숙종 대 왕비의 수고명의와 조·청관계 = The Ritual for the Queen’s Receiving the Appointment Order(受誥命儀) during King Sukjong’s reign, and the Joseon-Qing relationship-Examination of Clashes between Joseon and Qing over Precedence and Protocols-

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Joseon and the Qing dynasty had conflicts from the very beginning, and one of the issues over which they clashed with each other was the issue of Qing’s bestowal of a title to Joseon Queen Jang’ryeol. Qing, ever distrustful of Joseon, demanded that Joseon personally greet the Go’myeong(誥命) order, but Joseon, which was more than bitter by past events outright refused to do so. Eventually Joseon found a compromise by having the King receive the order from a Qing emissary and then relay it to the Queen. This practice became the “Gimyo-year protocol.” Then, during King Sukjong’s reign several queens were appointed, deposed, and then reinstated, and in the wake of total of four instances of Joseon having to receive Qing’s order for such occasions, a modified protocol concerning the Appointment-receiving ritual was established. According to this new practice, referred to as the “Imsul-year protocol,” the Qing emissary would arrive at the Inner chamber’s gate, and hand the Go’myeong order over to an eunuch. Later, however, whenever a similar occasion would occur the Joseon government would argue that the Gimyo-year precedence should be honored, while the Qing government would demand the Imsul-year protocol be observed. In the end, two protocols were merged, as a result of another compromise agreed on by both parties.
All these fights were because of Qing’s intention to reinforce the Imperial family’s authority, and punish Joseon for its rebellious attitude on a political and diplomatic level, while trying to integrate the Korean peninsula into the Qing-centered ritual order. To such an offensive initiative on Qing’s part, Joseon responded with the argument emphasizing the prudence of the Gimyo-year precedence, out of repulsion against Qing, which was in itself caused by racial, cultural and historical antagonism that naturally led Joseon to refuse to greet and accept Qing’s Go’myeong order.
However, both sides could not afford to endanger their relationship and let it be damaged beyond repair, so they chose to honor both precedences(前例) and ritual protocols(典禮) at the same time, which allowed the Su-Go’myeong-eui practice to retain its dual nature and an indirect delivery system, resulting in a third, modified option(變禮) as a follow-up to the Gimyo and Imsul practices.