The philosophy of sho-chuka brought the trend to regard Yomei-gaku (Neo-Confucianism based on the teachings of Wang Yangming), which was popular in China in the Ming dynasty but was not so in Korea, as a heresy, as well as the cognition to define China ruled under the Qing dynasty as "China subjugated by iteki (barbarians)," and accordingly it promoted the idea that Korea is the mainstream of chuka (China).
小中華主義は明代中国に流行しながら朝鮮では流行しなかった陽明学を異端視する風潮、清朝による中国支配を「中国が夷狄の支配に服するもの」と規定する認識となり、朝鮮こそが中華の本流であるという思想をはぐくんだ。