The Fusion Of The Historical Tradition And The Strategy In Reality -the Establishment Of The Relationship Between The Early Ming Dynasty And The Korean Peninsula (1368-1450)

During the early Ming period, the significant diplomacy disagreements between Ming and Joseon basically were solved, the two countries formed a stable tributary relation, although there were some adjustments later, the principal part was not changed. So it can be said that, the relationship that Ming and Joseon had formed until the middle of the 15th century contained all the diplomatic meanings of the relationship between Ming and Joseon. In this paper, I will do deep analysis on historical materials, and discuss in detail the actual process of the early Ming and Joseon to form a stable tributary relationship, to show the complexity of the state relation and review the pros and cons of the two countries foreign policy in order to have a help to contemporary. The main content of the paper composes of five chapters:Chapter One " Hongwu period:Intermittent tributary and estranged relationship ". Yuan dynasty perished, Ming dynasty established, Goryeo was replaced by Joseon, these things all had occurred in the same time, both internal and external environment that two sides facing had dramatically changed, new regimes were not familiar with each other, with the addition of North Yuan factor as well as contending for land, these all led to frequent conflicts between the two countries. Bilateral relations had undergone a hard and tortuous development accompanied by a series of diplomatic crisis. Envoys communications had played an important role to solve the diplomatic crisis. The characteristic of this chapter is to emphasize envoys’impetus for the bilateral relation.Chapter Two "Jianwen to Yongle:from equality to follow". In Jianwen period, bilateral relation was improved because of JingNan Bettle, I will use Lu Yv twice posted to Joseon to show the change process. In Yongle period, Ming emperor took a strong attitude to deal with northeast affairs, Joseon had to return to the " Sadaejuui " route, and adopt "retreat" policy.Chapter Three "Hongxi to Zhengtong:form deter to pacify". Ming government adopted moderate attitude to deal with Joseon affairs, mainly reflected in reducing Joseon’s economic pressure, such as to reduce the contribution of gold and silver,cut down the number of cattle trade and restrain envoy needs, etc. But it comes to matters of the ethics and border security, Ming government still prevented a strong sense, this paper will use "the debate on Korea’s ancestral relationship", "the request of tribute route change", "the restriction of enrolling in Imperial College" as an example. These questions did not hinder the two countries to form a stable tributary relation, because the mainly boundary problem had end in the late Zhengtong period.Chapter Four "Consideration from culture and border security perspective". The long-term stability relationship between Ming Dynasty and Korea was the result of interaction of multiple factors. Here only analyze the neo-Confucianism and border security factors. Influenced by the doctrine of legitimism, the relationship between Goryeo and Ming changed with concept struggle in Goryeo court. In Joseon period, neo-Confucianism was viewed as the dominant ideology, there were some differences in Ming and Joseon scholars’understanding of Confucian classics, such as "Hua Yi" concept and this caused the contention of Jurchen tributary, but overall, neo-Confucianism was beneficial to close bilateral relation, compared with other neighboring countries, Ming and Joseon could understand each other very well. As for the border security, Ming and Joseon’s policies to Jurchen and Japanese pirates were only a temporary effect and not go on for long, so Ming and Joseon cooperate to defense Jurchen and pirates became a possibility. Ming government was strong and not feared to Jurchen and pirates, but after the Zhengtong period, Ming’s frontier crisis became frequency, Ming was willing to cooperate with Joseon to alleviate the border pressure.Chapter Five "Data analysis of bilateral relations". This chapter wills analysis the historical data that recorded more detailed, such as horse-trading, tribute items, and envoys exchanges, to performance the evolution process of bilateral relation, in which we can see Ming and Joseon inner attitude toward each other, Ming’s control and Joseon’s anti-control, and the practical significance of the tributary system to bilateral relation.The last is the conclusion. The development process of the relationship between early Ming and Joseon showed that foreign policies were not only influenced by historical tradition, and must adjust according to changes in real environment all the time. And there are four factors that affect bilateral relation:the dominance of Confucian political culture, the ties of tributary system, the reality of border security and the decisive of national power.