Establishment of Chosun-Ming relationship
The first recorded incidence of host-client relationship between Chinese and Korean states is that between Qian-Yan(前燕) and Koguryo(高句麗) in 243. Many other incidences followed, but most of them were little more than pursuits of profit or convenience and did not develop into stable relationship. This situation went on until the early part of Koryo(高麗, 916-1392) when Koryo often had relationships with two Chinese dynasties at the same time, Song(宋) and Liao(遼), or Song and Jin(金).
Koryo entered a new kind of relationship with Yuan(元) after surrendering to the latter in 1270. Koryo was left an independent kingdom, but as a part of the Mongol Empire under a tight control. Koryo crown princes usually stayed at the Yuan court before ascending the throne, and were married to Mongol princesses. Traffic of people and goods between China and Korea increased greatly during this 'Mongolian Century[蒙古干涉期]' from mid-13th to mid-14th century and Korea was definitely integrated into the Chinese civilization.
Yet the relation between Yuan and Koryo was not fully based on Confucian ideas. It relied more on royal marriages in accordance with Mongol tribal customs. Truly Confucian relationship between the two countries was to be achieved between Ming(明) and Chosun(朝鮮) dynasties at the end of the 14th century.
The founder of Ming, Emperor Hong-wu(洪武, r. 1368-1398), was very suspicious of Koreans until the end of his reign. He is widely known for groundless suspicions, but with Koryo he had good enough ground. Koryo had maintained very close relations with Yuan for a full century, the kings themselves being half Mongols. A king(恭愍王, r. 1351-1374) tried to defy the Yuan influence at a fairly early stage, but it ended in his tragic and mysterious death. Koryo returned to the pro-Yuan line, leading to an attempt at a military campaign against Ming in 1388.
The campaign was stopped by a military coup by a group of officials and generals who were convinced of the need for a great change for the country. They had a wide range of reforms to carry out and wanted to improve the relation with Ming, by then established as the ruler of Tian-xia.
Hong-wu was still reluctant to trust the Koreans. It is not explicitly recorded, but it seems that the Korean leaders of the time selected the new king from an obsolete branch of the royal family (not contaminated by the Mongol blood) so as to win the emperor's trust. The same motive may have also worked to a certain degree in closing the Koryo Dynasty and opening the Chosun Dynasty a few years later(1392).
It seems that Hong-wu was not satisfied even with the opening of the Chosun Dynasty. He sent repeated messages to King Tae-jo(太祖, r. 1392-1398) to send an envoy only once every three years while Koreans wanted to send three envoys every year. The Emperor also often found fault with expressions in letters from the Korean King and even demanded to send to him the drafter of a letter. Taking into consideration the great persecutions Hong-wu was making in his own court (1390 胡惟庸之獄, 1393 藍玉之獄) one could easily imagine how difficult he would have been with Koreans.
The effort of the Chosun Dynasty founders to make the relationship with Ming a very close one was accepted by Emperor Yong-le(永樂, r. 1402-1424). Three annual envoys were received (for the beginning of the year, and for the birthdays of the emperor and the crown prince) and a while later, the fourth annual envoy, for the winter solstice, was added. And there were also other envoys on specific missions. During the 58 years between 1392 and 1449, 399 Chosun envoys visited the Ming court while only 95 Ming envoys visited the Chosun court.
Why were the early Chosun leaders so eager to make the relationship with Ming so close? They obviously wanted more than just a guarantee of non-aggression. It seems to be a question to which a straight answer is hard to find, but one can try some speculation on the basis of the situation.
The first thing to be considered is the range and intensity of reforms needed in Chosun. The proclamation of the new land management system (under the name of '科田法') in 1391 amounted to a socio-economic revolution. During the Mongolian Century, Koryo government neglected to check on the privatization of land and labor and by the end of the dynasty, the better part of the country's resources were in the hands of a small range of power groups. (Too high ratio of slaves among the population was already a serious problem at the end of the 13th century. The 一賤則賤 principle ["If one of the parents is a slave, the child will become a slave."] had kept the slave ratio rising until there were too few free people left to support the state. A resident official from Yuan[闊里吉思] advised the King to change the principle to 一良爲良,["If one of the parents is not a slave, the child will not be made a slave."] but his recall was manipulated by the Koryo nobility who did not want the change.)
The primary task for the founders of the new dynasty was disempowering the existing powers(the nobility and the Buddhist monasteries). It was a task bound to arouse great resistance for an extended length of time. To manage this, they needed a stable relationship with China on the one hand and on the other, an effective ideology to persuade the middle class to support the reform. They found the answer to meet both needs in the socio-political ideas of Confucianism. It was this urge for coherence that made them more devoted to Confucian principles and more eager for close relationship with China than the Ming rulers of the time. The Ming rulers accepted the relationship proposed by Chosun leaders only after years of the latter's persistence.
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