華西 李恒老의 朝鮮中華意識 硏究 - 일본 후기 미토학과의 대비 -

Abstract

19C was a chaotic time of Chosun dynasty, in order to make society stable, the scholas of Chosun wanted to define themselves as a little China on the east", to understand themselves as part of China and somehow they thought it will help for Koreans to understand who they really are. This "Chosun as a little China" idea is their spritual foundation and also the to understand who they are. From 16 C, Chosun had idea of "being a little China, so when Hwaseo talked about this idea, it was not new to the people and scholars in Chosun, however in Hwaseo's theory, the idea was more defined and realistic. In 19 C Chosun dynasty, the chaos caused by absece of fundimental principle was great, the scholars agreed Hwaseo's "Chosun as a little China" theory should be the foundational principle. Therefore, the problem of understanding and communicating about the west has to be reconcidered, because that was what they wanted to have as foundation before the comunication with west. Scholas of Chosun wanted to set their foundation before they often up their country to the west so they needed time to discuss this. In 19 C Japan on the other hand, they faced same chaos that Chosun experienced, however they went totally different way, because Japan unerstood the reallity and accepted western civilization. Specially, the latter period Mito study influenced to make that decision by changing the west from what they have to defeat to what they have to respect and copy. Both Chosun and Japan focused on making thier countries stronger, but Chosun found the answer in focusing on orthodox confucianism and Japan found the answer in making the military stronger. That is why these two countries went totally different ways in the history of 19-20 C North-east Asia.