Sadae

Sadae
Hangul	사대
Hanja	事大
Revised Romanization	Sadae
McCune–Reischauer	Sadae

Sadae (lit. 'dealing with the great') is a

Joseon dynasty Korea. Korea's concept of sadae toward China was implemented after the Confucianization of Korea in the early Joseon dynasty.Before that ^[2] Korea's Goryeo dynasty had Buddhism as its state religion.^[3]^[4]

Etymology

The historical term is derived from the

philosopher Mencius. Sadae literally means "dealing with the great"^[5]

The neutral term is distinguished from the pejorative "sadaejuui", which was invented by early 20th century Korean nationalists.^[6] The genesis of the term "sadae" arises in the work of the Chinese philosopher Mencius:

梁惠王下

齊宣王問曰：交鄰國，有道乎

孟子對曰：有。惟仁者為能以大事小。是故，湯事葛，文王事昆夷。惟智者為能以小事大。故大王事獯鬻，句踐事吳。以大事小者，樂天者也。以小事大者，畏天者也。樂天者保天下，畏天者保其國。《詩》云：『畏天之威，于時保之。』

Mencius - Liang Hui Wang II

The king Qi Xuan asked, saying, 'Is there any way to regulate one's maintenance of intercourse with neighbouring kingdoms?'

Mencius replied, 'Yes, there is. But it requires a perfectly virtuous prince to be able, with a great country, to serve a small one - as, for instance,
Book of Poetry
, "I fear the Majesty of Heaven, and will thus preserve its favouring decree." '

^[7]

Overview

Sadae describes a foreign policy characterized by the various ways a small country acknowledges the strength of a greater power like that of China. Sadae is made manifest in the actions of the weaker state as it conveys goodwill and respect through its envoys.^[8]

The utility of the sadae concept in Korea was recognized

Joseon accepted its place in a Sinocentristic world order.^[10]^[11] The Joseon Dynasty made every effort to maintain a friendly relationship with Beijing for reasons having to do with realpolitik and with an idealized Confucian worldview. Sadae construes China as the center of a Confucian moral universe.^[12]

As a foundation of diplomacy, the Joseon kingdom presumed that the Korean state was positioned within a Sinocentristic milieu. The Joseon foreign policy was organized around maintaining stable Joseon-Chinese relations during the dynastic period from 1392 through 1895. The concept of sadae is contrasted with limited trade relationships or kyorin diplomacy (교린정책; lit. "neighborly relations") which marked Joseon-Japanese relations in this period.[13]

The concept of sadae was used in the writings of

Shin Chaeho and other Korean nationalists in the 20th century.^[14]

Shin is known for having argued that the sadae effectively functioned in two ways:

to devalue the ethnic origins of the Korean people and state [11]
to subjugate Korean history within a Confucian interpretive framework^[11]

Notes

^ Armstrong, Charles K. (2007). The Koreas, p. 57-58., p. 57, at Google Books
^ Walker 1971, pp. 3–4.
^ Michael J. Seth (2019). A Brief History of Korea: Isolation, War, Despotism, and Revival: The Fascinating Story of a Resilient but Divided People
^ Walker 1971, p. 4.
^ ^a ^b Pratt, Keith L. et al. (1999). Korea: a historical and cultural dictionary, p. 394.
^ Mitchell, Anthony. "Happier Economy Better Than Larger Economy," Korea Times (Seoul). October 12, 2008.
^ Liang Hui Wang II, Mencius
^ Robinson, pp. 131-132.
^ 구도영 (Koo Do-young). 중종대(中宗代) 사대인식(事大認識)의 변화 - 대례의(大禮議)에 대한 별행(別行) 파견 논의를 중심으로 ("Changes regarding ‘Perception of Sadae’(事大認識) that became apparent during the reign of King Jungjong - Examination of Discussions over the issue of dispatching a special envoy(別行) about the Grand ceremony (大禮議) in Ming (明) dynasty’s court"),] 역사와 현실 제62호, 2006.12 (History and Reality, No. 62,　December 2006). pp. 3-405.
^ Michael J. Seth (2019). A Brief History of Korea: Isolation, War, Despotism, and Revival: The Fascinating Story of a Resilient but Divided People
^ ^a ^b ^c Robinson, p. 129.
^ Mansourov, Alexandre Y. "Will Flowers Bloom without Fragrance? Korean-Chinese Relations," Archived 2008-01-08 at the Wayback Machine Harvard Asia Quarterly (Spring 2009).
^ Kang, Etsuko H. (1997). Diplomacy and Ideology in Japanese-Korean Relations: from the Fifteenth to the Eighteenth Century, p. 49.
^ Robinson, Michael. (1984) "National Identity and the Thought of Shin Ch'ae-ho: Sadaejuüi and Chuch'e in History and Politics," Journal of Korean Studies, Vol. 5, pp. 121–142.