明代中葉後陽明學在中國廣泛流傳,頗有將朱子學取而代之的態勢,此種情況被朝鮮儒者視為「道學失傳」的危機,致使朝鮮儒者欲越過元明兩代中國儒者,直接繼承「後朱子時代」的「道統」。由李滉到李珥,朝鮮儒者完成了朝鮮儒者作為在「後朱子時代」「道統的傳承者」之詮釋;進一步也完成了朝鮮君、臣作為「道統的共享者」的詮釋,經由正祖這類特別崇奉朱子學的君王落實;最終朝鮮儒者完成「後朱子時代」朝鮮道統系譜的建構。以上對朝鮮道統思想史的追溯,補充了朝鮮「小中華」思想的具體內涵。對朝鮮儒者而言,中國由於陽明學氾濫,朱子學衰微,致使道學的正統(道統)已經由朝鮮儒者傳承,終使朝鮮君臣自負且驕傲地認為,中華道統已由中原向東轉移至朝鮮。
This article with regard to the Sojunghwa ideology transcends the usual emphasis on the reverence for the Zhou Dynasty and the yearning for the Ming after the establishment of the Qing Dynasty. It reveals that the Korean Confucians' intention to succeed the Dao Tong in the post-Zhu Xi era was triggered by the fear of "the loss of the Dao Tong" in facing with the widespread Yangmingism in China from the middle Ming period onwards. From Yi Hwang to Yi I, Korean Confucians have interpreted themselves as "the successors of the Dao Tong in the post-Zhu Xi era." They further claimed that Korean monarchs and officials were "the sharers of the Dao Tong." Through the efforts by the monarchs who favored the learning of Zhu Xi such as Jeongjo of Joseon, Korean Confucians eventually have built the genealogy of the Korean Dao Tong in the post-Zhu Xi era. The subjectivity of Korean Confucianism has also been established. The above review of the Korean Dao Tong in the history of thought reinforces the understanding of the Sojunghwa ideology. That is to say, Korean monarchs and officials used to accept the political Hua-Yi distinction and have a feeling of nostalgia for the Ming Dynasty. Korean Confucians, however, criticized Yangmingism harshly in the mid-Ming and considered that the Dao Tong and the learning of Zhu Xi have transferred from China to Korea. As a result, Korean monarchs and officials started to proudly believe that Korea became the center of East Asian civilization and inherited the orthodoxy of the Chinese culture.