Reassessing Guan Zhong and Moral Discretion During the Manchu Invasions of Chosŏn Korea in the Early Seventeenth Century

Abstract This article examines the enduring legacy of Guan Zhong's actions in early seventeenth-century Korea, particularly within a deeply fractured political landscape shaped by a series of crises from King Kwanghaegun's forced deposition in 1623 to King Injo's surrender to the Manchus in 1637. In the Analects, Confucius offered both praise and criticism of Guan Zhong 管仲, while in the Mencius, Mencius dismissed him as unworthy of emulation. These early assessments continued to resonate among later scholars and officials, who turned to historical precedent to inform their own moral and political judgments. In Chosŏn Korea, such interpretations shaped debates on loyalty, moral discretion, and political responsibility, as reflected in the contrasting invocations of Guan Zhong by Liu Hai 劉海 (Aita 愛塔), Kim Sanghŏn 金尚憲, and Ch'oe Myŏnggil 崔鳴吉. By analyzing their divergent readings of Guan Zhong, this study shows how his legacy was mobilized to renegotiate moral frameworks governing the Chosŏn state, the king, and his officials, revealing a dynamic tension between principled conviction and moral discretion in times of national crisis in early seventeenth-century Korea.