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Plates 24.8–24.9 Poems written by Chinese
and Korean scholars (Bong sa Joseon
changhwa sigwon 奉使朝鮮倡和詩卷), dated
1450, remounted in 1905, Hanseong
(modern-day Seoul), Korea. Ink on paper,
height 33cm, length 160cm. National
Museum of Korea, Seoul, Sin 14149

message to Sejong proclaiming Jingtai 景泰 (r. 1450–56) as officials Jeong Yinji, Sin Sukju and Seong Sammun replied
the newly enthroned emperor of China. They left Beijing on with poems in the same rhythm. In total, Ni Qian wrote 15
the 13th day of the 12th month of 1449, and the imperial poems; Sin Sukju, Jeong Yinji and Seong Sammun each
messenger in Gyeongbok Palace, Seoul, was informed of wrote six poems. The poetry and prose in the scroll were
their arrival on the first day of the first leap month of 1450. 32 written in the composer’s own hand.
Ni Qian and Sima Xun’s visit to Joseon Korea was one of Ni Qian was impressed by what he witnessed when he
36 envoys that the Ming sent to Joseon during the Sejong arrived in Joseon. In a poem recorded in Anthology of Brilliant
period – the highest number dispatched to any single king Flowers, Ni Qian describes his visit to the temple at the Royal
during the Ming dynasty. Prior to this visit, the early Ming Confucian Academy (Seonggyun’gwan 成均館) on the third
court usually sent eunuchs as its main representative to day of the first month in 1450:
Joseon. In 1450, following the turmoil of the battle at Tumu In the early morning I visited the temple at the Royal
Fort when the Zhengtong 正統 emperor (r. 1436–49) was Academy… Well-dressed literati are happily seated; youthful
captured by Oirat Mongols, the Ming court chose instead to students joyfully stand in rows. How could the winds of culture
send Ni Qian who was then Expositor-in-waiting of the especially reach the Eastern Seas [Joseon]? Saintly
Hanlin Academy, and Sima Xun who was the Supervising transformation now spreads to the remotest corners of the world.
Secretary of the Office of Scrutiny for Justice, suggesting the 曉向成均謁廟堂… 濟濟衣冠忻在坐，靑靑衿佩喜成行。文風豈
importance placed upon the visit. The arrival of two well- 特覃東海，聖化于今遍八荒。
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educated officials from China was anticipated by Joseon
scholars who saw this as an opportunity to display their Seeing through the lens of the Ming empire, Ni Qian
literary talents through poetry exchanges. The resulting interpreted the cultivation of Joseon scholars as the
poems held national and diplomatic significance, and were consequence of the virtue of Chinese civilisation and its
subsequently compiled and published by the Joseon court in replication. It is not surprising that there were those in
the Anthology of Brilliant Flowers (Hwanghwa jip 皇華集). Ni Joseon Korea who felt antipathy towards the envoy and
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Qian also recorded the poems that he wrote and exchanged considered him arrogant. The Veritable Records of the Joseon
with Joseon scholars, which were published in Chapters from the Dynasty, for instance, describes Ni Qian in unflattering terms
Liao Sea (Liaohai pian 遼海篇). The scroll Poems Shared by Envoys while acknowledging his literary talents:
in Joseon consists of poems most likely selected by Ni Qian who Ni Qian was talented and untrammelled. During his journey
mounted them as a scroll after his return to Beijing. [in Joseon] he composed several tens of poems; he combined
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Thirty-five pieces of writing from Ni Qian’s envoy in 1450 them into one copy and posted it on the walls of the
were recorded in the scroll. All of them are poems, except for Taepyeong’gwan [guesthouse for Ming envoys]. He also wrote
Ode to Ascending a Pavilion after Snow (Xueji denglou fu 雪霽登樓賦) an ode Ascending a Pavilion for it to be hung at the pavilion.
by Ni Qian and the reply to it by Sin Sukju, both written in a People may mock him for being arrogant with his talent... Ni
prose form. When Ni Qian composed a poem, Joseon Qian and others at first did not accept gifts, but later they
accepted them, and even demanded them.

216 | Ming China: Courts and Contacts 1400–1450