The Study Of The Debate On Chosen's Ancestral Relationship In Ming Dynasty

In1392,Chosen was founded by Li Cheng-gui,which pursued a diplomatic policy of small state waiting upon the big one, and established a stable conferment and tributary relationship with Ming Dynasty. Currently scholars,who is from both home and abroad, are researching into the conferment and tributary relationship between the Ming Dynasty and the Chosen extensively,however, there are few persons who studied the debate on Chosen's ancestral relationship in the Ming Dynasty. This paper will make a textual research,try to review the concrete process of the debate and then make some discussions to the characteristic of diplomatic channel between the Ming Dynasty and the Chosen, which are from diplomatic operation pattern.This paper can be divided into the following 3 chapters:The first chapter has introduced the debate's background and made an investigation to the concrete process of the debate.By making a textual research the debate, we believe that, the debate on Chosen's ancestral relationship in the Ming Dynasty began in 1394 and did not finish until 1588 when the Ming Dynasty had amended"The Code of Ming Dynasty". It lasted for nearly two centuries at nineteen requests of five Chosen's kings and twenty-six Chosen's envoys. The debate, to which the kings and ministers paid great attention, finally got a satisfactory solution. The second chapter has conducted the case study on the concrete process of the debate on Chosen's ancestral relationship, and selected three typical times: 1539,1563 and 1587, which made us understand the characteristic of diplomatic channel between the Ming Dynasty and the Chosen. And the debate in 1563 was a turning point, in other words, the debate from 1394 to 1562 was in the early stage, and the debate from 1563 to 1588 was in the later stage.The debate on Chosen's ancestral relationship in 1539 has reflected the change in both the Ming Dynasty and the Chosen's attitude towards the matter in the early stage. As for the Ming Dynasty, they did not prevaricate the Chosen officials and gave a clear response that"Huang Ming Zu Xun"was not modified, and"The Code of Ming Dynasty"could be amended. But as for the Chosen, they did not insisted that both"Huang Ming Zu Xun"and"The Code of Ming Dynasty"should be modified, and paid great attention to the amendment to the"The Code of Ming Dynasty".And the debate on Chosen's ancestral relationship in 1587 has reflected that Chosen had made a significant progress in the later stage.That is to say, Chosen's king and ministers finally saw the detailed and accurate description of Li Cheng-gui's ancestral relationship in"The Code of Ming Dynasty"which was issued and executed in 1588, at the same time, they no longer inquired into the"Huang Ming Zu Xun".The third chapter has analysed and discussed the characteristic of diplomatic channel between the Ming Dynasty and the Chosen.First of all, there was only tributary department in the Ming Dynasty, however,there was not the organization which was used to deal with diplomatic affairs. As a result, Chosen had to appeal in many departments at the same time,such as LiBu, Hong Lu Si,Tong Zheng Si,and so on. What's more, there was not equal diplomacy between the Ming Dynasty and the tributary states.While the Chosen regarded it as a significant matter,Ming Dynasty did not treat the debate as an important diplomatic affairs to deal with. There was not any other way for the Chosen except multiple appeals. Therefore, when Ming Dynasty preraricated the Chosen's officials. Last but not least, the Chosen tried to use with some Ming Dynasty minister's personal relationship to solve the problem, which was not effective in dealing with the problem.Within nearly two hundred years of the debate on ancestral relationship, it is not difficult for us to find that the diplomatic channel between the Ming Dynasty and the Chosen is not unobstructed. On the one hand,there was not the organization which was used to deal with the diplomatic affairs in the Ming Dynasty. On the other hang, the Ming Dynasty could not give the surrounding states an equal status and did not pay great attention to views of the tributary states, when the Ming Dynasty dealed with the related diplomatic affairs. As a result, there was not equal diplomacy between the Ming Dynasty and the tributary states. Therefore, when it faced with the exterior huge impact, the East Asian conferment and tribute system inevitably disintegrated comprehensively.In short, the debate on Chosen's ancestral relationship is rery important in the history of the relationship between the Ming Dynasty and the Chosen, which has a profound and far-reaching effect on the development of the operational mechanism of ancient Chinese diplomacy and the East Asian conferment and tribute system.