建设韩民族网络等问题的探讨,得出结论:韩国华侨与韩国所理解的海外华人之间存在很大的差异;当代韩国政府希望能像中国充分发挥海外华人的优势那样,使海外韩人发展成为韩国在21世纪的新的成长动力并加以利用的认识是一种错误的"乐观判断";海外华人对祖国的向心力,不只是来自爱国情,更重要的是其生存保障与利益的实现;中韩两国的侨务政策存在区别,中国致力于"护侨",而韩国的目光集中于"用侨"。     

"三国同谋论"分析:朝鲜战争起源的再思考

在朝鲜战争起源的问题上,学术界一直存在着争论.一些西方学者认为,朝鲜战争是在苏联、中国和朝鲜周密的共谋下发动的,这种说法后来被称为"三国同谋论".但这种说法与最近公开的资料并不相符.本文以中国、苏联的新资料为依据对以往的"三国共谋论"进行了反驳,并得出结论:中国不仅没有参加策划朝鲜战争,而且在一定程度上对发动这场战争持不赞成的态度.     

The Past under the Shadow of the Present: The Case of the National Museum of Korean Contemporary History

The National Museum of Korean Contemporary History, which opened in 2012, has been the focus of a heated controversy between the progressive and conservative camps over the “proper” ways to represent South Korea’s turbulent history. I build on the relationship between heritage, collective memory and national identity, and argue that the division that typifies South Korean society has implications that extend beyond socio-political issues. Anchored within a broader discursive context, the museum became an important memory carrier involved in the process of debating the issue of national identity. Although no agreement has been reached regarding the “proper” historical narrative the site should exhibit, the museum has nevertheless offered an opportunity to shape a form of national identity that can embrace a more complex perspective on the country’s contemporary history. At present, though, this contentious site has demonstrated the extent to which the legacy of the conservative–progressive divide remains deep. I offer a discursive context that is useful for the study of current debates over heritage sites in South Korea, while the overall analysis illuminates the idea that the “present-centred” management of heritage in national museums can, potentially, play a part in the process of forming more intricate notions of national identity.     

The new patron state in South Korea: cultural policy,democracy and the market economy

ABSTRACT

This article explores conceptual frameworks for understanding Korea’s contemporary cultural policy by looking into the historical transformation of the culture-state-market relations in the country. It argues that Korea has become ‘a new kind of patron state’, which emulates the existing patron states in the West firmly within the statist framework and ambitiously renders government-led growth of cultural industries (and the Korean Wave) as a new responsibility of the state. The formation of Korea’s new patron state has been driven by a ‘parallel movement’ consisting of democracy and the market economy, which has defined the political and socio-economic trajectory of Korean society itself since the 1990s. Democracy has been articulated in cultural policy as cultural freedom, cultural enjoyment and the arm’s length principle; meanwhile, the market economy of culture has been facilitated by a ‘dynamic push’ of the state. After discussing the parallel movement, the article points out the tension, ambiguity and contradiction entailed in cultural policy of the new patron state.     

Korean unification: a solution to the challenges of an increasingly elderly population?

South Korea experienced below replacement fertility for the first time in 1983, which also marked the point from which fertility rates continued to decline over the next 20 years to reach a low of 1.2 in 2003. In spite of recent pronatalist policies, the fertility rate has remained near this level and has not increased appreciably. The reasons for sustained low fertility in South Korea are complex and solutions remain elusive. One option that has been suggested is reunification with North Korea, which could address the eventual decline in the population and mitigate the increasing proportion of the elderly. Although the conditions surrounding the German reunification experience were vastly different than what Korea will likely undergo, it is informative to look at Germany as a guide to the demographic parameters of reunification. Three projection models for 2015–2050 are presented; even the highest fertility models show that reunification will not be the answer to population restructuring already underway in South Korea as a result of sustained low fertility.     

The Treaty of Peace with Japan and the Korean truce negotiations

The outbreak of the Korean War caused the U.S.A. to become determined in excluding the People’s Republic of China (PRC) from the Treaty of Peace with Japan, the signing of which is hoped to be hastened by winning the Korean War. Before the signing of the treaty, the U.S.A. intentionally delayed the Korean truce negotiations in order to prevent the PRC from attending the San Francisco Peace Conference. After the signing, the U.S.A. preferred an immediate cessation of hostilities in Korea, whereas the Soviet Union and the PRC, bogged down in the Far East by the terms of the treaty, were determined to take a hard-line stance, hoping that the U.S.A. would become tied down and drained on the Korean battlefield. Thus, there was a subtle relationship between the treaty and the negotiations in the context of the Cold War. Translated by Chen Dan from Shixue Jikan 史学集刊 (Collected Papers of History Studies) 2006, (1): 66–75     

论中国朝鲜族在图们江地区开发中的地位和作用

图们江下游开发作为一项跨国境、跨世纪的庞大工程,势必会给包括中国朝鲜族在内的3亿东北亚人民的政治、经济、文化生活带来深刻而又全面的影响,而中国朝鲜族则以其独特的地缘优势、亲缘优势、文化优势及较高的人口素质,将在图们江地区开发与东北亚经济合作中发挥不可替代的作用。     

2007年以来抗美援朝研究述评

<正>2007年以前关于抗美援朝战争史(或朝鲜战争史)以及抗美援朝运动研究情况的综述已有几篇①。本文仅对2007年至2010年6月有关抗美援朝的研究成果简略综述。一、研究概况2007年以来出版的有关抗美援朝战争研究的专著约有三十多部,再版书十余部,发表的相关论文上     

论“朝鲜中华主义”的实与虚

朝鲜后期,北伐论激起朝鲜士大夫小中华意识高度发展,因此有学者将其称为"朝鲜中华主义"。然而从事实来看,朝鲜士大夫虽然有很强的文化自尊意识,但是这种自尊意识是建立在春秋大一统之上的,小中华意识的发展反而使一元的天下观进一步强化,将中华秩序理想化。所以,朝鲜后期小中华意识的发展并不表示朝鲜士大夫以朝鲜为中华之正统或中国之正统,反而继续承认朝鲜为小中华,而在事实上更不证明朝鲜为当时东亚的文化中心国家,所以我们在使用"朝鲜中华主义"概念时尚需仔细斟酌。