Back during the 1600's China was not only referred to as the Han but also as the Middle Kingdom, and to the Mongols "The Crown Jewel ". China was very power hungry and wanted to gain control of the "barbaric " countries surrounding it to ensure that there were no chances of invasion or attack. China attempted to invade not only Korea but Vietnam and Japan as well. Although some attempts were successful for a little while, each country eventually drove them out. However that did not mean much, because China still played a large role in influencing the culture of each of these countries.
Being so geographically close to China, there was no way that Korea would not be influenced in some way by their (The Chinese) culture. Korea maintained a link with China through a system of trading goods and ideas which came about under the Silla rule. However since China saw themselves as the "Middle Kingdom " they thought had no need for outsider's ideas. So the trading of ideas was one sided coming only from China. Amongst trading with China, Korea was continuously influenced by China in not only the political sense but in a civilization sense as well. Under the Silla rule, Korea sent annual tributes embassies to the Chinese capital. With the embassies and ever growing number of Korean students brought back the ideology of Buddhism. The rapid spread of Buddhism in Korea almost made it become universal, and the continuous adoption of Chinese institution led to Korea eventually being referred to as the "Little Tang " (pg. 177). Even though Buddhism was prominent in Korea, Confucianism was widely spread as well. Korea was not the only country to be influence by the Chinese, Vietnam also adopted many of the ideas that China had to offer. The Vietnamese people adopted the religion and the ideology of Confucianism and Buddhism, the concept of writing from China, language, and agriculture. Confucianism was very influential throughout much of Vietnam (unlike Korea), however much like the people of Korea, there were many Vietnamese who referred to themselves at Buddhists.
