Changes

Once hopes for a [[Ming loyalists|Ming restoration]] faded in the 1670s, Joseon began constructing altars to Ming emperors. [[Song Siyol]] ([[1607]]-[[1689]]) was among the leading Confucian officials who proposed the construction of altars to the [[Wanli Emperor|Wanli]] and [[Chongzhen Emperor]]s to be built, to “symbolize repaying the kindness of the Ming and for implanting… the spirit of ''ch’unch’u taeui'' [春秋大義, C: ''Chūnqiū dàyì''],” a principle of loyalty to the state even while that state is collapsing. A generation later, [[King Sukchong]] continued to support such attitudes, and proposed ritual sacrifices to the Chongzhen Emperor beginning in [[1704]]. However, some factions at court questioned or critiqued such moves, noting that such sacrifices would seem to place the Ming emperors above the King’s own royal ancestors, and further that such sacrifices had no precedent in the established Chinese ritual code. Many officials also protested that only direct descendants of the Ming Imperial family should be making such sacrifices to the Ming imperial ancestors. Still, with the support of students from Korea’s own National Confucian Academy, the altar was created. Originally dedicated to the memory of the Wanli Emperor and called the [[Taebodan]], it was later expanded – under Sukchong’s successor [[King Yongjo]] - to be dedicated to the [[Hongwu Emperor|Hongwu]] and Chongzhen Emperors as well. Yongjo began the tradition of performing ritual sacrifices dedicated to these three emperors (Hongwu, Wanli, and Chongzhen) in [[1749]]. Through these rituals, Yongjo affirmed Joseon as the heir to Ming civilization, with one key saying from the time declaring that “the Central Plains exude the stenches of barbarians and our Green Hills are alone” (i.e. China has fallen to the barbarians, and it is in Korea alone that true civilization survives).<ref>Rawski, 141-142.</ref>

Once hopes for a [[Ming loyalists|Ming restoration]] faded in the 1670s, Joseon began constructing altars to Ming emperors. [[Song Siyol]] ([[1607]]-[[1689]]) was among the leading Confucian officials who proposed the construction of altars to the [[Wanli Emperor|Wanli]] and [[Chongzhen Emperor]]s to be built, to “symbolize repaying the kindness of the Ming and for implanting… the spirit of ''ch’unch’u taeui'' [春秋大義, C: ''Chūnqiū dàyì''],” a principle of loyalty to the state even while that state is collapsing. A generation later, [[King Sukchong]] continued to support such attitudes, and proposed ritual sacrifices to the Chongzhen Emperor beginning in [[1704]]. However, some factions at court questioned or critiqued such moves, noting that such sacrifices would seem to place the Ming emperors above the King’s own royal ancestors, and further that such sacrifices had no precedent in the established Chinese ritual code. Many officials also protested that only direct descendants of the Ming Imperial family should be making such sacrifices to the Ming imperial ancestors. Still, with the support of students from Korea’s own National Confucian Academy, the altar was created. Originally dedicated to the memory of the Wanli Emperor and called the [[Taebodan]], it was later expanded – under Sukchong’s successor [[King Yongjo]] - to be dedicated to the [[Hongwu Emperor|Hongwu]] and Chongzhen Emperors as well. Yongjo began the tradition of performing ritual sacrifices dedicated to these three emperors (Hongwu, Wanli, and Chongzhen) in [[1749]]. Through these rituals, Yongjo affirmed Joseon as the heir to Ming civilization, with one key saying from the time declaring that “the Central Plains exude the stenches of barbarians and our Green Hills are alone” (i.e. China has fallen to the barbarians, and it is in Korea alone that true civilization survives).<ref>Rawski, 141-142.</ref>

===Foreign Relations===

===Foreign Relations===