The Chosŏn Literati and the Mandongmyo Shrine of Hwayangdong

The Daebodan Shrine, Daetongmyo Shrine, and Mandongmyo Shrine were known as the Three Sanctuaries of Ming Veneration. The Daebodan was a place of sacrifice for the Chosŏn royal family, primarily reflecting the Chosŏn dynasty’s political gratitude and its sense of succession to orthodox legitimacy. Daetongmyo Shrine was a site of veneration for the descendants of Ming loyalist exiles, demonstrating their yearning for their fallen homeland. The Mandongmyo Shrine, however, was the focal point for the Chosŏn literati. After Song Siyeol lived in seclusion here in his later years and carved a copy of the Chongzhen emperor’s calligraphy, his disciples established the Hwayang Academy on the site. They championed the ideology of Revering the Zhou and longing for the Ming and promoted the righteous principles of the Spring and Autumn Annals, transforming it into the center of this movement for Chosŏn’s literati. It was thus said to “alone uphold the world’s righteousness, a bastion of Zhou loyalty in the land of Lu.” The Mandongmyo Shrine and Hwayang Academy were regarded by the Chosŏn literati as equivalent to Qufu, the hometown of Confucius in China, becoming a sacred site for Chosŏn’s Longing for the Ming ideology. Therefore, clarifying the veneration at Mandongmyo and the status of Hwayang Academy in the history of Chosŏn’s ideology is highly significant for comprehensively understanding this intellectual trend, as well as for gaining insight into the Chosŏn dynasty’s differing attitudes toward the Ming and Qing dynasties.