"For over two hundred years after its establishment in 1392, the Chosŏn dynasty of Korea enjoyed peaceful and generally stable relations with neighboring Ming China, which dwarfed it in size, population, and power. Such a long period of sustained peace is remarkable in the context of early modern world history, but it is all too easy to simply attribute it to the strength and extent of Chinese cultural and political domination over the Korean peninsula. Chosŏn drew upon classical Chinese paradigms of statecraft, political legitimacy, and cultural achievement. Meanwhile, Chosŏn's regular tribute to the Ming court, its envoys' paeans to Ming imperial glory, all appear as straightforward affirmations of Ming domination. Eternal Empire, Eternal Korea argues they conceal a much more subtle strategy of diplomatic and cultural negotiation. Through an examination of Korea's rhetorical and ritual engagement with the Ming, this book shows how the rulers, diplomats, and interpreters of Chosŏn inserted Korea into the Ming empire's legitimating strategies and asserted themselves as stakeholders in a shared imperial tradition"-- Provided by publisher.
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