The Sungjeonggiwon (), also known as Hwangmyeong Sungjeonggiwon () or Hwangmyeonggiwon (), was a dating system used during the Joseon Korea. It was named after Chongzhen (; Sungjeong), the final era name of Ming China, and reflected Joseon's view that it had inherited the Chinese cultural and political tradition after the fall of the Ming. Beginning with the first year of the Chongzhen era (1628), years were counted as "years after Sungjeonggiwon" () or "years after the Sungjeong era" (). In some cases, dates were expressed using the sexagenary cycle and ordinal numbers rather than by counting the number of elapsed years.
History From its foundation, the Joseon dynasty of Korea maintained a tributary relationship with the Ming dynasty of China, received Ming investiture, and adopted Ming era names. In 1637, following the Second Manchu invasion of Korea, King Injo of Joseon surrendered to the Manchu-led Qing dynasty at , and Joseon became a Qing tributary state. After the fall of the Ming dynasty in 1644, the Qing dynasty established its rule over China. Among Joseon's scholar-officials, anti-Qing sentiment and the influence of the Little China ideology led many to continue regarding the Ming as the legitimate successor to the Chinese imperial tradition, while viewing the Qing as illegitimate. Regarding the use of era names, the Joseon court initially continued to use the Chongzhen era name in internal documents. In royal tomb inscriptions, ancestral rites at the royal shrine, and Confucian temple ritual texts, dates were generally recorded without era names. Qing era names began to appear in ritual texts only after 1644, although the use of Ming era names and sexagenary-cycle dating remained common among the general population. After King Sukjong came to the throne (), he considered the practice of merely recording dates by the sexagenary cycle insufficient to express Joseon's remembrance of the Ming dynasty. He therefore introduced the practice of dating documents by counting the years after the Chongzhen era, known as the Sungjeonggiwon. The dating system was subsequently used widely throughout Joseon society and remained in use until the reign of King Gojong (1864–1907). In 2016, a traditional house in Wicheon-myeon, Geochang County, South Gyeongsang Province, South Korea, was still using the system on its annual Ipchuncheop (spring calligraphy) board, recording the date as "379 years after the Jeongchuk year of the Sungjeong era" ().
Examples Cumulative year count (; 1655) (; 1710) (; 1765) (; 1890)
Year count combined with the sexagenary cycle (; 1683) (; 1704) (; 1720) (; 1747)
Sexagenary cycle with ordinal numbers
(; 1690) (; 1733) (; 1736) (; 1752) (; 1794) (; 1834) (; 1834) (; 1859) (; 1865) (; 1886)The Joseon document Nakchon Park Seonsaeng Yugo (), held in the Fudan University Collection, item no. AB096506-08. (; 1892) (; 1914)Seoul National University Kyujanggak Collection, Cheondae Sokyurok (), item no. Kyugu 565-1.
Sexagenary cycle with or without ordinal numbers () refers to dates counted from the Mujin year, which was the first year of the Chongzhen era (1628) (; 1676) (; 1678) (; 1682) (; 1707) (; 1760) () refers to dates counted from the Byeongja year (1636), the year of the Qing invasion of Joseon (Byeongjahoran) (; 1666) (; 1670) () refers to dates counted from the Gapsin year (1644), the year of the fall of the Ming dynasty and the establishment of Qing rule in China (; 1659) (; 1683) (; 1694) (; 1706) (; 1708) () refers to dates counted from the second Gapsin year (1704), which occurred 60 years after the first Gapsin year (1644) (; 1752)
Others (1681) (; 1686) (; 1690) (; 1721) (; 1742) (; 1760)
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