We investigated how the Joseon people and Europeans understood each other through the examination of Joseon yeonhaengnok and yeonhaeng gasa and British and French travel literature in the 18th and early 19th century.
To comprehend yeonhaengnok and i ...
We investigated how the Joseon people and Europeans understood each other through the examination of Joseon yeonhaengnok and yeonhaeng gasa and British and French travel literature in the 18th and early 19th century.
To comprehend yeonhaengnok and its authors, it was necessary to analyze the situation in which they visited the Beijing Catholic churches, met European missionaries, read Chinese books about the West, and gained information about the West. Shin Ik-Cheol argues that the Catholic churches in Beijing were significant in understanding the encounter between Eastern and Western civilizations in the 18th century. Shin provides an overview of the Joseon intellectuals? visits to these churches that were reflected in yeonhaengnok works from the 18th century. He lists yeonhaengnok works that contain the reports of visits to the Catholic churches and produces an overview of the Joseon intellectuals? interpretations of Europe in the 18th century. Jo Yoong-hee rediscovers Lee Gi-ji?s Iramyeon-gi as one of the major yeonhaengnok works. According to him, Iramyeon-gi demonstrates that Lee Gi-ji shared a positive view of Western civilization with Kim Chang-eop, Hong Dae-yong and Park Ji-won, and his writings had a significant influence on Hong Dae-yong?s Eulbyeong yeonhaengnok. His research on Iramyeon-gi also contributes to a general study of late Joseon intellectuals
Yu Jeong-Sun analyzes the yeonhaeng gasa works of Lee Bang-ik, Kim Ji-su, Hong Sun-hak and Yu In-mok. Lee Bang-ik?s Pyohaega, written in the late 18th century, is unique in terms of containing the author?s impression of southern China as well as Beijing. Since customs handed down from the Ming dynasty were still found in southern China, the author contrasted southern China to the Qing dynasty?s Beijing in his verse, and revealed his ideas about the Qing dynasty and the West. Kim Ji-su?s Seohaengnok, Hong Sun-hak?s Yeonhaengga and Yu In-mok?s Bukhaengga, all written in the 19th century, expressed the authors? perceptions more directly than the authors of yeonhaeng gasa in the late 18th century did.
Jeong Eunjin investigates the French perception of Joseon. She focuses on the records of French missionaries from the Society of Jesus such as Jean-Baptiste Du Halde and l?Abb? Pr?vost. Jeong examines missionaries who wrote about Joseon and its people without actually visiting Joseon, which shows Europeans? desire to discover unknown lands. Even travel literature that was mainly based on imagination rather than actual experiences was able to attract readers who wanted to know more about other parts of the world. In particuluar, France in the 18th century was full of a positive energy to objectify itself by comparing itself with others but was not yet dominated until the rise of Euro-centrism and Orientalism in the 19th century.
Grace Koh analyzes British travel literature about Joseon and the Joseon people such as John Green?s A New general Collection of Voyages and Travels, William Broughton?s A Voyage of Discovery to the North Pacific Ocean, Basil Hall?s Account of a Voyage of Discovery to the West Coast of Corea and the Great Loo-Choo Island, and John McLeod?s Narrative of a Voyage in his Majesty?s Late Ship Alceste, to the Yellow Sea, Along the Coast of Corea. John Green?s book was the only one published in the 18th century. Not until the late 18th century did the British begin to have an interest in Joseon through their travels to China. Therefore, travel literature about Joseon was published in the 19th century. The British in the 19th century needed new markets and suppliers of raw materials, and Joseon was regarded as a potential market and supplier in the travel literature examined by Koh.