[KS] Chinese influence in Korea

[Adam Bohnet]

Dear Dr. Josephs:

During the Imjin War (1592-8) and the Wars of the Ming-Qing
transition, large numbers of Ming Chinese refugees and deserters
entered Korea. They were not particularly welcome, but could not be
kept out particularly successfully either. An uncertain number were
removed by both the Ming and the Qing -  and the process of the forced
removal of "Hanin" post 1637 by the Qing is well recorded in the
Simyang changgye, along with other sources.

Within Choson they were categorized, along with Jurchen and Japanese
descendents, as hyanghwain (which some people translate as
"naturalized subjects," but which I translate as
"submitting-foreigners"). The early Choson had a pretty
well-developed set of procedures for settling outsiders on its soil,
and Ming Chinese were governed according to these procedures during
the seventeenth century. As Don Baker says, they certainly did not
form "Chinese towns" in the modern sense, but they were settled in
"hyanghwainch'on," or hyangwain villages, much like Jurchen and
Japanese, during the seventeenth century. The status was inherited
seemingly indefinitely; according to the Soktaejon, it was inherited
along the female line.  During the mid-eighteenth century, a number of
submitting-foreigners who could claim Ming Chinese descent were
recategorized as "hwangjoin" a term which I translate, rightly or
wrongly, as "imperial subject." This status carried with it a number
of ritual privileges associated with Late Choson Ming Loyalism. The
process by which the Choson bureaucracy recategorized
submitting-foreigners as Ming subjects is well recorded in eighteenth
century sources. This new status was certainly improvement for the  
lineages in question, but it most certainly did not give them entrance  
into elite society otherwise. Above all, they were established as  
permanent subjects of the defunct Ming in a society which claimed to  
be the last legitimate representative of the same Ming.

There are quite a number of families in South Korea who claim descent
from a Ming loyalist general, although, as Don says, their numbers are
quite small. The eighteenth century discussion of the recategorization
leaves no doubt in my mind that many of the Ming lineages were from
submitting-foreigner backgrounds or even Ming Chinese backgrounds, but
the same discussion causes me to doubt that any had a distinguished
general as an ancestor. There are currently a number of villages in  
both North and South Korea with names like "Taemyongdong" (Great Ming  
village) - those of you who have lived in Taegu will recognize the  
name. These were generally communities in which one or more lineage  
claiming Ming-Chinese descent settled. There was a Myonginch'on (Ming  
Village) in Ouidong, immediately south of the Taehangno area in Seoul,  
and members of the lineages who settled there established a Ming  
Loyalist shrine in Kap'yong during the mid-nineteenth century. See  
David Mason, "The Samhyang paehyang Sacrificial Ceremony for Three  
Emperors: Korea's Link to the Ming Dynasty." Korea Journal.31 no. 3  
(1992): 117-136.


The subject has been discussed in English by John Duncan, in an
article  entitled Hyangwain in Acta Koreana ("Hwanghwain.? Acta  
Koreana 03 (2000): 99-111.), and by me in my dissertation at the  
University of Toronto entitled "Migrant and Border Subjects in Late  
Choson Korea." This dissertation can be easily accessed by google  
should you be interested in reading it. Also, a number of articles by  
me on this subject are currently under review.

Note, however, that some, at least of the supposed descendants of  
Chinese migrants during the Koryo or earlier periods were attempting  
to improve their otherwise undestinguished lineages. See "The Chinese  
Ancestors in a Korean Descent Group's Genealogies" by Kenneth R.  
Robinson
in the Journal of Korean Studies, Volume 13, Number 1, Fall 2008, pp. 89-114


Sincerely,

Adam Bohnet

Quoting Hilary K Josephs <hkjoseph at law.syr.edu>:



> Dear colleagues:
>
> By way of introduction I am a new member to this list. I received a   
>  Ph.D. in premodern Chinese history and literature, went to law    
> school, and taught in US. law schools for more than 25 years. My    
> most recent research project involved the household registration    
> system (hukou zhidu) and the system of ethnic preferences (minzu    
> shibie) in contemporary China. A complete CV can be accessed at    
> law.syr.edu.
>
> In connection with this recent project I read some works on the Qing  
>   dynasty and Manchu-Chinese relations. When I was an undergraduate  
> I   had been taught that the Manchus "simply" were assimilated and  
> lost   their separate ethnic identity. Recent research disputes that  
>   conclusion. How Chinese influence spread throughout Asia but local  
>   peoples retained their own languages and distinct customs is a  
> very   interesting subject, with important consequences for  
> international   order.
>
> 1. My first question concerns the presence (or absence) of ethnic    
> Han Chinese communities in Korea. In correspondence with George    
> Kallender, who teaches Korean history at SU, I learned that there    
> was migration from China to Korea in the early dynasties, but those   
>  families became Koreanized and today are only identifiable by their  
>   surnames. Then, during the late Qing, a small community of Chinese  
>   merchants was established in Incheon. The numbers of overseas    
> Chinese?? in modern Korea is very low. May one conclude that there    
> was essentially no Han Chinese migration to Korea during the Ming    
> and Qing dynasties, even though Korea participated in the Chinese    
> tribute system?
>
> 2. My second question concerns the study of the Confucian classics    
> in Korea. Maybe five years ago I found a photograph of a historical   
>  re-enactment of the Korean civil service examinations. The    
> "examinees" are dressed in traditional Korean costume and are    
> sitting cross-legged in a palace courtyard in Seoul. Under the    
> traditional system did people preparing for the exams have to study   
>  the same curriculum that was studied in China (Confucius, Mencius,   
>  etc.)? Was it possible for Koreans to take the civil service exam  
> in   China? Even after the beginning of the Japanese occupation,  
> would  it  have been possible for a Korean child to get a solid  
> education  in  the Confucian classics? Certainly the Confucian  
> classics--indeed  all  of traditional Chinese history and  
> literature--were intensely   studied in Japan. The Japanese produced  
> monumental works like the   Morohashi dictionary and Takikawa's  
> edition of Sima Qian.
>
> Unfortunately I cannot read Korean. I can read Chinese, Japanese, and French.
>
> Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.
>
> Regards,Hilary K. Josephs
>
>
>
>
>