The Research On Tributary Relationships Between The Early Ming And Korea

It was the late Yuan and early Ming when serious economic problems appeared. The ruler of Yuan Dynasty issued lots of banknotes recklessly, which caused inflation. People’s life became more and more difficult. Uprisings happened and wars continued. After years of fighting, Zhu Yuanzhang achieved the supreme power of China. After the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, Korean Peninsula has experienced two periods, the relationship between China and Korea was becoming more complicated. The thesis will inspect the tributary relationships between the early Ming and Korea from both Ming Dynasty and Korea. The kings and courtiers had their own views on "flunkeyism’(事大)and applied it to maintain the relationships with China. The thesis consists of two main parts.The first part focuses on the tributary relationship between China and Korea during the late Yuan Dynasty.It will contain "the political situation", "the policy to Korean Peninsula" and "the establishing relationships and the fluctuations".The Korean Peninsula, which had a good relationship with Yuan Dynasty just like "nephew and uncle", had complied with Yuan Dynasty and sent troops to fight against Zhang Shicheng’s separatist forces, but the fight ended with Yuan’s failure. After that, the king of Korea continued to observe the flunkeyism to treat the Yuan Dynasty and tried to adjust the policy towards China. He expanded autonomous spaces and reformed defects in current affairs. The king cracked the Qi group down, abolished the headquarters, which was founded by the Yuan Dynasty, and strengthen the arms.The new-established dynasty faced ruined economy, people’s destitution, remaining separatist forces. The aristocrats of Yuan Dynasty got away and the border of the country was not steady. Zhu Yuanzhang attached great importance to people’s life and knew that stable domestic and international environment was important to the stability of all the people.So Zhu Yuanzhang implemented the "Peace" policy on foreign nations and promised not to conquest the Korean Peninsula. Zhu Yuanzhang adhered to "no ism" to meet the requirements of independent self-care from Korea. Because of the invasion from the sea pirates, Zhu Yuanzhang also carried out the policy, which was called a ban on maritime trade and made the tribute country communicate with China. He established a variety of institutions to manage foreign affairs,and use "Binli and jili’’(宾礼与吉礼)to treat the Korean Peninsula. When the king of Korean Peninsula knew the rising power of Ming Dynasty, he set up tributary relationship with the Ming rapidly and admitted the legitimacy of Ming Dynasty. The first emperor of the Ming Dynasty gave a generous reward to Korean Peninsula. The king of Korean Peninsula persisted flunkeyism and took an opportunity to get the control of Danluo. But good times didn’t last long, the tributary relationships between Ming Dynasty and Korea Dynasty fluctuated. Both the officials and the king of Korea Dynasty were killed.The king named Xinxu(辛禑)tended to be close to the forces of Yuan during his most reign time. The tributary relationships dropped its lowest.The second part focuses on the tributary relationships between the early Ming and ChaoXian. It will clarify the development of their relationships by search historical data.Li Chenggui established a new dynasty, replacing GaoLi and put flunkeyism into practice. At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1424), Zhu Yuanzhan was influenced by adverse events from GaoLi and thought they were disingenuous. In fact, Zhu Yuanzhang didn’t violate the "peace" policy and gave "ChaoXian" as a title of a reigning dynasty. He also named Li Chenggui as Li Dan. JianWen Dynasty continued to execute his grandfather’s policy, ChaoXian continued to obey the flunkeyism and never intervene Ming’s affairs. Li Fangyuan had a new use of flunkeyism and seize power by fighting for feudal lord, who became the third king of ChaoXian. After putting down civil strife, Yongle Emperor ascended the throne and let the other countries know what happened. Li Fangyuan was the first one who carried tribute to Ming, and he got admitted from Yongle Emperor. During the early Ming Dynasty, three emperors smoothly recognized Korean Peninsula. If Korean Peninsula performed sincere tribute, the emperors all gave them generous hospitality.The tributary relationship between the two countries was performed by the tribute presented by Korean Peninsula to the Ming’s emperors. The kings of Korean Peninsula paid attention to Saint Festival, Qianqiu, Zhengdan Festival and performed the obligation of tributary to Ming. In addition to regular tribute, Korean Peninsula frequently sent higher-level officials to the Ming, carried official documents and brought native tribute to China. The most items were horses, Ming Dynasty use lots of cloth to buy the horses, reaching a basic fair trade. The officials used the flunkeyism to meet the Ming’s emperors and always put forward different requests. Ming Dynasty basically satisfied various requirements from them. During the early Ming Dynasty, tow princes had met the emperors of Ming, which made the two countries closer and closer.