'Chinese' hegemony from a Korean shi perspective: aretocracy in the early modern East Asia. (14th December 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Choi, Inho
• Is Part Of: International relations of the Asia-Pacific. Volume 22:Number 3(2022)
• Page Start: 347
• Page End: 374
• Publication Date: 2020-12-14
• Subjects: Asia -- Foreign relations -- Periodicals; Pacific Area -- Foreign relations -- Periodicals; International relations -- Periodicals; 303.4825
• DOI: 10.1093/irap/lcaa019
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1470-482X

Abstract

Abstract: The study of pre-modern Chinese hegemony is crucial for both theorizing hegemony and envisioning a new global order. I argue the pre-modern Chinese hegemony was a reciprocal rule of virtue, or aretocracy, driven by the transnational sociocultural elites shi . In contrast to the prevailing models of Chinese hegemony, the Early Modern East Asia was not dominated by the unilateral normative influence of the Chinese state. The Chinese and non-Chinese shi as non-statist sociocultural elites co-produced, through their shared civilizational heritage, a hegemonic order in which they had to show excellence in civil virtues to wield legitimate authority. In particular, the Ming and Chosŏn shi developed a tradition of envoy poetry exchanges as a medium for co-constructing Chinese hegemony as aretocracy. The remarkable role of excellent ethos for world order making in Early Modern East Asia compels us to re-imagine how we conduct our global governance.