正祖 즉위 초기 對淸 외교 정책과 조정의 對淸 인식

Abstract

This article examines Chosŏn court’s diplomatic policy toward the Qing during the first few years of King Chŏngjo's reign up until Qianlong Emperor’s seventieth birthday in 1780. Existing studies have stressed the significance of this imperial birthday as a pivotal moment in the relationship between Chosŏn and the Qing. Seldom, however, did they venture to explore the role and importance of Chŏngjo’s early policy toward the Qing prior to 1780. This article argues that, during these early years of his reign, Chŏngjo actively pushed forward various measures to show the sincerity of the Chosŏn in “serving the great.” The king sent a special diplomatic mission to the Qing to apologize for inappropriate words in a previous memorial. The king also dispatched envoys to Shengjing in Manchuria to greet Qianlong despite the emperor’s prior order to exempt Chosŏn from this obligation. These were all received very favorably by Qianlong. Furthermore, Chŏngjo even insisted the court send a special envoy to celebrate the imperial visit to Shengjing, even if his suggestion did not materialize mainly due to the absence of a proper precedent. All of these active royal efforts aimed at exemplifying to the Qing the “sincerity” of Chosŏn and at bolstering amicable relations between the two states. The court’s decision to celebrate in advance the seventieth birthday of the emperor should be understood in this context. It did not mark the beginning of Chŏngjo’s active policy toward the Qing but was a continuation of a series of such efforts taken earlier in his reign. Chosŏn, however, had no precedent that could justify sending a mission to celebrate the seventieth birthday of a Qing emperor. Shortly before the demise of Kangxi Emperor in 1722, the Qing court delivered an order to Chosŏn that an envoy should be sent carrying a special memorial congratulating the seventieth imperial birthday that would fall in the third month of 1723. The memorial, however, was never submitted because of the emperor’s death. While assigning to the regular mission arriving in Beijing at the end of 1779 the task of carrying a memorial celebrating Qianlong’s seventieth birthday, Chief State Councilor Kim Sangch’ŏl surprisingly claimed that Chosŏn had sent an envoy to celebrate Kangxi’s seventieth birthday, fabricating a precedent by distorting diplomatic documents exchanged earlier. Kim’s fabrication of a precedent undoubtedly grew out of his concern to justify the king’s unprecedented action to send such a mission. Kim soon fabricated another precedent regarding the timing of Chosŏn's celebration of Kangxi's birthdays, this time to support his suggestion that the court sends another mission in 1780 to celebrate the imperial seventieth birthday on the birthday itself. Why was Kim’s fabrication necessary? This article argues that solid Sino-barbarian dichotomy pervasive among envoys and other court officials at that time lay behind Kim's fabrication. With the flourishing of the Qing and the stabilization of Chosŏn-Qing relations during the eighteenth century, there were officials in Chosŏn who acknowledged the prosperity of the Qing. The view that the Qing was treating Chosŏn very favorably was also widely shared among the monarchs and court officials. However, underneath this level of perception toward the Qing lay a firmly-rooted view that considered the Manchus as barbarians. Celebrating the seventieth birthday of a Qing emperor was, in fact, unprecedented, and the Qianlong’s court, at least officially, had never mandated Chosŏn to dispatch a mission for that purpose. The dispatch was primarily a voluntary move by Chŏngjo. In light of the still-solid Sino-barbarian dichotomy, the lack of a precedent, and the absence of a Qing order to mandate the dispatch of a mission, it was difficult for Chŏngjo to put his scheme into action. Kim Sangch’ŏl, therefore, found a way to relieve the burden for the king by fabricating precedents justifying Chŏngjo’s actions.