Korea and the Fall of the Mongol Empire: Alliance, Upheaval, and the Rise of a New East Asian Order by David M. Robinson (review)

Ilsoo David Cho has already reviewed David M. Robinson's Korea and the Fall of the Mongol Empire, and his review, capturing all the main points of the book, has come out a few weeks ago. Thus, I find it better to ask some questions instead of repeating the same story. Jung Donghun, who studies Goryeo Korea-Mongol Yuan relations, has indicated that many of the conventions that gradually developed into institutions constituting the protocols of the tribute-investiture relationship in the later period, precisely during the Ming and Qing periods, were established during the Yuan period. Then, it is very likely that the reign of Goryeo King Wang Gi (r. 1351–74) would have also been marked with events and occasions that had long-lasting effects instead of having been mere one-time exceptions and isolated incidents.

Throughout the history of China, it is ironic that a world order centered on a China-based empire first came into being when the Mongols ruled the continent. The Mongol Yuan established Jeongdong Haengseong 征東行省 (provincial government in Goryeo for the Eastern (Japanese) campaign) in 1280 and appointed the Goryeo king as minister of the very institution. This resulted in unintentionally setting a precedent for Sino-Korean relations because, from this point on, China's bureaucratic institution, previously applied only to domestic politics and administration, now became applicable to monarchs outside of the imperial domain, who were technically foreigners. In fact, soon after the Ming conquered China from the Yuan, Emperor Hongwu, or Zhu Yuanzhang, the founder of the Ming dynasty, designed a new world order in the late fourteenth century. Here, as if building upon the Yuan legacy, he employed the same set of ritual and bureaucratic institutions used in domestic governance to foreign relations. Especially when addressing the status of foreign monarchs, the Ming emperor bestowed identical ritual gifts (euimul 儀物) such as certificates of appointment (gomyeong 誥命), seals (injang 印章), and official costumes (jobok 朝服) upon them.

Moreover, as the Son of Heaven, the Chinese emperor made his status known to all human beings in the world by conferring "annual calendars" (yeokseo 曆書); the very act of doing so was called "ballyeok 頒曆," meaning "the conferring of calendars." The neighboring countries, as an expression of acknowledgement of the emperor as a legitimate suzerain and submission to his authority, adopted the "suzerain calendar" (K. jeongsak, C. zhengshuo 正朔). And yet what is worth noting is that such a protocol was never actually practiced until the Song and Jin periods. China had never bestowed the imperial calendar upon its neighbors on a regular basis. Instead, it all started in 1281 for the first time, precisely one year after the establishment of Jeongdong Haengseong, when the Mongol Yuan court conferred the imperial calendar to the provincial government in Goryeo Korea, just as it had been doing to all the other ministers of local governments in his imperial realm.

As for the tribute (jogong 朝貢) and embassy missions to the imperial court (chinjo 親朝), it should be noted that prior to the Ming dynasty, rulers of China had never imposed or enforced the duty to pay visit to their court on a regular basis and present tribute. Once again, it all began in the late thirteenth century when China was still occupied by the Mongols; during this time, the Goryeo court dispatched three embassy missions per year to its Mongol suzerain, and since the reign of King Wonjong, each Goryeo monarch paid a visit to the Mongol court in person. Later when the Ming became the rulers of China, they retained and succeeded such conventions or legacies and imposed them on their foreign vassal or tribute states.

In addition, regulations concerning rituals in greeting dynastic guests (billye 賓禮) were technically guidelines for foreign monarchs and envoys visiting China. Then, what if imperial envoys or any other officials from China were visiting other foreign countries...