Disappointing Loyalists: Descendants of Ming Migrants in Chosŏn Korea during the 18th Century

Sponsored by the East Asia Program in the Moynihan Institute of Global Affairs, this talk will build upon Adam Bohnet’s recently published book, Turning toward Edification, to explore one aspect that was not well developed in his book, which is the extent to which the Chosŏn court often found their ideologically important Ming Loyalist refugees and their descendants to be disappointing, failing to live up to the Ming Loyalist ideal that the Chosŏn court set for them. This in turn allows us to rethink the meaning of the Imperial Subject (hwangjoin) status, considering both the goals of the Chosŏn state in creating it, and the attempts by the Ming migrant descendants themselves to use it for their own purposes.

Bohnet completed his PHD at the University of Toronto under the direction of Prof. Andre Schmid. Before coming to King’s University College, he worked at such universities as St. Mary’s University in Halifax, the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, and Korea University’s Research Institute of Korean Studies in Seoul.