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Ginseng and Borderland explores the territorial boundaries
and political relations between Qing China and Choson Korea during
the period from the early seventeenth to the late nineteenth
centuries. By examining a unique body of materials written in
Chinese, Manchu, and Korean, and building on recent studies in New
Qing History, Seonmin Kim adds new perspectives to current
understandings of the remarkable transformation of the Manchu Qing
dynasty (1636–1912) from a tribal state to a universal
empire. This book discusses early Manchu history and explores the
Qing Empire’s policy of controlling Manchuria and Choson
Korea. Kim also contributes to theKorean history of the Choson
dynasty (1392–1910) by challenging conventional accounts that
embrace a China-centered interpretation of the tributary
relationship between the two polities, stressing instead the agency
of Choson Korea in the formation of the Qing Empire. This study
demonstrates how Koreans interpreted and employed this relationship
in order to preserve the boundary—and peace—with the
suzerain power. By focusing on the historical significance of the
China-Korea boundary, this book defines the nature of the Qing
Empire through the dynamics of contacts and conflicts under both
the cultural and material frameworks of its tributary relationship
with Choson Korea.