Following a few remarks I picked up from George Kallender’s intro to the « Diary of 1636 » (mentioned before) which I found interesting and useful for the conversation on « My Dearest » :

ONE—
« In contemporary North and South Korean historiography, the first attack in known as “the invasion of the cyclical year 1627” and the second as the “invasion of the cyclical year 1636-1637.” THESE ATTACKS WERE SEISMIC EVENTS IN CHOSON HISTORY WITH LONG-TERM CONSEQUENCES.
Thet fortified anti-Manchu sentiment, stimulated proto-national consciousness, and BEGAN A PROCESS THAT WOULD TURN KOREANS AWAY FROM THE OVER-GLORIFICATION OF CHINESE CIVILIZATION to focus their attention on cultural developments in Korea. »

TWO—
« Na may have also underestimated the extent to which the diary could serve as a source for Manchu and Chinese history.

The work describes the early period of Manchu development and expansion around the activities and personalities of key Manchu figures—such as Hung Taiji and his family members who accompanied him to Korea, and top Manchu generals Ingguldai and Mafuta—who appear frequently throughout the diary. Of course, New Qing History contests the notion of “Manchu” identity today, especially regarding the formative period in the early decades of the seventeenth century.

Na did not use the term “Manchu.” He refers to them politically as the Jin and the Qing dynasties and, less cordially, as the enemy or barbarians.

Still, HE DESCRIBES A TIME WHEN THE MANCHU STRUGGLED WITH IDENTITY— WHEN TO ACT MORE CONFUCIAN AND WHEN TO ACT MORE JURCHEN—as they moved beyond their homelands and collided with other groups, most importantly the Ming Chinese–oriented worldview of the Chosŏn. The diary shows some key concepts that appear to be unique or specific to their Jurchen or Manchu culture, such as the forced intermarriage of the Manchu and Korean elites, the stealing of horses, and the interior arrangement of Hung Taiji’s military tent. However, it also reveals that, AS EARLY AS 1636, THE MANCHU BEGAN DEFTLY ADOPTING CONFUCIAN RHETORIC AND CONCEPTS IN THEIR DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE WITH THE CHOSŎN DYNASTY, WHETHER OR NOT THEY ACTUALLY BELIEVED IN THEM. »

THREE— That can be seen in EP 14 ….
« As will be shown below, the Manchu, in the early decades of the seventeenth century, CAPTURED A NUMBER OF CHOSŎN MILITARY MEN WHO HAD FOUGHT WITH THE MING IN THE NORTHEAST REGIONS. Some of these men remained in Jurchen-Manchu lands, learned to speak Manchu, and later served as envoys between the Qing and Chosŏn courts. Judging from Manchu acceptance of the Chinese and other tribal people, as the Manchu created their empire, it would not have been a stretch for them to extend this process of assimilation and border crossing to those born on the Korean peninsula. There probably were Koreans who moved across the frontier and took Manchu identities. Na’s diary serves as a supplement to the works of New Qing history scholarship by helping to untangle issues of identity in the early period of the Manchu empire.»