『신당서』를 통해 본 한중관계 고찰

Abstract

Traditionally, the foreign affairs between ancient Korean dynasties and Chinese dynasties have mainly been based on economic trading partnerships. Exchanges of high quality goods and farm products and cultural items are done through the channel of government level visits between dynasties in Korea and China. This kind of government channel is vital in compensating the short comings of the commercial trading in privet sectors between them. This channel has been mostly smooth, although it was in tense situations occasionally. The tense situations occurred, when this channel was degraded into “Jo-Gong,朝貢” relationship. Consequently, these situations have generated significant impacts on nationalism and misconception throughout long generations and history of Korea and China. Under today’s globalization trend, it is not desirable to carry the burden of the past history regardless of good or evil. However, it is critical to understand the true nature of the past experiences, and, then, apply what we’ve learned in beneficial way. With this positive and forward thinking, this study reports the new findings and interpretations based on ‘Shin-Dang-Se (New Tang Dynasty Record)’, especially in the roles and activities of China Tang Dynasty’s ‘Ho-Bu (Treasury Department)’ and ‘Ye-Bu (Foreign and Royal Affair Department,禮部)’ related to Korean Dynasties. After in depth analysis, this report provided clarification of the differences between ‘Bun (Province within Tang Dynasty,藩)’ and ‘Bun (Country/Nation outside Tang Dynasty,蕃)’ --- Although both ‘Bun’s have the same pronunciations and also have similar character shapes, but they are two different words with opposite meanings.