Korean Dynasty

I remember reading somewhere (I can't remember where) that Korea made a claim to the be the next Chinese Emperors just after the Ming fell.
Would such a thing be possible?
 
I remember reading somewhere (I can't remember where) that Korea made a claim to the be the next Chinese Emperors just after the Ming fell.
Would such a thing be possible?

Post 1644? As in, Korea conquering China after the Ming falls (I assume you're referring to the period between the suicide by the last Ming Emperor and the execution of the last Ming pretender)? The answer would be no, thanks to the fact that China is busy being conquered by the well-organized and well-led nascent Qing Dynasty. You'd have to go farther back in history to get a Korean conquest of China.
 
I was pretty certain that Korea couldn't conquer China. But making a claim to the imperial throne did intrigue me a whole lot. It left me wandering if some in China would support a korean dynasty over a Manchrian one.
 
I was pretty certain that Korea couldn't conquer China. But making a claim to the imperial throne did intrigue me a whole lot. It left me wandering if some in China would support a korean dynasty over a Manchrian one.
A few might, but the Manchurians would destroy the Korean dynasty and their supporters in the war.
 
I was pretty certain that Korea couldn't conquer China. But making a claim to the imperial throne did intrigue me a whole lot. It left me wandering if some in China would support a korean dynasty over a Manchrian one.

A Korean dynasty would have even less legitimacy than a Manchu one. At least with the Qing, people considered it legitimate based on the fact that it controlled China. Ignoring why the Choson rulers would do such a thing, I would say that a Korean ruler declaring himself Emperor of China sometime in 1644 would be ignored by everybody in China. A descendant of the Ming imperial house in Korea, claiming to be the legitimate Emperor, would probably not be ignored if he's seen as a threat to the Qing. I assume, after the first few invasions of Korea by the Manchu, that if such a rabble-rouser did flee to Korea (not withstanding the fact that most of the resistance was in the south, along with the extant imperial family which had fled there from the north), the obvious pragmatic thing to do would be for Korean officials to ship the man to Beijing, for his quick execution by the Qing.

The other option would be for Korea to recognize this Ming pretender, which would definitely risk war, as the Choson Dynasty had already recognized the Qing. While I think this would be a costly and pointless thing to do, I would not necessarily count out yet another Qing-Choson war launched by a pro-Ming Korean government. After 1644, the advantages that the Qing already held only grow: this time they would also have access to Chinese troops and generals, and it would be the resources of the rather tiny pre-1644 state. I don't know if the Qing would immediately hunt down this hypothetical Ming pretender, given how they were busy with the Prince of Gui until the 1660s, though by then the Qing would definitely be able to inflict huge amounts of damage on Korea in event of a war. A war would not see a Qing conquest of Korea, because that's not what the Qing ever wanted, but Korea would suffer heavy losses and would probably cut its losses rather than continue with war.
 
I remember reading somewhere (I can't remember where) that Korea made a claim to the be the next Chinese Emperors just after the Ming fell.
Would such a thing be possible?

I'd have to look up Korean sources for further details, but I will say that Joseon grudgingly acknowledged Qing rule, although it continued to use Chongzhen's (the last Ming emperor) era name for more than two centuries. After the Qing conquered the Ming, Joseon claimed to be the last "civilized" dynasty continuously maintaining Chinese customs after dismissing the Manchus as "barbarians," but it never made any claims to the Ming throne itself.

I was pretty certain that Korea couldn't conquer China. But making a claim to the imperial throne did intrigue me a whole lot. It left me wandering if some in China would support a korean dynasty over a Manchrian one.

This is probably extremely unlikely, as the Qing would almost immediately attempt to quash any opposition to its rule. In addition, Joseon would still be busy recovering from the Imjin War to even think about implementing such a suicidal decision, regardless of the actual details involved.
 
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