Chinese suzerainty over Korea in the late 19th century

I'm currently reading The Clash: U.S.-Japanese Relations Throughout History by Walter LaFeber. I've just gotten to the part which briefly goes over the Sino-Japanese war of 1894-95. That combined with some history pieces at the Marmot's Hole (on some Koreans who sold out to the Japanese) and Budaechigae (on Queen Min) got me hyped about doing my own digging.

First, here is a very brief history of the war:

1894–95, conflict between China and Japan for control of Korea in the late 19th cent. The Li-lto Convention of 1885 provided for mutual troop withdrawals and advance notification of any new troop movements into Korea. Accordingly, when a Korean revolt erupted in 1894, both countries sent troops. However, after the insurrection had been suppressed, Japan refused to withdraw its troops and induced the Korean court to abrogate its agreement with China. The fighting that ensued between Chinese and Japanese forces ended with an easy victory for the more modern Japanese army.

I just want to go over that first sentence again: 1894–95, conflict between China and Japan for control of Korea in the late 19th cent. Japan's colonization of Korea is relatively well known but China's own imperialistic relationship with the Chosun Dynasty is much less well-known and generally swept under the rug by Chinese nationalists who insist that there was no such thing as Chinese imperialism.

Another sign of the relationship between China and Korea is indicated in Michael Breen's book, The Koreans. Breen states:

In 1873, the Tanwon-gun [regent] was retired and King Kojong began to face the inevitable question of how to deal with the outside world. Japan pressured the throne into signing its first modern treaty, one which cleverly identified Korea and Japan as independent states, thereby undermining Chinese claims over Korea. (page 99)

Of course, such a declaration would hardly be necessary if China did not excercise suzerainty over Korea. The treaty between the Japan and Korea was hardly equal, however and Japan eventually colonized Korea.

Korean scholars also acknowledge Chinese influence over Korea. Check out these two blurbs from an article by Kim Young-Sik, at the Association for Asia Research web page. The first demonstrates Korea's protectorate status with China:

The Chosun court archives (kojong silrok) show that in 1855 and also in 1865, a number of shipwrecked American sailors were picked up on the Korean shores. They were fed and treated well by the Korean populace, and then sent to China for repatriation to the United States. In those years, Korea sealed itself in ("Hermit Kingdom") and let China handle Korea's foreign affairs.

However, by the time Korea and the United States signed a friendship treaty, Chinese influence over Korea had lessened considerably:

It should be noted that Commodore Shufeldt rejected the Chinese request to incorporate Chinese suzerainty over Korea in the treaty, and he made it clear that the United States recognized Korea as an independent nation.

So it seems pretty clear to me that China exercised suzerainty over Korea until the later was opened up (and later colonized) by Japan. Interestingly enough, that is a similar relationship that China had with Tibet until 1949 and we can all see the relationship between those two nations today.

(UPDATE: Go on to the comments section. It has some good stuff.)

Comments

[Christopher]

Great little wealth of information there Yangban. Thanks for mosting that. I am currently reading two books about the coming tide of the Chinese and you can easily see where the Chinese are gearing up for some serious business, probably after they host the Olympic games.

Yea China may deny imperialism, because they call it hegemony.

[KimcheeGI]

Another good read on the shenannegins of the late Chosun geopolitical situation is William Franklin Sands' At the Court of Korea: Undiplomatic Memories.

I was turned on to this book by an article in the Joongang Ilbo written by Hal Piper about a year ago.

He says:

I have been reading "Undiplomatic Memories," a memoir by William Franklin Sands, who served as a U.S. diplomat in Korea between about 1897 and 1904. In those closing years of the Joseon era, Korea's weak and corrupt government was prey to the intrigues of the surrounding great powers--Japan, Russia and China.

Factions in the Korean court favored one or another of the powers, and some attempts were made to play them off against each other. King Gojong's boldest bid to solve Korea's security problem was to turn to the United States. He made Sands his personal adviser and offered gold mines, railroads and other economic concessions to American entrepreneurs. His reasoning was that the United States was far away and had no territorial ambitions in Korea; but if he could engage American economic interests, the United States might protect its own interests by protecting Korea.

The Sands book is a keeper if you can find a copy (it's out of print).

[usinkorea]

I think Christopher hit an important idea. Things become murky when haggling over terminology coming ultimately from different political science think.

If you look at the foriegn policy doctrine of the day for most of East Asian history, you'd have to say it was hegemonic. China was the Middle Kingdom and the others were under it in a system of relationships with code words related to the family unit.

So it is impossible to deny that China exercised an imperialistic-like system that Korea followed, but it is also impossible to deny that Korea didn't gain some important benefits from it.

Sure, the historical relationship with China didn't look too good given Korea's weakness (and China's too) in the face of rapid change when the East and its social institutions met the industrialized West (and a soon industrialized Japan)...

[Adam Morris]

Great stuff. I'm still in transition mode with my computer so there's a bunch of stuff that I can't access (yet -- it'll take me some time to figure out how to use a proxy and stuff), but I'll definately be revising this topic as soon as I get my head out of water.

Being away for so long makes you realize just how much you miss if you don't keep tabs on blogs.

Thanks for this. :)

[WU CHUNG LI]

l dont understand why Koreans think that the Chinese are imperialistic. There's a big difference between China and Japan. Japan uses force to colonise people. China doesnt. China never forces itself on other countries. If you look at Chinese culture, Koreans and Japanese chose to adopt the language and culture into their own voluntarily. The Chinese never forced Koreans to adopt Chinese names as the Japanese forced Koreans to adopt Japanese names. While the Chinese have never attacked Korea, Koreans have attacked China. The most well known attack by Koreans in China is under the Kim kingdom.