Center for Northeast Asian Studies Tohoku University Faculty

CHENG YONGCHAO
Associate Professor

Foreign relations in Early Modern Japan
International Relations of East Asia (17~19C)

Trilateral Relationships among Japan, Korea and China in 17th-19th Centuries

By putting Joseon Korea as a mediator between Tokugawa Japan and Ming - Qing China, which have no formal diplomatic relations after the Imjin War, I demonstrate and analyze, that China and Japan had mediated political connections based on sources from Japan, Korea and China, aiming to reconstruct this part of East Asian history. In other words, I steer away from current research based on Japanese exclusive foreign relations viewpoint in research, which is constricted in bilateral relations of Japan and other countries, and shift the focus to trilateral relations of “Japan-Korea-China” with the approach of global history. Where existing “Connection” and “Comparison” will illuminate the complexity and depth of interactions among early-modern East Asian countries and peoples.

Documents of the Tsushima So Family (@National Institute of Korean History, South Korea, July 23, 2015).

Reenactment of Joseon Mission procession (@Busan, South Korea, May 4, 2019).

Principal areas of interest
● Intelligence on China in Documents of the Tsushima So Family.
● Integrated Study of Joseon Missions to Japan and China.
● Establishment and Transformation of East Asian International Order in the 16th-19th centuries.
● Integrated Study of Joseon Missions to Japan and Tsushima.
● Astronomical Phenomena in Historical Literature.

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