In the Joseon Dynasty at that time, both the traditional literati represented by Huang Xuan and the enlightened intellectuals represented by Yin Zhihao had a low evaluation of Concubine Min. For traditional literati, the "female chicken Si Chen" prejudice undoubtedly caused them to have an innate aversion to Concubine Min, who believed that Concubine Min was unshirkable responsible for the collapse of Korea. For example, Huang Xuan commented: "The Queen (referring to Concubine Min) was alert and spared her power. She stayed in power for twenty years and ended up subjugating her country. Then she suffered unprecedented changes." His book "Mei Quan Ye Lu" recorded many rumors about Concubine Min, most of which were recorded in his book "Mei Quan Ye Lu". All negative. The Kaihua Party, which represents the emerging forces, has not always been negative about Concubine Min, but has changed. Since Concubine Min advocated opening up to the outside world and supported the civilized forces in her early days, the civilized party had a good opinion of her. In June 1884, Yin Zhihao commented that Concubine Min was "genuinely intelligent and very quick in learning". However, after the Jiashen coup, especially after the Jiashen coup, In 1894, the leader of the Kaihua Party, Jin Yujun, was assassinated by an assassin sent by Min Fei's group, which made the Kaihua Party members' evaluation of Min Fei very bad. This is also reflected in Yin Zhihao, who wrote in English in his diary: "The princess and her relatives are directly responsible for the shame of this country. Oh, the evil things done by an evil woman!" and said Concubine Min is a "smart and selfish woman". The same is true for other enlightened party members. In his letter to his American mentor Moss, Yu Jijun compared Concubine Min with Queen Bloody Mary of England and Queen Marie Antoinette of France, calling Concubine Min "the worst woman in the world." "; Park Young-hyo said to the Japanese Miura Oro in 1895, "Concubine Min is the great fox of Korea, and everything is an obstacle." It was speculated that when Miura Oro planned the Eumi Incident not long after, he codenamed his operation "Fox Hunting" source.

More than ten years after Concubine Min's death, the Korean Peninsula became a Japanese colony. In the works written by Japanese published during the Japanese colonial period in Korea, Concubine Min still had a negative evaluation. Based on Concubine Min's anti-Japanese stance, they generally believed that Concubine Min's intervention in politics hindered the modernization of North Korea and led to the demise of North Korea. The "Biographies of East Asian Seer Enlightenment Patriots" published by the Japanese right-wing organization Black Dragon Society in 1935 has the most representative evaluation of Concubine Min, saying that "Concubine Min is smart and wise, good at tactics, and has a sinister, jealous, and cruel character. Some temptress-type women” and compared Concubine Min to China’s Western Queen Mother. During the Japanese colonial period, Korean historians also had a low opinion of Concubine Min. For example, Zhang Daobin said: "Empress Min was extremely corrupt and was actually a representative of the normal state of corruption in the late Joseon Dynasty. Her dishonesty, luxury, banquets, depravity, chaos, injustice, Superstition, obscenity, divination, greed for power, love of bribery, prostitution, private parties, cruelty, and trouble making, etc., are enough to make her the woman who represents the tragic demise of Korea in modern times... All the routes and social trends that contributed to the demise of Korea were concentrated. "A woman full of bad virtues." The above understanding and evaluation of Concubine Min are regarded by contemporary Korea as erroneous evaluations arising from Confucian concepts or "colonial historical views." After the liberation in 1945, the Korean Peninsula began to re-examine its evaluation of Concubine Min. Among them, the Republic of Korea has a higher evaluation of Concubine Min. As time goes by, the prevalence of nationalism, coupled with factors such as literary and artistic works and mass media, Concubine Min's evaluation in South Korea is getting higher and higher, and Koreans are also generally using " The honorific title "Mingcheng Queen" was used to refer to her. After the founding of Korea, positivist historiography became the mainstream, and Concubine Min was not highly regarded in academic circles. For example, a Korean scholar pointed out: “She took advantage of the chaotic political situation of the Li Dynasty to push Gaozong to the forefront, and she planned various events behind the scenes. She is a witch." However, there is already a tendency in South Korea to affirm Concubine Min. Lee Shirong, the former Vice President of South Korea, commented on Concubine Min: "After the Ming Dynasty, the Min family was extremely intelligent, well-read, and knew all the classics. "He was quick with words and fluent in responses. He was not a woman." Syngman Rhee, the first president of the Republic of Korea, even inscribed "The Place where Empress Myeongseung Died" on a stone tablet at the place where Concubine Min was murdered. With the gradual establishment and consolidation of nationalist historical views, and the emergence of many literary and artistic works praising Concubine Min (such as "The Qing-Japanese War and the Heroine Concubine Min" in 1965), Concubine Min's evaluation in South Korea has skyrocketed. In the past, the evaluation of Concubine Min was criticized as a "colonial view of history", while other Korean scholars overturned and subverted the past understanding of Concubine Min. For example, Kim Xingzi believed that Concubine Min was not a demon queen who manipulated Emperor Gojong, but It is a husband-wife relationship combined with Gaozong's rational politics. Luo Hongzhu spoke highly of Concubine Min, saying that in order to take the lead in protecting the royal family and the country, she fought against Japanese interference in internal affairs with unyielding fighting spirit. In the context of the prevailing Confucian ideology of male superiority and female inferiority, she stood up when the country was in trouble and dared to confront the established Therefore, "Empress Mingcheng can be said to be the symbol of modern women." Professor Lee Tae-jin, chairman of the National History Compilation Committee of the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology of South Korea, also said: "I don’t know when it was said that Princess Min coveted her husband’s monarchy power. This impression is still deeply engraved in the hearts of Korean people. The facts This was just made up for a certain purpose... In fact, the princess not only read a lot of books, but was also very smart. She helped the king a lot when he encountered difficulties and could help him make wise judgments... The princess stood with the king and led the civilized policy... The princess was good at judging the situation of international relations, so she helped the king a lot.

” After the 1990s, the continuous emergence of popular literary and artistic works such as musicals and TV series titled "Empress Myeongseong" portrayed Concubine Min as a "civilized Illuminati" and "intelligent" among the Korean people. "Diplomat", "Mother of the Nation who sacrificed her life for the Anti-Japanese War" and other outstanding images. In response to the changes in Concubine Min's evaluation, Hong Soon-min, associate professor at Myongji University in South Korea, commented: "The historical community has mentioned the concern for the study of modern history and the understanding of the role of women in history. The external atmosphere also has an impact." "But it is also undeniable that there is an aspect of over-beautification through artistic works without sufficient historical research. ”

However, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s evaluation of Concubine Min is contrary to the mainstream in South Korea, characterizing her as a “supporter of conservative forces”, “a representative of the two classes of landlords”, The "Encyclopedia of Korea" published in 1999 commented on Concubine Min as "a bigot who relies on foreign powers to maintain power": "As a reactionary conservative group, she represents the interests of the feudal landlords unconditionally. Suppress all progressive tendencies and exploit the people harshly. " Despite this, North Korea still strongly criticized the "Yiwei Incident" in which the Japanese killed Concubine Min, expressed sympathy for Concubine Min, and pointed out that "the Yiwei Incident was a Japanese state terrorist crime that violated North Korea's autonomy and national dignity." The so-called "foreign" "Evaluation" refers to the evaluations of people from countries other than North Korea who have come into contact with Concubine Min. On the one hand, these evaluations tend to favor Concubine Min's appearance and temperament, and on the other hand, they are higher than the evaluations of North Korea at that time. Isabelle, the famous British travel writer La Bird Bishop once met Concubine Min in 1895. Her evaluation of Concubine Min was: "Her Majesty the Queen is a very beautiful and delicate woman who is over forty years old. She has black hair and fair skin. She wears pearl powder makeup. It looks paler underneath. The eyes are cold and sharp, full of keen talent and wisdom. There seemed to be a hint of sadness on the pale, smiling face. … When she began a conversation, especially one that interested her, her face lit up and seemed even more beautiful. " Mrs. Underwood, an American who is engaged in missionary and educational work in Korea, not only described Concubine Min's beauty, but also commented on her: "The princess loves the country, is broad-minded, and is a progressive. She is not only proficient in Chinese classics, but also has extensive knowledge of advanced countries in the world. By Western standards, she was indeed a perfect lady. " Horace Allen, who has long served as the American diplomat in North Korea, praised Concubine Min as "one of the great people in Asia." Even the Japanese minister Goro Miura who planned the Yiwei Incident paid an audience with Concubine Min for the first time. , his impression of her is: "As a woman, this princess is really a rare and talented hero. "

The Qing Dynasty of China, as the suzerain state of Korea at that time, also has some records about Concubine Min's evaluation. Yuan Shikai, who served as the Qing court minister in Korea for 12 years, evaluated Concubine Min as "evil-minded and headstrong" and said "The princess is foolish, pro-Western and disrespectful of China." In contrast, Ma Xiangbo (Ma Jianchang), the founder of Fudan University who went to Korea after the Renwu Mutiny and met Concubine Min, paid more attention to describing Concubine Min's appearance, saying, "She is. She is truly the first beauty I have ever seen in my life." Concubine Min was described as having "a moderate figure, a duck-oval face, a high nose, very white and smooth skin, jet black hair, and a very elegant and quiet attitude." He also said that "Yuan (Shikai) once told me that Concubine Min of Goryeo was very promiscuous and intended to have an affair with him," but Ma Xiangbo himself expressed disbelief.

It can be seen that when Concubine Min was alive, the Chinese people did not believe it. The evaluation of Concubine Min is not very high, and there are rumors about her "promiscuity". However, after the Yiwei Incident, especially after the merger of Japan and South Korea, sympathy and praise for Concubine Min were generally shown, and "Tears of Heroes" and "Legendary" appeared. There are a large number of novels and plays praising Concubine Min such as "Koryeo Concubine Min" (New Mirror Flowers), and many literati including Qian Zhongshu wrote poems and eulogized Concubine Min's fate. These songs were not only directed at Concubine Min herself, but also for Concubine Min. Among the Chinese people’s evaluation of Concubine Min, Wang Yunsheng’s evaluation was more objective: “Concubine Min was beautiful and talented. She was good at power and made enemies. She stirred up political affairs one after another, but she was not allowed to die. , a lesson from the wise woman. ”

Throughout the life of Empress Mingcheng, she was good at court struggles and fought for power with her father-in-law Xingxuan Dayuanjun throughout her life, but she was lackluster in the reform and governance of domestic affairs; she was good at taking advantage of international conflicts to serve North Korea fought for living space, but signed multiple unequal treaties and sold out a lot of rights. However, Empress Myeongseong always insisted on Korean independence. Especially after Japan took control of North Korea in 1894, she cleverly exploited the contradiction between Japan and Russia to introduce Russian influence and delay the war. It was precisely because of this that Queen Myeongseong was respected in later generations of Korea, but it should also be noted that she also had a great responsibility for the collapse of the Joseon Dynasty.