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Diplomatic Ritual as a Power Resource: The Politics of Asymmetry in Early Modern Chinese-Korean Relations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 January 2016

Ji-Young Lee
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Abstract

What explains Korea's success in surviving as an independent state for over 2,000 years, not annexed to China, when it shares a border with this powerful imperial neighbor? I argue that diplomatic ritual can be conducive to managing asymmetric power relations and that the Korean state and the Chinese state prior to the nineteenth century used the diplomatic ritual of investiture in a strategic manner as a signaling mechanism to manage the expectations of each side. Drawing insights from ritual studies, I offer three specific mechanisms: (1) regularity and precision, (2) strategic ambiguity, and (3) the manipulation of symbols, through which the ritualization of power relations reduces the tension arising from the disparity in power. The empirical evidence comes from an investigation of a total of sixteen investiture cases between Chosòn Korea and Ming China between 1392 and 1644. It shows that the granting and seeking of investiture on both sides was not only a way of signaling their commitment to the status quo, but also a medium of negative soft power through which the stronger side could change the status quo relations to its favor using the symbolic power embedded in the investiture ritual.

Keywords

diplomatic ritualasymmetrypower relationsinvestituretribute systemConfucian ritesChinese-Korean relationsstabilitysignalingsymbolic power
Type
Articles
Information
Journal of East Asian Studies , Volume 13 , Issue 2: Special Issue: International Relations and East Asian History: Impact, Meaning, and Conceptualization , August 2013 , pp. 309 - 336
Copyright
Copyright © East Asia Institute 

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