Turning toward Edification: Foreigners in Choson Korea

Before the mid-nineteenth century, foreigners were present in Korea, including Jurchens, Japanese, Ming Chinese, Japanese deserters, Chinese and Jurchen refugees, and Dutch castaways. The Chosŏn monarchy administered them through the tax category of submitting-foreigner (hyanghwain), granting them Korean spouses, surnames, land, agricultural tools, fishing boats, and protection from personal taxes. By the seventeenth century, their status had become hereditary. Foreign descendants of Chinese origin were reclassified as imperial subjects in the 1750s, giving them the right to participate in palace-sponsored Ming Loyalist rituals. Their position in Chosŏn society must be understood in terms of their location within Chosŏn social hierarchies.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 284 pages
Publication date: 30 December 2020
Publisher: University of Hawai'i Press

Turning toward Edification delves into the presence of foreigners in Korea from before the founding of Chosŏn in 1392 until the mid-nineteenth century. While it is commonly perceived that Chosŏn Korea was a monocultural and homogeneous state, Adam Bohnet unveils the significant presence of foreigners and individuals of foreign ancestry in Chosŏn Korea, as well as the importance of engagement with the outside world to the Chosŏn monarchy. These foreigners encompassed Jurchens and Japanese from border polities that established diplomatic relations with Chosŏn prior to 1592, Ming Chinese and Japanese deserters who settled in Chosŏn during the Japanese invasion between 1592 and 1598, Chinese and Jurchen refugees who escaped the Manchu state that formed north of Korea during the early seventeenth century, and even Dutch castaways who arrived in Chosŏn during the mid-1700s. The Chosŏn monarchy administered foreigners through the tax category of submitting-foreigner (hyanghwain). This term designated such foreigners as uncivilized outsiders seeking moral edification in Chosŏn and granted them Korean spouses, Korean surnames, land, agricultural tools, fishing boats, and protection from personal taxes. Initially, the status was granted for a limited time, but by the seventeenth century, it had become hereditary.

Beginning in the 1750s, foreign descendants of Chinese origin were singled out and reclassified as imperial subjects (hwangjoin), granting them the right to participate in the palace-sponsored Ming Loyalist rituals. Bohnet argues that the evolution of their status cannot be explained solely by a Confucian or Sinocentric enthusiasm for China. Understanding the position of foreigners, whether Chinese or otherwise, in Chosŏn society requires an understanding of their location within Chosŏn's social hierarchy.

Weight: 432g
Dimension: 152 x 227 x 28 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780824884499