Sojunghwa
Sojunghwa (Hangul: 소중화; Hanja: 小中華) means "Small China" or "Little Sinocentrism" in Korean language.
History
Like Sinocentrism, which is the belief that China is the center of the civilization of the world, in Korea, which was at one time a tributary state of China, some people have thought that Korea is a "Small China" and thus, a highly civilized state. Thus, some Koreans considered Japan and the Jurchen people to be barbarians (Chinese: 夷狄; pinyin: yídí) or beasts (Hangul: 금수; Hanja: 禽獸; RR: geumsu; MR: kŭmsu) under the Hua–Yi distinction.
After the Qing Dynasty conquered the Ming Dynasty, many Koreans thought that barbarians ruined the center of civilization of the world and that Korea had thus become the successor of China, the center of the world.[1][2][3]
References
- ↑ 소중화 브리태니커 백과 (Encyclopædia Britannica, Korean edition)
- ↑ 小中華思想 世界大百科事典 第２版 (Heibonsha World Encyclopedia)
- ↑ Lee, Jeong-Mi (2010) "Choso˘n Korea as Sojunghwa, the Small Central Civilization: Sadae kyorin Policy and Relations with Ming/Qing China and Tokugawa Japan in the Seventeenth Century" Asian cultural studies (36), 305-318, International Christian University