earticle

영어

19C was a chaotic time of Chosun dynasty, in order to make society stable, the scholas of Chosun wanted to define themselves as a little China on the east", to understand themselves as part of China and somehow they thought it will help for Koreans to understand who they really are. This "Chosun as a little China" idea is their spritual foundation and also the to understand who they are. From 16 C, Chosun had idea of "being a little China, so when Hwaseo talked about this idea, it was not new to the people and scholars in Chosun, however in Hwaseo's theory, the idea was more defined and realistic. In 19 C Chosun dynasty, the chaos caused by absece of fundimental principle was great, the scholars agreed Hwaseo's "Chosun as a little China" theory should be the foundational principle. Therefore, the problem of understanding and communicating about the west has to be reconcidered, because that was what they wanted to have as foundation before the comunication with west. Scholas of Chosun wanted to set their foundation before they often up their country to the west so they needed time to discuss this. In 19 C Japan on the other hand, they faced same chaos that Chosun experienced, however they went totally different way, because Japan unerstood the reallity and accepted western civilization. Specially, the latter period Mito study influenced to make that decision by changing the west from what they have to defeat to what they have to respect and copy. Both Chosun and Japan focused on making thier countries stronger, but Chosun found the answer in focusing on orthodox confucianism and Japan found the answer in making the military stronger. That is why these two countries went totally different ways in the history of 19-20 C North-east Asia.

한국어

19세기 조선사회의 시대적 혼란 속에서 전통적 가치를 지키기 위한 성리학의 방법론으로 대두된 것이 조선중화의식이다. 이는 외세문물의 도입이라는 명제아래 ‘나’와 ‘타자’의 관계성 설정의 문제가 대두되면서 조선사회의 정체성을 지키는 하나의 대안으로 인식되었기 때문이다. 이항로의 조선중화론은 19세기 정체성이론의 중심에 있다고 할 수 있다. 서구문물의 도입시기에 있어서 일본 또한 조선과 마찬가지로 많은 흔들림이 있었지만 일본은 조선과는 결과적으로 전혀 다른 방향으로 나아가게 된다. 中華와 夷狄을 파악하는데 있어서 조선과 상이한 관점을 보였던 일본은 현실적 힘의 결과를 인정하고 서구 문물을 적극적으로 받아들이게 되는데 특히 후기 미토학에서 攘夷의 대상인 西歐가 華의 대상으로 변모해간 점은 가장 특징적이라고 할 수 있다. 조선과 일본은 모두 自强에 중점을 두었지만 조선은 유교적 순수성의 추구를, 일본은 군사적 힘을 自强으로 보았다. 그러므로 각자가 생각하는 自强을 위해서 모두 主戰을 택하기는 했지만 결과는 전혀 다른 양상으로 나타났던 것이다.