Description
Book SynopsisSixiang Wang demonstrates how Chosŏn political actors strategically deployed cultural practices, values, and narratives to carve out a place for Korea within the Ming imperial order.
Trade ReviewThis is a book I have been waiting for. Wang argues that historically Korea was not the compliant vassal that Chinese imagined it to be, but a canny role-player manipulating China’s imperial myth so as to constrain its capacity to dominate. An eloquent revision of what we thought we knew. -- Timothy Brook, coeditor of
Sacred Mandates: Asian International Relations Since Chinggis KhanSixiang Wang’s
Boundless Winds of Empire is destined to be a classic. Wang provides a new lens to study the historical relations between Ming and Chosŏn. His emphasis on ritual and rhetoric as frames of reference and the extensive use of Chinese and Korean sources make a tremendous contribution to numerous fields. -- David C. Kang, author of
American Grand Strategy and East Asian Security in the Twenty-First CenturyGenerations of scholars have stripped down the relationship of Chosŏn Korea and Ming China into an abstract model of the ‘tribute system.’ With sensitive readings of poetry, apocryphal inscriptions, and other sources rarely considered by the model builders, Sixiang Wang brilliantly restores the idiosyncratic texture of Korean-Ming relations. -- Christopher P. Atwood, author of
The Rise of the Mongols: Five Chinese SourcesBoundless Winds of Empire sets a new standard for Anglophone scholarship on Chosŏn Korea. -- Eugene Y. Park, author of
Korea: A HistoryAn exceptional work. Wang’s stimulating and highly illuminating account should be read by anyone interested in Korea–China relations, the workings of empire, rhetorical strategies, or the history of diplomacy. -- Felix Kuhn * Journal of Chinese History *
Table of ContentsPreface
Chronology
Maps
Introduction: Korea and the Imperial Tradition
Part I: The Shared Past1. Serving the Great
2. Terms of Authority
Part II: The Practice of Diplomacy3. Beneath the Veneer
4. In Empire’s Name
Part III: Ecumenical Boundaries5. Cajoling Empire
6. Representing Korea
7. Contests of Ritual
Part IV: An Empire of Letters8. The Brilliant Flowers
9. The Envoy’s Virtue
10. The East Does Not Submit
Conclusion: The Myth of Moral Empire
Notes
Bibliography
Index
