[KS] Choson period official dress

[Michael Robinson]

 Thank you Gari:

I'm making a point in the first chapter about Chinese influence in the 
structure and look of the Choson government, not its interior operations. 
This ms is focused on Korea's twentieth century and the first chapter has to 
carry the weight of characterizing the ChosOn system and traditional society 
etc.  I'm literally down to a single sentence to handle some larger ideas. 
At least this reference won't be off.  We know ChosOn Korea was Korean, but 
I'm still surprised at all the references to Chinese control and dominance 
over Korea for "centuries and centuries" out there in the secondary 
literature.  I don't want to feed into that.  I will try not to abuse the 
list as a fact check.....but cutting a corner here and there is nice.

thanks again,  Mike Robinson
----- Original Message ----- 
From: <gkl1 at columbia.edu>
To: "Korean Studies Discussion List" <Koreanstudies at koreaweb.ws>
Sent: Wednesday, March 15, 2006 11:55 PM
Subject: Re: [KS] Choson period official dress


> If Henny says so I guess I must've said something about this once,
> but it's easier to repeat it than look up what I said. Yes, ChosOn
> dynasty court dress was identical with the court dress of the Ming
> dynasty, with the exception that the identical dress and emblems,
> etc. were two ranks (in the nine-rank scheme) lower in Korea. That
> is, the court dress of a Rank I (the highest rank) ChosOn official
> was identical to that of a Rank III official at the Ming court.
> This means that the last two ChosOn ranks, VIII and IX, had
> distinctive Korean designs.
>   When Korean official embassies reached the area just outside the
> Chaoyang (East) Gate of Peking, they changed into their formal
> court dress and marched in a procession into the city and through
> the streets to their residence. It is said that those Chinese who
> still nourished pro-Ming (and therefore anti-Manchu) sentiments
> would come to secretely enjoy the spectacle. There are many stories
> in embassy diaries and other casual literature about emotional
> scenes with Chinese begging to touch, or even briefly wear, the
> Korean formal clothing. Other than this, the only permitted display
> of Ming dress that was permitted in Qing China was in the theatre,
> since the Peking Opera was essentially a Ming institution, and the
> historical character of the stories made the dress of earlier
> dynasties appropriate. One consequence of this is that when Korean
> officials went through the streets of the capital on their
> business, less sophisticated spectators would point and say, "Look!
> Actors!"
>
> Gari Ledyard
>
> Quoting Michael Robinson <robime at indiana.edu>:
>
>> Dear List:
>>
>> It is a small point but I thought someone out there might be more
>> up on this than myself.  Were the robes for Choson officials
>> patterned after the regalia of the Ming?  I'm saying this in a
>> throw away sentence in my new text...but perhaps this is wrong.
>> I'm wondering about the evolution of official dress since we are
>> dealing with half a millennium here.
>>
>> Mike Robinson
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