A Classification And General Introduction Of The Historical Materials In Tongwen Huikao Of The Joseon Dynasty

Tongwenhuikao was a collection of the credentials between the Joseon Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty from 1636, the fourteenth year of Renzu's reign in the Joseon Dynasty and the first year of Chongde's reign of the Qing Dynasty, to 1881, the eighteenth year of Gaozong's reign of the Joseon Dynasty and the seventh year of Guangxu's reign of the Qing Dynasty.This collection was first compiled in the eighth year of Zhengzu's reign of the Joseon Dynasty and was continued in its compilation in the latter periods. Until 1881, the ending year of its compilation, 60 volumes of Tongwenhuikao's initial edition and 36 volumes of its continued edition had been published.Viewing from its content, Tongwenhuikao affords reliable and rich historical materials for the study of the diplomatic activities and relationships between the Qing Dynasty and the Joseon Dynasty or between the Joseon Dynasty and Japan.Up until now, the academic field inside and outside China generally use Tongwenhuikao to study particular items and thus the study of the very document was comparatively weak. Although there were classified generalizations to this collection, the documental study on this collection is far from being enough. Hence, on the base of the previous study, this thesis will analyze this document comprehensively and study its compiling background, compiling purpose, compiling process, compiling structure and materials one by one.The first chapter discusses the reasons of compiling Tongwenhuikao and points out that Tongwenhuikao was the result of both the change in the relationship between the Qing Dynasty and the Joseon Dynasty and the transition of the Joseon Dynasty's diplomatic philosophy. The second chapter analyzes the compiling process of Tongwenhuikao, the documental classification and the basic constitution of its items. This chapter mainly uses The Practical Records of the Joseon Dynasty,Chengzhengyuanriji and other historical books to study the compiling process of Tongwenhuikao, to compare the Joseon Dynasty's different attitudes towards the its initial edition and continued edition and explains and to explain the historical items in its different parts. The third chapter explains the historical content of the items about the diplomatic papers between the Qing Dynasty and the Joseon Dynasty and the papers of the Joseon Dynasty's diplomatic officials.The fourth chapter generalizes the various items and their historical contents of the official paters between the Joseon Dynasty and Japan in the"Fubian"and"Fubianxu".By the generalization and analyzing of Tongwenhuikao's historical content, the author believes that although the compiling purpose of Tongwenhuikao is to study and inspect credentials, it also contains the changes and recognition process of the Joseon Dynasty's diplomatic philosophy. Not only do Qing Dynasty, Joseon Dynasty and Japan's the credentials recorded in Tongwenhuikao reflect the understanding of Joseon Dynasty's diplomatic philosophy, describe the similarities and discrepancies in the Joseon Dynasty'diplomatic activities clearly, but they also can report Joseon Dynasty's fundamental judges about the East Asian situation and special ways of diplomatic activities in the times of Ming Dynasty and Qing Dynasty.