On the Official Title of Joseon Missions to Imperial China

This paper aims to find out which term was the official title of Joseon missions to Imperial China, and whether the widespread term yeonhangsa(燕行使), which is much more frequently used in Korea, China, Japan, and Taiwan after Fuma Susumus book is published, is a suitable to cover whole Joseon Missions to Ming and Qing dynasty. To clarify that, we investigated the government official records such as Veritable Records of the Joseon Dynasty and Journal of the Royal Secretariat. Our research findings indicate that during the early Joseon period(1392~1636), bugyeongsa(赴京使) was the most frequently used term for Joseon missions to Ming dynasty, while jocheonsa(朝天使), contrary to common belief, was much less used than anticipated, almost exclusively in the early 17th century. In the late 17th century, both bugyeongsa and buyeonsa(赴燕使) was used for Joseon missions to Qing dynasty. After 1706, buyeonsa was the frequently used term for Joseon missions to Qing dynasty. Meanwhile, throughout the late Joseon period yeonhaengsa was rarely used. Such transition of official titles of Joseon missions to Imperial China, namely bugyeongsa in Ming dynasty to buyeonsa in Qing dynasty, shows a change of attitude and perception of Joseon elites toward Ming and Qing dynasty, as bugyeongsa implies more respectful attitude toward Ming China while buyeonsa tries to maintain more neutral attitude toward Qing as a conquest dynasty ruled by yi(barbarians). As the both terms reflect crucial ideas and thoughts of the ruling elites of Joseon, suggesting that we should replace them with much rarely used, non-historical, ungrammatical term yeonhaengsa seems improper and ungrounded. If we are to avoid traditionally used bugyeongsa and buyeonsa and coin a new term for Joseon missions to Imperial China instead of yeonhaengsa, immyeongsa(入明使) and ipcheongsa(入淸使) should be used as they follow the traditional word formation of Korean missions to China