Introduction

The entry of Manchu forces into the Central Plain of China and the establishment of the Qing dynasty was a major event of dynastic change in Chinese history, which also had a great impact on the traditional Chinese world order. This also fundamentally challenged the traditional Hua-Yi worldview of East Asia. The Japanese called this transition from Ming to Qing as “transformation of Hua-Yi” (the metamorphosis of the civilized and the barbarian). However, as a vassal state of the Qing dynasty, the Chosŏn dynasty never recognized the Qing as the legitimate successor to the Ming. Even in the nineteenth century, after more than 100 years of political submission to the Qing, an anti-Qing sentiment still existed in its cultural psyche. This was positively reflected in the ideology of Revering the Zhou and longing for the Ming. Longing for the Ming and Opposing the Qing, Revering the King and Expelling the Barbarians, became the mainstream ideology of the Chosŏn dynasty for a considerable period of time. The righteous principle faction dominated the orthodox thought of Chosŏn, and the incense smoke from the sacrifices to the Ming emperors drifted continuously across the Korean Peninsula for hundreds of years. That the emperor of a feudal dynasty had long become a historical relic in his own country, yet was piously worshipped in a neighboring country for hundreds of years, was a unique and interesting phenomenon in world history.