# **Cultural Exchanges Between Korea and the West** Artifacts and Intangible Heritage

edited by Jong-Chol An and Ariane Perrin

AN, PERRIN

**AND THE WEST**

**BETWEEN KOREA** 

**CULTURAL EXCHANGES** 

Cultural Exchanges Between Korea and the West

### Studi e ricerche

32

### Studi e ricerche

#### Comitato editoriale | Editorial board

Antonio Rigopoulos (Università Ca' Foscari Venezia, Italia) Laura De Giorgi (Università Ca' Foscari Venezia, Italia) Giovanni Maria Fara (Università Ca' Foscari Venezia, Italia) Franz Fischer (Università Ca' Foscari Venezia, Italia) María del Valle Ojeda Calvo (Università Ca' Foscari Venezia, Italia) Olga Tribulato (Università Ca' Foscari Venezia, Italia) Alessandra Zanardo (Università Ca' Foscari Venezia, Italia)

e-ISSN 2610-9123 ISSN 2610-993X

URL http://edizionicafoscari.unive.it/it/edizioni/collane/studi-e-ricerche/

## Cultural Exchanges Between Korea and the West Artifacts and Intangible Heritage

edited by Jong-Chol An and Ariane Perrin

Venezia **Edizioni Ca' Foscari** - Venice University Press 2023

Cultural Exchanges Between Korea and the West. Artifacts and Intangible Heritage edited by Jong-Chol An and Ariane Perrin

© 2023 Jong-Chol An and Ariane Perrin for the text © 2023 Edizioni Ca' Foscari for the present edition

### cb

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License Quest'opera è distribuita con Licenza Creative Commons Attribuzione 4.0 Internazionale

Any part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means without permission provided that the source is fully credited.

Qualunque parte di questa pubblicazione può essere riprodotta, memorizzata in un sistema di recupero dati o trasmessa in qualsiasi forma o con qualsiasi mezzo, elettronico o meccanico, senza autorizzazione, a condizione che se ne citi la fonte.

Scientific certification of the Works published by Edizioni Ca' Foscari: the essays here published have received a favourable evaluation by subject-matter experts, through a double-blind peer review process under the responsibility of the Editorial board of the series. The evaluations were conducted in adherence to the scientific and editorial criteria established by Edizioni Ca' Foscari, using a dedicated platform.

Certificazione scientifica delle Opere pubblicate da Edizioni Ca' Foscari: i saggi qui pubblicati hanno ottenuto il parere favorevole da parte di valutatori esperti della materia, attraverso un processo di revisione doppia anonima, sotto la responsabilità del Comitato editoriale della collana. La valutazione è stata condotta in aderenza ai criteri scientifici ed editoriali di Edizioni Ca' Foscari, ricorrendo all'utilizzo di apposita piattaforma.

Edizioni Ca' Foscari | Fondazione Università Ca' Foscari Dorsoduro 3246 | 30123 Venezia | http://edizionicafoscari.unive.it | ecf@unive.it

1st edition August 2023 ISBN 978-88-6969-717-3 [ebook] ISBN 978-88-6969-718-0 [print]

Cover design: Lorenzo Toso

This work was supported by the Seed Program for Korean Studies through the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Korea and the Korean Studies Promotion Service of the Academy of Korean Studies (AKS-2020-INC-2230010).

Cultural Exchanges Between Korea and the West. Artifacts and Intangible Heritage / edited by Jong-Chol An and Ariane Perrin— 1. ed. — Venice: Edizioni Ca' Foscari, 2023. — xii + 230 p.; 23 cm. — (Studi e ricerche; 32). — ISBN 978-88-6969-718-0.

URL https://edizionicafoscari.unive.it/it/edizioni4/libri/978-88-6969-718-0/ DOI http://doi.org/10.30687/978-88-6969-717-3

#### **Cultural Exchanges Between Korea and the West**

Artifacts and Intangible Heritage

edited by Jong-Chol An and Ariane Perrin

### Abstract

This volume encompasses the proceedings of the First International Conference of the East and West in Korean Studies project *Cultural Exchanges Between Korea and the West: Artifacts and Intangible Heritage*, organized by Jong-Chol An and Ariane Perrin in the Department of Asian and North African Studies at Ca' Foscari University of Venice in May 2021 with the support of the Academy of Korean Studies.

The conference focused on cross-cultural exchanges and historical encounters between Korea and the West in premodern and modern times in the form of cultural artifacts as well as heritage that is intangible. It endeavored to examine the role of Korea at the crossroads of these exchanges when the country entered a new stage of major social and political change at the turn of the twentieth century, which coincided with the global rise of colonial powers that increased international travels and scientific exchanges.

Following an interdisciplinary approach from such fields as history, heritage studies, history of art and religious studies, nine essays were selected that best illustrate the main themes of the conference. Divided into three parts, this volume initially explores early historical encounters between Western travelers and Koreans from all walks of life, whether it be members of the Korean royal family, Western photographers or writers, diplomatic envoys, female entertainers known as *kisaeng* or Jesuit scholars toward the end of the Chosŏn period (1392-1910), during the short-lived Korean Empire (1897-1910) and the Japanese colonial period (1910-45). The second and third parts cover art history, heritage and material culture respectively and offer a vivid account of these cultural exchanges through surviving artifacts (e.g. painted screens, picture postcards, Korean art objects etc.) that resulted from the worldwide expansion of commercial tourism and trade. This richly-illustrated publication presents little-known historical documents and various artifacts that had been lost to time within various institutions, private collections or museum collections, tracing back their history and significance.

**Keywords** History of early encounters. Western travelers. Art history and heritage. Material culture. Museum collections. Christianity. Scientific knowledge. Chosŏn Korea. Japanese colonial period.

#### **Cultural Exchanges Between Korea and the West** Artifacts and Intangible Heritage edited by Jong-Chol An and Ariane Perrin

### Table of Contents


#### SECTION 3. MATERIAL CULTURE


#### **Cultural Exchanges Between Korea and the West: Artifacts and Intangible Heritage**

edited by Jong-Chol An and Ariane Perrin

### Introduction

Jong-Chol An Università Ca' Foscari Venezia, Italia

#### Ariane Perrin

Università Ca' Foscari Venezia, Italia

This publication presents nine selected papers from the First International Conference of the East and West in Korean Studies Project (AKS-2020-INC-2230010), *Cultural Exchanges between Korea and the West: Artifacts and Intangible Heritage*, which was held at Ca' Foscari University of Venice in May 2021. From an interdisciplinary approach and transnational perspectives, scholars from various fields, such as history, heritage studies, history of art, religious studies, and museum studies, focused on cultural exchanges and historical encounters between Korea and the West from premodern times up to the present, in terms of cultural artifacts and intangible heritage. Three papers, in particular, examine the earliest photographic records of Korea by Western travelers and diplomats in the late Chosŏn period.

The exchange between East and West is a cliched topic to some readers because human history is full of international relationships, particularly between Asia and Europe, a phenomenon that has been more conspicuous since the late nineteenth century. However, in Korean Studies, the relationship between East and West has been understood more from the perspective of the cultural exchanges between the US and Korea, sometimes via Japan. Thus, we are pleased to provide the readers with this volume of cultural exchanges between East and West because most papers deal with diverse aspects of the artistic relationship between Europe and Korea.

Historically, Venice is a unique place where the cultural and commercial relationship between Europe and Asia was conducted. Therefore, it is natural to publish this volume of cultural exchange in history with a Venetian publisher. The Editors selected the papers best representing the main themes of the conference, all with anonymous peer reviews being conducted in advance. In some cases, it is necessary to develop further research. We believe all these papers will contribute to a better understanding of the cultural aspects of Korean Studies vis-à-vis international society, particularly with Europe, from the late nineteenth century to the present. Thus, the Editors believe that future research on Korean and European relationships from the cultural aspect will develop further from this edited volume.

In Chapter 1 of Burglind Jungmann's "Chosŏn Entering the International Arena: Three Witnesses", she traced three important Western travelers, Isabella Bird, Burton Holmes, and Jack London, who went to Korea during the 1880s to 1905, a turbulent era for the last phase of the Chosŏn dynasty. Jungmann did not just trace their different views but also introduced their photographs so that it is possible to compare their publications and their photographs, which were in color, even at that time.

In Chapter 2 by Adrien Carbonnet, "The Belgium-Korea Treaty of Amity, Commerce, and Navigation of 1901", the author traced the diplomatic ties between the Empire of Korea and the Kingdom of Belgium, which had not been analyzed thoroughly. This diplomatic relationship occurred a little later than other major European powers. The treaty shows two similar but slightly different motives between the two countries because Korea was interested in international neutrality. At the same time, Belgium had developed an economic interest in the Far East. Carbonnnet also analyzed the treaty's contents and its place in history.

In Chapter 3, "Spanish Writers in Korea Under Occupation: The Contrasting Views of Vicente Blasco Ibáñez and Gaspar Tato Cumming", Alvaro Trigo Maldonado traced two interesting visitors who went to Korea during the late Chosŏn period and in the early twentieth century. This analysis is very scanty because there were few visitors to the Korean peninsula from Spain. What is interesting from Trigo Maldonado's point of view is that the two visitors were very different in political views: one was anti-fascist and the other fascist. Their ideas or opinions about the Korean peninsula reflected their political stances rather than the reality of the Korean peninsula.

Elena Khokhlova (Chapter 4), presents an eight-panel screen painted on silk and kept at the Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography in the Russian Academy of Sciences (Kunstkamera) in Saint-Petersburg in her paper, "Kyŏmjae Chŏng Sŏn Screen from the Kunstkamera Collection: Question of Attribution". Named by the museum as a *Screen with Views of the Kŭmgangsan Mountains Ranges*, it supposedly represents the Diamond Mountains. The screen was donated to the museum by Dmitry Dobrotin, who received it as a gift in the early 1950s while working in Pyongyang. Attributed to the late Chosŏn period painter, Kyŏmjae Chŏng Sŏn (1676-1759), famed for his so-called 'true-view' landscape paintings, this folded screen raises questions as to its authenticity. According to Elena Khokhlova, it is a forgery based on the style, the painting techniques that differ from the painter's usual use of strokes and dots, and the confusion in the themes of the landscapes. Forgeries of the works of this painter were known as early as the eighteenth century.

Franklin Rausch's paper (Chapter 5), "Crossroads: The Meetings of Korea and the World Through Pilgrimage Routes", deals with the fascinating aspect of Korean Catholicism by looking at the three holy pilgrimage routes. As the author indicates, the Catholic belief was traditionally interpreted as imperial aggression in the Korean peninsula or symptoms of modernity challenging feudal or pre-modern Korean oppression. Thus, beyond this dichotomy, Rausch deals with the Korean and the Vatican's recognition of the Catholic heritage in Korea by showing the geographical locality. In this sense, we believe that the material culture of Korean heritage should be approached more through Korean and international perspectives.

Codruta Sintionean's research paper (Chapter 6), "South Korean Heritage Diplomacy. Sharing Expertise on Conservation with the World", focuses on Korean policy towards heritage, which genuinely started in the mid-1990s when Korean heritage was first nominated in the prestigious World Heritage list of the UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization). Sintionean argues that since then, the South Korean government ardently deals with UNESCO and ICOMOS (International Council on Monuments and Sites, the advisory body of UNESCO) to enlist Korean heritage and sets the global standard. Thus, the South Korean government actively engaged with the UNESCO forum for its voice, so several international events adopted globally recognized declarations and recommendations by citing "Seoul Declarations". This paper contributes to understanding South Korean engagement in cultural diplomacy and heritage.

Chikako Shigemori Bučar (Chapter 7) presents in her paper "Maritime, Christianity, and Adventure: Slovenian Discovery of Korea" the earliest encounters between Koreans and Slovenian travelers from the late Chosŏn period based on the study of picture postcards, photographs, and artifacts from East Asia, which are currently held in museum and library collections in Slovenia. The Jesuit scholar Ferdinand Hallerstein (1703-1774), an official at the Chinese court in Beijing in the eighteenth century, initiated the first direct contact between persons from Slovenia and Korea. He held an important position at the Qing imperial court where he served as the head of the Imperial Board of Astronomy from 1746 until he died in 1774. Among three other groups of people from central Europe who had traveled to Korea between the 1890s and 1930s were members of the Austro-Hungarian Navy, Christian missionaries of the Benedictine order stationed in Wonsan, and the female adventurer Alma M. Karlin (1889- 1950) who traveled through Korea in 1923.

In her paper, Yizhou Wang (Chapter 8), "When Camera Encountered 'Chosŏn Beauties'. Photographs of Kisaengs, Postcards, and Tourism from the 1880s to Colonial-Period Korea", focuses on two categories of photographs of female entertainers known as *kisaeng*  dating from 1880 to 1910, also in the Japanese colonial period (1910- 1945). American travelers and diplomats did the earliest photographic and movie records of *kisaeng* in the late Chosŏn period when they epitomized and idealized Korean traditional culture using these female beauties. Burton Holmes (1870-1958), in particular, was able to film the only known footage of imperial *kisaeng* during the short-lived Korean Empire (1897-1910). His photographs offer a rare testimony to their daily life as professional entertainers at the palace. This contrasts the later staged photographs of *kisaeng* posing in official studios or outdoor settings. Precisely, with the development of tourism during the Japanese rule of Korea, the images of these 'Chosŏn Beauties' would be widely used as popular picture postcards for Japanese and foreign tourists, where they would also serve politically to promote the idea of a 'feminized' and civilized Korea in the Japanese empire-building context of the early twentieth century, and as such, of a 'colonial modernity'. This modernity was also associated with the 'Westernization' of the *kisaeng* figures who adopted Western-style clothing and accessories as early as 1900.

In her paper, "Mapping the Earth and Ordering the Heavens. The Circulation and Transformation of Jesuit World Maps and Start Charts in the Late Chosŏn Dynasty", Yoonjung Seo (Chapter 9) investigates the exchange of cartographic and astronomical knowledge between Qing China and Chosŏn Korea which would have an impact on Chosŏn's traditional worldview. She explores Sino-European style world maps and astronomical charts produced at the royal court of Chosŏn during the eighteenth century. Their folded screen format was a novel form, previously unseen in the history of cartography in East Asia, where albums, hanging scrolls, and folded maps were preferred. Before direct contact with Jesuit missionaries in Korea in the nineteenth century, Jesuit cartographic works and celestial charts were brought back from China to Korea by the Chosŏn envoys sent to China. These maps would be reproduced under royal patronage, adapting the Western model to the standard format of documentary painting in practice at the Chosŏn court, which included the list of participants with their official titles. The author does a socio-cultural analysis of the historical and political function of the folded screen maps and their significance to the Chosŏn king. The heaven and earth maps were viewed as agents of royal authority over the 'order' of time and space.

### Cultural Exchanges Between Korea and the West

Artifacts and Intangible Heritage

### **Section 1** History of Early Encounters

**3**

### **Cultural Exchanges Between Korea and the West** Artifacts and Intangible Heritage

edited by Jong-Chol An and Ariane Perrin

## Chosŏn Entering the International Arena: Three Witnesses

#### Burglind Jungmann

Professor emerita of Korean art and visual culture, Department of Art History, UCLA

**Abstract** The last decades of the Chosŏn dynasty (1392-1910) are remembered as a period of inner turbulences and competition between foreign powers over their dominance of the Korean peninsula. Yet, during the crucial period from the mid-1880s to the early 1900s, Chosŏn was considered ready to independently enter the international arena. In the roughly twenty-five years between the first treaties with the USA and European countries and 1905, when Japan took charge of Korea's foreign affairs, it sparked the interests of Western diplomats, adventurers, and travelers. The texts and images of three visitors during this period, Isabella Bird, Burton Holmes, and Jack London, present very different perspectives on Korea. Rather than seeking historical information, this study attempts to highlight these different views within their personal background and intentions. In addition to their publications, collections of unpublished photographs reveal a wider spectrum of experience and allow for a closer comparison between textual and visual representation.

**Keywords** Travel photography. Travelogue. Documentary film. Photography of Korea. Late Chosŏn. Russo-Japanese War. King/Emperor Kojong. Queen Myŏngsŏng. Isabella Bird Bishop. Burton Holmes. Jack London.

**Summary** 1 Introduction. – 2 Between Objective Description and Moral Judgement: Isabella Bird. – 3 Travel as Entertainment: Burton Holmes. – 4 A War Adventure: Jack London. – 5 Conclusion.

#### 1 Introduction

The three 'cases' chosen for this study, Isabella Bird (married Bishop, 1831-1904), Burton Holmes (1870‑1958) and Jack London (1876‑1916), were prolific writers, enthusiastic photographers, and 'travelers of the

**Studi e ricerche 32** e-ISSN 2610-9123 | ISSN 2610-993X ISBN [ebook] 978-88-6969-717-3 | ISBN [print] 978-88-6969-718-0

**Peer review | Open access 5** Submitted 2023-04-18 | Accepted 2023-06-01 | Published 2023-08-30 © 2023 Jungmann | cb 4.0 **DOI 10.30687/978‑88-6969‑717-3/001**

world'. They visited the Korean peninsula during a short but important historical period, between the 1880s and 1905, when Chosŏn was internationally recognized as an independent country. Early diplomatic exchange with the USA, the first non-Asian country with which Korea signed a treaty in 1882, had brought a Korean delegation to the United States. As a result, King Kojong 高宗 (r. 1864‑1907) invited Percival Lowell (1855‑1916) to Korea in the winter of 1883‑84 and let him take photographs (Kwon 2011; Pai 2016).<sup>1</sup> Through its treaties with European countries signed during the mid-1880s, Chosŏn Korea attempted to step into the international arena, introduce new technologies, and modernize its political, economic, and social structures. These attempts failed all too often, due to inner conflicts and lack of foreign support, and were finally put to an end in 1905 when Japan took charge of Chosŏn's foreign policy. In 1910, Korea became a Japanese colony and thereby practically vanished from the world map. Between 1885 and 1905, however, Western diplomats, adventurers and travelers saw the peninsula as territory to be newly explored, and the fact that it was called the 'Hermit Kingdom' heightened the fascination of finding something 'picturesque' and 'exotic'.

A sense of Western superiority and colonialist attitude can easily be detected in almost any account of European and North American travelers to Asia of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. After all, it was the technological progress that provided them with their means of travel and equipment. Apart from steamships and railways, the camera, their favourite instrument for visualizing their adventures, was another blessing of the new age of progress. In addition, European imperial conquests, and usurpation of territory on other continents allowed for convenient facilities, such as hotels, and for dependable networks of communication with people at home. It is thus no wonder that they overall identified with the idea of 'Western' supremacy.

In addition, many contemporaneous accounts readily follow stereotypes or copy from unreliable sources. This is apparently not the case with the accounts by Bird, Holmes, and London of their travel to the Korean peninsula, as they convincingly report on personal experiences. However, they often differ to such a degree in observation and presentation that the they almost appear to have visited three different countries. Therefore, rather than trying to evaluate the account of the three visitors as historical information, this study attempts to highlight their different perspectives onto Chosŏn Korea within their personal and public contexts. Through an analysis of their social and educational backgrounds, the contacts through which they acquainted themselves with the unknown country, and

<sup>1</sup> See also Yizhou Wang's essay in this volume.

the motivation of their travel, it considers the visual and textual presentations not as reflections of Korean conditions but rather of their own conditions of seeing and not seeing, understanding, and not understanding. The selection of their published images gives an idea of what they thought appropriate to present to their specific audiences and the layout of their publications reveals how they and their publishers employed photographs as a means to cater to their audiences' expectations. Extant collections of unpublished images by all three photographers allow for a wider spectrum of investigation, even at a glimpse at what was held back. They also enable us to further enquire whether texts and images support each other or whether they convey different messages.

#### 2 Between Objective Description and Moral Judgement: Isabella Bird

Isabella Bird visited Korea four times between January 1894 and March 1897 in order to, as she writes herself, "study the Mongolian races" (Bird Bishop 1898, 1: xi). She was already an elderly woman of sixty-three when she started out on this last great journey. Born into the family of a cleric that had formed her ideas of religious propriety and social empathy, Bird had started her travel adventures in her early twenties in the United States, resulting in her first major publication, *The English Woman in America*, in 1856. Although she never seems to have questioned the restrictive conventions of Victorian society, she found herself healthiest and strongest under the often extremely challenging conditions of her travels to the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii), the Rocky Mountains, Canada, Australia, and in 1878 for the first time to Asia: China, Korea, Japan, Vietnam, Singapore, and Malaya. Travel was also the remedy after falling into depression when her beloved sister died and after she lost her husband John Bishop. Her book *Korea and Her Neighbors: A Narrative of Travel, with an Account of the Recent Vicissitudes and Present Position of the Country*, published in 1898 in two different editions in London and New York, was the result of her last journey that brought her once more to Japan, Korea, and China.<sup>2</sup> In 1892, Isabella Bird became one of the first female members of the Royal Geographic Society and through acquaintances with other members learned the techniques of taking

<sup>2</sup> Published in 1898, by Murray in London in two volumes and in one volume in the same year by Revell in New York, the two publications do not differ in text, but in chapter titles, the number of illustrations, and the layout of text and illustrations. Vol. 1 of the British edition has 12 woodblock printed illustrations and 10 photographs, and in vol. 2 has 15 engravings and 11 photographs. The US edition contains altogether only 12 engravings but all 21 photographs.

**Burglind Jungmann Chosŏn Entering the International Arena: Three Witnesses**

#### **Figure 1**

Isabella Bird, *Korean Man, Wearing a Traditional Hat*. 1894-95. Albumen print. Courtesy of The National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh. MS.42033

**Figure 2** Isabella Bird, *Mrs. Bishop's Travelling Party*. 1894-95. Illustration from *Korea and Her Neighbors: A Narrative of Travel, with an Account of the Recent Vicissitudes and Present Position of the Country* (London: Murray, 1898). © Author and developing photographs (Gartlan 2011; Barr 1970, 267). Of her photographs of Korea, a collection of twenty-one images is in the John Murray Archive of the National Library of Scotland in Edinburgh.<sup>3</sup> About sixty photographs are extant at the Royal Geographic Society in London, available through Getty Images.<sup>4</sup>

Even today Isabella Bird's *Korea and Her Neighbours* is probably the most well-known account of that country by a Western visitor of the late nineteenth century. In fact, Jack London read it in preparation of his own trip to Korea in 1904. Although most comprehensive, it is also a curious book without proper structure: a collection of impressions with quick, often harsh judgements, vivid descriptions of personal encounters, scientific explanations, and statistics. Her descriptions of travel by boat and donkey into the Diamond Mountains and further on to Pyongyang, of the flora and fauna and her admiration of the landscape, are interspersed with accounts of unpleasant experiences at dingy inns and overcurious country folk. Her scientific explorations of nature are thought to result from early botanic excursions with her father. In addition, she had acquired medical training at a hospital in London before she set out for this second journey to the East and defined herself as medical missionary. The photographs that are still extant demonstrate her interest in the landscape, in people of different professions and social classes and her eagerness to provide a comprehensive picture of Chosŏn society. The *Korean Man, Wearing a Traditional Hat* **[fig. 1]**, who was also part of her 'Travelling Party' **[fig. 2]**, gives an idea of the 'documentary' character she sought in her photography. Standing at the side of a large tree trunk in front of a blurred landscape, it reminds us of studio photography, such as that of *Two Korean Women* which Isabella Bird must have purchased during her trip **[fig. 3]**. 5 It is curious to see how the staged setting of the studio, that pretends to evoke real surroundings by arranging the women in front of a painted wallpaper, is recreated with the Korean man in an existing scenery, a double staging so-to-speak with a focus on documenting the native 'type' (Gartlan 2006). In other photographs by Isabella Bird people are similarly arranged in front of their shops, houses, a temple hall, or a school.

<sup>3</sup> The album is accessible online: https://digital.nls.uk/isabella-birdstravel-photographs/archive/116740979#?c=0&m=0&s=0&cv=0&xywh=-1050%2C-190%2C4598%2C3785.

<sup>4</sup> Mixed with photographs from China and Japan, the labels of these images are misleading. For example, Bird's photograph of King Kojong **[fig. 4]**, published as woodblock print titled 'The King of Korea', is identified on Getty Images as 'A Korean noble, Japan, 1895'. https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/search/photographer?assettype=image&family=editorial&photographer=Royal%20Geographical%20Society&phrase=Isabella%20Lucy%20Bishop&sort=best#license.

<sup>5</sup> Another copy of the same photograph is preserved at the Ferenc Hopp Museum of Eastern Asiatic Arts in Budapest.

**Burglind Jungmann Chosŏn Entering the International Arena: Three Witnesses**

**Figure 3** Anonymous, *Two Korean Women*. 1894-95. Albumen print. Courtesy of The National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh, MS.42033

Most important, perhaps, are Isabella Bird's audiences with King Kojong, Queen Myŏngsŏng 明成, aka Queen Min 閔 (1851-95), the crown prince, and the notorious Taewŏn'gun 大院君 (1820-98), the king's father, whose interferences in politics caused the struggling monarch fundamental problems, nationally and internationally (Bird Bishop 1898, 2: 40). Although not travelling in any diplomatic capacity, Isabella Bird brought official letters of recommendation along, which opened the gates of foreign legations and to the palace. Moreover, she became an eye-witness of developments on the peninsula at particularly crucial times, during and after the Sino-Japanese War (1894-95),

**Burglind Jungmann Chosŏn Entering the International Arena: Three Witnesses**

**Figure 4** Isabella Bird, *A Korean noble (King Kojong)*. 1894-95. Albumen print, 6 × 4.5 inches (15.2 × 11.4 cm). Courtesy of The Royal Geographical Society, London, RGS ref. S0022537

which resulted in Japan's victory and the end of Chinese suzerainty over Chosŏn, and before and after the queen's assassination on October 8, 1895. During her second visit to Korea in the winter of 1894/95, Bird was four times invited to audiences, and the king allowed her to take photographs of the palace and of himself (2: 39-45) **[fig. 4]**.

Nearly all visitors to Korea at the time were men who, because of Chosŏn's particularly strong Confucian restrictions, could only meet with women of low social standing, female entertainers (*kisaeng*) and female servants. Isabella Bird, in contrast, had several private audiences with Queen Myŏngsŏng. She was introduced by Lillias Horton Underwood (1851-1921), an American medical doctor and close friend of the Queen's female physician. Mrs. Underwood, a Presbyterian missionary, also acted as medical advisor of the queen. Together with the Korean female physician who was always present at the queen's side, they apparently formed a network of women of a certain social standing and of political interests (Bird Bishop 1898, 2: 42-3). During her farewell audience with the royal couple, which took place in an air of secrecy, the king urged Bird to help upgrade diplomatic relations with Great Britain (Barr 1970, 289-90). The queen then sent a direct message to Queen Victoria which Isabella Bird cites in her book:

The Queen spoke of Queen Victoria, and said, "she has everything that she can wish – greatness, wealth, and power […]. Does she ever in her glory think of poor Korea?" (Bird Bishop 1898, 2: 48-9)

Bird's interest in and compassion for the queen is attested by another passage:

She was surrounded by enemies, chief among them being the Tai-Won-Kun […]. She fought with all her charm, shrewdness, and sagacity for power, for the dignity of her husband and son.

When she returned to Korea nine months later, Bird reports: "the Queen had been barbarously murdered and the King was practically a prisoner in his own palace" (2: 43 and 49). She devotes a whole chapter to the assassination of the queen and its aftermath. Apparently based on the accounts of the foreign residents, it reads like a dramatic first-hand eye-witness report (2: 73‑4).

Isabella Bird met with women of all ranks of life, and by adding her own observations to her general descriptions of marriage customs and the life of country women she gives her text credibility and liveliness. Regarding women's education, for instance, she comments "the number of women who can read is estimated at two in a thousand", and on the seclusion of girls:

Girl children, even among the poor, are so successfully hidden away, that in somewhat extensive Korean journeys I never saw one girl who looked above the age of six. (2: 152)

Somewhat surprising, yet in line with her ideas of female education, is her verdict on those professional women who were considered lowest in social standing in Chosŏn society, the *kisaeng*:

The *gesang* [*kisaeng*] are trained from a very early age in such accomplishments as other Korean women lack, and which will ensure their attractiveness, such as playing on various musical instruments, singing, dancing, reading, reciting, writing, and fancy work. As their destiny is to make time pass agreeable for men of the upper classes, this amount of education is essential, though a Korean does not care how blank and undeveloped the mind of his wife is. (2: 164‑5)

Meeting with upper-class Korean women was in most cases an unpleasant experience. During her journey on the Han River, she was invited to the female quarters of a well-to-do household in a village. She writes:

I was surrounded by fully forty women, old and young, wives, concubines, servants, […], but one and all were destitute of manners. They investigated my clothing, pulled me about. Took off my hat, untwisted my hair and absorbed my hairpins, pulled off my gloves, tried them on with shrieks of laughter. (1: 97‑8)<sup>6</sup>

From our present-day point of view, it is obvious that in Korean eyes she must have made quite a show of herself:

So great was female curiosity that a number of women waded waist-deep after the boat to peer under the mats of the roof […] some women presented themselves at the boat, having walked several *li* with a present of eggs, the payment for which was to be a sight of me and my poor equipments. (1: 105)

Yet, there is no indication in her book of any self-reflection on how strange she must have appeared to common Chosŏn people.

Unfortunately, among the roughly eighty photographs left behind by Isabella Bird, there is only the studio photograph of Korean women already mentioned. A few woodblock-printed illustrations were added to her descriptions of the relationship between husband and wife (1: 133, 135) and the social standing of women (2: 30, 149). However, no corresponding photographic prints can be found. The number of photographs and illustrations in Isabella Bird's books is comparatively small in comparison to the amount of text. They obviously play a minor role in her effort to convey concrete information. While her unpublished photographs add to the variety of subject matter, offering an overview of a city or landscape and showing people neatly arranged in front of the camera, they are of a documentary, impersonal character.

<sup>6</sup> This household was adorned with French clocks, large German mirrors, and the host smoked foreign cigars and wore a diamond ring. Bird was invited to watch a circus in the courtyard. At another place, in a desperate attempt, she pretends to clean her revolver to frighten people off (1: 144).

#### 3 Travel as Entertainment: Burton Holmes

Burton Holmes, a 'tourist' by his own account, made travelling and lantern slide lectures his profession. He went to Korea in 1899, 1901, 1903, 1904, and probably again in later years during the colonial period **[fig. 5]** (Yecies, Shim 2011, 27).<sup>7</sup> Born into a wealthy entrepreneur family in Chicago in 1870, Holmes ventured on his first five-month trip to Japan in 1892. He usually travelled abroad in the summer and toured the United States during the winter, lecturing on journeys from Morocco to Sweden, Hawaii to the Philippines, China, Korea, Japan, Mexico, and on the Trans-Siberian Railway. When he moved from Chicago to New York in 1910, he decorated his apartment with his East Asian collection and called it 'Nirvana'. As a film pioneer, he shot documentaries for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. In 1930 he made Hollywood his second home and is still remembered on the Walk of Fame.

World expositions had during the nineteenth century sparked the appetite of the public for exotic places. Those who could not afford to go abroad enjoyed 'armchair travel', often in the form of book clubs (Hoganson 2007, 153 ff.). Holmes's lectures, into which he early on also introduced short documentary films, were successful over six decades, filling famous venues, such as Carnegie Hall in New York, Symphony Hall in Boston, and Orchestra Hall in Chicago (Caldwell 2006, 8‑16). Of his 'travelogue' series more than 40,000 copies were sold.<sup>8</sup> Holmes is particularly known for finding ways of captivating his audience by giving them a continuous visual narrative in his performances on stage (Peterson 2013, 25). As film pioneer, he played a particularly important role in Korea shooting the first documentary film in Seoul in 1901 and performing the first private film screening in the palace in front of Emperor Kojong. Film historians have therefore called Burton Holmes "the forefather of cinema in Korea" (Yecies, Shim 2011, 30). Holmes's lecture slides are in the collection of the Department of Art History at the University of California, Los Angeles. In addition, photographs, negatives, and films are preserved in the collection of the George Eastman Museum at the University of Rochester, USA. As was common practice at the time, Burton Holm-

<sup>7</sup> I am grateful to Genia Caldwell for sending me a manuscript with lecture notes in 2017, bearing the dates 1899, 1901 and 1903. The visit during the Russo-Japanese War in 1904 is documented by a story Holmes told the *Chicago Daily Tribune*, published on November 6, 1904 (Yecies, Shim 2011, 16). Two lantern slides of the new Chosun Hotel (finished in 1913), and the Government General Building under construction (completed in 1926) **[fig. 5]** must have been taken during colonial times.

<sup>8</sup> Because later editions appeared under the title *Burton Holmes Travelogues*, Holmes is said to have coined the word 'travelogue' in 1904. Yet, the contents and layout remained the same, except for a few lines added to photographs, as in the cases described below. See also Peterson 2013, 23 ff.

**Figure 5**

Burton Holmes, *Government General Building under Construction*. Early 1920s. Hand-coloured lantern slide, 3.5 × 4 inches (8.3 × 10 cm). Courtesy of the Burton Holmes Collection, Department of Art History, University of California, Los Angeles

es also borrowed images taken by other photographers. From selected negatives he produced lantern slides, glass slides that were then hand-coloured (Caldwell 2006, 10-11).

Compared with Isabella Bird's meticulous efforts to provide readers with scientifically sound information Holmes's textual accounts of Korea's more recent history is superficial and partly incorrect. He gives a swift narrative of the latest events in Chosŏn politics, including the assassination of Queen Myŏngsŏng, but then relates the queen's family name, Min, to the Chinese Ming dynasty (Holmes 1901, 10: 47). Holmes also declares an older official on a studio photograph be the Taewŏngun, but it actually shows the portrait of the official and diplomat Cho Pyŏng-Sik 趙秉式 (1823‑1907) (10: 43). Holmes's obvious negligence in providing reliable text is, however, complemented by his emphasis on visual representation. There is no page that goes without photographs, and through the layout – by sheer size, a special frame, or by 'bleeding' into the page – the visual impression takes priority over the text **[fig. 6]**. Similarly, his lantern slides are enhanced by careful coloration which occasionally give them a romantic touch but more often evoke the striking illusion of a real scene.

Although not as well-connected on the diplomatic level as Isabella Bird, Holmes did have contact with the US legation and with foreign residents (10: 52‑65). In addition, a member of the royal household, Yi Chae-Sun 李載純 (1851-1904), became curious when Holmes filmed a street scene and introduced him to the king who then invited him to the private screening already mentioned. Yet, the most important source of information probably was his interpreter, Mr. Pak. The special respect they had for each other is testified by the frontispiece of his book, several lantern slides – one with Mr. Pak wearing Holmes's hat with a broad smile **[fig. 7]** – and a passage in his book:

**Figure 6** Page from Burton Holmes, *The Burton Holmes Lectures; with Illustrations from Photographs by the Author*, vol. 10 (Battle Creek: Little-Preston Co., 1901). © Author

Mr. Pak-Kee-Ho is the most picturesque cicerone it has ever been my fortune to employ. He is the best dressed guide that ever smiled into my camera. He speaks English that is eminently comprehensible. […] We liked to be seen with Mr. Pak, although we always felt ashamed of our crude, inartistic, and convenient clothes, for he wears exquisite attire immaculately laundered. […] Mr. Pak is a man of family, with a wife, two children, a mother-in-law, and a maidservant. He himself fixed the price, said by old residents to be exorbitant; - we pay it without a murmur, after the manner of extravagant Americans. His help was worth ten times the cost. (10: 26‑8)

**Burglind Jungmann Chosŏn Entering the International Arena: Three Witnesses**

**Figure 7** Burton Holmes, *Mr. Pak*. 1901. Hand-coloured lantern slide, 3.5 × 4 inches (8.3 × 10 cm). Courtesy of the Burton Holmes Collection, Department of Art History, University of California, Los Angeles

In the four years that passed between Bird's and Holmes's visit the secluded situation of Korean women had not changed much. It is therefore undoubtedly a great favour of Mr. Pak to introduce Holmes to his family and let him take photographs (10: frontispiece).

Burton Holmes caters to the interest of his audience by describing the appearances of Korean women and men:

there are comparatively few women in the streets. Most of them shrouded in coats of brilliant green, which are not put on like coats, but merely thrown over the head and clutched under the chin, concealing the faces as do the veils and haiks of Moorish women. […] the dress beneath is not a dress, for it is a pair of baggy trousers. (10: 22)

The lively street scene showing a woman wearing a cover as described in the text **[fig. 8]** also appears in mirror-reverse in his book with the title *Latest Fashions* and can thus be firmly dated to 1901. Describing the variety of men's headgear in detail, he calls Korea 'the land of hats', and adds some fairy tales. His rare and mild crit-

**Burglind Jungmann Chosŏn Entering the International Arena: Three Witnesses**

**Figure 8** Burton Holmes, *Latest Fashions*. 1901. Hand-coloured lantern slide, 3.5 × 4 inches (8.3 × 10 cm). Courtesy of the Burton Holmes Collection, Department of Art History, University of California, Los Angeles

icism usually carries a mocking tone, "the fillet of woven horsehair bound around the head so tightly that it keeps ideas out" (10: 70), and is balanced by self-mocking. Not only does Burton Holmes, in contrast to Isabella Bird, refrain from stronger criticism of Chosŏn society and ways of life, he also never complains, as she often does, about any inconvenience.

Burton Holmes interest in the country was, as he says himself, on the 'picturesque'. In his case, we must take this term literally, not just as a search for the exotic, but as a focus on the visual. His photographs, imbedded on every page of his book, play a prominent role in relation to his text, and his well composed and carefully coloured lantern slides attest to his ability to create an atmosphere of ease for the people in front of his lens. Moreover, he refers to his filming in his book, vividly describing an instance of near collision with an ox cart when he did a documentary on a moving railroad trolley through the streets of Seoul, culminating in his philosophy:

To record life in such a way that every gesture, movement and expression of one man or of a hundred men be reproduced at will and make that man or that multitude appear to live again and reenact their parts, this is the end and aim of the art-science of motion photography. (10: 61‑3, 75‑6)<sup>9</sup>

#### 4 A War Adventure: Jack London

Yet a different relationship between text and images can be seen in the accounts on Korea by Jack London, who was commissioned by William Randolph Hearst (1863‑1951) to report as a correspondent on the Russo-Japanese War in 1904 for *The San Francisco Examiner*. Although admired as an author of adventurous novels world-wide, his non-fiction publications, including his newspaper articles, are lesser known, and only his book on the slums of the city of London, *People of the Abyss*, first published in 1903, contains a considerable number of his photographs. Born in 1876 in San Francisco to a single mother and raised without a father, he spent his early years as an oyster pirate, a vagabond and a sailor. Aspiring for higher education, he attended Oakland High School and entered the University of California Berkeley in 1896 but could not afford to graduate. He then joined the Klondike gold rush but being without success he finally turned to writing as occupation. His novel *The Call of the Wild*, also published in 1903, became his first huge literary success.

While in Korea, from mid-February to early June 1904, Jack London developed his negatives and photographs himself and sent them to *The San Francisco Examiner*. <sup>10</sup> Unlike Isabella Bird and Burton Holmes, he did not meet with members of the royal family. Rather, due to his assignment, he often communicated with Japanese military personnel, who were determined to prevent foreign journalists from getting to the front. Frustrated of being unable to report on the war he gives accounts, in his typical daredevil manner, of playing hide-and-seek with the authorities. Diplomatic contacts only played a major role when London's situation became seriously dangerous. At the beginning of his journey, he was detained in Japan and accused of espionage. His camera was confiscated and only returned

<sup>9</sup> The documentary film shot from the moving railroad trolley has been made accessible by The Eastman House: "Preserving the World of Burton Holmes", https://www. youtube.com/watch?v=WwC9COY\_TEo.

<sup>10</sup> The Huntington Library in San Marino, California, owns thirteen albums of photographs collected by Jack London during his stay in Korea. These include about 1,000 photographs, the majority of which were taken by him and often bear labels in his handwriting, but they also contain photographs which he purchased from local studios. https://hdl.huntington.org/digital/collection/p16003coll7.

**Burglind Jungmann Chosŏn Entering the International Arena: Three Witnesses**

**Figure 9** Double page from *The San Francisco Examiner.* April 4, 1904. © Author

to him upon the intervention of the U.S. American Minister in Tokyo (*Jack London Reports* 1970, 26‑32; Reesman et al. 2010, 64‑5). In Korea he almost faced Japanese martial law after beating a Japanese servant who had stolen from him but was rescued through the intervention of President Theodore Roosevelt (*Jack London Reports* 1970, 24‑5; Reesman et al. 2010, 65). Although he had a Japanese interpreter, his main source of information on Korean matters was his devoted young servant Manyoungi, who helped him in every possible way, as interpreter, cook, and go-between, and whom he later took home to San Francisco as a houseboy (*Jack London Reports* 1970, 15 no. 1, 35).

As the headline of *The San Francisco Examiner* of April 4, 1904 indicates, the focus of the newspaper was rather on the famous correspondent than on the war: "Here are the first pictures direct from the seat of war in Korea, they were taken by Jack London and give accurate glimpses of the Japanese army as it appears at the front" **[fig. 9]**. Separated from the text, the photographs are incorporated into another narrative reminiscent of a cartoon, framed by caricatures of a large Russian crossing swords with a small Japanese and of Jack London behind his camera under the black cloth, holding a little doll inscribed 'Korea', and giving instructions: 'Look fierce, please'. The drawings and the jagged frames catch the readers' attention even more than the photographs themselves.

Knowing the poor side of American society all too well, Jack London is known for advocating for the socially marginalized and exploited. One is therefore taken by surprise when he writes about

**Figure 10** Jack London, *My Boy Manyoungi*. 1904. Black-and-white photograph, 14 × 9 cm. Courtesy of The Huntington Library, San Marino, California

Korean farmers, servants, and refugees without conveying any empathy for their plight. He describes them as "apathetic Koreans, too lazy to get out of the way" (*Jack London Reports* 1970, 36) and notes "for the Korean is nothing if not a coward" (44). His comments culminate in the statement:

In short, the first weeks of a white traveller on Korean soil are anything but pleasant. If he be a man of sensitive organization he will spend most of his time under the compelling sway of two alternating desires. The first is to kill Koreans, the second is to commit suicide. (47)

The only person who escapes his harsh judgement is his servant Manyoungi:

He dressed in European clothes, with a white shirt, and he talked English better, far better, than my provisional interpreter, and he was Korean. (37)

On London's photographs, Manyoungi is always seen in Western clothing, whereas the lowlier servants are clad in Korean dress. A photograph that shows him proudly, yet relaxed standing in front of two crossed U.S. flags emphasises his exceptional status: halfway between Korea and America **[fig. 10]**. In another passage London writes about Manyoungi:

**Burglind Jungmann Chosŏn Entering the International Arena: Three Witnesses**

**Figure 11** Jack London, *Washing clothes*. 1904. Black-and-white photograph, 9 × 14 cm. Courtesy of The Huntington Library, San Marino, California

in his short life he had learned, what all Asiatics learn, that justice is a characteristic belonging peculiarly to the white man, and that from the white man only it is obtainable. (85)

The master-servant relationship with the young Korean is quite apparent, as is London's racist attitude. His ideas of the superiority of the white race become even clearer when he describes his encounters with Russian prisoners of war whom he sees through a window together with a local crowd:

On my mind it had all the stunning impact of a man's fist. There was a man, a white man, with blue eyes, looking at me. He was dirty and unkempt. […] But his eyes were bluer than mine and his skin was as white. […] I found myself suddenly and sharply aware that I was an alien amongst these brown men who peered through the window with me. (106)

As Jeanne Reesman explains, London's racism must also be seen in context of the anti-Asian hysteria in California at the time. Jack London supported socialist causes, such as the fight against immigration of non-Caucasian workers who caused the 'dumping' of salaries in the U.S. (Reesman 2009, 90-3).

Yet, if we compare Jack London's texts and his unpublished photographs the situation becomes more complicated, as we find some portraits that give quite a different impression of his relationship with the Korean people he met. Women smile into the camera or look with

**Figure 12** Jack London, *Korean Man*. 1904. Black-and-white photograph, 14 × 9 cm. Courtesy of The Huntington Library, San Marino, California

pride **[fig. 11]** (Reesman et al. 2010, 80-1). Girls and boys reveal their feelings: tiredness, curiosity, amusement (105-8). A series of portraits of men of different generations is taken from a low and close point of view and suggests mutual interest on an even level between sitter and photographer **[fig. 12]** (107‑14). In addition, among the handwritten titles Jack London added to photographs in the albums preserved at the Huntington Library, which show him together with Korean people, we find phrases such as "some of my friends" and "yours truly with friends" (63). Usually, we perceive text as the more dominant means of documentation, as representing the 'voice' of the author. Photographic images, in contrast, do not readily allow for an easy 'reading' (Berger, Mohr 1982, 65‑92; Barthes 1981, 77). Although our three author-photographers offer texts that appear to be able to explain the meaning of the images, we must ask whether these texts really provide us with the 'correct' interpretation of their photographs. After all, how the 'object' responds to the 'subject's', that is the photographer's, gaze is a strong indication of their relationship.

#### 5 Conclusion

The three author-photographers offer varying textual and visual 'constructions' of a nation that had just entered the international arena. Isabella Bird's, Burton Holmes's, and Jack London's social and educational backgrounds play an important role in shaping their attitude towards travel and to the exploration of the country. They also had a bearing on their choice of mediators: Korean nobility, diplomats and foreign residents, Japanese and Korean interpreters, and servants. These, in turn, influenced their experiences. Yet, their aim to address specific audiences were even more important, even though editors and publishers undoubtedly had a say in the selection of photographs for publication and the layouts of texts and images. While Isabella Bird sought to give the most substantial and reliable information on Korea to a scientific-minded audience, such as the Royal Geographic Society, Holmes's attitude is easy-going, often careless, with occasional humorous self-reflection, meant to entertain arm chair travelers through photographs and films. Jack London, when writing about Korea for sensation-seeking newspaper readers, needed to uphold his reputation as a daredevil to whom war was the ultimate masculine adventure. In his last report from East Asia for *The San Francisco Examiner* London writes:

Personally, I entered in this campaign with the most gorgeous conceptions of what a war correspondent's work […] must be. […] In brief, I came to war expecting thrills. (*Jack London Reports* 1970, 122)

The collections of unpublished photographs of Korea have the potential of revealing a wider spectrum of experience which the authors were not willing or not allowed to show. Isabella Bird's unpublished photographs do not differ from the illustrations in her books: the distance she keeps from her motifs give them an overall documentary character. The layout of Burton Holmes's publication, on the other hand, emphasises visual representation and his lantern slides further intensify the romantic image he means to convey of the 'Hermit Kingdom'. In contrast, Jack London's portraits of Korean people in his albums at the Huntington Library contradict his written statements, because many Koreans 'looked back' at him in a much friendlier way than he lets his readers know.

#### **Bibliography**


Hoganson, K.L. (2007). *Consumers' Imperium: The Global Production of Ameri‑ can Domesticity, 1865‑1920*. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.


#### **Websites**


#### **Cultural Exchanges Between Korea and the West** Artifacts and Intangible Heritage edited by Jong-Chol An and Ariane Perrin

### The Belgium-Korea Treaty of Amity, Commerce, and Navigation of 1901

#### Adrien Carbonnet

University of Leuven (KU Leuven), Belgium

**Abstract** During the second half of the nineteenth century, Belgian diplomats in China and Japan suggested the establishment of official relations with Korea, depicted as a potential access to resources and an outlet for Belgium's industry. This idea did not materialize until the formation of an Anglo-Belgian syndicate in charge of the exploitation of a gold mining concession in Korea. The Belgium-Korea Treaty of 1901 was fundamentally an unequal treaty. Similar to those concluded with other Western powers in the 1880s, it consolidated the regime of multilateral imperialism in Korea by legally paving the way for Belgium's activities in the country.

**Keywords** Belgium. Late Chosǒn. Imperialism. Léon Vincart. Kojong. Neutrality. Unequal treaties. Pak Che-sun. Eastern Pioneer Company. Ǔnsan gold mine. Commerce. Diplomatic relations. Barbarians. Civilization.

**Summary** 1 Belgium-Korea Relations in the Age of Imperialisms. – 1.1 The Opportunity of the 'Opening' of Korea by Japan. – 1.2 The First Encounter Between Belgian and Korean Diplomats. – 1.3 The First Draft of the Belgium-Korea Treaty. – 1.4 The Ǔnsan Gold Mine and the Anglo-Belgian Syndicate. – 1.5 Korea's Reaction to the Belgian Proposal. – 2 The Belgium-Korea Treaty of 1901. – 2.1 Designation of Plenipotentiaries. – 2.2 Negotiation and Provisions of the Treaty. – 2.3 Approval and Ratification of the Treaty. – 2.4 Exchange of Diplomatic and Consular Agents. – 2.5 The Seven Original Copies of the Treaty. – 3 Conclusion.

**Studi e ricerche 32** e-ISSN 2610-9123 | ISSN 2610-993X ISBN [ebook] 978-88-6969-717-3 | ISBN [print] 978-88-6969-718-0

**Peer review | Open access 27** Submitted 2022-11-24 | Accepted 2022-12-22 | Published 2023-08-30 © 2023 Carbonnet | cb 4.0 **DOI 10.30687/978‑88-6969‑717-3/002**

#### 1 Introduction

At the beginning of the twentieth century, Belgium was one of the few states to have diplomatic relations with Korea. By that time Belgium, a neutral country since its foundation in 1830-31, had transformed itself into the second industrial nation in Europe. Until the end of the nineteenth century the efforts of its diplomatic and consular agents were primarily directed at developing national economic interests by concluding commercial treaties, mainly with the neighbouring countries (Vanthemsche 2012, 101). In the eyes of both foreign observers and Belgian officials, the defence of economic interests was the core of Belgium's foreign policy in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries (Coolsaet 2014, 642‑5). The two Belgian sovereigns Leopold I (1790‑1865, reigned 1830‑65) and Leopold II (1835‑1909, reigned 1865‑1909) did elaborate colonial plans (Vanthemsche 2012, 14‑19), but in general the economic elite, whose needs were satisfied with the country's immediate neighbours, showed no interest in overseas activities. Influenced by the prevailing liberal philosophy, the political elite, for its part, considered that the potential benefits did not outweigh the costs and risks of such endeavours (Coolsaet 2014, 652). From a diplomatic point of view, actively participating in the increasing colonial rivalries could jeopardize Belgium's relations with the European Great Powers and even call into question its neutrality (Vanthemsche 2012, 15). Thus, the creation of the Congo Free State in 1885 was fundamentally, as Jean Stengers writes, "the personal adventure of one man", Leopold II, who could rely on his fortune and a network of influential men devoted to his cause (Stengers 2020, 45-8; Vanthemsche 2012, 14-32). Although colonial interest groups gradually developed in Belgium, it was only in 1908 that Congo officially became a Belgian colony (19).

The present article, mainly based on Belgian diplomatic archives,<sup>1</sup> aims to shed light on the starting point of official relations between the two countries: the Belgium-Korea Treaty of Amity, Commerce, and Navigation (*Han-Pi suho t'ongsang choyak* 韓比修好通商條約 also

The Author thanks all the people and institutions who provided him with support, insights and advise at different stages of the writing of this article.

<sup>1</sup> In this article, the acronym AEB (Affaires Étrangères Belges) is used for documents held in the Diplomatic Archives of the Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Brussels, and MAE (Ministère des Affaires Étrangères) for those kept in the Centre des Archives diplomatiques of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs in La Courneuve. KHOM (*Ku Han'guk oegyo munsǒ* 舊韓國外交文書) designates the *Diplomatic Documents of Late Chosǒn Korea* edited by the Asiatic Research Center of Korea University (*Koryǒ taehakkyo Asea munje yǒn'guso* 高麗大學校亞細亞問題硏究所) in 1971. The documents relating to Belgium are covered by volume 21. CHIKK (*Chu Han Ilbon kongsagwan kirok* 駐韓日本公使館記錄) refers to the *Records of the Japanese Legation in Korea* edited by the National Institute of Korean History (*Kuksa p'yǒnch'an wiwǒnhoe* 國史編纂委員會).

spelled *Han-Paek suho t'ongsang choyak* 韓白修好通商條約) signed in Seoul on 23 March 1901 between the Kingdom of Belgium and the Empire of Korea. Compared with the other international treaties concluded by Korea during the nineteenth century, the Belgium-Korea Treaty has attracted little academic attention.<sup>2</sup> This study of it is divided into two parts. The first part explores Belgium's plans and initiatives to establish permanent relations with the Chosǒn Court during the second half of the nineteenth century as well as the first encounters between Belgian and Korean diplomats. The second part is an in-depth analysis of the Belgium-Korea Treaty of 1901. This examines the negotiation and ratification of the treaty as well as its provisions. It also discusses the exact number of original copies of the treaty and their current location.

#### 2 Belgium-Korea Relations in the Age of Imperialisms

#### **2.1 The Opportunity of the 'Opening' of Korea by Japan**

The idea of establishing contact with Korea seems to have germinated in the minds of Belgian diplomats as early as 1875. At that time, Belgium had already concluded a treaty of amity, commerce, and navigation with China in 1865 (Frochisse 1936, 89‑129; Vande Walle 2003) and with Japan in 1866 (Vande Walle 2003; De Ruyver 2016); until the nomination of a consul in Seoul in 1900, reports to Brussels on the situation in the Korean Peninsula would occasionally be provided by the Belgian diplomatic and consular agents posted in China and Japan. It was, for example, Belgium's representative in China<sup>3</sup> who in November 1866 provided an account of the French punitive expedition fol-

<sup>2</sup> We are indebted to the following earlier studies. Chapter 4 of Stéphanie Pirlot's MA thesis (Pirlot 1993) deals with the establishment of diplomatic relations between Belgium and Korea through the dispatches of the Belgian representatives posted in Japan, China and Russia. Surprisingly, the documents contained in the AEB file specifically relating to the negotiation of the Belgium-Korea Treaty were not used in her dissertation. Han Sǔng-Hun's contribution (Han 2010) to a collective book dedicated to the international treaties signed by Korea in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries discusses the negotiations and provisions of the treaty with a focus on its article 9. The entry "Belgium-Korea Treaty of 1901" in the *Dictionary of Modern Korean Diplomacy* (Kim 2012) primarily derives from Han's previous contribution. Kim Hyǒn-suk's article (Kim 2016) provides an in-depth analysis of the Belgium-Korea Treaty, later summarized in her conference paper (Kim 2021) presented on the occasion of the 120th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries. These four valuable contributions by Korean scholars are fundamentally based on Korean and Japanese diplomatic archives.

<sup>3</sup> AEB, Correspondance politique des légations (hereafter "CPL"): Chine, vol. 1, t'Kint de Roodenbeek to Rogier, 26 November 1866.

lowing the execution of nine French Catholic missionaries who had clandestinely entered Korea.<sup>4</sup> Referred to in Korean historiography as the "Foreign Disturbance of the Year of Pyǒngin" (*Pyǒngin yangyo* 丙寅洋擾), this expedition was part of a series of Western intrusions in the nineteenth century that led Taewǒn'gun 興宣大院君 (1821-98), the father of King Kojong 高宗 (1852‑1919; reigned 1864‑1907) and the ruler of the country during his son's minority (1864‑73), to reinstate Korea's traditional policy of seclusion characterized by the restriction of foreign contacts to tributary relations with China and limited but equal neighbourly relations with Japan.<sup>5</sup>

Following the Meiji Restoration of 1868, Japan attempted to reorganize its relations with Korea. The new imperial government sought recognition from Korea and tried to conclude a treaty of commerce with the country.<sup>6</sup> To achieve these objectives, the use of force was seriously envisioned among Japanese officials at that time (Unno 1995, 10‑38). In September 1875, Japan provoked the Koreans into firing on the Japanese naval ship *Unyō* 雲揚號, an incident that eventually led to the conclusion, in February 1876, of the Japan-Korea Kanghwa Treaty (*Kanghwa choyak* 江華條約) (Deuchler 1988c). This unequal treaty was regarded by Edmond Serruys (1827‑1881), the Belgian minister resident in China, as "a first breach […] in the barriers that separated Korea from the civilized world".<sup>7</sup> Although it recognized Korea as an independent state enjoying equal rights as Japan (art. 1), it unilaterally opened Korean ports (Pusan and two additional ports in 1877) to the Japanese trade (art. 5), guaranteed freedom to commerce without restrictions and interference from the authorities (art. 9). The treaty also instituted extraterritorial jurisdiction for the benefit of Japan (art. 10). The Kanghwa Treaty was the first modern treaty (in the sense of Western-style treaty, as Kirk W. Larsen rightly points out) that Korea concluded with any foreign nation, and so marked both the end of the country's policy of seclusion (Deuchler 1988c) and the beginning of a period of unilateral Japanese imperialism in Korea (Larsen 2016, 28‑30).

In a dispatch dated 4 October 1875, the Belgian minister resident to Japan, Charles De Groote (died 1884), who thought that the "imminent war" between the two countries could result in the opening of this "terra incognita" to foreigners, asked for instructions so as "not

<sup>4</sup> On this punitive expedition, see Roux 2012, 232‑75.

<sup>5</sup> See Deuchler 1977, 4‑5; Deuchler 1988d; Okamoto 2008, 12‑16.

<sup>6</sup> Deuchler 1988c; Robinson 1988, 337; Unno 1995, 1‑38.

<sup>7</sup> AEB, CPL: Chine, vol. 1, Serruys to d'Aspremont Lynden, 13 March 1876; AEB, 17.183, "Les relations belgo-coréennes avant la Seconde Guerre mondiale", study prepared by René Vanhenten and addressed to Ambassador Gaston Jenebelly, p. 2, annexed to Note from Willequet to Davignon, 8 January 1975.

to arrive after the others".<sup>8</sup> In the eyes of Belgian diplomats, Korea in the 1870s and 1880s represented above all access to raw materials,<sup>9</sup> and an outlet for Belgian industry.10 The Belgian Foreign Minister replied that if Korea were indeed to become a new market for the products of the Western industrial nations, Belgium would have to secure the place in that market to which it could "legitimately lay claim". However, he was unable to give any precise instructions, presumably because of the lack of information at his disposal, and asked his minister in Japan to keep him informed of what would happen in the future in these "far-off places".<sup>11</sup> Later, in January 1879, plans were made to send De Groote on a mission to Korea to explore the commercial potential of the country, but it seems that this mission never took place. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not regard the exploration of Korea as a matter of urgency: De Groote was explicitly requested to give priority to the negotiation of commercial agreements in Japan and an exploration of the Philippines.<sup>12</sup>

It was only after the United States had concluded a treaty of amity and commerce with Korea in May 1882 that Belgium concretely envisioned doing likewise. A spate of other countries followed the American example: Germany in June 1882 and November 1883, the United Kingdom in November 1883, Russia in July 1884, Italy in June 1884, France in June 1886, and Austria-Hungary in May 1892. However, in July 1882, the Japanese legation in Seoul had been set on fire and several Japanese and Korean high officials killed during a military uprising directed against the government and foreigners. China dispatched troops to Korea under the guise of protecting its tributary and in October 1882 obtained Korean assent to a Regulation for Maritime and Overland Trade between Chinese and Korean Subjects (*Cho-Ch'ǒng sangmin suryuk muyǒk changjǒng* 朝淸商民水陸貿易章程) which granted China privileged access to the Korean market. Japan, for its part, by the Treaty of Chemulp'o (*Chemulp'o choyak* 濟物浦條 約), signed in August of the same year, obtained the punishment of the culprits, indemnities, and permission to maintain soldiers on the Korean soil (Deuchler 1988b). The uprising, known in Korean historiography as the "Mutiny of the Year Imo" (*Imo gullan* 壬午軍亂), led the Belgian minister resident in China, Count Hector de Noidans-Calf (1835-84), to recommend not to hurry the conclusion of a treaty with

<sup>8</sup> AEB, CPL: Japon, vol. 1, De Groote to d'Aspremont Lynden, 4 October 1875.

<sup>9</sup> AEB, 3010/I, Noidans-Calf to Frère-Orban, 15 May 1882.

<sup>10</sup> AEB, CPL: Japon, vol. 1, d'Aspremont Lynden to De Groote, 22 December 1875; AEB, 3010/I, Noidans-Calf to Frère-Orban, 24 May 1882.

<sup>11</sup> AEB, CPL: Japon, vol. 1, d'Aspremont Lynden to De Groote, 22 December 1875.

<sup>12</sup> AEB, 2839/V, Frère-Orban to De Groote, 22 January 1879.

Korea,13 a point of view that was shared in Brussels within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs: it was decided not to take any concrete action without more information about these "évènements révolutionaires".<sup>14</sup> Moreover, this 'revolution' reinforced Noidans-Calf's belief that if it were decided in the future to enter into negotiations with Korea, the Belgian representative in China, that is to say he himself, should be responsible for the task. He argued that this was how the other powers had acted in negotiating their treaties and added that China, in his view rightly, claimed sovereignty over Korea.<sup>15</sup>

#### **2.2 The First Encounter Between Belgian and Korean Diplomats**

The Treaty of Chemulp'o also stipulated that Korea should send an envoy to Japan to apologize on behalf of the country. Pak Yǒng-Hyo 朴泳孝 (1861‑1932) was selected for this mission and stayed in Japan from September 1882 to January 1883 (Sin 1971, 273). In Japan, Pak noted in his diary that he "received the visit of the Belgian representative" on 27 September 1882 and, on 2 October, paid a return visit to the Belgian mission (Pak 1971, 198). Although he did not provide any details about these visits, these were likely the first encounters between Belgian and Korean diplomats. One month later, on 27 October 1882, Pak visited Charles De Groote accompanied by Kim Man-Sik 金晩植 (1834-1900), deputy head of the Korean mission in Japan. The Belgian minister reported on this visit to Brussels, explaining that from then onwards he had "frequent" contacts with his Korean colleagues, who at each of their meetings expressed to him their "strong desire" to establish official relations with Belgium. De Groote remarked that they were particularly interested in Belgium's neutral status as Korea wished to proclaim itself a neutral country. The Belgian representative added:

It is, I believe, interesting for us to see Koreans thinking of taking us as an example and model at the time when they begin to learn about western civilization. 16

The démarche made by Pak Yǒng-Hyo, who shown great interest in Meiji Japan's modernization and became an advocate of reform after he returned to Korea (Chandra 1988), was perhaps inspired by three

15 AEB, 3010/I, Noidans to Frère-Orban, 12 August 1882.

<sup>13</sup> AEB, 3010/I, Noidans to Frère-Orban, 12 August 1882.

<sup>14</sup> AEB, 3010/I, Frère-Orban to De Groote, 4 September 1882.

<sup>16</sup> AEB, CPL: Japon, vol. 1, De Groote to Frère-Orban, 5 November 1882.

neutralization proposals consecutively issued in Japan in September 1882, a couple of days before his first meeting with De Groote. On 17 September 1882, back from Korea where he had participated in the negotiation of the Treaty of Chemulp'o, Inoue Kowashi 井上毅 (1843-95), a member of the Council of State, published his *Chōsen seiryaku iken'an* 朝鮮政略意見案 (A Policy Proposal for Korea) in which he advocated a neutralization of Korea modelled upon Belgian or Swiss-style permanent neutrality and guaranteed by Japan, China, the United-States of America, the United Kingdom, and Germany.<sup>17</sup> Inoue's proposal was soon followed by another published in the periodical *Yūbin Hōchi Shinbun* 郵便報知新聞 on 20 September 1882 and a third, suggested by the French legal advisor to the Japanese government Gustave Emile Boissonade (1825-1910), on 22 September 1882 (Jin 2021, 34-8; 211). Although these propositions remained dead letters, they opened a series of no fewer than 18 neutralization proposals elaborated by both Koreans and non-Koreans between 1882 and 1907, all having in common Belgium as a model (Jin 2021, 211-20).

De Groote concluded his report on his encounter with Pak Yǒng-Hyo with a more trivial – but eloquent – comment on the name cards of both the Chinese and Korean representatives in Japan that he annexed to his dispatch:

The Koreans have already adopted our system of calling cards. The Chinese have not yet changed their habits.<sup>18</sup>

Interestingly, De Groote wrote several days later in a personal letter addressed to Baron Auguste Lambermont (1819-1905),19 the influential secretary-general of Belgium's Ministry of Foreign Affairs:

I have an excellent opinion of the Koreans. They seem to me to be very intelligent, very serious and very capable of doing well,<sup>20</sup>

a view contrasting with the negative image of the country portrayed by the Belgian diplomats posted in China. In their dispatches, Korea had been alternatively depicted as a "long ignored and barbarian"<sup>21</sup> land with a "savage and hostile population",22 "an affront and a dis-

<sup>17</sup> See Babicz 2002, 105‑8; Okamoto 2008, 124‑8; Jin 2021, 34‑6; 211.

<sup>18</sup> AEB, CPL: Japon, vol. 1, De Groote to Frère-Orban, 5 November 1882.

<sup>19</sup> On Lambermont, who served as secretary-general of the Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 1859 to 1905, see Willequet 1971 and Auwers 2022, 20‑33.

<sup>20</sup> AEB, 3010/I, De Groote to Lambermont, 24 November 1882.

<sup>21</sup> AEB, 3010/I, Noidans-Calf to Frère-Orban, 15 May 1882.

<sup>22</sup> AEB, Papiers Lambermont, série chronologique, vol. 1876‑1884, d'Anethan to Lambermont, 31 January 1876.

grace to the Western powers, [as well as] a danger to their situation in the Far East",<sup>23</sup> or even one of those "barbarian governments […] full of pretension and stubbornness".<sup>24</sup>

#### **2.3 The First Draft of the Belgium-Korea Treaty**

The different events that took place in 1882 marked the end of Japan's unilateral imperialism in Korea and initiated a new period of multilateral imperialism characterized by Sino-Japanese and then Russo-Japanese rivalry over the country, a period that lasted until the establishment of the Japanese protectorate in 1905 (Larsen 2016). It was also in 1882 that a treaty with Korea was concretely envisioned in Belgium. From this year onward, the Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs requested its accredited agents in the countries that had signed a treaty with Korea to provide information about these treaties and a copy of their texts.<sup>25</sup> It also started consultations with central administrations in Brussels, notably the Ministries of Justice, Finance, and the Interior, seeking their expertise for the clauses falling within their competence.26 In February 1884, a draft treaty modelled upon the German-Korean and Anglo-Korean treaties was drawn up, and instructions were prepared requesting Charles De Groote to start negotiations on the grounds that Belgium could not be the last to benefit from this "new market".<sup>27</sup> However, political turmoil in the Far East – in addition to the Sino-French War which had broken out in June 1884, in December 1884 an attempted coup d'état (*Kapsin chǒngbyǒn* 甲申政變) was launched by Kim Ok-Kyun 金玉均 (1851-94), Pak Yǒng-Hyo, and other young reformists captivated by Meiji Japan (Deuchler 1988a) – led the Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to postpone negotiations again.28 Subsequently, in the 1880s and during the first half of the 1890s, the idea of concluding such a treaty was raised several times<sup>29</sup> – in 1891 the head of the Korean mission

27 AEB, 3010/I, Frère-Orban to De Groote, February 1884 (not sent?).

28 AEB, 3010/I, Note of Directorate B, 31 December 1884.

<sup>23</sup> AEB, CPL: Chine, vol. 1, Serruys to Frère-Orban, 18 September 1880.

<sup>24</sup> AEB, CPL: Chine, vol. 1, Serruys to Frère-Orban, 28 September 1880.

<sup>25</sup> AEB, 3010/I, Frère-Orban to Solvyns, 12 August 1882; Frère-Orban to Beyens, 12 August 1882; Frère-Orban to Beyens, 21 October 1882; Frère-Orban to Solvyns, 5 February 1883; Frère-Orban to de Bounder de Melsbroeck, 7 February 1883; Frère-Orban to Solvyns & van der Straten-Ponthoz, 7 February 1884; Chimay to Beyens, 17 May 1890.

<sup>26</sup> AEB, 3010/I, Frère-Orban to Ministers of the Interior, Justice, Finance, 28 October 1882; Frère-Orban to Minister of Justice, 29 March 1884.

<sup>29</sup> AEB, 3010/I, Note of Directorate B, 17 December 1887; Note from Directorate B to Directorate A, July 1888; Verhaeghe de Naeyer to Chimay,18 February 1889 & 22 Octo-

in Japan, Kim Ka-Jin 金嘉鎭 (1846‑1923), even reiterated his government's readiness to establish official relations with Belgium<sup>30</sup> – but never materialized.

#### **2.4 The Ǔnsan Gold Mine and the Anglo-Belgian Syndicate**

Things accelerated at the very beginning of the twentieth century. In April 1900, the Belgian chargé d'affaires in Beijing, Emile Cartier de Marchienne (1871‑1946), received a visit from the British Member of Parliament and businessman William Pritchard Morgan (1844-1924), who in September 1898 had acquired a gold-mining concession in Korea, the Ǔnsan gold mine (*Ǔnsan kwangsan* 殷山鑛山, also known as the Gwendoline gold mine).<sup>31</sup> This concession was exploited by the Eastern Pioneer Company, a recently formed Anglo-Belgian syndicate in which Belgian financial institutions and individual financiers held a 50% stake.<sup>32</sup> Morgan warned Cartier de Marchienne that "enemies" – primarily meaning the Americans who were opposed to the grant of the mining concession<sup>33</sup> – could turn to their advantage the fact that Belgium had no official diplomatic relations with Korea to have the Belgian general manager of the mine, Gustave Braecke, expelled from the country. That would entail, Morgan believed, "very serious consequences" to the business, which was otherwise "bound to be successful". Cartier de Marchienne conveyed Morgan's concerns to Brussels and urged the government to conclude a treaty with Korea.<sup>34</sup> The British chargé d'affaires in Seoul, John Newel Jordan (1852-1925), who was also of the opinion that Braecke risked deportation in the absence of a passport and a Belgian treaty with Korea, suggested that the general manager be placed under the protection of one of the foreign legations in Seoul.35 In Brussels, Foreign Minister Paul de Favereau (1856‑1922) instructed that Braecke be placed under British protection pending the conclusion of a trea-

ber 1889 & 8 February 1890; Note from Directorate B to Directorate A, 5 May 1890; De Groote to Chimay, 25 July 1891; Goebel to Chimay, 31 August 1891; De Groote to Chimay, 15 September 1891; Note from Directorate B to Directorate A, 26 September 1891.

<sup>30</sup> AEB, 3010/I, De Groote to Chimay, 15 October 1891.

<sup>31</sup> AEB, B 109/Syndicat anglo-belge et les mines d'or de Corée: 1900 (hereafter "B 109/Syndicat"), Vinck de Deux Orp to Favereau, 27 December 1898; Cartier de Marchienne to Favereau, 17 April 1900.

<sup>32</sup> AEB, B 109/Syndicat, Cartier de Marchienne to Favereau, 12 January 1900 & 17 April 1900; Kurgan-Van Hentenryk 1972, 267‑70.

<sup>33</sup> AEB, B 109/Syndicat, Cartier de Marchienne to Favereau, 17 April & 21 April 1900.

<sup>34</sup> AEB, B 109/Syndicat, Cartier de Marchienne to Favereau, 17 April 1900.

<sup>35</sup> AEB, B 109/Syndicat, Whettnall to Favereau, 3 May 1900.

ty with Korea.<sup>36</sup> However, it seems that no formal request was made to the Foreign Office.<sup>37</sup> This can be explained by the fact that, while the decision to send an agent to Korea to negotiate the treaty was taken quickly, the Belgian government was confident that its nationals would be protected by the Korean government until the treaty was concluded,<sup>38</sup> but also perhaps because of Belgium's reluctance to depend on a third power in the Far East. For example, the Belgian minister to Tokyo, Baron Albert d'Anethan (1849-1910), pleaded for the conclusion of a treaty on the grounds that foreign interference in Belgian affairs was not desirable, especially in Korea where rivalries between the accredited powers were strong.<sup>39</sup> When d'Anethan wrote in the same dispatch that entrusting Belgium's interests in Korea to a third power was not compatible with the ongoing development of Belgian enterprises in the Far East, he probably had in mind the Belgian-English tensions that from 1897 had arisen in China over the Beijing-Hankou railway concession.<sup>40</sup>

#### **2.5 Korea's Reaction to the Belgian Proposal**

On 1 June 1900 Albert d'Anethan was officially instructed to inform his counterpart in Tokyo, Yi Ha-Yǒng 李夏榮 (1858-1919), of the Belgian government's desire to conclude a treaty.<sup>41</sup> The latter was instructed to respond favourably to this request, the instruction he received from Seoul dated 22 June 1900 pointing out that Korea had already been maintaining diplomatic and commercial relations with other Western powers for years.42 The Belgian representative in Japan, in turn, informed Brussels that the Korean government would "eagerly" receive a Belgian agent to negotiate a treaty.<sup>43</sup> The historian Kim Hyǒn-Suk suggests that the Korean government's readiness to conclude a treaty with Belgium can be explained both by the predominantly positive image of the country conveyed by the press and foreign diplomats, and by the policy of neutrality that the Korean government – and Emperor Kojong personally (Hyǒn 2012; Jin 2021, 126‑7) – was pursuing at that time. Belgium, whose territory and sovereignty were preserved thanks to its neutrality under international law, could serve as a mod-


el for Korea (Kim 2016, 26; 2021, 107). In fact, in January 1899 Chǒn Pyǒng-Hun 全秉薰, a former government official, had submitted to Kojong a memorial, highly appreciated by the emperor, who could be interpreted as a neutralization proposal with Belgium and Switzerland as models (Jin 2021, 126). One year later, in January 1900, William Franklin Sands (1874‑1946), an American national appointed as an adviser in the Imperial Household Department (*Kungnaebu* 宮內府), had presented to Kojong a neutralization proposal – for which he later received the emperor's endorsement – modelled after Belgian or Swissstyle permanent neutrality jointly guaranteed by the major powers (Kim 2016, 26; Jin 2021, 128‑9). Thus, as Kim Hyǒn-Suk argues, the Korean government probably saw the conclusion of a treaty with Belgium as an opportunity to diversify its diplomatic relations and acquire first-hand knowledge about the country's experience of neutrality (Kim 2016, 26; 2021, 107).

#### 3 The Belgium-Korea Treaty of 1901

#### **3.1 Designation of Plenipotentiaries**

The Belgian minister to Tokyo, who had revived the idea of signing a treaty with Korea several months after the Compagnie Internationale pour le Commerce et l'Industrie decided to cooperate with Morgan,<sup>44</sup> volunteered to conclude it himself.45 However, it was finally decided that Léon Vincart (1848-1914), then consul in Bangkok, should be dispatched to Seoul as negotiator.<sup>46</sup> Léon Vincart arrived in Korea on 6 November 190047 with a draft treaty fundamentally modelled upon the France-Korea Treaty of 1886.<sup>48</sup> One of his first tasks in Seoul was to secure the recruitment of a scholar-official to translate the draft into Chinese, the diplomatic *lingua franca* in East Asia at that time, as well as a Korean interpreter.<sup>49</sup> On 9 November, just three days after his arrival, Vincart requested an audience with the Korean Minister of Foreign Affairs, Pak Che-Sun 朴齊純 (1858‑1916).<sup>50</sup> It was during this first audience, held on 15 November 1900, that Vincart presented his letters patent – erroneously accrediting him to


<sup>44</sup> AEB, 3010/II, d'Anethan to Favereau, 4 August 1899.

<sup>45</sup> AEB, B 109/Syndicat, d'Anethan to Favereau, 26 May 1900; Pirlot 1993, 130.

the "King of Korea"<sup>51</sup> when the Korean sovereign had held the title of Emperor since 1897 – as well as his full powers. After consultation with officials, Pak Che-Sun declared that Vincart was officially recognized as plenipotentiary to negotiate the treaty but indicated that he would only be recognized as consul general in Korea once the treaty had been approved by Leopold II.<sup>52</sup> On 30 November, the draft treaty and its Chinese translation were sent to Pak Che-Sun.53 As negotiations were about to start, Vincart sent to Brussels a copy of the *Official Gazette* (*Kwanbo* 官報) announcing the nomination of the Korean Foreign Minister as plenipotentiary together with a clipping of the *Hwangsǒng Sinmun* 皇城新聞 (Imperial Capital News), which had devoted an editorial to Belgium, providing the reader with basic information about the country (size, population, religions, finances, etc.) and depicting Belgium as prosperous despite its modest size and population, and independent although surrounded by "strong countries".<sup>54</sup>

#### **3.2 Negotiation and Provisions of the Treaty**

The Treaty of Amity, Commerce, and Navigation between Belgium and Korea, signed on 23 March 1901, consisted of 13 articles accompanied by a "Regulation applicable to the Belgian trade in Korea" (*Purok t'ongsang changjǒn* 附錄通商章程), two sections dedicated to "Tariffs" (*Sech'ik* 稅則) – one for imported goods and one for exported goods – and a "Tariff Regulation" (*Sech'ik changjǒn* 稅則章程). On the same day Vincart reported, article by article, what had been negotiated and agreed.55 As Kim Hyǒn-Suk rightly points out, the Belgium-Korea Treaty contained all the "unequal elements" already present in the other unequal treaties signed between Korea and the Western powers in the nineteenth century (Kim 2016, 33): without conditions of reciprocity, it opened Korean ports to Belgian trade (art. 5) and instituted the privilege of extraterritoriality for Belgians in Korea until such time as the Belgian government should judge that the Korean judicial system offered the same guarantees as that in force in Belgium (art. 3).<sup>56</sup>

<sup>51</sup> AEB, Pers. ext. 1206, "Provision de consul général de Belgique en Corée pour M. Vincart (Léon)", 20 June 1900.

<sup>52</sup> AEB, 3010/II, Vincart to Favereau, 15 November 1900.

<sup>53</sup> KHOM, vol. 21, 157, Vincart to Pak Che-Sun, 30 November 1900.

<sup>54</sup> AEB, 3010/II, clipping from the *Hwangsǒng Sinmun* dated 29 November 1900 and the *Official Gazette* dated 28 November 1900, both accompanied by a French translation; annexed to Vincart to Favereau, 3 December 1900.

<sup>55</sup> AEB, 3010/II, Vincart to Favereau, 23 March 1901.

<sup>56</sup> For a more detailed analysis of the clauses of this treaty, see Kim 2016, 29‑34.

During the negotiations, which probably started at the beginning of December 1900, the most-favoured-nation clause (art. 9) was the greatest source of difficulties (Han 2010, 242; Kim 2016, 30‑1). In the initial draft, article 9 committed Korea to grant to the Belgian Government and its nationals all privileges, immunities, and advantages which had already been conceded *in the past* to other foreign powers.<sup>57</sup> On 5 December 1900, Vincart telegraphed Brussels asking if the verb in the past tense "conceded" (privileges, immunities, and advantages) could be deleted following a request to that effect from the Korean side.<sup>58</sup> The Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs – which interpreted this request as Korea's fear of having to concede privileges that it had granted to foreign states in the past but that they no longer enjoyed<sup>59</sup> – replied that "conceded" could be suppressed, on condition that the words

[privileges, immunities, and] advantages that [other] governments [and their nationals] enjoy or would subsequently enjoy

were included instead.<sup>60</sup> On 17 January, Vincart sent another telegram announcing that this new wording of article 9 was accepted, provided that it should not be interpreted as necessarily committing Korea to grant railways and other concessions.<sup>61</sup> The Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs telegraphed back that it "could probably agree" with this interpretation and that a letter with more explanation would follow.<sup>62</sup> Vincart informed Pak Che-Sun of his government's position and explained that he had no choice but to wait for the explanatory letter. However, if the Foreign Minister would accept to withdraw his demand, Vincart concluded, the treaty could be signed at his earliest convenience.63 The Korean side eventually decided, even before the explanatory letter had arrived, to adopt without reservation the amended version of article 9,<sup>64</sup> according to which Belgium and its nationals would, from the day on which the treaty came into operation, enjoy all privileges, immunities, and advantages which other countries and their nationals enjoyed at that time or would enjoy in the future.<sup>65</sup> In


<sup>57</sup> AEB, 2708, Projet de traité d'amitié, de commerce et de négociation entre la Belgique et la Corée, p. 19.

fact, according to the explanatory letter that arrived a few days before the signing of the treaty, the Belgian side had no intention to claim that all the advantages already granted to other countries in the past be extended to Belgium. It only wanted the "principles" governing the activity of other foreigners in Korea to apply equally to Belgians without necessarily granting them similar concessions.<sup>66</sup>

It should also be noted that while the France-Korea Treaty of 1886 stipulated that the contracting parties could offer their good offices in the event that one of them was in conflict with a third country (art. 1, para. 2), this paragraph is not included in the Belgium-Korea Treaty (Kim 2016, 32). In fact, this provision was deleted in the Belgian draft of the treaty on the grounds that it was not in Belgium's tradition to intervene in a conflict between two states. The instruction sent to Vincart reminded him that Belgium should

keep completely out of conflicts which might arise in Seoul and in which it would not be involved.<sup>67</sup>

However, the Belgium-Korea Treaty contains a provision, introduced at the request of the Belgian Foreign Minister Paul de Favereau,<sup>68</sup> and lacking from the treaties previously concluded between Korea and the other powers: recourse to arbitration in case of a dispute between the two parties over the interpretation of the treaty or its execution (art. 12). The Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which had included this type of clause in the treaties it had recently concluded, expected Korea to adhere to this method of resolving international disputes, increasingly adopted by "civilized states".<sup>69</sup> This clause was accepted by the Korean side, apparently without problems, after Vincart provided some additional explanations.<sup>70</sup>

Belgium's consular network consisted of a combination of both unremunerated merchant-consuls – Belgians or foreigners selected for their business connections – and remunerated career consuls (Coolsaet, Dujardin, Roosens 2014, 84‑118). This is probably why the officials involved in the drafting of the treaty envisioned the possibility of entrusting consular functions to a resident in Korea in addition to the nomination of a career consul.71 However, the Belgian plenipotentiary failed to obtain the right to appoint merchant-consuls (Kim 2016, 30), although, as he pointed out, Korea had already at


that time several consuls in Europe falling into this category.<sup>72</sup> Like the France-Korea Treaty of 1886, the Belgium-Korea Treaty explicitly prohibited consular agents of both countries from engaging in trade (art. 2). Belgian diplomatic archives reveal that the nomination of merchant-consuls did not constitute a red line for the Belgian side, as even before the start of the negotiations Vincart had been instructed to concede and stick to the provision of the France-Korea Treaty in the eventuality of serious objections being raised on the Korean side.<sup>73</sup>

On 4 April 1901, Pak Che-Sun celebrated the signing of the treaty by giving a banquet attended by all the representatives of the countries accredited to Seoul, Korean ministers, and the newly appointed Korean representatives to France and Britain. In his speech, the Foreign Minister conveyed the emperor's wish that the treaty be ratified "as soon as possible" and that it be a pledge of "invariable friendship" between the two states.<sup>74</sup>

#### **3.3 Approval and Ratification of the Treaty**

On 9 July 1901, Paul de Favereau submitted the bill approving the Belgium-Korea Treaty to the Chamber of Representatives. The parliamentary committee in charge of reviewing the treaty unanimously recommended its adoption. While acknowledging the "relatively minor importance" of Korean trade with European countries, the committee's rapporteur, Jean-Baptiste de Winter (1831-1913), stated that the usefulness of concluding a treaty with Korea had been felt in recent years, which had been marked by Belgium's commercial expansion in the Far East and especially in China. He acknowledged that the Belgians were for the time being mainly interested in mining ventures in Korea but argued that other projects such as the planned construction and operation of the railway network would probably catch their attention in the near future. He added that the loan that the Korean government was thinking of contracting, presumably to start public works, would constitute a "precious outlet" for Belgian industries. Finally, de Winter concluded that the treaty would guarantee the security of Belgian people and capital in Korea and prevent "new difficulties",75 an implicit reference to those that the Anglo-Bel-

<sup>72</sup> AEB, 3010/II, Vincart to Favereau, 23 March 1901.

<sup>73</sup> AEB, 3010/II, Favereau to Vincart, 1 August 1901.

<sup>74</sup> AEB, 3010/II, Vincart to Favereau, 5 April 1901; French translation of Pak Che-Sun's speech annexed to the dispatch.

<sup>75</sup> AEB, 3010/II, "Chambre des Représentants, Séance du 9 juillet 1901, Projet de loi approuvant le traité d'amitié, de commerce et de navigation conclu le 23 mars 1901 entre la Belgique et la Corée, Rapport fait au nom de la Commission par Jean de Winter".

gian Syndicate had faced several months before. The bill approving the treaty was adopted by the Belgian Parliament (Chamber of Representatives and Senate) and given royal assent by King Leopold II in August 1901.<sup>76</sup> The exchange of the instruments of ratification took place in Seoul on 17 October 1901,<sup>77</sup> and the next day Vincart was escorted in a palanquin to the palace where he was received in audience by the emperor.<sup>78</sup>

#### **3.4 Exchange of Diplomatic and Consular Agents**

Following the exchange of the instruments of ratification, the Korean Government provided Léon Vincart with his exequatur, formally acknowledging him as consul general.<sup>79</sup> Vincart, whose mandate in Korea was terminated in November 1909, was assisted by a vice-consul: Maurice Cuvelier (1880‑1946) from October 1901 to May 1903,<sup>80</sup> and then Robert De Vos (1878‑1956) from September 1903 until June 1906.<sup>81</sup> In addition to a scholar-official in charge of the translation of documents written in Chinese – the Belgium-Korea Treaty (art. 11) stipulated that official correspondence addressed to the Korean Foreign Ministry had to be accompanied with a Chinese translation – and a Korean interpreter,<sup>82</sup> the Belgian consul general employed a couple of *kisu* 旗手 who cumulated the functions of messengers and guards in charge of the protection of foreign missions in Seoul.83 The building housing the Belgian consulate general, completed in 1905 (Yi 2012, 224), did not fall short of the other diplomatic missions in the Korean capital. The French representative in Korea, Victor Collin de Plancy (1853-1922), remarked that King Leopold II, considering that his consul should be housed under the same conditions as the representatives of the Great Powers, had personally intervened so that the Belgian government would provide a substantial budget for the construction of the consulate, a budget actually higher than those

77 AEB, 3010/II, Vincart to Favereau, 17 October 1901.

83 AEB, Pers. ext. 1206, Vincart to Favereau, 7 December 1900.

<sup>76</sup> AEB, 3010/II, Favereau to Vincart, 20 August 1901.

<sup>78</sup> AEB, 3010/II, Vincart to Favereau, 19 October 1901.

<sup>79</sup> AEB, Pers. ext. 1206, Exequatur of Léon Vincart (in Chinese) dated 30 October 1901.

<sup>80</sup> AEB, Pers. ext. 1104, Vincart to Favereau, 12 October 1901; Vincart to Favereau, 8 May 1903.

<sup>81</sup> AEB, Pers. ext. 1212, Vincart to Favereau, 30 September 1903; Siffert to Favereau, 13 June 1906.

<sup>82</sup> In December 1904, it was decided to only keep the scholar-official who was also able to assume the functions of interpreter. AEB, Pers. ext. 420/V, Vincart to Favereau, 14 December 1904.

allocated by the French, English and Russian governments for their respective legations.84 The Korean government, for its part, appointed an honorary consul general in Brussels in November 1901, Emile Le Hon (1869‑1911), stepson of Vincart, who had personally recommended him for the position.<sup>85</sup> Several months later, Min Yǒng-Ch'an 閔泳瓚 (1874‑1948), the Korean minister posted in Paris, became the first Korean diplomat accredited to Belgium.86 According to information provided by Vincart, he spoke French and English and had already travelled in Europe as he had been the Korean commissioner for the Exposition Universelle de Paris in 1900.<sup>87</sup>

#### **3.5 The Seven Original Copies of the Treaty**

From the correspondence exchanged between Consul General Vincart and the Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs,88 it is possible to deduce that a total of seven original copies of the Belgium-Korea Treaty of 1901 were produced (Table 1). On 23 March 1901, six copies of the treaty – three sets (sets 1, 2, and 3) of two copies each, one in French (F) and one in Chinese (C) – were signed by Vincart and the Korean Foreign Minister Pak Che-Sun. The first set was supposed to be conserved by the Belgian consulate general (copy 1-F) and by the Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs (copy 1-C). The second set was supposed to be signed by Emperor Kojong and then exchanged for the copies of the third set (copies 3-F and 3-C) once they had been signed by King Leopold II. The plan was for the third set (copies 3-F and 3-C) to be sent to Brussels to be signed by King Leopold II, after which the signed copies would be sent back to Korea and exchanged for the signed copies of set 2 (copies 2-F and 2-C). As planned, the third set (copies 3-F and 3-C) arrived in Brussels in May 1901. However, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs decided to keep these two copies for the archives of the ministry and, arguing that this procedure was the one "generally followed for the ratification of international acts", in Summer 1901 drafted the instrument of ratification bearing the signature of Leopold II in which the text of the treaty in French would be inserted. This new copy of the treaty (4-F) was the one that Vincart

<sup>84</sup> MAE, Correspondance politique et commerciale, Nouvelle série, Corée 10 "Étrangers en Corée (1902-1904)", Collin de Plancy to Delcassé, 20 July 1903.

<sup>85</sup> AEB, Pers. ext. 1477, Vincart to Favereau, 30 November 1901; Gordts 2001, 118‑19.

<sup>86</sup> AEB, 13.423//II, Credentials of Min Yǒng-Ch'an (in Chinese) dated 17 February 1901 with its French translation.

<sup>87</sup> AEB, 13.423//II, Vincart to Favereau, 6 December 1901.

<sup>88</sup> AEB, 3010/II, Vincart to Favereau, 23 March 1901; Favereau to Vincart, 25 May 1901.

**Figure 1**

**Adrien Carbonnet The Belgium-Korea Treaty of Amity, Commerce, and Navigation of 1901**

Copy of the Belgium-Korea Treaty in French (identified as copy 3-F)

was instructed to exchange in Seoul for the one ratified by Kojong,<sup>89</sup> copy 2-C in Chinese. The ratified copy 2-C and the procès-verbal of the exchange of the instruments of ratification (in both Chinese and French) were entrusted to a Belgian diplomat posted in Beijing who was temporarily staying in Korea while on his way to Belgium.<sup>90</sup> The Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs acknowledged receipt of this copy in December 1901.<sup>91</sup>

Of the four copies (1-F, 2-C, 3-F, 3-C) supposed to be kept by the Belgian side, three (2-C, 3-F, 3-C) can be located. They are all preserved in the Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Brussels. The copy in French 3-F **[fig. 1]** bears the signature of Consul General Léon Vincart, the seal of the Belgian consulate general in Seoul, the signature in Chinese characters of Pak Che-Sun and the seal of the Minister of Foreign Affairs (*Oebu taesin chi in* 外部大臣之印). Its cover bears

89 AEB, 3010/II, Favereau to Vincart, 25 May 1901.

90 AEB, 3010/II, Vincart to Favereau, 20 October 1901.

<sup>91</sup> AEB, 3010/II, Favereau to Vincart, 27 December 1901.

**Adrien Carbonnet The Belgium-Korea Treaty of Amity, Commerce, and Navigation of 1901**

**Figure 2** Copies of the Belgium-Korea Treaty in Chinese (identified as copy 2-C and copy 3-C)

**Figure 3** Copy 2-C of the Belgium-Korea Treaty with the instrument of ratification (left page)

#### **Adrien Carbonnet The Belgium-Korea Treaty of Amity, Commerce, and Navigation of 1901**

**Figure 4** Great Seal of Korea affixed on the instrument of ratification contained in copy 2-C of the Belgium-Korea Treaty

the inscription "Traité passé entre Sa Majesté le Roi des Belges et Sa Majesté l'Empereur de Corée" and an illustration of the two national flags. The two copies in Chinese, 2-C and 3-C **[fig. 2]**, bear the signature of Léon Vincart, the seal of the Belgian consulate general in Seoul, and the seal of the Minister of Foreign Affairs. Their covers are slightly different: the cover of the ratified copy 2-C bears the inscription "Treaty of Commerce between the Great Korea and the Great Belgium" (*Tae Han'guk Tae Pirisiguk t'ongsang choyak* 大韓國 大比利時國 通商條約) whereas that of copy 3-C bears the inscription "Treaty of Commerce between the Great Belgium and the Great Korea" (*Tae Pirisiguk Tae Han'guk t'ongsang choyak* 大比利時國 大韓國 通商條約). Furthermore, copy 2-C contains on the last pages of the treaty the instrument of ratification **[fig. 3]** with the Great Seal of Korea (*Tae Han kuksae* 大韓國璽) **[fig. 4]** affixed. The French copy 1-F that was supposed to be kept in the Belgian consulate is missing. In 1917, Belgium decided to close its consulate in Seoul and entrust its interests in Korea to an honorary consul.<sup>92</sup> Copy 1-F is probably what is listed as "Traité entre la Corée et la Belgique" in the inventory of the archives of the consulate signed in September 1935 by the newly accredited Belgian honorary consul Iwaya Jirō (1885-?) when he took office.<sup>93</sup> After Japan's surrender in 1945, Iwaya, who was a Japanese national, handed over these archives to the Foreign Affairs Section of the Office of the Military Governor of the United States Armed Forces in Korea before his repatriation to Japan.<sup>94</sup> However, the copy of the treaty is not mentioned in the list of items that he turned over in November 1945.95 This suggests that copy 1-F was lost between September 1935 and November 1945 during the mandate of Iwaya Jirō or that the Belgian honorary consul did not hand it over to the American occupation forces.

None of the three copies (1-C, 2-F, 4-F) supposed to be kept by the Korean side has so far been traced.<sup>96</sup> There is a copy conserved in the Kyujanggak Institute for Korean Studies under the reference "Kyu-23471" (奎 23471) but this is an unsigned transcription (*p'ilsabon* 筆 寫本) of the treaty, not the copy 1-C signed by the Belgian and Korean plenipotentiaries in March 1901. No original copies seem to be housed in the Changsǒgak either, for the treaty is mentioned neither in the third volume of the *Overview of the Old Documents conserved in the Changsǒgak* (Changsǒgak 2012), which is dedicated to diplomatic documents, nor in the section "State Administration and Foreign Affairs" of *Jangseogak Archives Masterpieces* (Jangseogak Archives of the Academy of Korean Studies 2017).

<sup>92</sup> AEB, Pers. ext. 2041, Broqueville to della Faille de Leverghem, 20 November 1917; della Faille de Leverghem to Broqueville, 23 November 1917.

<sup>93</sup> AEB, pers. ext. 2041, "Inventaire des archives du consulat de Belgique à Séoul au 2 septembre 1935, date de la prise de possession du poste par M.J. Iwaya, 2 September 1935", annexed to Bassompierre to Van Zeeland, 19 September 1935.

<sup>94</sup> AEB, 3414/III, Daufresne de la Chevalerie to Spaak, 8 March 1947.

<sup>95</sup> AEB, 3414/III, "Headquarters of the United States Armed Forces in Korea, Office of the Military Governor, Foreign Affairs Section, List of properties received from the Belgian Consulate-General, Seoul, Korea", annexed to Daufresne de la Chevalerie to Spaak, 8 March 1947.

<sup>96</sup> The author is indebted to Park Soohyun (Embassy of the Republic of Korea to Belgium) for her help to clarify this point.

#### 4 Conclusion

Belgium's idea of establishing official relations with Korea dates back to at least 1875, when Meiji Japan was trying to 'open up' the country. From then on and throughout the nineteenth century, Belgian diplomats posted in China and Japan repeatedly suggested the establishment of such relations. Although the major Western powers signed treaties of amity and commerce with Korea in the 1880s, it was not until 1901 that the Belgian-Korean treaty was concluded. This delay can be explained by several factors. Firstly, although Korea was depicted in diplomatic dispatches as a potential access to resources and an outlet for Belgium's industry, Belgian companies were in general not interested in the Far East until the end of the nineteenth century, their area of expansion being limited to Europe and Russia (Kurgan-Van Hentenryk 1972, 836). Not surprisingly, Korea is not mentioned once in the 91-page report *Tentatives d'expansion belge en Extrême-Orient 1840‑1890* attributed to the influential secretarygeneral of the Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs97 and recapitulating Belgium's expansion in the Far East. Secondly, the political turmoil that shook Korea – and specifically the 1882 mutiny and the 1884 coup – led Belgium to postpone negotiations with the Chosǒn Court. Thirdly, one can also legitimately assume that the overall negative image of a "barbarian" Korea conveyed by Belgian diplomats in China and Japan throughout the nineteenth century98 reinforced Belgium's reserved attitude toward the country. At the beginning of the twentieth century, the conclusion of this treaty was precipitated by the formation of an Anglo-Belgian syndicate in charge of the exploitation of a gold mining concession in Korea with a general manager who was a Belgian. It was to protect the interests of the Belgian financial institutions and individual financiers involved in this syndicate that the decision was taken to expedite negotiations with Korea.

The agreement signed in Seoul on 23 March 1901 after approximately three months of negotiation was fundamentally an unequal treaty to the advantage of Belgium. Similar to those previously concluded with other Western powers, this new treaty consolidated the regime of multilateral imperialism that had taken shape from the 1880s onwards on the Korean peninsula, by legally paving the way for Belgium's activities in the country. Even before the signing of the treaty, the Belgian plenipotentiary Léon Vincart (who was later

<sup>97</sup> The historian Jean Stengers doubts that Baron Lambermont wrote this report entirely, although he suggests that he did supervise its writing (Stengers 1955, 11).

<sup>98</sup> On the eve of the First Sino-Japanese War, Korea was still portrayed as "semi-barbarian" by the Belgian representative in Japan (AEB, CPL: Japon, vol. 2, d'Anethan to Merode Westerloo, 29 June 1894).

officially accredited as consul general) sought to promote Belgium's interests in Seoul's diplomatic circles where, according to his own words, "we spend our time thwarting one another".99 From the Belgian diplomatic archives, three important (and chronologically overlapping) dossiers can be identified, to which Vincart devoted most of his efforts during his long stay in Korea (November 1900-November 1909): the conclusion of loans involving Belgian institutions, the appointment of a Belgian advisor to the Korean Court,100 and the acquisition of a new mining concession for one of his compatriots. Except for the appointment of an advisor (who would then be dismissed by his own government because of his anti-Japanese stance), these endeavours ended in failure.

The treaty negotiations with neutral Belgium – presented on several occasions since 1882 as a potential model for Korea – took place at a time when the Korean emperor was pursuing a policy of neutrality. A few months after the ratification of the treaty, during an audience held in January 1902, Kojong dismissed everyone and asked Vincart whether he would take the initiative in recognizing Korea as a neutral state. The consul general replied that the question was "delicate" and that he could not "promise anything". But he added that in any case Belgium should have an "interest" when initiating a démarche of this kind, pointing out that he had not yet obtained the mining concession he had demanded, and that no Belgian officials had thus far been hired.<sup>101</sup> Belgian diplomatic archives clearly show that amid fierce competition between accredited powers in Seoul, Belgium's neutrality was an argument frequently raised by Vincart to convince the Korean side to favour his country.102 They provide, however, no evidence indicating that the Belgian government took any concrete action to initiate the recognition of Korea as a neutral state.

<sup>99</sup> AEB, 2839/III, Vincart to Favereau, 7 November 1901.

<sup>100</sup> On this question, see our paper "Belgium and the Russo-Japanese War: Focusing on the role of Adhémar Delcoigne, Belgian Advisor to the Chosǒn Court" presented at the Sixteenth International Conference of the European Association for Japanese Studies (Ghent, 28 August 2021).

<sup>101</sup> AEB, B 147/II, Vincart to Faverau, 17 January 1902. AEB, 17.183, "Les relations belgo-coréennes avant la Seconde Guerre mondiale", study prepared by René Vanhenten and addressed to Ambassador Gaston Jenebelly, p. 13, annexed to Note from Willequet to Davignon, 8 January 1975.

<sup>102</sup> For an example relating to the nomination of a Belgian advisor, see AEB, 2839. III, Vincart to Favereau, 18 November 1900.



**Adrien Carbonnet The Belgium-Korea Treaty of Amity, Commerce, and Navigation of 1901**


#### **Bibliography**


Barbieux, O. (1992). *Les relations historiques et diplomatiques entre la Belgique et la Corée*. [Unofficial brochure prepared for the State Visit of the King and the Queen of the Belgians to the Republic of Korea in 1992].

Berridge, G.R.; James, A. (2000). *Dictionary of Diplomacy*. New York: Palgrave.


Frochisse, J.-M. (1936). *La Belgique et la Chine. Relations diplomatiques et éco‑ nomiques, 1839‑1909*. Bruxelles: L'édition universelle.

Gaimushō Gaikōshiryōkan Nihon gaikōshi jiten hensan iinkai 外務省外交史料館 日本外交史辞典編纂委員会 (ed.) (1992). *Nihon gaikōshi jiten*日本外交史辞典 (Dictionary of Japanese Diplomatic History). Tōkyō: Yamakawa shuppankai.

Gordts, J. (2001). "De bewogen carrière van Léon Vincart, gevolmachtigd minister van Belgïe in Venezuella (Huy, 22 april 1848, Tildonk, 6 juli 1914)". *Haachts Oudheid- en Geschiedkundig Tijdschrift*, 17(1), 115-28.

Han Sǔng-Hun 한승훈 (2010). "Cho-Yǒng choyak ǔi 'poksap'an'" 조영조약의 <복 사판> (The "Duplicates" of the Anglo-Korean Treaty). Ch'oe Tǒk-Su 최덕수 (ed.), *Choyak ǔro pon Han'guk kǔndaesa* 조약으로 본 한국근대사 (A History of Modern Korea through Its Treaties). P'aju: Yǒllin ch'aektǔl, 231-62.

Hyǒn Kwang-Ho 玄光浩 (2002). *Taehan cheguk ǔi taeoe chǒngch'aek* 大韓帝 國의對外政策(The Foreign Policy of the Empire of Korea). Seoul: Sinsǒwǒn.


Jangseogak Archives of the Academy of Korean Studies (ed.) (2017). *Jangseogak Archives Masterpieces*. Sǒngnam: The Academy of Korean Studies Press.

Jin, Sangpil (2021). *Surviving Imperial Intrigues: Korea's Struggle for Neutrality amid Empires, 1882‑1907*. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press.

Kim Hyǒn-Suk 金賢淑 (2016). "Taehan cheguk, chungnipkuk Pelgie wa mannada. Insik, sugyo ǔi ch'ui wa t'ŭkching" 대한제국, 중립국벨기에와만나다. 인식, 수교의추이 와특징 (The Korean Empire Meets Neutral Korea: Evolution and Characteristics of the Perception of Belgium in Korea and the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations between the Two Countries). *Nam-Sŏul saenghwal misulgwan kŏnch'uk e tamgin Taehan cheguk kwa Pelgie ŭi yŏksa* 남서울생활미술관 건축에 담긴 대한 제국과 벨기에의 역사 (The History of Belgium-Korea Relations Engraved on the Building of the Nam-Seoul Museum of Art). Seoul: Sŏul sirip misulgwan, 7-35.

Kim, Hyun-Sook (2021). "The Korean Empire Partners with Korea, 120 Years Ago". *In Pursuit of the Aesthetic Legacy of the Goryeo Dynasty* = *Conference Proceedings of the Third International Symposium on Conservation and Res‑ toration of Overseas Korean Cultural Heritage* (Seoul, 8-10 & 17 September 2021). Seoul: Overseas Korean Cultural Heritage Foundation, 101-9.

Kim, Tai-Jin (1976). *A Bibliographical Guide to Traditional Korean Sources*. Seoul: Korea University Asiatic Research Center.

Kim Yǒng-Su 김영수 (2012). "Han-Paek suho t'ongsang choyak" 韓白修好通商 條約 (The Belgium-Korea Treaty of Amity, Commerce, and Navigation). Im, Kim, Yi 2012, 637-8.

Kurgan-Van Hentenryk, G. (1972). *Léopold II et les groupes financiers belges en Chine. La politique royale et ses prolongements, 1895‑1914*. Bruxelles: Palais des Académies.

Larsen, K.W. (2016). "Competing imperialisms in Korea". Seth, M.J. (ed.), *Rout‑ ledge Handbook of Modern Korean History*. London: Routledge, 27-42.

Lee, Ki-Baik (1984). *A New History of Korea*. Cambridge (MA): Harvard University Press. Mernier, A. (1992). *Belgium-Korea. Royal Visit and One Hundred Years' Bilateral Relations*. Brussels: Ministry for Foreign Affairs, External Trade and Cooperation for Development.


Willequet, J. (1971). *Le Baron Lambermont*. Bruxelles: La Renaissance du Livre.


#### **Cultural Exchanges Between Korea and the West** Artifacts and Intangible Heritage edited by Jong-Chol An and Ariane Perrin

## Spanish Writers in Korea Under Occupation

**The Contrasting Views of Vicente Blasco Ibáñez and Gaspar Tato Cumming**

#### Álvaro Trigo Maldonado

Universidad de Salamanca, España

**Abstract** This chapter examines the perspectives of Spanish travelers on colonial Korea, with a primary focus on the accounts of two writers who held opposing ideologies and presented contrasting views on the Japanese occupation of Korea. Introducing these two testimonies together suggest that in certain cases, accounts about East Asia were influenced more by the personal beliefs of their authors rather than by other discourses or ideas prevalent during the period.

**Keywords** Korean history. Modern Korea. Spaniards in Korea. Western perception of Korea. Travel literature.

**Summary** 1 Introduction: Visiting Korea During the Late Joseon Dynasty. – 2 The Travelogue of a Spanish Republican Writer in Colonial Korea. – 3 Manchukuo's Propagandist: Gaspar Tato Cumming. – 4 Conclusions.

#### 1 Introduction: Visiting Korea During the Late Joseon Dynasty

Throughout this chapter, I aim to rationalize the Spanish perception of occupied Korea based on available archival sources. It is possible to argue that the Spanish view on the geopolitical situation of the Korean peninsula has changed over time. Consequent-

**Studi e ricerche 32** e-ISSN 2610-9123 | ISSN 2610-993X ISBN [ebook] 978-88-6969-717-3 | ISBN [print] 978-88-6969-718-0

**Peer review | Open access 55** Submitted 2022-09-05 | Accepted 2022-11-08 | Published 2023-08-30 © 2023 Trigo Maldonado | cb 4.0 **DOI 10.30687/978‑88-6969‑717-3/003**

ly, two main stages can be differentiated: Late Chosŏn and another period originating from 1905 during the aftermath of the Russo-Japanese War. Within this context, in this section, I would like to briefly introduce relevant characteristics of the first period before focusing on the perceptions of colonial Korea of two writers with opposing ideologies.

While most of the twentieth century Spanish travelers visited Korea after its annexation by the Japanese imperialists in 1910, it is also possible to find curious cases such as the fictional account of Korea in Alfredo Opisso y Viña's book published in 1898. His ethnographic spirit and racist nuances can already be perceived in his book entitled *The Yellow Race. China, Japan and Korea: A Descriptive Trip through the Regions of the Celestial Empire, The Empire of the Rising Sun and the Korean Kingdom*. Opisso never traveled to East Asia; he used a variety of secondary sources to support the contents of his fictional travelogues. For this reason, it is possible to find several misconceptions through his accounts that represent the distorted and extended image of the East at that time.

His protagonist arrives in Korea on board a vessel traveling the Philippines route shortly before the Spanish-American War, a battle that resulted in Spain's loss of sovereignty over the Philippines and its acquisition by the United States. After depicting stops in Singapore and Hong Kong, he visits China and Japan and, at the end of the book, devotes a brief chapter to his trip to Korea. He arrives at Chemulp'o (today's Inch'ŏn) in a steamboat bound for Shanghai. In the chapter, he describes Korea as an agrarian country and emphasizes the value and popularity of its ginseng among the Chinese. He also describes Koreans as being taller and stronger in the north and similar to the Japanese in the south.

Additionally, he describes how Korea ends its tributary relation with China, owing to Japan's victory over China in 1895, becoming an independent country with three ports open to foreign trade from 1897. He describes Korean culture and its customs as being greatly influenced by Chinese culture. In fact, the perception of Korean culture as a 'copy of China' was common among travelers at that time and can be found in Isabelle Bird Bishop's book *Korea and Her Neighbors*, perhaps one of the most prominent western accounts of Korea (Bishop 1898, 22), among other resources. This may be related to the tributary status of Korea at that time. In fact, more than a decade before the publication of Opisso's and Bishop's accounts, the Spanish military magazine *Revista del ejército y la armada de Filipinas* (Philippine Army and Navy Magazine) still depicts the Korean Kingdom as part of the Chinese Empire (De Molins y Lemaur 1886, 82).

Opisso highlights, as most of the travelers in Korea did, the particularity of the Korean hat or *gat*. Regarding religions, he mentions Buddhism as the main religion, the Confucian teachings as followed by the upper class, and affirms that the rudest people follow a sort of naturalist idolatry (referring to shamanism). However, perhaps the most interesting part of his account is the racist views that portray the mainstream line of thought of Westerners regarding Asian nations at the time.

The traveler portrays himself as a sort of wealthy explorer whose main interest is to acquire the best items from each country to add to his collection in Spain. His ethnographical interest in different races goes as far as to say that he would have liked to have brought two or three of those

idiotic soldiers he saw in Chemulp'o and who looked like they wanted to devour him (Opisso y viña 1898, 121)

as if they were commodities as well. In his depiction of social hierarchy, he is surprised to discover that monks belong to the lower class as opposed to the social status that priests enjoyed in the West. And, concerning the political future of Korea, he states the following:

It can be said that nowadays even though Korea is an independent country, it is under the influence of the Japanese. However, everything suggests that very soon it will become a province of Russia, especially after the Trans-Siberian railway that will cross Manchuria from north to south is completed. The Korean Kingdom is a very rich country, and it will be coveted by its neighbors, especially Russia, as they need ports to the Pacific. (123)<sup>1</sup>

Like most of the Westerners at that time, Alfredo Opisso believed that Russia, a traditional Western power, would demonstrate its superiority in the pacific over the Japanese and the Chinese. The reasons for this lie in a racist perception of Asians inherited from the theories of prominent Western philosophers who believed in the superiority of Western civilization. Numerous examples of this opinion can be found in an article published in *Archivo Diplomático* (Diplomatic Archive) (1885-92) under the title "The Lonely Kingdom". The work is a description of Korea and the proposal for opening commerce with Korea made by the Governor General of the Philippines. It states that:

Korea's independence will only last as long as the Russian czar does not need to sacrifice it for the greatness and power of its imperial center, even though China and Japan covet it as well. (Salcedo 1888, 202)

<sup>1</sup> All translations were made by the Author.

Leopoldo de Alba Salcedo was chief editor of the newspaper *La Patria* (The Homeland) and was sent to China and Siam as a diplomat in 1884 (De Laurentis 2008, 105). His article was published in the political context of an initial frustrated attempt to sign a commercial treaty between Korea and Spain. Salcedo was skeptical of the commercial potential of Korea. He took part in an expedition to Korea and criticized the lack of proper defenses in Seoul, depicting Koreans as "a race not suitable for war" (Salcedo 1888, 204). According to Salcedo, the "Havas Agency" had informed that Korea possessed a force of 500,000 soldiers, but during his stay, he could see that this information was far from reality and the number of professional Korean soldiers was scarce. He supposedly witnessed military training that he found rather comical as Korean soldiers struggled to emulate the German tactics of their Chinese and Japanese instructors.

The last portion of Alfredo's fictional tour in Korea ends with a conclusion on the "yellow race":

the yellow race, so numerous, could be a danger for the whites if they were not so superior in intelligence and bravery to the Asians. No, the yellows will never be a danger to the white race, and it is not to be expected that another Tamerlane will appear, though he was not able to do much on our continent either. Against the force of numbers there is a discipline, patriotic feeling, the law of honor, and above all the incontrovertible force which the superiority of Christianity over the religion of Buddha lends. The hegemony of the world will always belong to the white race, and never could the Japanese prevail over the Russians or the Chinese over Western Europeans. Our race carries the torch of civilization, and the civilization of the yellows is either totally different from ours, like that of the Chinese, or an artificial imitation like that of the Japanese. Only in one thing they are ahead of us, and the Count of Villanieve willingly acknowledged this: in their porcelain the Chinese, in their bronzes, in their hats (which would make our elegant ones envious) the Koreans. But in the world, there is more than all that. (Opisso y viña 1898, 124)

This conclusion introduces us to the concept of the yellow peril. The description of oriental inhabitants with yellow skin emerged in the nineteenth century and was coined by Kaiser Wilhelm II (1859-1941). Wilhelm II also created the famous illustration portraying Archangel Michael as an allegory of Germany leading other European powers against the Asian threat represented by a Buddha in the background.

The illustration **[fig. 1]** is interpreted as the anxiety about an expanding Japan. As Florentino Rodao García suitable expresses:

**Figure 1** Hermann Knackfuss's painting *Peoples of Europe Guard Your Dearest Goods*, is often regarded as an allegory of the anxiety about an expanding Japan. Extracted from: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Voelker\_Europas.jpg

The West could not afford to lose the monopoly of a skin color that signifies purity, virtue, and respectability and attributed a different one to the inhabitants of the Far East. Yellow is associated with the old and decadent and even with disease. Thus, this chromatic division gave an exclusive trait of superiority to the civilized and distinguished them from the barbarians. (Rodao García 2002, 20) 2

However, it is important to emphasize that the concept of the yellow peril was not extensively used in Spain. The few references found in texts date from the latter years of the nineteenth century and are mainly related to the fear of Japanese annexation of the Philippines. However, after 1898, when Spain ceased to have economic interests that could enter into conflict with Japan's, the concept fell into disuse (201).

Nonetheless, Opisso's view is in line with this concept, and in his racial comparison it is also possible to find the influence of European philosophers such as Herder, who distinguishes between "schönen und hässlichen Volker" (good and bad folks) and believed that the best

2 See the first chapter "Lo distinto y lo distante".

countries were between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers (Hsia 2010, 52). He then proceeds to classify nations according to their proximity to what he perceived as the roots of European civilization. Another relevant concept in his philosophy is the *Volksgeist*, or folk spirit, which is different for every nation and can be defined as the creative forces that act unconsciously and manifest in the creations of every nation (literature, law, history, etc.). Herder glorified the *Volksgeist* of the Germans. For him, the Mongols were primitive and ugly predators of men. Moreover, he asserted that the Chinese originated from "vultures" who were ashamed of their body shape, especially their ears and feet. He affirmed that this deformation had an influence on their spirit and as a consequence their governments were despotic and their wisdom primitive. In his opinion, the Chinese and the Japanese had no chance of becoming noble. From these ideas, the Western perception of the Orient during the nineteenth century is rooted.

These stereotypes were politically useful for the European imperialists and were common in the accounts described by explorers. Some of them have even persisted in recent works such as, for example, the concept of the Japanese as mere imitators of Western civilization. Nevertheless, it can be argued that the result of the Russo-Japanese War (1904-05) had a great impact on these perceptions as it was the first time that an Asian power defeated a traditional Western power. The war generated much interest and coverage in the Spanish press even though it was a conflict that unfolded on the other side of the world. For example, the weekly magazine *Pluma y Lápiz*<sup>3</sup> (Pen and Pencil) devoted a few issues to the Russo-Japanese War. After the initial skepticism about the chances for the Japanese to win the war, their surprise attacks were praised by the Western media. In the next sections, I will introduce the most relevant particularities in Vicente Blasco Ibáñez's and Gaspar Tato Cumming's accounts of colonial Korea. Both accounts were written after the Japanese annexation of Korea and show how their own political views influenced their perception of Korea.

<sup>3</sup> *Pluma y Lápiz. Semanario Hispano-Americano de Literatura y Arte*. Barcelona, 1904. See numbers 176 and 179 for detailed and illustrated chronicles on the Russo-Japanese War.

#### 2 The Travelogue of a Spanish Republican Writer in Colonial Korea

Vicente Blasco Ibáñez (1867‑1928) was a Spanish writer, politician, and journalist. He was a politically committed writer and an admirer of Victor Hugo's work. At the young age of sixteen, he founded a newspaper and later graduated with a law degree in 1888. In 1890, when the Carlist leader Enrique de Aguilera arrived at Valencia, he initiated a boycott using his newspaper and had to escape from persecution by going into exile in Paris. From 1892 to 1905 he returned to Spain, and became a leader of republicanism and anticlericalism in his hometown Valencia. However, later on, Blasco Ibáñez resigned and abandoned political life. He died in 1928, a few years before the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War (1936‑39).

Among his works there is an account of his world trip, *La vuelta al mundo de un novelista* (The Round the World Trip of a Novelist), published in three volumes in 1924. One of the chapters, "The Kingdom of the morning calm", recounts his one-week brief stay in Korea. Just like many other travelers, he arrives in Korea via Japan and depicts the difficulties of the journey in the first few pages. In comparison to other travelogues, Blasco Ibáñez is more interested in politics and offers additional insight into the political situation in the peninsula. It is possible to affirm that his account is better informed than those of other leisure travelers who write more superficial narrations about their experiences. He shares a boat with a Korean prince who is escorted by Japanese officials, a scene that he describes as follows:

The prince submitted to the Mikado and lost all his reputation in his former kingdom, but as no one can predict the future, they [officials] guard this heir without inheritance to ensure Japan's safety. (Blasco Ibáñez 1924, 322)

He disembarks in Busan and takes a train to Seoul. As he does not speak the language, he mistakenly believes that the Korean name for Seoul was Keijo and the name of the country Chosen. He believes that only whites use the names Seoul and Korea. The first thing that catches Blasco Ibáñez's attention is the attire used by the Koreans. As soon as they arrive, a few curious Koreans in traditional dress approach the boat. Blasco Ibáñez is surprised to see that they are dressed in white cotton dresses despite the severity of Korean winters. In his novel *Ramonchu in Shanghai* the Spanish diplomat Julio de Larracoechea (1901-99) quoted two possible origins regarding the Korean traditional dress code: he sees the traditional white robes as a Korean way of mourning the loss of independence, but also argues that the Japanese believed that white *hanbok* (Korean traditional dress) was widely adopted in the seventeenth century after five princes died in a short span of time and Koreans decided to keep white dressing even after the mourning periods ended (De Larracoechea 1941, 212-13). Julio de Larracoechea only traveled across the country by train but unlike other travelers he did not stay in Korea.

Returning to Blasco Ibáñez's travelogue, as it happens to many other travelers, he is particularly shocked by Korean hats. Blasco Ibáñez could not understand their practical use because, according to his opinion,

the hat is not useful at all. It cannot protect them from the sun or the rain, it does not even fit their heads and is worn in the way we previously explained; and despite all of this, the hats are cherished and modified according to the season. […] Sometimes you can see a Korean using a different hat other than this little clown's top hat. (Blasco Ibáñez 1924, 325)

He also notices the distinct mourning straw hats and that Koreans carry long bamboo smoking pipes everywhere they go "like the antenna of an insect or the sword of a swordfish" (326). Blasco Ibáñez did some research on secondary sources to write his account as it is possible to deduce from the fact that he was aware of Gregorio de Céspedes's brief visit to the country in 1594. He also affirms that Koreans are the cruelest nation against the Christian missionaries and that they use mourning hats to hide their faces in their whereabouts around the peninsula.

It is interesting to discover how the Japanese victory over the Russians changed the Western perception of the former. For example, when comparing the Japanese and Koreans, Blasco Ibáñez claims that the Japanese are a disciplined, active, and dynamic nation. On the contrary, Koreans seem to be the opposite (paused and calmed), but their physical features show a majesty or elegance that he does not find in the Japanese. This was a common perception among travelers from other nations such as the English teacher H.B. Drake and the German traveler Benedict Richard Goldschmidt (Trigo Maldonado 2020, 188‑9). Concerning Spanish sources, one can find an example of the Korean peninsula in Leandro Cubillo's extensive article published in 1914 in the magazine *Nuestro Tiempo. Ciencias y artes, política y hacienda* (Our Times. Science and Art, Politics and Fortune). His article presents the same dichotomy between the progressive Japanese and stagnant Koreans. Interestingly, following the introduction the article summarizes the contents of one of the illustrated annual reports that the Governor General of Korea published periodically in English (the author does not quote which one, but it is likely to be the third annual report corresponding to the years 1911-12, since the next report came up after the publication of this article and we can also find sentences that match this report). For example, Leandro quotes a sentence stating that

Their highnesses of Korea, Prince Li Junior, and Prince Li Senior, being set free from their political responsibilities or troubles are now enjoying a happier and safer life. (Cubillo 1914, 148)

This was translated from the introduction of the *Annual Report on Reforms and Progress in Chosen (Korea) (1911‑12)*, and is compiled by the Government General of Chosen in December 1912. The author then makes an ironic remark that perhaps their highnesses think differently, but overall Cubillo's piece falls into many of the propagandistic aspects of the Japanese reports, such as, for example, the idea that since the cultures are similar, the Japanese are better prepared for exerting tutelage over Koreans (Cubillo 1914, 149). In any case, it is not clear whether this source was used by Vicente Blasco Ibáñez when writing his account or not.

In the next section of his travelogue, Blasco Ibáñez depicts the political situation in the peninsula as follows:

With the excuse to free the Koreans from the 'Chinese tyranny', the Japanese went to war with the Middle Kingdom in 1894, forcing them to recognize Korean independence. Later, as the Russians intended to influence the politics of the country, they also went to war with the Middle Kingdom in 1902 and defeated them; always intending to defend the independence of poor Korea. In 1910, so that nobody else could attack Korean independence, they simply annexed Korea declaring it a Japanese colony. Seldom in history has so much apparent generosity concealed such cynical hypocrisy. (Blasco Ibáñez 1924, 194)

Through these ironic remarks, Blasco Ibáñez refuses the paternalist rationality used by the Japanese to justify the annexation of Korea to their empire tracing back their ambitions on the peninsula up to a few decades before (ambitions that would eventually lead them to a war against China and another one against Russia). He explains that while Europeans have hardly any information about Korea, their neighbors, the Japanese,

being yellow could slide into the country and well aware of the richness of their mines and their abandoned agriculture could conspire to take over the peninsula using fake generosity. (328)

In relation to this, he also explains how Queen Myeongseong is assassinated because of her opposition to the growing Japanese influence in Korea. Afterward, when he visits the Korean royal palace, he asks his guides to be shown the exact place where the queen was murdered:

I wanted to see the hall where the queen was assassinated by the Japanese, but the different guides I asked about this, incredible polyglots a moment before, lost their capacity to speak and even to understand. They listened to me and if I insisted, they did not understand me. None of them know which queen I am talking about. (341)

This is an interesting passage because it is a historical reference that is not included in any other Spanish travelogues of the time. Blasco Ibáñez's account goes further to point out the cruelty and brutality that characterize the Japanese rule in Korea during its early years until (according to his opinion) Japan became the absolute dominator of Korea and adopted a different policy of industrial and agricultural development.

Blasco Ibáñez admits that Korea was achieving remarkable progress under Japanese rule and that they probably invested more in the colony than in other areas of their country. However, he continues to argue that it could be said that this progress was not designed to benefit the Koreans, but to favor the Japanese settlers who

fell upon conquered territory like a locust infestation, controlling everything with their absorbing and aggressive activity. (329)

It is an interesting observation because geographical proximity permitted a particularly high presence of Japanese people in Korea compared to other colonies. By the time of the annexation, the Japanese government was eager to encourage Japanese settlers to establish themselves in Korea. To achieve this, the image of the Koreans, who had been portrayed as ignorant and dirty savages, had to be altered using the creation of new propaganda aimed at potential settlers; one example of this is the work *Tokan no susume* (Encouraging migration to Korea).<sup>4</sup> In the late 1930s, nearly a quarter of a million Japanese served in Korea as bureaucrats, police, garrison soldiers, and other occupations. This entailed a number equal to the British working in colonial India, which had about twenty times the population of Korea at that time (Seth 2011, 301).

An interesting anecdote in Blasco Ibáñez's journey is that he had the opportunity to meet a Korean journalist whom he calls Dr. Lee. This journalist fights for Korea's freedom and travels to Geneva to expose the country's situation to the League of Nations. Blasco Ibáñez feels sympathy for his cause but finds him too naïve. Dr. Lee explains that he has been promised by Lloyd George and the United States

<sup>4</sup> For a further description about its content and the image of Koreans promoted to potential settlers see Lee 2007.

that Korea would regain its independence in ten years. The author is skeptical and believes that before demanding that Japan should return Korea's independence, the United States should show an example and do something about other colonies such as Puerto Rico and the Philippines. However, he pretends to believe in these promises just to keep Dr. Lee satisfied.

#### 3 Manchukuo's Propagandist: Gaspar Tato Cumming

Gaspar Tato Cumming (1906‑2002) was a writer and a journalist. After the Spanish Civil War, he wrote a few propagandistic works about Asia that portrayed the Japanese Empire in a positive light, as it was one of the allies of Nazi Germany, a regime that had aided the Spanish fascists to achieve their victory in the war. He was one of the main propagandists of the puppet state Manchukuo in the Spanish language.

In his book *China, Japón y el conflicto chino-japonés* (China-Japan and the Sino-Japanese conflict), published in 1939, he wrote the following description of Korea as a part of the Japanese Empire:

From Shimonoseki, at the tip of the island, one can cross the narrowest part of the Sea of Japan through the waters where the naval battle of Tsushima took place and soon reach Fusan, the commercial port of Korea or Chosen (Corea in Korean), which has good train connections to Seoul or Keijo, the capital city.

Korea, today a part of the Japanese Empire, was previously a crossroad for the seeds of Japanese civilization. 'The land of the morning calm' has achieved several improvements in every area since its incorporation into the Japanese Empire in 1910. Manners and customs have evolved in contact with the dominant race of the country leading to japanization. There has not been much influence on how people dress and thus all of Korea is a parade of pale figures. White is still the main color and the men wear little hats with long straps that make them slightly resemble 'clowns' and carry a long bamboo pipe that they will never give up and that looks like part of their body. The race is taller than the Japanese and their features are closer to the West than those of the Japanese. (Tato Cumming 1939, 127)

Just like many other travelers, Tato Cumming compares the physical features of Koreans and the Japanese. Interestingly, his depiction of clothes and the bamboo pipes is almost identical to the one offered by Vicente Blasco Ibáñez, which makes the reader wonder whether the author had read his book or not.

Gregorio de Céspedes was the first white man to arrive in the land of the morning calm in 1594 and attempted at great peril to introduce the doctrines of Christ. Korea has always been a land coveted by the three empires (China, Russia, and Japan) that surround it. Russian ambition to gain influence in Korea led to the Russo-Japanese War that made Korea orbit around Japan, which restores to this cold and arid country the civilization that was taken from them in the past, *corrected and enlarged*.

It has been one of the most mysterious and unknown countries in the world and, until the nineteenth century, no European had been able to enter this land. This small kingdom passed through time quietly, just like 'a morning calm'. The villages are poor in their appearances and the houses are generally huts. (127)

Similar to Vicente Blasco Ibáñez, Gaspar Tato Cumming was aware of Gregorio de Céspedes's incursion in Korea. However, since information did not circulate as easily as today it seems obvious that he would not have known Hendrick Hamel's journey published in the seventeenth century, which constitutes a very particular insight into Joseon Korea from the eyes of a foreigner.

An interesting point of this description is that the original text uses italics to emphasize the terms "corrected and enlarged". In this regard, his description seems to follow the rationality used by the Japanese to justify their annexation of Korea. The portrayal of the Koreans as being passive and lazy and the Japanese as active and progressive can be found in many accounts of travelers and was an idea conveniently promoted by the Japanese. Sometimes the names of both countries, 'land of the morning calm' and 'land of the rising sun', were used to illustrate this opinion. Tato Cumming continues with a description of the Korean landscapes, though he mistakenly names Korean monuments by their Japanese names, probably because they were written this way in the tourist guides which he could have accessed:

The life in the cities shows a Japanese influence. Cosmopolitanism was a mixture of races, Mongols, Russians, Siberians, Jewish, Manchus, a lot of Chinese and Japanese, and some European, with Korea being the Asian country with the fewest Europeans.

Lots of rice paddies, plains, sparse vegetation, and rocky mountains. Little industry, but order and organization. The indolent Korean race moves under the impetus of the Japanese.

One trace of the Japanese presence is the famous 2468-meter mobile bridge across the Yahi River. Another is Seoul's capitol, the residence of Korea's Governor General.

Among the monuments preserved by the race are: The 'Keikaro' or 'banquet hall', the Keuifu Palace in Seoul facing a picturesque lake. The sumptuous Chosen with its long staircase opening onto a monumental stone Torii. And above the aridity of the country rise the imposing Kongozan or 'diamond mountains' that raise the ruggedness of their abrupt peaks to the skies. (128)

The main contrast between Blasco Ibáñez and Tato Cumming's view of Korea lies in the fact that the latter believes that Korea's status as a colony was the natural order of things while Blasco Ibáñez shows his sympathy for the Korean cause. Tato Cumming's praise of the Japanese spirit can often be found throughout his works. To give an example, in his book *A Trip Around the World* published in 1944, Tato Cumming goes as far as comparing Spanish and Japanese soldiers as follows:

The best soldiers of the world are the Spanish and the Japanese. Their temperance, their courage, and even their brilliant initiative in difficult moments take them to the top of the universal warrior mass. A tank comes out to the Iberian bullring and the small, sallow Spanish soldier *torea*<sup>5</sup> (fights) his way to dominance with his excellent and improvised inventiveness. Thousands of kilometers away, by spontaneous generation, human harassment against the tank also arises, albeit in a different form and execution. And there are no other nations with a better spirit than the Spanish and the Japanese.

'Don Quixote' and the 'Samurai' are equal problem solvers, one with a spear and the other with a sword. Two romantics of their time, but both portray the spirit of their nations. And so two countries separated by the greatest distance, seas and civilizations meet and begin to understand each other. (Tato Cumming 1939)

Tato Cumming was not the only author trying to establish a parallelism between Spanish and Japanese soldiers. While the connection between bullfighting and masculinity and courage seems more direct, the reference to Don Quixote is interesting. Even though he represents resilience, and Cervantes' novel is recognized around the world, he is still a character with parodic intentions. Whether he is trying to establish a parallel between Don Quixote and the situation of Samurai at the end of the Tokugawa shogunate is up to the reader's interpretation. Interestingly, the affinity and admiration of Japanese militarist values by Spanish far-right sympathizers have been perpetuated until today, and it is possible to find people who are fascinated by a distorted view of what they regard as Samurai values.

<sup>5</sup> Meaning: 'bullfights'. In bullfighting the *toreros* are praised when they show their skill dodging and playing with the bull, so the author tries to link this with the character of Spanish soldiers.

While this is not a frequent phenomenon, it is possible to argue that it has been inherited from the relationship between Franco's dictatorship and Japan.

#### 4 Conclusions

While Korea remained largely an unknown country in Spain, some writers and officers had the opportunity to travel there and leave their first accounts of the country for interested readers. From archive searches, it is possible to find more accounts on Korea written by Spanish diplomats, but in contrast with the books published by writers, most of them were internal reports that could not be accessed by common citizens. Being a small and remote kingdom, Korea was generally just one among the several stops made by travelers during their worldwide travels. Therefore, most of the accounts available do not go beyond physical descriptions of what the authors perceived visually.

In the introduction, Alfredo Opisso's fictional account has been summarized to provide an example of how Korea was perceived in Spain before its annexation by the Japanese. It can be argued that before Japan's victory in the Russo-Japanese War (1904-05), it was commonly believed in the West that no Asian power could compete with 'Western civilization', which was regarded as superior. However, the result of the conflict had a significant impact on this view.

Vicente Blasco Ibáñez only stayed for one week in Korea, but his account seems particularly well-informed about political affairs in several ways when compared to those of other travelers. He does not just describe his political views on Korea but also reflects on the fact that his guides are paid by Korea's Governor General and describes the racial tensions he perceives in colonial Seoul (for example, he alludes to the fact that business owners are Japanese and to the contemptuous gazes of a group of Japanese children at a group of Korean children). Moreover, he had direct communication with a Korean journalist, unlike other travelers who just depicted Koreans as part of the landscape.

On the other hand, Tato Cumming's account is mainly concerned with praising the presence of the Japanese in Korea. To understand his position on the Japanese, it is important to reflect upon the Spanish context at the time. Spain was a declining power that was stripped of most of its colonies overseas. In 1898, Spain lost its sovereignty over Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Philippines, and Guam, becoming a secondary power without a significant role in international affairs. On the contrary, Japan grew into a new imperial power that successfully expanded its territories. For this reason, it became a nation to emulate for the Spanish fascists who were dreaming of reestablishing the nation's past glories.

As a pro-falangist writer, Tato Cumming's account had to be pro-Japanese, and, as we have seen, he tries to establish parallels between Japanese and Spanish spirits and their warriors. It is important to note that he published this work right after Franco's victory in the Civil War, and as a propagandist of its regime, he could have not shown any sympathy for Korea's cause. However, after 1945, Spain would become the only remaining fascist stronghold in Western Europe, which had an impact on Spain's perception of Korea. Just as it happened with the Russo-Japanese War previously, the Korean War in the context of the Cold War would enjoy relatively significant attention by the Spanish press and would serve as a background to develop diverse anti-communist material.

#### **Bibliography**


### **Section 2**

Art History and Heritage

**71**

**Cultural Exchanges Between Korea and the West** Artifacts and Intangible Heritage edited by Jong-Chol An and Ariane Perrin

### Kyŏmjae Chŏng Sŏn Screen from the Kunstkamera Collection: Question of Attribution

Elena Khokhlova

National Research University Higher School of Economics, Russia

**Abstract** In the Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Kunstkamera, Saint Petersburg), there is an eight-panel screen attributed to Kyŏmjae Chŏng Sŏn (1676-1759), one of the most important artists in the history of Korean art. Chŏng Sŏn was a pioneer of so-called 'true-scenery' landscapes. Only a few works of the artist are in museum collections outside the Korean peninsula, one of which is the screen in question. Each landscape is signed and bears a seal with the name and pen name of the artist, based on which, presumably, the work was attributed to the artist's brush. However, the attribution of the work raises questions. Based on a comparative analysis of the screen with other correctly attributed work of the artist, this article suggests that the screen is a forgery and is incorrectly attributed to Chŏng Sŏn. Furthermore, not all eight panels of the screen depict the Kŭmgang mountains, as is indicated in the description of the screen presented in the museum.

**Keywords** Kyŏmjae Chŏng Sŏn. True-scenery landscapes paintings (chin'gyŏng sansuhwa). Attribution. Kunstkamera. Screen. Korean painting.

**Summary** 1 Introduction. – 2 Signatures, Seals, and Forgeries. – 3 Technique and Themes. – 4 Conclusion.

Support from the Research Program of the Faculty of World Economy and International Affairs at HSE University is gratefully acknowledged.

**Studi e ricerche 32** e-ISSN 2610-9123 | ISSN 2610-993X ISBN [ebook] 978-88-6969-717-3 | ISBN [print] 978-88-6969-718-0

**Peer review | Open access 73** Submitted 2022-09-05 | Accepted 2023-01-16 | Published 2023-08-30 © 2023 Khokhlova | cb 4.0 **DOI 10.30687/978‑88-6969‑717-3/004**

#### 1 Introduction

The permanent exhibition *Korea* at the Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (Kunstkamera) presents a *Screen with Views of the Kŭmgang Mountain Range*, attributed to the famous Korean artist, Kyŏmjae Chŏng Sŏn 겸재 정선 (1676‑1759) **[fig. 1]**. This is the only known work of Chŏng Sŏn in Russia and a rare example of his work stored outside the Korean peninsula. Almost all the surviving works of Chŏng Sŏn are in the collections of public and private museums in the Republic of Korea and the DPRK.

Chŏng Sŏn is a very important artist in the history of Korean art. He worked in different genres: he painted "images of sages" (*kosainmulhwa* 고사인물화), "flowers and plants" (*hwajohwa* 화조화), and "herbs and insects" (*ch'och'unghwa* 초충화). But Chŏng Sŏn is known, first of all, for his 'true-scenery' landscapes, so-called *chin'gyŏng sansuhwa* 진경산수화, images of famous Korean landscapes painted in the special style he created. Prior to Chŏng Sŏn, artists painted mostly fictional landscapes in the style of the works of Chinese artists of the Song and Ming dynasties. Chŏng Sŏn broke the canon of landscape painting, based on Chinese schools, and devoted most of his work to the depiction of Korean nature, developing an original artistic style. The screen was not named by the artist and the Museum adopted *Screen with Views of the Kŭmgang Mountain Range*, presuming that it is dedicated to one theme – the image of the Kŭmgang mountains. It makes the screen an example of 'true-scenery' landscapes.

The screen consists of eight panels. Each panel measures 83 cm in length and 38 cm in width. A landscape of 46 × 32 cm is glued to each panel. Each landscape was painted in ink and light colours on silk. Each of the eight landscapes has a signature and a seal on it. The screen was donated by Dmitry Dobrotin. He worked at Pyongyang Pedagogical University as an adviser from 1952 to 1954. As a sign of gratitude, colleagues and students presented him with the screen, as indicated by the inscription on the first panel:

증정 as a gift Consultant teacher Dmitry Alekseevich Dobrotin 1954 8월5일 August 5, 1954 평양사범대학 교직원 학생 일동 Teachers and students of Pyongyang Pedagogical University

It is not known exactly who established the authorship of the screen, but in a short note, in a collection of articles published on the 250th anniversary of the Kunstkamera in 1964, Yuliya Ionova presented the screen as an example of Chŏng Sŏn's painting. Ionova wrote that the landscapes on the screen

#### **Elena Khokhlova Kyŏmjae Chŏng Sŏn Screen from the Kunstkamera Collection: Question of Attribution**

**Figure 1** Anonymous, *Screen with Views of the Kŭmgang Mountain Range*. Nineteenth century. Eight-panel screen. Ink and colours on silk, 83 × 38 cm each. Kunstkamera museum, Saint Petersburg, Russia

in terms of their artistic expressiveness, can be put on a par with the best works of Chŏng Sŏn. (Ionova 1964, 260)

This is the earliest mention of the screen in Russian literature that I found. Ludmila Kireeva studied Chŏng Sŏn's art, she also attributed the screen as a work of Chŏng Sŏn and indicated that this work was similar in style to the artist's landscapes of the 1740s-1750s (Kireeva 2010). The screen is also described in the book by Yuliya Gutareva as an example of Chŏng Sŏn's landscape style (Gurateva 2016, 39). The screen is mentioned in the articles of Pak Chŏng-Ae as an example of works attributed to Chŏng Sŏn from foreign collections (Pak 2016, 151).

The work was attributed by the museum, based on the presence of signature and seals on each landscape, with which the artist marked his works, and because the plot is similar to the landscapes of Chŏng Sŏn, known in the USSR from North Korean art books. Mentioning the well-known works of Chŏng Sŏn, Ionova referred to the album, *Cultural Monuments of Korea*, published in Pyongyang in 1957, where reproductions of Chŏng Sŏn's landscapes, with views of the Kŭmgang mountains were printed (Ionova 1964, 261). However, when comparing the screen with the accumulated knowledge of the artist available to us today, doubts about the authenticity of the works arise. A significantly larger amount of available material on the work of Chŏng Sŏn and Korean landscape paintings, as well as my visual analysis of the works of Chŏng Sŏn in the museums of the Republic of Korea, allows us to challenge the original attribution. Based on the analysis of the technique, this article will show that the screen in question is not a genuine work of Chŏng Sŏn, but most likely a forgery created around the end of the nineteenth century. Doubts about the authenticity of the work are supported by the fact that the screen was presented to a foreigner, Dmitry Dobrotin, in Pyongyang. Ionova wrote that the works of Chŏng Sŏn enjoyed great love of the people, his works were carefully stored and passed down from generation to generation, like family treasures. (261)

Only a small part of the artist's heritage is kept in the museums of the DPRK today, the main part is in collections in the Republic of Korea. Therefore, it is difficult to imagine that the North Koreans presented a genuine work of such an important artist to a foreigner, not even a museum, but to a private person who took the work with him to his homeland. Also I will show that not all eight panels of the screen depict the Kŭmgang mountains, as is indicated in the description of the screen presented in the museum.

#### 2 Signatures, Seals, and Forgeries

As noted above, each of the eight panels has a two-character signature with the artist's pen name, Kyŏmjae (謙齋), and a seal with his name, Chŏng Sŏn (鄭歚). The art album, *Collection of Korean Artists of the Chosŏn Era*, presents photographs of Chŏng Sŏn's works and 42 signatures of the artist from various paintings (Chŏng 2017, 279‑81). Comparing the characters of the inscriptions from the screen with those presented in the *Collection*, I can conclude that in general, they have a visual similarity to the original ones. But the form of the signature from the screen is simplified, the characters lack the movement of the brush, the structure of the strokes cannot be identified. The characters are carefully written but look more like they were copied but not written freely, because the one who copied them did not know how to write it but simply copied what was unknown to him. The signature on the fifth panel differs from the other seven signatures of the screen, is elongated, the volume in the second of the two characters is lacking **[tab. 1]**.

**Table 1** Signatures from the screen and original signatures of Chŏng Sŏn


The two character (鄭歚) seals with the name of the artist are the same on all eight panels. Chŏng Sŏn used several seals with his name and pen names throughout his life. The seal that looks similar is found on several of the artist's works. However, the second character on the seals from the screen, in contrast to the seals on other works by the artist, looks more rounded **[tab. 2]**. Let's also pay attention to the size of the seals. On the artist's original works, seals are often smaller than the signature, while on the screen, on the contrary, the seals are larger than the signatures. According to South Korean researchers, Hong Sŏn-P'yo (Hŏ 2020) and Jinsŏng Chin-Sŏng (Chang 2009, 130-4), large seals are found on forgeries of works by artists of the Chosŏn era (1392‑1897), as well as on the works of Chŏng Sŏn. But in general, it can be said that the signatures and seals on the landscapes of the screen have a visual resemblance to those found on the works of Chŏng Sŏn, the authenticity of which is not in doubt among researchers. And it means that the one who forged the screen wanted to pass the screen off as an original work.

**Table 2** Seals from the screen and Chŏng Sŏn's original seals


However, even the signatures and seals that are difficult to distinguish from the original do not guarantee the authenticity of the works. The South Korean art historian Ahn Hwi-Joon (An Hwi-Jun), in an article on the problems of studying the work of Chŏng Sŏn, writes that it is necessary to distinguish between originals, copies and forgeries in the surviving numbers of works attributed to the artist (An 2012, 25). The legacy of Chŏng Sŏn is complex, since he himself, being unable to fulfil orders received in large numbers, involved his son and students in the creation of paintings (Chang 2018, 319). It means that even works signed by the artist himself may not belong to his brush. It is also known that the works of Chŏng Sŏn were forged already during his lifetime. The testimony of Kwŏn Sŏp (1671‑1759), a collector, ardent admirer and contemporary of Chŏng Sŏn, has been preserved, in which he admitted that he bought the artist's work, but it turned out to be a forgery. However, Kwŏn Sŏp decided to depict the painting as authentic and put it into the same album along with Chŏng Sŏn's original works (Pak 2019, 148). Kwŏn Sin-Ŭng (1728‑87), the grandson of Kwŏn Sŏp, recalled that he painted a landscape in the style of Chŏng Sŏn, put it in one album with the works of the master and showed it to friends, rejoicing that they could not distinguish the original from the fake (Pak 2019, 148). Other artists, as well as his students, worked in the style of Chŏng Sŏn.

Chŏng Sŏn's paintings were popular in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, especially landscapes with views of the Kŭmgang mountains. The influence of the 'true-scenery' landscapes by Chŏng Sŏn is noticeable not only in the work of his students, but also in the works of a number of major and lesser-known artists of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, especially those who painted the Kŭmgang mountains: Kang Hŭi-Ŏn 강희언 (1738-unknown), Kim Tŭk-Sin 김득신 (1754‑1822), Ch'oe Puk 최북 (1720-unknown), Chŏng Hwang 정황 (1734‑1800), Kim Ŭng-Hwan 김응환 (1742‑89), Kim Sŏk-Sin 김석 신 (1758-unknown), Kim Ha-Jong 김하종 (1793‑1875), etc. In South Korean art history, the concept of *chŏngsŏnp'a* 정선파 'the school of Chŏng Sŏn' is used (Yi, Kim 2007, 190-1). It is known that until the middle of the twentieth century, a collection with woodcuts of twenty landscapes of Chŏng Sŏn was in circulation in Korea. This collection served as a kind of textbook for those who wanted to depict mountains in the style of Chŏng Sŏn (Pak 2019, 148-9).

In Korea, especially in the nineteenth century, there was a widespread practice of copying or creating works in the style of revered masters of Chinese and Korean painting. The most famous example is Chang Sŭng-Ŏp (1843‑97), the renowned artist of the second half of the nineteenth century, who copied the scrolls of Chinese masters from the collection of his patron, Lee Ŭng-Hŏn (1838-unknown). Creating works in the style of famous masters, the artists honed their skills and paid tribute to their forebears. In addition, in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, as the demand for works of art among different segments of the population was growing, the practice of creating forgeries spread. Since the eighteenth century, in the centre of Seoul, near the Kwangt'ong Bridge, there was an art market where one could buy screens, album sheets, scrolls of various quality, by famous intellectuals, courtiers, and professional or street artists. Original works, copies and forgeries were presented on the market. To pass off works as original, seals and signatures were forged. The supply grew as the demand for antique works of art increased, both among Koreans themselves and among foreigners. The British, Americans, Germans, Russians, as well as other travelers, missionaries, and those who came to Seoul to work, or at the invitation of the royal court, purchased works on the market for their personal collections and took them home when it was time to return to their homelands. That is why nowadays, in the collections of Western museums and libraries, there are originals and forgeries of albums, scrolls, screens, and other works by Korean artists, including Chŏng Sŏn. At the moment, Western collections have a number of works attributed to the brush of Chŏng Sŏn, brought by foreigners: the Freer Art Gallery in Washington (5 works); the Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts (2 works); the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston (5 works); the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto (2 works); the Munich Ethnographic Museum (1 work); the British Library in London (2 albums); the Library of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London (1 album).<sup>1</sup>

Let's look at four albums bought by foreigners in Korea, at the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries: *Kyŏmjae Chŏng Sŏn's Album*, from the collection of St. Ottilie's Monastery in Germany, two albums from the collection of the British Library, and *Kyŏmjae's Album* from the Library of the London School of Oriental and African Studies. These works serve as examples of paintings on the market that were sold as Chŏng Sŏn's original work.

*Kyŏmjae Chŏng Sŏn's Album* was bought in Korea by the German missionary Norbert Weber (1870‑1956). Weber visited Korea in 1911, and also in 1925. In 1927, he published *In den Diamanntbergen Koreas* (In the Diamond Mountains of Korea), in which he described his journey to the Kŭmgang mountains. In the book, Weber wrote that, during the trip, he acquired two landscapes by Chŏng Sŏn, and later arranged them into one album with other works of the artist which he bought in Korea. The existence of the album became known in 1974, when in the archives of the museum of the monastery of St. Ottilia, it was discovered by the South Korean researcher, Yu Chun-Yŏng (Yu 2013). In 2005, the album was loaned to Waegwan Abbey in the Republic of Korea for permanent storage. This album consists of twenty-one works on different subjects: five 'true-scenery' landscapes, three fictional landscapes, one work in the genre of 'animals and plants' and twelve images of sages (Khokhlova 2020, 308). Each album leaf is signed and sealed, the works in the album differ in quality, but so far, the question of the authenticity has not been raised. This album serves as an example of what kind of Chŏng Sŏn's works were introduced to the market at the beginning of the twentieth century. There is no information about the price of the works, but because the German missionary purchased twenty-one leaves for his collection, it can be assumed that it was reasonable.

The first of the albums now in the British Library was bought in Korea at the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries by Alfred Burt Stripling (1838-1904), who participated in the development of mining sites on the Korean Peninsula. The album consists of seventeen works of different sizes, made in different techniques and on different subjects: fictional landscapes, 'true-scenery' landscapes, images of sages, 'flowers and birds', 'grass and insects' (Pak 2016,

<sup>1</sup> The information is based on the data from the articles by Pak Chŏng-Ae and Ludmila Kireeva. See Pak 2019 and Kireeva 2006.

158-9). The album was purchased from Stripling's heirs by the British Library in 1913. On the cover, there is the inscription *Chŏng Sŏn's Album*, the works are signed, and there are seals similar to those used by the artist.

However, the researcher Pak Chŏng-Ae, after conducting a comparative analysis of signatures and inscriptions, as well as the technique of works, concluded that the album could not belong to the artist's brush and was a forgery (144). It should be noted that, as far as I can judge by the reproductions presented in the article by Pak Chŏng-Ae, the landscapes of the Kŭmgang mountains from this album were painted by an artist familiar with the style of Chŏng Sŏn. There are no glaring errors in the technique, the works are done quite accurately, the author of the album apparently tried to create good quality artwork that could be attributed to Chŏng Sŏn. At the same time, Pak Chŏng-Ae wrote that the works could not be original, because she claimed that

they lack clarity, the connection between the elements of the image is broken, with a noticeably poor technique. (143)

Pak Chŏng-Ae concluded that the works in the album were painted by at least six different artists at different times, while each painting was supposedly signed and sealed with seals similar to Chŏng Sŏn's own. Weathered silk was used to decorate the album to enhance the effect of antiquity. This album serves as an example that works masquerading as Chŏng Sŏn's work were on the market in Korea at the turn of the century.

The second album was bought in Korea by Homer Bezaleel Hulbert (1863‑1949), an American missionary, scholar, educator, journalist, and politician who played a prominent role in Korean history in the early twentieth century. While in Korea, he amassed a collection of items and books, some of which were sold to the British Library, including *Chŏng Sŏn's Album*. Hulbert lived in Korea for more than twenty years, participated in the political life of the country, wrote articles about politics, the economy of Korea, and published several texts in which he discussed art and culture. He noted that Korean art is inferior to Japanese and Chinese, not to mention the Western tradition, so

there is no need to waste time and effort on learning how to look at and enjoy Korean painting as the Koreans do. (Pak 2019, 178)

The album in his collection is notable for its poor technique and seems to serve as proof that Hulbert was not very interested in Korean art. The album consists of twenty-four works: 19 leaves depicting insects, small animals, four on the theme of *sagunja* 'four noble plants' and one landscape. The title on the cover is *Chŏng Sŏn's Album*. There are no seals or signatures on the works, the inscription on the cover is the only indication that the album was sold as a work by Chŏng Sŏn. Of all the works in the album, only the leaf with the image of a squirrel is an original work or a good copy of Chŏng Sŏn. The landscape and the 'four noble plants' are painted to a reasonable level but have nothing in common with the works and style of the artist. The rest of the works, as Pak Chŏng-Ae writes, "are more like sketches made by a child's hand" (176). In general, the authors of the album did not attempt to make the artwork look remotely like authentic pieces by Chŏng Sŏn. Perhaps the authors did not set themselves such a task, but the seller, having collected several works in an album and writing the name of the artist on the cover, passed them off as original work by Chŏng Sŏn.

The album from the collection of the Library of the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London was donated by the heirs of the English entrepreneur Frederick Anderson (1855-1950) in 1950. Anderson had not been to Korea, he bought the album, presumably, in Shanghai, where he lived for more than ten years and bought Chinese, Japanese and Korean antiques for his collection. The cover of the album, as in the case of the two described above, has the name *Kyŏmjae's Album*. It consists of ten works: fictional landscapes (3), 'truescenery' landscapes (6), 'animals and birds' (1). All the album leaves have a seal like those used on the original works of the artist, but the seal, like on the screen in question and on several fakes of Chŏng Sŏn's works, is larger than the signature. Some of the works have a signature like the original signature of Chŏng Sŏn (Pak 2016, 142). After conducting a visual comparative analysis of the technique and composition of the works from the album with the original works of Chŏng Sŏn, Pak Chŏng-Ae concluded that despite the rather high level of the artwork, the works are copies or fakes based on the works of Chŏng Sŏn (149).

Thus, the works of Chŏng Sŏn already began to be copied and forged during his lifetime. In the nineteenth century, forgeries appeared in response to the demand for art, both among Koreans themselves and also among travelers. Europeans at that time often did not have sufficient knowledge and, as in the case of Hulbert, sometimes even the desire to distinguish fakes from originals. Perhaps the authenticity of the works did not matter much to those foreigners who bought works by Korean artists for their collections. But the presence of a signature or the albums with the name of a famous master of the eighteenth century could attract buyers and served as a reason for the seller to ask for a higher price. The considered cases of forgery of the works by Chŏng Sŏn make it possible to doubt the authenticity of the works attributed to his brush, even though they are signed and sealed. My main argument in favour of the fact that the screen from the Kunstkamera is not the original work of Chŏng Sŏn is the style, technique, and confusion in the themes of the landscapes.

**Elena Khokhlova Kyŏmjae Chŏng Sŏn Screen from the Kunstkamera Collection: Question of Attribution**

**Figure 2** Anonymous, *Screen with Views of the Kŭmgang Mountain Range*. Nineteenth century. Eight-panel screen, panel no. 3. Ink and colours on silk, 46 × 32 cm. Kunstkamera museum, Saint Petersburg, Russia

#### **Elena Khokhlova Kyŏmjae Chŏng Sŏn Screen from the Kunstkamera Collection: Question of Attribution**

**Figure 3** Chŏng Sŏn, *Haejumasŏk* (Haejuma Rock). Ink on paper, 57.3 × 88.7 cm. National Museum of Korea, Seoul, Republic of Korea

#### 3 Technique and Themes

The landscapes on the screen were painted in the same style, and they might belong to the brush of a single artist. But there are several distinctive features of these landscapes from Chŏng Sŏn's 'true-scenery' landscapes which are obviously different. First, the artist applied ink wash to add volume to the mountains, rocks, and stones. The slopes of the mountains were painted with dark ink. Parts of the surface of the slopes remain unpainted, and some parts are carelessly painted. The manner of depicting stones and hills by using rough shadings differs from Chŏng Sŏn's style. In the original works of Chŏng Sŏn, the mountain slopes are often completely painted over **[figs 2‑3]**.

Second, the slopes are highlighted, the volume of the mountains is modelled using a kind of *chiaroscuro*. But highlighted parts of mountains are not found in the original works of Chŏng Sŏn; he did not use contrasts of light and shadow to achieve a sense of volume in modelling. His hill and mountain shapes are painted more evenly **[figs 4‑5]**. Meanwhile, highlighting is found in landscapes of the second half of the nineteenth century, for example, in the landscape paintings of the court artists, Kim Su-Gyu 김수규 (nineteenth century) and Kim Ha-Chong 김하종 (1793‑1875). This technique, in my opinion, was a way to rethink the *chiaroscuro* and volume in modelling that artists learned from the available samples of Western paintings. But it is not typical for landscape paintings of the eighteenth century.

Chŏng Sŏn developed a distinctive artistic language for depicting Korean nature. The main features of his style are the combination of vertical, long, nearly parallel hemp-fibre (*p'imajun* 피마준) brushstrokes used to depict the texture of earth and *mi* ink-dots applied horizontally to the surface of mountains and hills to paint vegetation and folded-ribbon strokes to depict rocky surfaces (Yi 2000, 344). In the original works of Chŏng Sŏn, the mountain slope is often completely painted over, hemp-fibre texture strokes and *mi* inkdots are added over the painted part. These strokes and 'dots', the main characteristics of Chŏng Sŏn's style, are poorly applied in the screen. Chŏng Sŏn used falling vertical lines to depict the rocky peaks of the Kŭmgang mountains. On the landscapes of the screen, very few of these strokes were used and even the protruding cliffs of the Kŭmgang mountains are not painted with dry folded-ribbon strokes as Chŏng Sŏn would do. And very few *mi* ink-dots were used in the folding screen. The forgeries of Chŏng Sŏn's paintings, identified by South Korean researchers, are generally characterized by poor technique and lack of understanding of how to use the strokes and 'dots'. This is also distinctive in the landscapes on the screen from the Kunstkamera museum.

Now, I will show that not all the panels of the screen depict the Kŭmgang mountains. There are no inscriptions on the screen to determine the subject of the works, the only exception is the landscape on panel no. 1. There are three characters, *Punsŏltam* 噴雪潭, on it with the name of one of the famous views of the Kŭmgang mountains. Ionova wrote that eight of the landscapes on the screen are united by one theme – "the beauty and grandeur of the Kŭmgang mountains", Kireeva and Gutareva agreed (Ionova 1964, 261). It means that all eight landscapes were believed to be views of the mountain range.

Many of Chŏng Sŏn's 'true-scenery' landscapes are depictions of the Kŭmgang mountains. These are the most famous mountains on the Korean Peninsula, a source of national pride. Chŏng Sŏn, his patrons and contemporaries visited and praised the beauty and energy of the mountains in poetry and paintings (Ko 2007). Chŏng Sŏn created numerous views of the mountains to meet the huge demand among his contemporaries (Chang 2018, 319‑21). The Kŭmgang mountains are distinguished by their characteristic protruding sharp crystallineshaped bare rocks, so the landscapes of this subject are recognized primarily by the presence of the rocky peaks. It can be assumed that the main theme of the screen was determined because bare rocky peaks are painted on three of the eight landscapes: nos. 1, 2, and 4.

Let's take a closer look. Pine trees on landscapes nos. 2 and 4 are painted in rows on the slopes of the rocks **[figs. 6‑7]**. This depiction of trees is typical of Chŏng Sŏn's 'true-scenery' landscapes and brings the screens' landscapes closer to the artist's works, and also indicates that the screens' author was familiar with Chŏng Sŏn's style and tried to copy it. Meanwhile, on panel no. 2, a narrow waterfall is depicted. Waterfalls, as the distinguished and praised spots of the Kŭmgang mountains, often act as a central element in his landscapes. Schematic representation of a waterfall, as in landscape no. 2, with no emphasizing of the features of the relief and the water flow, are not present in the artist's landscapes. Nevertheless, the landscapes in nos. 2 and 4 can be considered as images of the Kŭmgang mountains because the rocky peaks are very distinguishable.

Sharp, bare rock peaks are also painted on landscape no. 1, and it has an additional inscription: three characters, *Punsŏltam* 噴雪潭 **[fig. 8]**. The characters help us to understand which place is depicted. *Punsŏltam* is the name of a famous view in the Kŭmgang mountains. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the mountains were a popular place to travel among the aristocratic elite and secondary status group called *chung'in* 중인 (Stiller 2021, 7). There was a route along which travelers climbed the mountains, it included picturesque gorges and waterfalls, Buddhist temples and other monuments of Buddhist culture. Landscape no. 1 shows a traveler who is contemplating a waterfall against the backdrop of rocky peaks. However, the depicted view doesn't have much in common with the actual place and with the landscapes of other artists who painted the Punsŏltam, for example, Chŏng Su-Yŏng 정수영 (1743‑1831)'s *Punsŏltam* 분설담.

**Elena Khokhlova Kyŏmjae Chŏng Sŏn Screen from the Kunstkamera Collection: Question of Attribution**

**Figure 4** Anonymous, *Screen with Views of the Kŭmgang Mountain Range*. Nineteenth century. Eight-panel screen, panel no. 8. Ink and colours on silk, 46 × 32 cm. Kunstkamera museum, Saint Petersburg, Russia

**Elena Khokhlova Kyŏmjae Chŏng Sŏn Screen from the Kunstkamera Collection: Question of Attribution**

**Figure 5** Chŏng Sŏn, *Waterfall in Yŏsan*. Ink and colours on silk, 100.3 × 64.2 cm. National Museum of Korea, Seoul, Republic of Korea

**Elena Khokhlova Kyŏmjae Chŏng Sŏn Screen from the Kunstkamera Collection: Question of Attribution**

**Figure 6** Anonymous, *Screen with Views of the Kŭmgang Mountain Range*. Nineteenth century. Eight-panel screen, panel no. 2. Ink and colours on silk, 46 × 32 cm. Kunstkamera museum, Saint Petersburg, Russia

**Elena Khokhlova Kyŏmjae Chŏng Sŏn Screen from the Kunstkamera Collection: Question of Attribution**

**Figure 7** Anonymous, *Screen with Views of the Kŭmgang Mountain Range*. Nineteenth century. Eight-panel screen, panel no. 4. Ink and colours on silk, 46 × 32 cm. Kunstkamera museum, Saint Petersburg, Russia

At the same time, the landscape is similar to the *Chinjudam* (眞珠潭) landscape, discovered in 2019, in Japan, and attributed to the brush of Chŏng Sŏn.<sup>2</sup> The names of the two landscapes do not coincide, but the compositional similarity is obvious: the location of the mountain peaks in the background, slopes to the left and right, a pond, an image of a waterfall divided into two streams by a boulder, etc. The *Chinjudam* landscape has a three-character inscription saying that it depicts a famous view of the Kŭmgang mountains. The depicted landscape is similar to the real area, the name of the area corresponds. The landscape on panel no. 1 differs from the real view of the area and is compositionally similar to the indicated *Chinjudam*. It is difficult to explain such a coincidence. Perhaps the author of the screen wanted to depict one of the famous views of the Kŭmgang mountains, but there was confusion with the name. Thus, the landscape from the first panel of the screen can be an image of the Kŭmgang mountains, however, not *Punsŏltam*, but *Chinjudam*.

Panel no. 3 **[fig. 2]** depicts a landscape similar in composition to the works on panel nos. 2 and 4. However, it lacks the protruding sharp peaks of the Kŭmgang mountains. In the lower right corner, a stone bridge is depicted, along which a company of travelers crosses a mountain stream. The bridge deserves special attention. In the Kŭmgang mountains, the Pihong Bridge was built near the Chang'an Buddhist temple. The bridge was destroyed during the Korean War (1950-53). The image of the bridge is found in several 'true-scenery' landscapes by Chŏng Sŏn, with a view of the temple or an overview of the mountains, such as the *Changansa* (1711), from the collection of the National Museum of the Republic of Korea and the *Pihong Bridge at Changansa Monastery* (1747), from the collection of the Kansong Art and Culture Foundation. The Pihong bridge was a single span without arches, while the screen depicts a stone bridge with two arches. The bridge led to the temple. Chŏng Sŏn and other artists usually depicted the temple next to the bridge. Still, no sign of the temple is seen on the landscape in question. Thus, the landscape on panel no. 3 can be called an image of the Kŭmgang mountains only if there was another stone bridge in the mountains besides the Pihong Bridge. In the landscape, a group of travelers is depicted. On the bridge, a servant boy pulls a donkey which is resisting with all its might. The image of a stubborn donkey is not found in the 'true-scenery' of Chŏng Sŏn but is a frequent narrative element of sixteenth-seventeenth cen-

<sup>2</sup> Regarding the authenticity of this landscape, there are also different points of view. Professor Ch'oe Wan-Su, the expert on Chŏng Sŏn, vouched for its authenticity (Hŏ 2020). The image is published here: https://www.chosun.com/site/data/html\_ dir/2019/09/16/2019091600190.html.

**Elena Khokhlova Kyŏmjae Chŏng Sŏn Screen from the Kunstkamera Collection: Question of Attribution**

**Figure 8** Anonymous, *Screen with Views of the Kŭmgang Mountain Range*. Nineteenth century. Eight-panel screen, panel no. 1. Ink and colours on silk, 46 × 32 cm. Kunstkamera museum, Saint Petersburg, Russia

**Elena Khokhlova Kyŏmjae Chŏng Sŏn Screen from the Kunstkamera Collection: Question of Attribution**

**Figure 9** Anonymous, *Screen with the Views of the Kŭmgang Mountain Range.* Nineteenth century. Eight-panel screen, panel no. 5. Ink and colours on silk, 46 × 32 cm. Kunstkamera museum, Saint Petersburg, Russia

**Figure 10**

Chŏng Sŏn, *Ŭnamdongnok*, 1740-41. Album leaf from *Album of Views in the Capital and Suburbs*. Ink and colours on paper, 31.4 × 30.3 cm. Kansong Art and Culture Foundation, Seoul, Republic of Korea

tury landscapes: the most famous example is the scroll<sup>3</sup> entitled *The Boy and the Donkey*, by Kim Si (1524-93).

The landscape on panel no. 5 is one of the most fascinating works of the screen **[fig. 9]**. In *Album of Views in the Capital and Suburbs* (*Kyŏnggyo myŏngsŭng ch'ŏp* 경교명승첩) by Chŏng Sŏn (1741), there is a similar landscape titled *Ŭnamdongnok* **[fig. 10]**. The compositional similarity is obvious: a high central hill, a dilapidated wall-enclosure in the central part and a dense forest strip behind it, a road, a low hill with pine trees in the lower right corner, and dense buildings in the upper right corner with a high pavilion. It has been established that the landscape *Ŭnamdongnok* is a view of Seoul; the buildings in the upper right corner look like a densely populated metropolitan area, the tall building is presumably one of the pavilions of the Kyŏngdŏk Palace, and the wall in the central part of the work is the crumbling fence of the Kyŏngbok Palace, destroyed during the Imjin War (1592-98) (Ch'oe 2009a, 198). Landscape no. 5 repeats the features of *Ŭnamdongnok*. Let's note that the fence crumbled in the same place in both works. The passage is equally littered

<sup>3</sup> The scroll is in the collection of the Leeum Museum of Art in Seoul.

with stones, which gives the confidence to assert that landscape no. 5 is not a view of the Kŭmgang mountains, but a view of Seoul, painted based on *Album of Views in the Capital and Suburbs*.

Landscapes nos. 6 and 8 are typical examples of paintings on the theme of 'contemplating a waterfall', a popular theme in Chosŏn period **[figs 4, 11]**. These are fictional landscapes in Chinese style, the main character of which is the contemplative hero watching a waterfall in solitude. Travelers on the high bank enjoy the beauty of falling water. Waterfalls, as I mentioned above, were especially important spots of the Kŭmgang mountains, picturesque water flows, admired by generations of literati. But I did not find similar waterfall depictions among the numerous landscapes that glorify the beauty of the Kŭmgang mountains. There are no references to the Kŭmgang mountains in these landscapes. The Buddhist monastery in the upper left corner of landscape no. 6 connects it with the fictional landscapes even more since a Buddhist monastery with a tall pagoda is a frequent feature of fictional landscapes and does not appear in views of the Kŭmgang mountains. I assert that landscapes nos. 6 and 8 should be known as landscapes of a fictional type, but not as views of the Kŭmgang mountains.

Landscape no. 7 depicts a seashore **[fig. 12]**. Among Chŏng Sŏn's works, there are several landscapes with views of the coast of the East Sea, which travelers liked to visit. I did not a find a similar composition among Chŏng Sŏn's landscapes, but since his seascapes depict the views of the East Sea, and due to a lack of strong arguments, I will not refute the statement that the view of the East Sea from the Kŭmgang mountains is depicted. However, let's note the negligence of the technique: the waves are depicted with several lines and ink wash, which is not typical for Chŏng Sŏn's seascapes. The master mostly painted waves with long and thin lines, as, for example, in the famous seascape of Chŏng Sŏn, *Naksansa*, from the collection of the National Museum of Korea **[fig. 13]**. The stones in the lower left corner are painted roughly and carelessly and look like a chaotic heap of stone blocks. Such carelessness is not typical for Chŏng Sŏn's landscapes.

Thus, I conclude that landscapes nos. 1, 2, 4, 7 can be called views of the Kŭmgang mountains. In landscape no. 3, there is no evidence to call it an image of the Kŭmgang mountains. Landscape no. 5 is a view of Seoul, landscapes nos. 6 and 8 are fictional landscapes in Chinese style, on the theme of 'contemplation of a waterfall'.

**Elena Khokhlova Kyŏmjae Chŏng Sŏn Screen from the Kunstkamera Collection: Question of Attribution**

**Figure 11** Anonymous, *Screen with View of the Kŭmgang Mountain Range*. Nineteenth century. Eight-panel screen, panel no. 6. Ink and colours on silk, 46 × 32 cm. Kunstkamera museum, Saint Petersburg, Russia

**Elena Khokhlova Kyŏmjae Chŏng Sŏn Screen from the Kunstkamera Collection: Question of Attribution**

**Figure 12** Anonymous, *Screen with Views of the Kŭmgang Mountain Range*. Nineteenth century. Eight-panel screen, panel no. 7. Ink and colours on silk, 46 × 32 cm. Kunstkamera museum, Saint Petersburg, Russia

**Elena Khokhlova Kyŏmjae Chŏng Sŏn Screen from the Kunstkamera Collection: Question of Attribution**

**Figure 13** Chŏng Sŏn, *Naksansa*. Ink on silk. National Museum of Korea, Seoul, Republic of Korea

#### 4 Conclusion

The sceen from the collection of the Kunstkamera is not an original work of Chŏng Sŏn, even though the landscapes are signed and bear a seal. Albums from English collections attributed to Chŏng Sŏn prove that the forgers copied the artist's signature and seal to convince the buyer of the authenticity of the pieces. The technique and imperfection prove that, even though the author of the screen knew the main features of Chŏng Sŏn's 'true-scenery' landscapes, he lacked the understanding of how to perform and use it. I also showed that not all eight landscapes of the screen, as was believed, are images of the Kŭmgang mountains.

The screen from the Kunstkamera is an important example of Korean landscape painting, and it proves how important Chŏng Sŏn's 'true-scenery' landscapes were in the history of Korean painting. Contemporaries and subsequent generations of artists copied and forged his works for their own needs. The significance of Chŏng Sŏn's work, hundreds of landscapes in his style and fakes, add intrigue and make the screen from the Kunstkamera an important artwork of Korean culture.

#### **Bibliography**


Chang Chin-Sŏng (Chang Chin-Sung) 장진성 (2009). "Kanghŭian p'il <kosagwansudo> ŭi chakcha mit yŏndaemunje" 강희안 필 <고사관수도>의 작자 및 연대문 제 (The Authorship and Date of Kang Hŭi-an's Lofty Scholar Contemplating Water Revisited). *Misulsawa shigangmunhwahak*, 8, 128-51.


**Cultural Exchanges Between Korea and the West** Artifacts and Intangible Heritage edited by Jong-Chol An and Ariane Perrin

### Crossroads: The Meetings of Korea and the World Through Pilgrimage Routes

Franklin Rausch Lander University, USA

**Abstract** The history of Catholicism in Korea is complex – it can be seen as connected negatively to Western imperialism or positively to modernity. This paper will explore how Korean Catholics have sought to build a positive image for their faith through Catholic holy sites in a large part by utilizing the legitimacy of international religious and secular authorities. In particular, it will examine the three international pilgrimage routes recognized by the Vatican after Pope Francis' 2014 visit to Korea. Haemi, the internationally recognized site famous for its large number of 'nameless martyrs'; Solmoe, the birthplace of the first Korean priest and UNESCO-sponsored events associated with it; and Puŏnggol, the site of a seminary led by French missionary priests.

**Keywords** Korean Catholic Church. Pilgrim sites. Vatican. Pope. UNESCO.

**Summary** 1 Introduction. – 2 The Seoul International Pilgrimage Routes. – 3 Haemi and Solmoe. – 4 Puŏnggol. – 5 Conclusion.

#### 1 Introduction

Father Han Kwang-Sŏk, in an interview about the history of the Haemi holy site, which he managed, explained that many martyrdoms that had occurred there were carried out in the aftermath of the 1868 Oppert Incident (Chŏnjugyo Taejŏn Kyogu 2021). 1 As part of that incident, a group of armed adventurers guided by a French priest and

1 For background on the Oppert Incident, see Cho 2017 and Rausch 2019a.

**Studi e ricerche 32** e-ISSN 2610-9123 | ISSN 2610-993X ISBN [ebook] 978-88-6969-717-3 | ISBN [print] 978-88-6969-718-0

**Peer review | Open access 101** Submitted 2022-09-05 | Accepted 2023-03-02 | Published 2023-08-30 © 2023 Rausch | cb 4.0 **DOI 10.30687/978‑88-6969‑717-3/005**

Korean Catholics sought to break into the tomb of the grandfather of Chosŏn's King Kojong (1852‑1919) and steal his bones, which would then be used as a bargaining chip in an effort to pressure the kingdom into opening to trade and tolerating Catholicism. Such actions clearly implicate Catholicism in Western imperialism. Likewise, critics could argue that the Catholic Church in the nineteenth century, the period paralleling the time of persecution of Korean Catholics, was an enemy of modernity, particularly in terms of religious freedom and the free dissemination of knowledge (Weigel 2019). One important aspect of modernity, equality, particularly gender equality, is another area where criticism may be raised, with scholar of Korean Catholicism Song Jee-yeon showing how at least some Korean Catholic women see their church as patriarchal and in need of radical reform (Song 2022).

And yet, others present the history of Korean Catholicism in a way that challenges these views. For instance, The Research Foundation of Korean Church History's *Inside the Catholic Church of Korea* focuses on how the import of Catholicism into Korea was undertaken by Koreans living in a failing state and chaotic society who developed

an interest in Western science and learning [allowing a] new light […] to appear in Joseon society despite severe restrictions and sanctions. (The Research Foundation of Korean Church History 2010, 13)

And some scholars have argued that had this Catholic access to Western science and technology been embraced rather than rejected, Korea could have modernized earlier under its own terms, thereby avoiding colonization (Han, Rausch 2017). Similarly, *Inside the Catholic Church of Korea* presents the persecution of Catholics and the consequent retreat to mountain villages largely out of the reach of the state led them to seek

to live in fraternal equality, repudiating class divisions, and seeking to live as friends in faith (*Kyou*), equal under God. They also sought to repudiate hierarchical relationships between men and women, husband and wife. (The Research Foundation of Korean Church History 2010, 38)

Similarly, though not going quite as far, a scholar of Korean Catholicism, Choi Seon-hye, asserts that Catholic beliefs about Jesus and Mary challenged the Neo-Confucian political order and "society's patriarchal family system" (Choi 2012, 110).

The history of Catholicism in Korea is therefore complicated by opposing tensions – the Catholic Church in Europe was in many ways anti-modern, while it had influences that could be viewed by later Koreans as opening a path towards modernity. Similarly, the Catholic connection with imperialism and science and technology makes Catholicism, and the West, both a source of danger and of new ideas that can benefit Korean people. For Korean Catholics who are both patriotic and faithful, there is naturally a desire to resolve such historical issues and to find positive meaning in the history of their faith on the peninsula. This is particularly important for church officials who must find ways to build positive relationships with Korean society, the vast majority of whose members are not Catholic and are strongly influenced by nationalism. Catholic sites, as physical locations that can be highly visible, and events associated with those locations, can provide a useful window that allow us to see how this is done and how the aforementioned tensions are resolved or obscured. In this paper I will argue that Korean Catholics have sought to present a historical narrative that presents Catholicism as a positive force in Korean history, particularly in terms of modernity and progress, through historical sites associated with the faith and their recognition by international religious and secular authorities, while also at times avoiding or deemphasizing parts of history that conflict with this story. Specifically, I will examine the Vatican-recognized Seoul international pilgrimage routes, the aforementioned Haemi, Solmoe – the birthplace of the first Korean Catholic priest, Father Andrew Kim Tae-Gŏn (1821‑46) –, and Puŏnggol, the site of a lost Catholic seminary.

#### 2 The Seoul International Pilgrimage Routes

In preparation for the beatification of 124 martyrs by Pope Francis in 2014, leaders from the Catholic Archdiocese of Seoul, the Seoul Metropolitan Government, and other organizations, would work together to create pilgrimage routes based around important Catholic sites, which were officially unveiled in 2018.<sup>2</sup> Multiple routes were created to include Catholic as well as secular and non-Catholic religious locations. Together, these routes expose people to places of martyrdom for a 'Western' religion, churches that have enshrined relics of French priests, and museums that tell the story of martyrdom. At the same time, these sites that share a history of the violent rejection of Western influence in the form of Catholicism are placed within a narrative that celebrates the globalization of Korea, both culturally and religiously, in which the country stands, not so much as a representative of the 'East' but as an independent agent within an interconnected world.

<sup>2</sup> Announcements for the international pilgrimage routes can be found at the following sources: Baek 2014; CPBC 2018; National Geographic 2018.

**Franklin Rausch Crossroads: The Meetings of Korea and the World Through Pilgrimage Routes**

**Figure 1** Myŏngdong Cathedral. Namu Wiki. Munhwa chaech'ŏng Kukka munhwa Yusan P't'ŏl (Culture Heritage Administration). https://shorturl.at/gpHOR

Three different pilgrimage routes are presented on the official government Seoul Net website. The routes as they appear there are similar in that each takes approximately two-and-a-half hours to walk and most of the sites are closely connected to religion.<sup>3</sup> For instance, the Seoul route is bookended by two churches. The first is Myŏngdong Cathedral **[fig. 1]**, which is described on the site as the "first Gothic style" church in Korea and the "epicenter of the Korean democratization movement that started in the 1960s", thus connecting Western architecture and the successful indigenization of a 'Western' form of government. Church grounds also reveal French influence in the form of an imitation of the Marian grotto at Lourdes **[fig. 2]**. The second is Yakhyŏn Catholic Church **[fig. 3]**, which is presented as the oldest Catholic Church in Korea and has a mixed Romanesque and Gothic style. Another church, Kahoe-dong Catholic Church, is also mentioned, with a focus on it being located in the area where Father Zhou Wenmo, explicitly identified as a Chinese Catholic priest, said his first Mass in Korea.

Along the Pukch'on Pilgrimage Route, Sŏkchŏng Porŭm Well is mentioned as where Father Zhou obtained water to perform baptisms. The history of martyrdom is also represented, as along the

<sup>3</sup> The Seoul Net walking tours site that includes the pilgrimages can be found at the following link: https://english.visitseoul.net/walking-tour/Seoul-Pilgrimage-Route\_/26225.

**Franklin Rausch Crossroads: The Meetings of Korea and the World Through Pilgrimage Routes**

**Figure 2** Lourdes Grotto, revealing French influence, at the foot of Myŏngdong Cathedral. Author's personal collection

same route the Sŏsomun Historical Park is included as a place of Catholic execution. Likewise, along the Hangang Pilgrimage route can be found the Chŏltusan Martyr's Shrine, where large numbers of Catholics were executed in the Pyŏngin Persecution, which began in 1866. A new Catholic site was even created, the Specialized Section of Hangang Pilgrimage Route, which contains four paths: dust, stone, forest, and flower. Pilgrims are encouraged to reflect on their own past

while walking along the paths that symbolize the progress of pilgrimage from toleration of hardships to blooming of flowers in the end.<sup>4</sup>

Non-Catholic religious sites are also included, such as the Anglican Cathedral, and Yanghwajin Foreign Missionary Cemetery, which is a part of the Hangang Route, and is only a stone's throw away from Chŏltusan. The name as listed here is something of a misnomer as non-missionaries were also buried there. However, the site is managed by a Protestant church, and the tour provided by volunteer guides and the museum located there present Protestant Christianity as essential to Korea's modernization and present prosperity. This is echoed in the description provided on Seoul Net, which notes that

<sup>4</sup> This might be a reference to the episcopal motto of Bishop Gustave Mutel (1854-1933), "Bloom flowers of the martyrs".

**Figure 3** Yakhyŏn Parish Church. Namu Wiki. Munhwa chaech'ŏng Kukka munhwa Yusan P't'ŏl (Culture Heritage Administration). https://www.heritage.go.kr/heri/cul/imgHeritage.do?ccimId= 6311502&ccbaKdcd=13&ccbaAsno=02580000&ccbaCtcd=11

John Heron [an early Protestant medical missionary], the second director of Kwanghyewŏn, the first Western-style hospital in Korea<sup>5</sup>

is buried there (Underwood 2022). At the same time, it is also implied that Korea, having successfully developed, is no longer in need of Western assistance (Cha 2022). Even going further in an ecumenical direction, Chogye Temple, the headquarters of the largest Buddhist sect in Korea, is also included in the Seoul route. Moreover, not all sites are religious in nature. For instance, the Seoul Museum of Art appears on the Seoul route, as does Insadong, an important area for souvenir shopping, and in the Hangang Route, Map'o Food Street is mentioned with a description of the types of food one can sample there. While spirituality and consumerism might be seen as contradictory, functionally speaking, it allows the Catholic Church to build friendly relations with governments and wider society as increased foot traffic would have a positive economic impact.

The companion app for the pilgrimage includes both more secular-oriented routes and openly Catholic ones. When the app, which has as its logo a heart made of a length of rope,<sup>6</sup> opens, it first shows

<sup>5</sup> Heron's death and the need for a place of burial is what led to the establishment of the cemetery in the first place.

<sup>6</sup> The rope would seem to connect to the idea of Catholics being arrested and tied.

an image of the Sŏsomun monument to the martyrs, focusing on the large image of Jesus at the center, which they surround, and with a caption noting that the pilgrimage is Vatican approved. Once open the words "The Journey of the Heart: the way of serenity and nobility" appear superimposed over an interior shot of Myŏngdong Cathedral, an iconic Western-style church, with a single worshipper visible.<sup>7</sup> While Seoul Net focuses on one set of pilgrimage routes, the app has two separate sections: "Pilgrimage" routes (a bishop's miter serving as the button) and "Tourism" routes (with a button shaped like road signs). These routes are similar to each other and to the Seoul Net sites, particularly as the two routes within the app use the same descriptions for specific sites. However, some sites appear only in the "Tourism" section or in the "Pilgrimage" section.<sup>8</sup>

In comparison to Seoul Net, the app provides more detailed explanations of the meaning of the sites. For instance, when opened, the introduction to the "Tourism" section states that the

Seoul Pilgrimage Routes allow you to follow in the footsteps of martyrs who valued their faith above their own lives. While following those who sacrificed for their belief and value, reflect on what is you most value, and what makes your days happy and rewarding.

In addition to this theme of self-reflection encouraging self-understanding that marks the pilgrimage routes, there is also a presentation of Korean history. For instance, the Pukch'on Pilgrimage Route in the "Tourism" section states that

Since the old days, Bukchon [Pukch'on] has been a place displaying a distinctive tolerance, where a variety of different cultures do not collide with one another but melt to create a single new culture. Bukchon Pilgrimage Route incorporates historic sites of disparate religions including Catholicism. As visitors walk along the route, they can witness tragedies created by different views lying behind the outward appearance. Looking back on the pains of the history of persecutions of the Catholic Church, think about the importance of accepting and tolerating differences.

While Catholics could be quite intolerant of non-Catholic minorities in Europe, here, the emphasis is on the persecution Catholics in Ko-

<sup>7</sup> It is the Author's guess that this is a mean to encourage individual contemplation and prayer.

<sup>8</sup> For instance, non-Catholic religious sites and secular sites do not appear on the Pilgrimage route, while Catholic sites that are connected to Joseon government buildings that are no longer there and only locatable through markers do not appear in the "Tourism" section.

rea suffered, without mention of the Catholic critique of other religions, such as that found in the earliest Korean-authored catechism, Augustine Chŏng Yak-Chong's *Chugyo yoji* (The Essentials of Catholicism; 2009). However, this focus on tolerance, in addition to presenting a modern message, also makes it narratively easier to bring in Jogye Temple, the headquarters of the largest Buddhist order in Korea. In contrast to the Seoul Net site, there is a lengthy description that mentions its temple stay program and Buddha's birthday celebration. There is also room for the secular, with the inclusion of the Seoul Museum of Art, which is described as

a place where you can appreciate modern and contemporary art in various exhibitions including invitation exhibitions of artworks by legendary global artists including Chagall, Matisse and Picasso,

sending a message that a global Korea appreciates Western art.

Moreover, this introduction recognizes the anti-Catholic persecutions as historical occurrences that were the consequences of human action, the implication being that they were caused by a lack of tolerance. The Catholic-oriented "Pilgrimage" section expands on their causes. In the "Eternal Life" road, which roughly corresponds to Seoul Net's "Seoul" route (with added sites where Catholics were persecuted), it is noted that

The Chosŏn Dynasty, which was in power when Catholicism arrived in the Country, did not take kindly to the new religion and its teaching the word of God is more important than the King's order. Fearful of the destabilization of the social order, the new teaching was proscribed, and its followers were persecuted.

Thus, Catholicism is presented as a force of progress (particularly with its ideas of equality mentioned in the introduction) willing to question the authoritarian Joseon state and the rigidly hierarchical social system. After noting that the old buildings where Catholics were imprisoned, tortured, and killed no longer stand, the app states that

The Eternal Life Road offers pilgrims, as they stand on the land where so much blood has flowed, the opportunity to think about the history of the persecutions of Catholicism and the values which shaped the martyrs' decisions. Walking the Eternal Life Road and discovering the traces of those who valued their faith above their own lives, naturally challenges us to ponder: what we most value in life.

This narrative of national growth from a closed society governed by a state fearful of change to a more open society can be seen in the introductory section of the "Pilgrimage" route, which offers a brief history of the Catholic Church in Korea, emphasizing its growth "into a major religion with over 5,000,000 believers". The next paragraph shifts to the

magnificent City of Seoul, which has rapidly grown out of the ruins of war.

Thus, an implicit connection is drawn between the parallel development of Catholicism and a modern, cosmopolitan society, both presumably the result of a global Korea open to the West. Subsequently, the text raises the possibility that the pilgrim will "find a deeper sense that is refreshed and inspired by the serenity and nobility of those early believers", and thus be called upon to mirror individually the openness of the nation.

Thus, Catholicism, a "Western" religion, is presented as a historical example of both the violence that arises from intolerance and of how openness is a positive good on both the national and individual levels, though as noted previously instances of Catholic intolerance are not mentioned. Likewise, other aspects of Catholic history, particularly its connection with the West, is elided. For instance, the fact that Catholicism was perceived, correctly to a certain degree, to be connected to forces of Western imperialism, particularly in the anti-Catholic violence of the 1860s and 1870s, is not mentioned, in part because it would likely conflict with the narrative of openness to the outside world as a positive good (Kim 1980). Likewise, nineteenth-century Catholic challenges to the state and society were primarily motivated by theological beliefs, thus making their movement rather different from modern ones calling for democracy and human rights, and the willingness of Catholics to die as martyrs arose from their faith in Jesus Christ, their desire to follow his example, and their refusal to renounce their faith in God (Rausch 2019b).

The West is at times mentioned explicitly. For instance, Kahoedong Catholic Church is described as having been

rebuilt in consideration of its unique historical and local characteristics, combining a traditional Korean building […] and a Western-style church building.

However, the treatment of French missionaries, who made up the vast majority of Catholic priests in Korea during the nineteenth century and many of whom died as martyrs, focus almost exclusively on their deaths. For instance, while their names are occasionally given where appropriate, such as in a description of the Uigeumbu, where the three French martyr saints of the 1839 persecution were interrogated, their actions other than martyrdom are not described, nor is their nationality explicitly mentioned.<sup>9</sup> This stands in contrast to Father Zhou, who is mentioned multiple times and is clearly identified as Chinese. Moreover, Zhou is specifically linked to Saint Father Andrew Kim Tae-Gŏn through Porŭm Well, which they are both said to have drawn water from for sacramental purposes, implying a sort of transition from foreign missionary to Korean indigenous priesthood. Curiously, the close relationship that Father Andrew Kim had with the French missionaries who educated him for the priesthood is not mentioned, nor the French teachers in the Catholic University entry, despite the reference to the history of seminary education during the period of persecution (Rausch 2008).

The continued de-emphasis on French influence can be seen in the treatment of the Catholic Archdiocese of Seoul History Hall. Its description includes a brief reference to Bishop Gustave Mutel, an important Catholic leader in Korea from the 1890s until his death in 1933, as having blessed that building, as little else substantive is said of him. This is especially striking considering that it was Mutel who was behind the construction of Myŏngdong Cathedral, which is a key site in these pilgrimage routes and the symbolic center of Korean Catholicism. This might in part be owing to the fact that it was Mutel who denied Catholic nationalist Thomas An Chunggŭn access to a priest while he was awaiting execution for his killing of Itō Hirobumi (though one would disobey and visit him anyway) and would actively suppress pro-independence activities by Catholics during the Japanese colonial period (Rausch 2013).

The three French martyrs of 1839, in contrast to Mutel, are difficult to connect with imperialism or as pro-Japanese. However, when the app mentions that in an "underground cemetery" (a crypt) in the cathedral there are four martyrs and five "saint martyrs", the nationalities of those three are not mentioned. The only Western person who receives much attention in connection to Myŏngdong Cathedral is Pope Francis, and he is treated as an honored guest, there to bear witness to Catholic success. In contrast, the pastoral activities of those Catholic Westerners who labored and died in Korea are hardly mentioned. In a sense then, Western influence, particularly aspects congenial to modernity, are welcome, while Western people are rendered largely invisible or are temporary guests.

The creators of the pilgrimage routes skillfully brought together both secular locations and sites from multiple religions, particularly Catholicism, in a way that could appeal to a diverse audience from a variety of worldviews, including both Catholics and non-Catholics.

<sup>9</sup> These French martyrs were Father Pierre-Philibert Maubant (1803-39), Father Jacques Chastan (1803‑39), and Bishop Laurence Imbert (1796‑1839).

So what would a person who walked these Korean pilgrimage routes experience in terms of the relationship between the East and West? As we have seen, they would witness, through the diversity of these locations, the possibility of the peaceful coexistence of different religions and cultures, including ones from the West, and how such outside influences have had a positive impact on Korea. At the same time, the reality of anti-Catholic persecution shows that the necessary tolerance is not automatic, but rather must be developed, but when it does, it makes possible a modern, successful country, as seen in the parallels drawn between the development of Catholicism and Korea. The style of presentation means that both Koreans and non-Koreans, Catholics and non-Catholics, can admire and take pride in these accomplishments. The respect for diversity as part of modernity is further underlined by the encouragement of the individual to determine for themselves what this means for their own values. Thus, the individual is brought into conversation with history and encouraged to draw their own conclusions. However, those conclusions are guided in the direction that tolerance and openness to the outside world is a positive good.

In many ways this approach seems appropriate considering the Republic of Korea's place in the world, but at the same time, it elides historical issues that might conflict with this message. The very different values of nineteenth-century Catholics are not fully recognized, nor are the threats posed by Western imperialism or the positive contributions made by Western priests, particularly the French, to the development of the Catholic Church in Korea. This is particularly striking as historians of Catholicism in Korea do not shy away from dealing with these issues, for instance, by closely investigating the Oppert Incident and the role played by Catholics in it (Cho 2017). Perhaps this presentation of global influence in which Koreans are the primary movers and little is said of Western people is more palatable to Korean nationalism, but it seems to undercut the narrative's celebration of tolerance. However, if the pilgrimage route proves a success, perhaps as Korean society becomes more multicultural, it too will transform.

#### 3 Haemi and Solmoe

In March 2021, the Vatican officially recognized the Haemi Catholic shrine complex as an international pilgrimage site. Haemi is located south of Taejŏn in west-central Korea. During the Joseon period, that area was near the coast and considered important enough for security that it was under military jurisdiction. That special status meant that rather than having to request permission to execute people from the king, those who were accused of crimes could be killed and their deaths reported officially afterwards. This prevented the creation of the paper trail that would normally follow an execution, particularly as it would seem that the required reports were often not filed. Since Naepo, an area under this military jurisdiction, was an early center of Catholicism, large numbers of Catholics are believed to have been martyred in Haemi, with the shrine itself claiming more than 1,000. The persecutions of the late 1860s were particularly harsh, with the number to be executed being so great that many were simply buried alive in order to save time by combining execution and corpse disposal.<sup>10</sup>

The anonymity of many of the martyrs meant that Haemi would be largely overlooked as the Korean Catholic Church focused its efforts on the canonization of the 103 martyr saints, which occurred in 1984. Success led to further research into the lives of other martyrs who were not included in that list, as well as to other sites, such as Haemi. As described on the shrine's homepage, it received new attention for development in the 1980s, leading to the building of a chapel and enshrining of relics there in 2003. It would come to include a large gate complex, an open area with an outdoor stations of the cross and multiple monuments detailing the forms of torture and execution carried out there, a parish church, and a large tower that includes various statues of martyrs and provides a beautiful panoramic view of its surroundings **[figs 4‑5]**. 11

On August 17, 2014, two days after beatifying 124 martyrs, Pope Francis visited Haemi. There he prayed at the shrine and met with Asian bishops, and then traveled to a larger venue to address Asian youth. While there he unveiled a commemorative stone for three of the martyrs who he had beatified and who had died in Haemi, including Father Andrew Kim Tae-Gŏn's great-grandfather Pio Kim Chinhu (1739‑1814), and stated that by

following the example of the martyrs, we can become witnesses to the faith,

a quote featured in a Korean YouTube video (Catholic Holy Land Pilgrim in Korea 2019). This statement helped to reinforce one of the goals of the pope's visit, the holding up of the Korean Catholic Church as a model of growth and development in Asia. The pope's visit to Haemi is commemorated there by a plaque and a smiling statue of the pontiff **[figs 6‑7]**, which is prominently featured in YouTube videos about the site, such as the one mentioned above, as well as a display featuring pictures and quotes from his visit.

<sup>10</sup> See the website of the Haemi International Sanctuary: http://www.haemi.or.kr/. www.haemi.or.kr.

<sup>11</sup> The author visited this site in November, 2018.

**Franklin Rausch Crossroads: The Meetings of Korea and the World Through Pilgrimage Routes**

**Figure 4** Entrance to Haemi Shrine, with the gate in the center and the observation tower on the right. Author's personal collection **Figure 5** View from the observation tower of the shrine and the city beyond it. Author's personal collection

The pope's connection with the shrine deepened with the Vatican's recognition of it as an international holy site. The Archdiocese of Taejŏn celebrated this event and released a video to its YouTube channel, mentioned in the introduction of this paper, that featured a visit by Father Kang Tae-Wŏn, who is in charge of public relations for the archdiocese, to the holy site to interview Father Han Kwang-Sŏk. After discussing the history of the shrine, as noted in the introduction of this paper, Kang asked Han what the significance of the site is. This question is particularly important as it not immediately clear why Haemi, which has no famous martyrs and is not as important as other sites for the historical development of Catholicism in Korea, should become an international holy site.

**Figure 6** Pope Francis statue at the foot of the observation tower. Author's personal collection

Father Han responded to this question by noting that there are three types of holy sites, ones recognized by a bishop of a diocese, national ones recognized by a bishops' conference, and international sites recognized by the Vatican. International recognition by the Vatican meant that all Catholics throughout the world were encouraged to visit the site and the faith of the people connected to the site was a model for them to follow. Han recognized the validity of Kang's question, noting that Haemi was fundamentally different from other international holy sites. For instance, he noted that Jerusalem is important since Jesus died there, Rome was where Peter built up the church, many such sites were significant because of Marian apparitions, and Assisi was important because Saint Francis was active there. But what made Haemi different from these sites was precisely what made it special – the fact that the vast majority of the people who were killed there died without leaving behind their names and were from the lower classes. However, because of their faith, Han asserted that these people were known by God and thus had "bright, famous, and precious names". When interviewed in a secular KBS documentary, Han gave a slightly different but compatible answer when asked a similar question by the host Kim Yŏng-Jŏl, stating that people are equal and valuable, but during the Joseon period, human rights were not followed and terrible persecutions broke out (KBS Takyu 2021). Later, after the noting of the terrible suffering of the martyrs, Kim would observe that despite all that, they kept

**Franklin Rausch Crossroads: The Meetings of Korea and the World Through Pilgrimage Routes**

**Figure 7** Papal monument erected "in honor of the three Blessed Martyrs of Haemi". Author's personal collection

their faith, and thus led great lives. Thus, the attention given to Haemi as an international holy site was used not only to exalt the martyrs, but to put forth Catholic values in a way that could also resonate with non-Catholics.

Later, in the Archdiocese of Taejŏn video, Han laughed off Kang's question of whether he thought Haemi would become as significant of a holy site as Spain's Santiago. However, Han did express his optimism in the site's ability to attract pilgrims. Moreover, Han described his plans for further development. Not only did he express interest in further excavations for traces of martyrs outside the site's current grounds, he hoped to develop links to Buddhist holy sites, which he believed would encourage good relations between the religions. Others shared Han's plans, including the mayor of Sŏsan, Maeng Chŏng-Ho. Together, local government and Catholic officials expressed their hopes for creating linkages between Catholic, Buddhist, cultural, historical, and environmental sites, as well the necessary supporting traffic infrastructure. According to Maeng, this would help make the holy site into "a place of healing and reconciliation, life and peace, that can be enjoyed by all people in the world" (Pak 2021). And as part of these efforts, progress is being made in an effort to have Haemi declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Thus, Catholicism, in partnership with Buddhism, is presenting itself as a positive partner in developing Korea, both economically and as a respected actor on the world stage.

Solmoe, one of the Catholic sites that is proposed to be linked to Haemi as part of a pilgrim route, is the birthplace of Saint Father Andrew Kim Tae-Gŏn, the first Korean Catholic priest. This constitutes part of an attempt to further connect Korean Catholicism and UNE-

**Franklin Rausch Crossroads: The Meetings of Korea and the World Through Pilgrimage Routes**

**Figure 8** Character models available from the official site at https://www.kimdaegeon.com/\_ENG/node/?menu=n050101

SCO. Kim was born in 1821, and the 200th anniversary of Kim's birth was celebrated from 2020 to 2021. Organizers of events, including the Archdiocese of Taejŏn, obtained by UNESCO the recognition of Kim as a "universal patron" and thus were able to note their sponsorship when referring to events. For example, the logo of the official site includes the phrase "Celebrated in association with UNESCO".12 The official website includes advertisements for concerts and other cultural performances, a Minecraft recreation of Solmoe, Kim Taegŏn apps and character models **[fig. 8]**, and a downloadable *han'gŭl* font based on the first priest's own handwriting **[fig. 9]**. There is also a dedicated You-Tube channel that includes a video of a young woman studying at a library about Kim Taegŏn who suddenly falls through the floor and is teleported to the gates of Solmoe (Kim 2021). She meets a man there and together they tour Solmoe, visiting the statue of Pope Francis praying in front of the reconstruction of Kim's home (there are at least three different statues of Pope Francis at Solmoe) and one of Kim's statue, with the announcer proclaiming UNESCO's recognition of the priest. In this way, secular and religious authorities are knitted together to recognize the virtues of Korea through its first priest.

Studi e ricerche 32 **116** Cultural Exchanges Between Korea and the West, 101-124

<sup>12</sup> See the website: https://www.kimdaegeon.com/\_ENG/node/?menu=n010100 (this site is no longer safe).

#### **Franklin Rausch Crossroads: The Meetings of Korea and the World Through Pilgrimage Routes**

**Figure 9** Father Kim font available on the official site at https://www.kimdaegeon.com/\_ENG/node/?menu=n050500

The official site for the first Korean priest also includes a "Kim Dae Geon Webtoon" in which two children and their parents visit Solmoe. 13 Through the journey begun at Kim's birthplace, the webtoon crafts a narrative in which Kim's international connections are emphasized. The series, divided into twenty-one episodes, presents Kim as an intelligent, studious, and caring child who questions why his neighbors beat their slaves. His own family's slave responds that while he is treated well by the Kim family, "worthless lower class [people] like us get hit no matter what we do". When Kim asks his mother why upper class people act in this ways, she explains that all human beings are part of a human family created by God. Kim then announces his desire to take care of the poor in the future. Later, after a neighbor's slave is punished for attempting to spread "strange western studies", a seven-year-old Kim intervenes to save him.14 When his parents decide that they must now move to escape the repression his actions will certainly bring, Kim asks his parents why Catholics are persecuted by the government. His father's response is that they are greedy for power and seek to destroy anything that threatens it, which Catholicism does because of its emphasis on equality between classes and genders. Contrasting with this emphasis on equality, we have thus far seen in the pilgrimage routes that male members of the clergy are the focus, undercutting this message to a degree.

Thus forced to flee Solmoe, Kim will grow up deep in the mountains, but eventually his reputation for faith and studiousness will lead to a visit by Father Pierre Maubant (1803-39), an MEP (Société des Missions Étrangères de Paris) missionary, to visit him and ask him to go to Macao as a seminary student. Kim agrees after a night

<sup>13</sup> See the website: https://www.kimdaegeon.com/develop/m\_board\_eng/?tb\_ nm=webtoon\_eng&l\_mode=eng.

<sup>14</sup> This appears to be a literary invention.

spent in prayer and his family's assurances that they will be fine even with him abroad. This allows Kim to interact with other Western people, including Catholic clergy and the captain of a French warship. In this way, Kim learns foreign languages and takes part in the talks ending the First Opium War (1838-42). While critical of the treaty as unequal, the webtoon notes that Kim's participation is an example of a person from Joseon playing a critical part in world history. Likewise, Kim also creates a map of Korea for Bishop Ferreol (1808-53), which is presented as teaching Westerners about the country (and is noted to have included Dokdo, presenting Kim as a knowledgeable nationalist). In the end though, Kim is arrested, but because of his knowledge, is promised that if he gives up his faith, he will be given a lucrative government position and can use what he knows to benefit the country. However, Kim refuses to apostatize and is executed. It should be noted that this story is based on pious tradition rather than historical fact.

While Western people and knowledge are presented in a generally positive light in the webtoon, typically appearing as handsome, smiling, and friendly figures who praise Kim, it should be noted that the failure of the French warship captain to take him back to Joseon as promised is presented as something of a betrayal. In contrast, the last episode reports that Pope Francis visited the shrine in 2014 and prayed there and notes that now the Korean "shrine of Solmoe"<sup>15</sup> has become famous throughout the world. Thus, sites like Haemi and Solmoe have become nodes within an interlocking network of Catholic and non-Catholic sites in which the authority of global religious and secular authorities are utilized to celebrate Korean Catholicism on an international stage and to present Catholic values in a way palatable to non-Catholics, thus presenting Catholicism as a positive force in Korea and in the world.

### 4 Puŏnggol

The sites we have examined thus far stand at an intersection between Catholic and non-Catholic audiences. To better understand how Catholics speak to themselves in terms of the meeting of Korea and the West, a brief examination of the activities of the leading organization dedicated to the study of Korean Catholic history, the Han'guk kyohoesa yŏn'guso (The Research Foundation of Korean Church History), would be helpful. Though legally independent, it is closely connected to the archdiocese of Seoul and thus while generally adhering to the practices of secular historians in its academic journal *Kyohoesa* 

<sup>15</sup> For the official site of the shrine see http://www.solmoe.or.kr/?ckattempt=1.

*yŏn'gu* (Studies on church history), it also produces theological-historical materials for Catholics. For instance, it routinely hosts 'open university' lectures aimed at a general Catholic audience. During its 2022 spring semester (March to June 2022), those lectures were entitled "Pilgrimage, awakening the soul" and included lectures not only on Catholic pilgrimages to places like Jerusalem and Santiago, but also Buddhist and Islamic pilgrimage practices as well. These lectures concluded with one given by Father Cho Cho Han-Gŏn, the head of the Institute, that focused on the three international pilgrimage routes mentioned above (Han'guk kyohoesa yŏn'guso 2022a).

Before Father Han's lecture, the improving situation regarding COVID-19 allowed for a busload of students (most of whom were middleaged or older) from the open university to take a field trip to Puŏnggol, an isolated spot where was established in 1885 the equivalent of a small minor seminary devoted to teaching Latin, Korean writing, and Literary Sinitic to help Korean students prepare for the priesthood. During the YouTube video of the pilgrimage, the section dedicated to Puŏnggol simply shows the pilgrims being lectured to in a section of woods (Han'guk kyohoesa yŏn'guso 2022b). This is because while some structures, such as a well, that are believed to have been connected to the seminary have been discovered, the exact spot and the remains of the main building itself have yet to be found (Ch'ŏn 2022e).

The lecture series and the pilgrimage coincided with a series of 2022 articles on Puŏnggol written by Ch'ŏn Kang-U, a Catholic journalist, and published between January and May in *Kyohoe wa yŏksa*  (The Church and History). That particular journal is also published by the Institute, but like the open university, is aimed at a general Catholic audience interested in history and therefore also includes theological reflections. In his articles Ch'ŏn explains how little is actually known of the Sacred Heart Seminary established at Puŏnggol, which was only in existence for a year and five months, but then gathers together what materials there are on the subject and explicates them ably for a lay audience. Ch'ŏn's articles celebrate Korean Catholics in ways we have seen previously, for instance, praising them for establishing communities during the time of persecution in which they lived lives of love and unity in accordance with the "Catholic tradition of 2,000 years" that had been handed down by the apostles (Ch'ŏn 2022d).

What differentiates Ch'ŏn from what we have seen thus far is that he allows foreign missionaries, particularly those of the MEP, to share center stage with Korean Catholics. Ch'ŏn does this primarily through theology, particularly the concept of the priesthood, which he declares to be a "treasure of Catholicism" (Ch'ŏn 2022a) whose members "act as intermediaries between man and God who embody the good news and are witnesses of the 'Father, Son, and Holy Spirit'" (Ch'ŏn 2022e). However, to have priests, an education, and thus seminaries, are necessary. And in Ch'ŏn's telling of history, the French MEP (Ch'ŏn, 2022e) missionary priests played a central role in their establishment. In one of his articles, Ch'ŏn celebrates their bravery and willingness to give up everything to serve the people of Korea recalling that "once they had departed, they were not able to even think of coming home" (Ch'ŏn 2022e). It was those priests who would help establish the first Korean seminary at Baeron in 1855, and even after the persecution of 1866 led to the deaths of all but three of those priests in Korea, who were forced into exile, they would begin to return in the 1870s as Korea began to become more open to the outside world, or, to put it inCh'ŏn's poetic words, in the "aftermath and darkness of cruel persecution, the MEP did not give up the dream of an education for priests" (Ch'ŏn 2022e).

And as they helped rebuild the Korean Catholic Church, they would, working with Korean Catholics, establish the Puŏnggol Sacred Heart seminary in 1885, that location chosen because of its relative isolation, protecting it from possible government persecution. It was the French-Korea treaty of 1886 and the relative religious freedom it brought that allowed for the seminary to be transferred to the more accessible Yongsan. And that seminary would eventually transform into the theological school at Catholic University in Seoul. Thus, despite its small size and short time in existence, Ch'ŏn argued that the seminary at Puŏnggol served as an important link in the chain of priestly education (Ch'ŏn 2022e). Ch'ŏn therefore continued on to urge his readers to pray for and support renewed efforts to find the actual site and in this way, through

prayer and sweat […] Puŏnggol Sacred Heart Seminary, the incubator of faith amidst persecution, would become a glorious pilgrimage site. (Ch'ŏn 2022e)

And from Ch'ŏn's retelling of its history, French missionaries would be an important focus of such a site. Thus, it seems that in telling the story of Korean Catholicism, Korean Catholics are more comfortable emphasizing the importance of French influence when talking amongst themselves, while playing it down when appealing to a religiously heterogenous audience.

#### 5 Conclusion

This paper's exploration of a sample of Korean Catholic holy sites and their associated pilgrim routes reveals how Korean Catholics have sought to portray their history and present, including in terms of Korea's meeting with the world, particularly the West, in a way that is palatable to modern Koreans, both Catholic and non-Catholic. These sites and routes generally present a narrative that play down negative aspects of Catholic history. For instance, the criticism of modern ideas and practices leveled throughout much of the nineteenth century by Catholic leaders in Europe is overshadowed by the Korean Catholic openness to outside knowledge and ideas of greater equality. In fact, Catholic calls for greater equality and the resulting challenge to problematic social structures and the people who profit from them are presented as the primary cause of persecution, without significant attention to Catholic connections to imperialism. To return to the interview with Father Han Kwang-Sŏk at the beginning of this paper, he did not so much as grapple with the meaning of Catholic connections to the Oppert Incident, but instead focused on the martyrs, the men and women whose anonymity allows them to be presented as equal. In such ways, the more difficult parts of this Catholic past are relegated to the margins, allowing for the production of a narrative that celebrates Catholicism in Korea as a force for modernity.

At the same time, with the exception of Ch'ŏn's articles on Puŏnggol, which were aimed primarily at a Catholic audience, connections with Western people in the form of French missionaries were largely limited, at best appearing as bit players who praised Korean people. And while Pope Francis could take center stage, it was as a guest who had come to pay his respects to Korea and leave, rather than as someone who would make Korea his home, unlike those nineteenth-century French missionaries who planned on living out their lives on the peninsula. Thus, while an openness to the West and the wider world is celebrated in these sites and routes, it is directed more towards ideas, such as democracy, than to Western people themselves.

Together, the pope and UNESCO provided international recognition and prestige to Korea through the Catholic holy sites and related pilgrimage routes and personages, and local partnerships between Catholic and government leaders promised to benefit the economy and even help other religions (whose sites were even included in pilgrim routes), allowing the Korean Catholic Church to position itself as a positive part of Korean society, benefitting the country at home and abroad. Such a narrative is potentially powerful, and seems to be popular with the Korean Catholic Church, which is willing to place considerable resources behind it. The outbreak of COVID-19 has naturally restricted the number of people who can visit holy sites and go on pilgrimages, but in the near future, the relative popularity of those sites can serve as an indicator for the reception and acceptance of these narratives.

### **Bibliography**


Cha, Paul (2022). *Balancing Communities*. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press.


Chŏnjugyo Taejŏn Kyogu 천주교 대전 교구 (2021). "Haemi kukche sŏngji sŏnp'oŭi kippŭmŭl nanumyŏ 해미 국제 성지 선포의 기쁨을 나누며 (Sharing the happiness of the declaration of the Haemi International Holy Site)". YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71sNXPib\_HI.


Open University of The Research Foundation of Korean Church History). YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUWBq7trkPc.


#### **Cultural Exchanges Between Korea and the West** Artifacts and Intangible Heritage

edited by Jong-Chol An and Ariane Perrin

## South Korean Heritage Diplomacy **Sharing Expertise on Conservation with the World**

#### Codruța Sîntionean

Babeș-Bolyai University, Romania

**Abstract** This paper investigates the dynamic involvement of the South Korean government in international efforts to regulate the preservation and conservation of heritage, using as primary sources heritage declarations and recommendations that are placed under the aegis of the UNESCO. The paper argues that the guideline texts that have emerged from South Korea represent a form of soft diplomacy that reflects the country's ability to voice its own concerns regarding heritage on the international scene, to participate in the global conversation on heritage by drafting recommendations that derive from South Korean conservation practices and interests.

**Keywords** UNESCO. Soft diplomacy. Soft power. Heritage preservation. Heritage conservation.

**Summary** 1 Introduction. – 2 The UNESCO Brand. – 3 Asian Efforts to Redefine Conservation Practice. – 4 South Korean Heritage Diplomacy. – 5 Conclusion.

This work was supported by the Seed Program for Korean Studies through the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Korea and the Korean Studies Promotion Service of the Academy of Korean Studies (AKS-2018-INC-2230003).

**Studi e ricerche 32** e-ISSN 2610-9123 | ISSN 2610-993X ISBN [ebook] 978-88-6969-717-3 | ISBN [print] 978-88-6969-718-0

**Peer review | Open access 125** Submitted 2022-09-05 | Accepted 2023-01-31 | Published 2023-08-30 © 2023 Sîntionean | cb 4.0 **DOI 10.30687/978‑88-6969‑717-3/006**

#### 1 Introduction

In 1995, the Republic of Korea celebrated its first successful nominations of national heritage to the prestigious World Heritage List of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Since then, South Korea has actively pursued the international promotion of its cultural and natural properties, and the most effective instrument for doing so has been the use of the widely recognized international brands UNESCO and ICOMOS (International Council on Monuments and Sites, the advisory body of UNESCO). Moreover, in the last decade and a half, South Korea has moved beyond the mere position of passive beneficiary of the UNE-SCO brand and has taken up the role of active legislator in the international arena of heritage management. The present paper investigates the dynamic involvement of the South Korean government in international efforts to regulate the preservation and conservation of heritage. This engagement has materialized in the organization of UNESCO international forums and conventions on heritage in South Korea. Notably, these international events have resulted in the appearance of globally recognized declarations and recommendations that reference the name of South Korea (e.g. several "Seoul Declarations") and are placed under the aegis of UNESCO or ICOMOS.

This chapter argues that the UNESCO and ICOMOS guideline texts that have emerged from South Korea represent a form of soft diplomacy that ultimately reflects not only the economic and political power of South Korea, but also its ability to voice its concerns regarding heritage on the international scene, to participate in the global conversation on heritage by drafting recommendations that derive from South Korean conservation practices and interests.

The chapter analyzes the content of the declarations and recommendations stemming from South Korea, framing them within an international (Asian) context. To illustrate the local experience and professional expertise upon which these texts have been drawn, the chapter proposes a particular mode of analysis, pairing the declarations with heritage management practices already established in South Korea.

#### 2 The UNESCO Brand

South Korea is not alone in seeking international recognition for its cultural and natural heritage, as many countries mobilise tremendous economic and diplomatic resources to advance culturally and historically rich profiles. One influential instrument for validating cultural accomplishment is the UNESCO World Heritage Site designation, originally conceived as a program focused on the protection and conservation of sites of outstanding universal value. The attention given to heritage sites receiving UNESCO recognition has transformed the World Heritage Site designation from a professional label for conservation into a brand that impacts tourists' choices and modes of consumption (Ryan, Silvanto 2009). The success of this brand is reflected in its enhancing impact on visitor numbers, revenues from tourists, and tourism-related industries (Kim 2016). Perhaps because of the economic implications, Adie (2017) goes as far as to propose that "World Heritage" is a brand franchized by UNE-SCO to the State Parties, bound together contractually by adhering to the World Heritage Convention; since the agenda of many countries is motivated by political and economic factors, their relationship with UNESCO resembles a business model.

Since 1995, South Korea has rapidly learned how to make successful use of the UNESCO brand for legitimation, endorsement and international visibility. As of June 2022, it has fifteen properties inscribed on the World Heritage List, and an additional twelve on the Tentative List, from which the South Korean government chooses how to prioritize its yearly applications. In recent years, the central administration of South Korea has encouraged local governments to prepare their own nominations for UNESCO in order to boost local tourism. So at any given moment, competing application files await their turn to go through multiple evaluation stages (first at the national stage, then at UNESCO) to acquire the coveted World Heritage Site status.

Besides using UNESCO as an instrument for branding its cultural and natural heritage, South Korea has undertaken an active role in cultural diplomacy, lobbying for its own cultural and political interests. An influential role in this arena means that State Parties succeed in promoting their goals, sometimes nationalist agendas unrelated to conservation, leading to the politicization of heritage (Logan 2012). One case in point is South Korea's prominent role in pressuring Japan to include in the interpretation of the "Sites of Japan's Meiji Industrial Revolution" an adequate explanation about the use of Korean forced labour at these sites in the 1940s. Initially, South Korea opposed this nomination vehemently, invoking the questionable need to memorialize and perhaps sanitize the dark history of these sites. It was only after a series of tense bilateral (Korea-Japan) negotiations during the 2015 meeting session of the World Heritage Committee that the sites received World Heritage status (Takazane 2015). Although the final decision resided with the Committee, South Korea's ability to influence it reflects the government's understanding of heritage as an instrument of soft power and a medium for conveying firm political messages. Another example of cultural diplomacy is a recent Korean inscription on the UNESCO's "Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity". At the end of November 2018, South Korea and North Korea made the first-ever joint inscription of an item in UNESCO (Korean wrestling, *ssirŭm*). The South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported that it was the result of President Moon Jae-in's efforts to alter the original nomination, which was done on behalf of South Korea only. Until now, the two countries have made separate inscriptions of the same Korean traditions, as if to affirm that there are distinct South and North traditions of Arirang singing and *kimchi* making. But in the case of *ssirŭm*, the South Korean government has taken advantage of the visibility of the UNESCO brand and made a point about recent advancements in South and North Korean relations.

Other forms of diplomacy pursued by South Korea are perhaps more subtle. The government has invested technical expertise, economic resources, and political influence to organize conferences and meetings under the patronage of the UNESCO and ICOMOS, resulting in the drafting of internationally-recognized declarations and recommendations. These are manifestations of heritage diplomacy as defined by Tim Winter, who dissociates heritage diplomacy, focused on "bi- and multi-directional cultural flows and exchanges", from allencompassing, "expansive" cultural diplomacy, set to export or project various cultural forms to the outer world (Winter 2015, 1007). The notion of exchange inherent in heritage diplomacy is of key importance for the present chapter, as is the concept of exporting expertise (James 2016) when actively participating in the international governance community which regulates heritage.

#### 3 Asian Efforts to Redefine Conservation Practice

South Korean efforts to voice its own advice on heritage management can only be understood within a wider (East-)Asian framework. In 1994, Japan organized a conference in Nara that resulted in the highly influential *Nara Document on Authenticity* (ICOMOS 1994), that challenged for the first time the idea that the fundamental charters of the UNESCO (all emerging from Europe, such as the 1931 Athens Charter and the 1964 Venice Charter)<sup>1</sup> are universally applicable in all cultural contexts and that UNESCO evaluation criteria can be based on absolute values. The centrality of materiality (i.e. original form and fabric) in the Western-born conservation practice and theory originally emerged from the Romantic taste for ruins of the fathers of conservation theory. Gradually, best acceptable practice was narrowly defined as minimum intervention in the restoration of

<sup>1</sup> Even the list of signatories of the Venice Charter is a reflection of the Eurocentrism inherent in the field of heritage conservation. The authors of this influential document are predominantly from Europe (17 endorsers), with only two representing Latin America and one from Africa, but none from Asia. See ICOMOS (1964).

architectural heritage, preservation of original form and fabric, reversibility of repair work. In the twentieth century, this focus on material fabric was reinforced by the adoption of scientific methods in conservation practice, particularly the application of chemistry and physics principles, while

non-scientific approaches were disregarded as obsolete at best, or as a product of ignorance in many other cases. (Muñoz Viñas 2005, 70)

At the Nara conference, Japanese professionals initiated a conversation that shifted the focus on values other than materiality: the importance of the cultural and local context, community values, and vernacular traditions, which might have a completely different understanding of preserving the material fabric of monuments, than the Western world. The *Nara Document* is now one of the most widely cited documents in the field of heritage conservation, because it places due focus on local cultural contexts and nuances the definition of heritage authenticity by considering aspects such as

form and design, materials and substance, use and function, traditions and techniques, location and setting, and spirit and feeling. (ICOMOS 1994, 47)

Although the *Nara Document* was drafted after considering a wide variety of conservation practices from East and South Asia, it is still the Japanese practices that get mentioned most often when trying to explain the document. In particular, conservators pay attention to the centuries-old Japanese practice of ritually dismantling the main building of the Ise Shrine every twenty years, and rebuilding a complete replica using new timber,

in regular rhythm to symbolise the eternal regeneration of the spirit and the continuity of the nation's life. (Bock 1974, 55)

Similar traditions are pervasive in Asia, particularly in areas with a rich tradition of sacred wooden architecture, which require frequent repair and replacement of old, decayed materials, often in ritual participation of religious communities. There, material change and renewal are integrated in conservation practices, either as an adaptation to the effects of climate on wooden architecture, or as a reflection of religious traditions (particularly Buddhism, Shintō) and the philosophy of impermanence. For instance, in Thai Buddhism, believers routinely rebuild and enlarge stupas, integrating the original fabric and structure, to ritually increase or revive the sacred efficacy of the stupa (Byrne 1995). Tim Winter notes that, in Asia, "the organic decay of material (wood/thatch) has been linked to philosophical traditions of impermanence, renewal and rebirth to assert fundamental cultural differences", generating "a discourse of difference" that posits Asia as culturally and materially different from the West (Winter 2012, 123).

The merit of the *Nara Document on Authenticity* is that it gave momentum to a conversation questioning the validity of universalist claims of conservation principles originating in Europe. The document represented a first stage in acknowledging the plurality of sources of knowledge about conservation, the coexistence of multiple discourses which richly complement each other. This approach responded to fears that limiting principles lead to standardization and cultural uniformity (Taylor 2004, 420) and challenged the Western focus on materiality and monumentality. The very notion of 'monumental' had been constructed on the features of Western cathedrals and palaces, and did not apply to aboriginal sites in Australia or modest religious buildings from Asia and elsewhere. But these were, nevertheless, monumental in their own right, their monumentality bound to a cultural context and rooted in the respect for nature and rich spiritual traditions, as critics of the Venice Charter have often argued (Wei, Aass 1989; Chung, Kim 2010). In India and other parts of Asia, colonial power relations were responsible for imposing Western definitions and practices related to heritage, risking to "negate indigenous practices" (Krishna Menon 1994, 42) and supersede them. This claimed universality has been challenged since the Nara conference by complementing technically-oriented conservation with indigenous techniques, recognized as intangible heritage in danger of being lost and forgotten. That is why, to some extent, the Asian movement to enlarge the notion of acceptable best practice of conservation has been a response to these colonial forces and an attempt at decolonization.

Following the Nara conference, the ensuing proliferation of charters, conventions, declarations, and recommendations stemming from Asia was in itself a reflection of how the notion of heritage is expanding, to incorporate local specificities from all over the globe. Perceived as peripheral in relation to the Western world, various Asian countries started to voice their own concerns about heritage conservation, in an attempt to get closer to the so-called centre proclaimed to be the authoritative source of relevant knowledge about heritage. In 2005, UN-ESCO adopted the *Hoi An Protocols for Best Conservation Practice in Asia*, a series of guidelines clarifying the ambiguities of the *Nara Document on Authenticity* and giving recognition to the indigenous and minority cultures incorporated in modern Asian states (UNESCO Bangkok 2009, 17). It voiced the particular concerns of Asian countries, including a culturally-sensitive definition of authenticity:

Authenticity, the defining characteristic of heritage, is a culturally relative attribute to be found in continuity, but not necessarily in the continuity of material only. (18)

Other examples of regulatory documents, stemming from China, include: *Principles for the Conservation of Heritage Sites in China* (2000); the Shanghai Charter on museums and intangible heritage (2002); the *Xi'an Declaration on the Conservation of the Setting of Heritage Structures, Sites and Areas* (2005). At the same time, Japan has continued to formulate its own perspective on heritage management, through documents such as: the *Yamato Declaration on Integrated Approaches for Safeguarding Tangible and Intangible Cultural Heritage* (2004); the *Okinawa Declaration on Intangible and Tangible Cultural Heritage* (2004); the *Himeji Recommendations* (2012). Taken individually, most of these have had little impact on the international regulation, because they are often very broad formulations. They have more of a cumulative effect: together, they voice their resistance to eurocentric practices, and demand respect for cultural diversity and local specificity. At the same time, by promoting their own agenda, these countries have managed to garner visibility and prestige on the global stage.

#### 4 South Korean Heritage Diplomacy

In the two decades following the formulation of the *Nara Document*, South Korea has joined the conversation, organized international forums that eventually resulted in documents that reference these countries (see **table 1**). Although these documents have proved much less influential than the *Nara Document*, they have nevertheless continued to proliferate. It is my contention that South Korea has tried to actively participate in the conversation open by the Japanese case, and has issued international declarations which promote its own heritage agenda and try to influence international conservation practices. Declarations and recommendations emerging from Korea are clearly an attempt to integrate the specificities of Korean culture and traditions into a larger, international frame, and to formulate international guidelines based on (or considering) the Korean reality. Projecting the image of a strong country, influential enough to organize international forums labelled with the UNESCO or the ICOMOS brands, is just one aspect of the phenomenon, perhaps not even the most important one. More significantly, South Korea aims to project the image of a culturally rich country, whose cultural practices and traditions have enough global relevance to stand at the basis of international guidelines for best practices.

The involvement of governmental institutions in the organization of conferences and forums, and in the drafting of declarations, reflects the high stakes at play in voicing the Korean experience of cultural heritage to the world. Most recommendations and declarations are drafted by ICOMOS-Korea, with the support of governmental organizations (the Cultural Heritage Administration, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Korea), while others are formulated and promoted by professional organizations (for instance, the *mAAN Seoul Declaration 2011 on Industrial Heritage in Asia*, drafted by the modern Asian Architectural Network, with the support of the Korean government). These institutions bear the responsibility to create a local framework of heritage management adapted for Korean culture and naturally emerging from Korean traditions. But they also assume the diplomatic role of conveying local experiences to an international audience, and promote them through international declarations, by claiming universal relevance.

**Table 1** List of declarations and recommendations originating from South Korea



One such case is *The Seoul Declaration on Tourism in Asia's Historic Towns and Areas*, which proposes several strategies addressing the impact of tourism (i.e. gentrification, commodification of local properties, values, and traditions for tourism consumption) "on the fabric and identity of many historic towns and areas of Asia" (ICO-MOS National Committee of Korea 2005). The declaration was strategically issued in advance of the ICOMOS General Assembly, to be held later that year in Xi'an, China; hence the text explicitly states the hope that it will become relevant beyond the regional boundaries of Asia, calling

for the declaration to be presented to the ICOMOS General Assembly in Xi'an, China in October 2005 so that its recommendations can be shared with the wider network of ICOMOS committees and partners, and that it can help encourage cooperation between National and International Committees on this universal subject of tourism and historic towns and areas. (ICOMOS National Committee of Korea 2005)

According to the declaration, the intensification of tourism in Asian historic towns has coincided with the emergence of experiential tourism, through which visitors seek to get a more authentic sense of the place and immerse both physically and spiritually in the local culture. In response, the declaration emphasizes the "need to maintain the authenticity of heritage places" and "ensure the introduction of respectful and authentic cultural tourism to heritage sites" (ICOMOS National Committee of Korea 2005). However, the mention of authenticity adds nothing new to the international guidelines for the preservation of cultural heritage, as authenticity has long been a working concept in the identification and protection of heritage. Although the text of the declaration identifies authenticity as an "issue" to be concerned about, there is no further mention in the "Strategies and Approach" section. Therefore, the declaration fails to illustrate concrete strategies for safeguarding the authenticity of material fabric, intangible values and traditions associated with heritage sites. The most meaningful of the strategies is the suggestion to involve the local communities and all ranges of stakeholders in the planning of effective tourism management, because they need to be educated on the importance and impact of tourism, and also constantly consulted. South Korea itself offers a prominent example of good practice in this direction: in the years following *The Seoul Declaration*, the Seoul Metropolitan Government set to restore and partially reconstruct the Seoul City Wall, aiming to get the historic centre of Seoul listed as a UNESCO site. Although the fortress walls of the old capital functioned as a means of exclusion and marginalization of certain social groups during Chosŏn dynasty (1392-1910) (because they had to live outside the inner capital), the Seoul Metropolitan Government artificially reinvented the wall as a symbol of community life and social inclusion. In order to strengthen the authenticity claims, the Seoul Metropolitan Government promoted the lifestyle of a few residential communities situated along the wall as intangible heritage (although without a formal designation in the national registry). This ostensibly showed that the wall was not simply a lifeless monument devoid of meaning for the people, but had been actively integrated in their lives (Sîntionean 2017).

The *ICOMOS Declaration on Heritage and Metropolis in Asia and the Pacific* addresses the difficulty of protecting heritage in dense metropolitan areas, and broadly formulates recommendations for developing adequate policies. The declaration is noteworthy for its concerned tone, signalling the impact of intense urban development on cultural heritage and its surrounding areas. In particular, the text of the declaration highlights the dangers of "major public and corporate investments in real estate densification" and the negative impact of metropolitan expansion, such as

deep social, economic and physical transformation and pressures of an unprecedented scale and nature on communities and the heritage. (ICOMOS National Committee of Korea 2008, 5)

Unlike other declarations which tend to be very broadly formulated and conventional in expression, this text is remarkably specific in pinpointing the risks of "land speculation, loss of traditional knowledge, corruption", possibly "leading to the large scale loss or alteration of significant structures, sites and areas" (5). Although these risks can occur in all metropolitan areas around the globe, the declaration focuses on the particular context of Asia and the Pacific area, where "rapid growth" and "new urbanization and infrastructures" (5) are more likely to endanger heritage. Likewise, the recommendations and principles formulated in this declaration have global relevance, due to their broad and rather vague language. For instance, the text urges metropolitan authorities to recognize cultural heritage as a non-renewable asset, which is already a widely accepted notion among practitioners and scholars of heritage. Other common-sense recommendations include planning programmes that integrate the protection of heritage, along with adequate legislation for safeguarding both heritage sites and their settings and surroundings. The suggestion to develop protection tools based on "recognized best practice and local conditions and traditions" (6) adds nothing new to the language and content of previous international charters.

The remarkable element of the 2007 ICOMOS declaration adopted in South Korea is that it discloses to benefit

from the particular experience of Seoul and the ongoing efforts of the Korean and metropolitan authorities to protect and conserve cultural heritage sites and their surroundings, including sites inscribed on the World Heritage List and traditional neighbourhoods, as well as the successful achievements of major urban revitalisation projects like the Ch'ŏnggyech'ŏn. (ICOMOS National Committee of Korea 2008, 5)

The mention of the Ch'ŏnggyech'ŏn reconstruction project in the context of heritage conservation is particularly problematic. Unfolded from July 2003 to September 2005 in Seoul, the project replaced an aging, increasingly unsafe highway with an artificial stream. It aimed to restore the old Ch'ŏnggyech'ŏn stream (gradually buried in concrete from the end of the 1950s), together with the cultural and historical heritage alongside it, improve traffic flow, and create a natural ecosystem in the heart of Seoul. In 2007, when the *ICOMOS Declaration on Heritage and Metropolis in Asia and the Pacific* was drafted, the Ch'ŏnggyech'ŏn reconstruction project was hailed by the Seoul Metropolitan Government and the general public as a successful case of urban regeneration and environmental improvement, a landmark attracting tourists. The public and political support the project enjoyed explains its mentioning in the *ICOMOS Declaration*. However, critics of the project (Cho 2010; Kim 2020) have since pinpointed the lack of historical and ecological authenticity of the reconstructed stream, misconstrued as a *pogwŏn* 'restoration' of the original watercourse. Given the high political stakes of the project<sup>2</sup> and the speed of project execution (27 months), the authentic restoration of historic sites along the stream was readily sacrificed. The compromises made in the reconstruction of historic bridges are most indicative in this respect: Ogansu Bridge was reconstructed parallel to the watercourse, not surpassing it; Kwanggyo Bridge could not be reconstructed in its confirmed original location, now occupied by a large traffic intersection, and was moved upstream; and the original Sup'yo Bridge remained in Changch'ungdan Park, where it was relocated in 1958, because the width of the new stream exceeded the length of the bridge; instead, the Seoul Metropolitan Government opted for a replica of Sup'yo Bridge. Moreover, the water was pumped from the Han River, causing the project to lack ecological authenticity and instead present only a deceptive spectacle of nature, "inconducive as a habitat of biological species" (Cho 2010, 161). Considering these authenticity issues, which became apparent even in the planning stage, it is puzzling that the *ICOMOS Declaration on Heritage and Metropolis in Asia and the Pacific* mentions the revitalization of Ch'ŏnggyech'ŏn in the context of heritage protection from excessive development. The *Andong Recommendations* are based on the expertise gained from preserving Yangdong and Hahoe, two historic and traditional villages organically integrating the local residents' lifestyles and traditions. The reality of preserving these historic villages has revealed that tensions easily arise when preservation measures undertaken by the authorities impinge on the res-

<sup>2</sup> The reconstruction of Ch'ŏnggyech'ŏn was the focal point of Lee Myung-bak's (Yi Myŏng-Bak) election campaign for the role of Mayor of Seoul, a position he occupied from 2002 to 2006. He then capitalized on the public success of the revitalization project, and won the presidential election in 2007.

idents' aspirations to alter their traditional houses, designated as cultural treasures. In Andong, the epitome of Confucian tradition and the area where the Hahoe Folk Village is situated, the locals have argued for improved quality of life and petitioned the Cultural Heritage Administration to modify the house interiors by installing modern facilities such as Western-style toilets and kitchens (Moon 2011, 95). In Yangdong, when the owners of thatched-roofed houses wanted to extend their interiors and change the function of the auxiliary facilities, they entered a conflict with the authorities over what constitutes the architectural *wŏnhyŏng* 'original form' that has to be preserved and protected, since most houses have continually changed over time (Kim, Kang 2013). These conflicts indicate that the desire for sustainable living in traditional houses fundamentally collides with the authorities' understanding of preservation principles and their insistence on maintaining the integrity of material fabric. Although not naming these challenges, the *Andong Recommendations* reflect the experience of actively negotiating with the locals and propose a residents-participatory model for the making of conservation and management policies. The text formulates concrete recommendations for each category of stakeholders involved in the conservation of traditional villages: the people living in Yangdong and Hahoe, the local authorities of nearby Kyŏngju and Andong cities, national authorities, members of the tourism industry, and international organizations such as UNESCO and ICOMOS. Directly addressing each of these participants to the conservation process, the guidelines offer significantly more constructive and specific advice than the other declarations analyzed here. A recurring point is the authors' insistence that each stakeholder properly communicate its evaluations, planning, and management to the other parties involved. Some guidelines are particularly pragmatic in character; for instance, tour operators are advised

that congestion pressure in the villages be minimised by establishing adequate coordination of visits by the local tourism office and the tour operators. (ICOMOS National Committee of Korea 2006)

The presence of the locals living in their ancestral homes (as opposed to a village museum) has raised great concern for sustainable tourism and for ways to diminish the impact of tourism on the quality of life of residential communities. The text of the *Andong Recommendations* suggests, for instance, tourism marketing targeted to audiences interested in culture, instead of mass tourism, and appropriate scheduling of large tourist groups. Moreover, regional and national authorities are advised to incorporate the expertise and traditional skills of the residents in the preservation of tangible and intangible heritage (ICOMOS National Committee of Korea 2006).

In 2006, when the recommendations were drafted, the two villages were still nominated on the UNESCO Tentative List, aspiring to receive World Heritage Site status. Even before receiving this recognition in 2010, the villages were struggling to cope with large number of tourists, and the UNESCO designation only aggravated tourism impact. The inhabitants of the Hahoe Folk Village, for instance, reported that the World Heritage Site status had only a mild beneficial impact on the village, while increasing invasion of privacy, litter, traffic congestion, overcrowding, and noise pollution affected the quality of their lives (Kim 2016, 7). Research has shown that even the ideal participatory model did not generate the expected results, since the bureaucrats from the cultural sector, heritage professionals, and the residents could not reach a consensus over what represents the best conservation approach for all the stakeholders (Kang, Park 2011). Therefore, the *Andong Recommendations* proposed a standard model of sustainable practice for historic and traditional villages around the world, but the realities of conservation practice have proved to be much more challenging. It is possible that the Korean authorities promoted the *Andong Recommendations* with a purely diplomatic agenda, in order to make the two villages more visible internationally, while they were undergoing the screening for the UN-ESCO inscription. At the very least, the Korean government disseminated knowledge and expertise arising from the Korean experience of dealing with traditional built heritage.

Another prominent aspect reflected in the forums organized by South Korean institutions is that their declarations and recommendations revolve around the individual concerns of South Korea. While the promotion of the historic centre of Seoul was one such concern, the repatriation of lost cultural properties is another notable example. The issue has long been an object of dispute with Japan, given that many cultural properties have reached private and public art collections in Japan during the colonial period (1910-45). The 2011 International Forum on the Return of Cultural Property (resulting in another *Seoul Declaration*) illustrated the ability of the South Korean government to organize an international debate on a topic that is intensely discussed in Korean society and media. This notable ability to channel the international conversation towards topics of particular local interest is interpreted here as an efficient form of soft power and soft diplomacy that generates positive results in international relations. However, the resulting *Declaration of the International Forum on the Return of Cultural Property* (*Seoul Declaration*) does not contribute significantly to the existing legislation and principles for the return of stolen or illegally exported cultural artefacts. As most texts analyzed in this paper, the language of the declaration is very generic and the proposed guidelines add nothing substantial to the international charters. For instance, the 2011 declaration stresses that

bilateral and multilateral international cooperation for the return of cultural property constitutes a crucial means to restore a people's identity and enhance mutual understanding and respect. (International Forum on the Return of Cultural Property 2011)

The 1970 UNESCO *Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property* has already recognized the principle of international cooperation as "one of the most efficient means of protecting each country's cultural property" against the dangers of illicit appropriation of heritage (UNESCO 1970). Furthermore, the *Seoul Declaration* formulates a series of recommendations for good practice: the continuous use of databases of stolen cultural properties, the creation and support of institutions and networks that cooperate for the return of heritage, and the active use of existing legal frameworks. Apart from the broad scope of these propositions, their impact is limited by the fact that none of them are legally binding: the declaration represents a mere set of recommendations. In my view, their value resides in their ability to convey the South Korean cultural and political standpoint within the international debates and practices on the repatriation of cultural property.

#### 5 Conclusion

A multitude of such declarations regarding various aspects of cultural or natural heritage conservation have proliferated in Asia since the 1994 Nara conference. However, critics of these charters, declarations and recommendations have voiced concerns about their inefficiency, lack of clarity, broad character, and repetitive content, sometimes duplicating existing charters. Ken Taylor (2004, 430) has criticized even the *Nara Document* for "its generalised nature" and for "being non-specific". Tim Winter (2012, 2) has expressed concern that claims of "Asian approaches" to heritage

risk creating a policy arena that bifurcates the east and west via essentialist constructions of "culture" in and across regions.

Given the proliferation of charters, Luxen (2014, 464) has questioned their credibility and also their coherence: being so broadly formulated, they leave room for diverging interpretations, causing confusion.

Likewise, the declarations and recommendations emerging from South Korea have brought little novelty to international discussions about heritage conservation. These documents mostly replicate principles already formulated in previous charters and conventions, and share their generalized language on the importance of heritage conservation, communication between stakeholders, and international cooperation. The broadly formulated principles are somehow to be expected: by their very nature, international charters and declarations have to shape universal guidelines, reflecting internationally recognized conservation practices. The fact that South Korean declarations mostly repeat the content of existing international documents or are very similar in content does explain why they have had very little actual impact in the international field of conservation practice. Although these documents have been recognized by international bodies like ICOMOS and UNESCO, they have not generated sweeping changes or further international charters deriving from South Korean proposals. Although a few guidelines for conservation practice mention the declarations and recommendations analyzed here,<sup>3</sup> it is difficult to assess to what degree they were actually influential in shaping concrete practices. One possible factor diminishing their impact is their non-compulsory nature as mere recommendations for good practice, lacking a legally binding status.

Nevertheless, the present investigation has found that the merit of the declarations issued through the diplomatic efforts of the South Korean government lies elsewhere. South Korean institutions involved in the management of heritage have drafted documents focusing on topics of particular interest for South Korea, such as the protection of historic towns and traditional villages, or the return of illegally appropriated cultural properties. Most importantly, the documents stemmed from the expertise and practice of Korean institutions, demonstrating that management practices are highly influenced by local cultural values. As a consequence, the language of the Korean declarations finely balanced the universality specific to international principles with an adequate flexibility for cultural and regional specificity. Therefore, the documents have managed to push the international conversation further against the notion of global cultural uniformity and universality of practice. This power of self-representation and the will to communicate shared values, to exchange expertise on heritage have been interpreted here as forms of heritage diplomacy. It is evident that South Korea is making every effort to surpass a perceived identity of a peripheral country and

<sup>3</sup> For example, Elizabeth Vines (2005) mentions *The Seoul Declaration on Tourism in Asia's Historic Towns and Areas* in her practical guide for the conservation of Asian heritage, including it among other charters stemming from Asian countries (China, Indonesia, India). However, Vines understands these guidelines as having become "a conservation code of practice for the countries concerned" (Vines 2005, 2), an understanding which suggests the limited sphere of influence of such documents to a national scale. The *Andong Recommendations* are listed in the bibliography of a conservation plan for the Hill End historic village in Australia (Morrison 2013), although it is unclear to what degree the recommendations were actually put in practice or shaped the planning process.

position itself closer to the centre of the international conversation on heritage management principles. The use of heritage declarations by South Korea makes an enlightening case of alternative diplomatic means to gain international visibility and not only participate in, but also trigger and influence the global conversation about heritage conservation practices.

#### **Bibliography**


punsŏk ŭl chungsimŭro" 역사마을의 참여형 보존관리계획을 위한 제도적 접근방 식에 관한 연구 – 하회 양동마을 보존협의체 지원조례의 특성 분석을 중심으로 (Institutional Approach to Collaborative Conservation and Management Planning for Historic Villages – Based on Policy Analysis of Local Ordinance for Hahoe, Yangdong Conservation Councils). *Taehan Kŏnch'uk Hakhoe non‑ munjip – kyehoekkye*, 27(3), 241-52.


Morrison, C. (2013). "Conservation Management & Cultural Tourism Master Plan for Hill End Historic Site". https://www.environment.nsw.gov.au.


UNESCO (1970). *Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illic‑ it Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property*. https:// en.unesco.org/about-us/legal-affairs/convention-meansprohibiting-and-preventing-illicit-import-export-and.

UNESCO Bangkok (2009). *Hoi An Protocols for Best Conservation Practice in Asia. Professional Guidelines for Assuring and Preserving the Authenticity of Herit‑ age Sites in the Context of the Cultures of Asia*. Bangkok: UNESCO Bangkok. https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000182617.

Vines, E. (2005). *Streetwise Asia: A Practical Guide for the Conservation and Revi‑ talisation of Heritage Cities and Towns in Asia*. Bangkok: UNESCO Bangkok.

Wei, Chen; Aass, A. (1989). "Heritage Conservation: East and West". *ICOMOS Information*, 3, 3-8.

Winter, T. (2012). "Beyond Eurocentrism? Heritage Conservation and the Politics of Difference". *International Journal of Heritage Studies*, 20(2), 123-37. https://doi.org/10.1080/13527258.2012.736403.

Winter, T. (2015). "Heritage Diplomacy". *International Journal of Heritage Stud‑ ies*, 21(10), 997-1015. https://doi.org/10.1080/13527258.2015.104 1412.

### **Section 3** Material Culture

**145**

**Cultural Exchanges Between Korea and the West** Artifacts and Intangible Heritage edited by Jong-Chol An and Ariane Perrin

## Maritime, Christianity and Adventure: Slovenian Discovery of Korea

Chikako Shigemori Bučar

Univerza v Ljubljani, Slovenija

**Abstract** Based on past research by specialists in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean studies in Slovenia and Austria, this article discusses the discovery of Korea from the Slovenian perspective. The earliest encounter between a Slovenian and a Korean was probably in 1766, when a Jesuit scholar met with a Korean scholar at the Chinese court. Recent research on picture postcards and photographs reveals visits by members of the Austro-Hungarian Navy to Korean ports. In 1923, a female adventurer and writer from Slovenia traveled through the Korean peninsula. It is still unknown whether any Slovenians were among the missionaries in Tokwon.

**Keywords** Korea. Slovenia. Hallerstein. Hong Tae-Yong. Austro-Hungarian navy. Alma Karlin. Tokwon (Tŏkwŏn) Abbey.

**Summary** 1 Introduction. – 2 Scientific Exchanges in the Mid-Eighteenth Century. – 3 Maritime Activities by Members of the Austro-Hungarian Navy. – 3.1 Period and Background of Maritime Activities. – 3.2 Anton Haus. – 3.3 Albums of Postcard and Photograph Collections. – 4 Travel Records by a Female Adventurer, Alma M. Karlin. – 5 Christian Missionary Work in Wŏnsan. – 6 From Individual Contacts to the Real Discovery of a Nation.

#### 1 Introduction

Based on our recent extensive research on old picture postcards, photographs, and artefacts from East Asia, which are currently held by museums and libraries in Slovenia,<sup>1</sup> various contacts by persons from

1 *East Asian Collections in Slovenia: Inclusion of Slovenia in the Global Exchanges of Objects and Ideas with East Asia*, 2018-21, funded by the Slovenian Research Agen-

**Studi e ricerche 32** e-ISSN 2610-9123 | ISSN 2610-993X ISBN [ebook] 978-88-6969-717-3 | ISBN [print] 978-88-6969-718-0

**Peer review | Open access 147** Submitted 2022-09-05 | Accepted 2023-03-02 | Published 2023-08-30 © 2023 Shigemori Bučar | cb 4.0 **DOI 10.30687/978‑88-6969‑717-3/007**

Slovenia in Korea and with Koreans have been identified, particularly toward the end of the nineteenth century and in the first decades of the twentieth century. With regard to the professions and motivations of individuals that had direct contact with Korea, there were at least three different groups of people from this part of the world (i.e. central Europe). These are members of the Austro-Hungarian Navy that traveled to East Asia between the 1890s and 1910s, Christian missionaries of the Benedictine order that stationed in what is now North Korea up to the 1930s, and the female adventurer Alma M. Karlin from Celje, who traveled through Korea in 1923.

Aside from the research mentioned above, several earlier research reports are available on the life and work of the Jesuit scholar Ferdinand Hallerstein, who was born in Carniola and acted as an official at the Chinese court in the eighteenth century. The first direct contact between persons from what is now Slovenia and Koreans was in the middle of the eighteenth century.

Based on the above, this article reconstructs the exchanges by people with a Slovenian background with Koreans – first around 1765, and then between the 1890s and 1930s.

The main part of this article is composed of the following sections, following the natural timeline of individual contacts: the scientific exchanges in the middle of the eighteenth century in China; the maritime activities by members of the Austro-Hungarian Navy; the travel records by a female adventurer, and Christian missionary work. The conclusion discusses the nature and form of these individual contacts, as well as the perception and knowledge of the general population in Slovenia about East Asian culture and people.

The maritime exchanges with East Asia, particularly in the last years of the nineteenth century and the first decades of the twentieth century, were quite intense and lively, at least based on materials discovered so far: picture postcards, photographs, various artefacts, letters, and diaries, which are now archived in several institutions in Slovenia. However, before looking into the maritime activities, special mention must be made of eighteenth-century scientific activities at the Chinese court.

cy. The findings are regularly updated on the following website: https://vazcollections.si/.

#### 2 Scientific Exchanges in the Mid-Eighteenth Century

The Jesuit scientist Ferdinand Augustin Haller von Hallerstein (1703‑1774) was born in Carniola, at that time part of the Habsburg Monarchy. He grew up in what is now Mengeš, Slovenia, some 15 km north of Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia. Hallerstein studied in Ljubljana and later in Vienna, and for the purpose of missionary work traveled via Portuguese Goa and Macao to Beijing. He then held an important position in the court of the Qing dynasty at the time of the Qianlong Emperor 乾隆 (1711‑99). Hallerstein's Chinese name was Liu Songling 劉松齡, and he succeeded Ignatius Kögler (1680‑1746), also a Jesuit scholar from the German-speaking region, and acted as the head of the Imperial Board of Astronomy from 1746 until his death in 1774. More about his activities are reported in studies by Šmitek (1995), Saje (2009; 2015), Koidl (2020), and others. In relation to Korea, it has been confirmed that Hallerstein, in addition to his most important achievements in astronomy and statistics, also worked on drawing geographical maps in cooperation with other Jesuit scientists, particularly a map of the hunting territory of the Chinese leader in the vicinity of Korea, the Mulan 木蘭 region (Saje 2009, 93-4). It is also known that, because of his good reputation as astronomer, mathematician, and mediator of western science to East Asia, the notable Korean scientist, astronomer, and neo-Confucianist Hong Tae-Yong 洪大容 (in Chinese Hong Darong) visited him in Beijing. According to Hallerstein's letters to his brother in Europe, Koreans visited the Chinese court every year, and immediately after their arrival they usually came to the house of the Jesuits (Saje 2015, 28). The exchange between Hallerstein and Hong Tae-Yong in 1766 are recorded in Hong's writings in classical Chinese and in Korean (30). Hallerstein was sixty-two years old and Hong was thirty-four at that time. Hallerstein's name was known to Korean intellectuals thanks to Hong's writings (30).

According to Ledyard (1974; 1982),<sup>2</sup> Hong Tae-Yong visited Beijing as the secretary of his uncle Hong Ŏk 洪檍 (1722‑1809), who was a member of the solstitial embassy from Korea in 1765 and 1766. The Koreans visited the Qing court every year around the time of the winter solstice, arrived in Beijing a few days before the lunar New Year, and stayed for about two months. In this particular year, they left Seoul on December 13th, 1765, and reached Beijing on February 6th, 1766 (Ledyard 1982, 63). In his *Peking Memoir*, which is cate-

<sup>2</sup> I am grateful for the help of Burglind Jungmann, Professor emerita of Korean art and visual culture, UCLA, who was present at the conference *East and West in Korean Studies: Cultural Exchanges between Korea and the West: Artifacts and Intangible Heritage*, held by Ca' Foscari University of Venice in May 2021; she told me about Gari Ledyard and his articles about Hong Tae-Yong.

gorized among diplomatic travel diaries written by Yi dynasty Koreans in the fifteenth to nineteenth centuries (Ledyard 1974, 1), Hong Tae-Yong describes in detail his observations of people he met, and the content of his encounters in diverse situations. Hong describes Hallerstein and another Jesuit scholar from Bavaria:

Hallerstein is sixty-two years old, and Gogeisl is sixty-four. Although their beards and hair have receded and turned gray, their complexions seem boyish and their deeply set eyes shine beamingly […]. Both follow the Manchu style in their gowns and caps, and in shaving their heads back to the crown. (quoted in Ledyard 1982, 70)

Although the Jesuit astronomers were not particularly anxious to spend time with the Korean visitors, Hong persisted and obtained appointments with them on at least four occasions. Hong's intention during his visits was to refine his astronomical and mathematical knowledge. On the first visit, they discussed the workings of a pipe organ in the church, and Hong insisted on the confirmation of his correct understanding. On the following occasions, Hong asked to see and have explained the clock tower and the observation station (Ledyard 1982, 71). Hong was interested in details of instruments, such as the telescope, watches, alarm clocks, compasses, and so on. On the other hand, Catholicism was never at focus of their conversation (72, 97). Details of these encounters between Hallerstein, Gogeisl, and Hong Tae-Yong are also described in a recent article by Koidl (2020), an in-depth study of Austrian missionaries in contact with Koreans from the very beginning, in the middle of the seventeenth century, and up to the present. According to Koidl, Hong in his *Yu P'o mundap* 劉鮑問答 (Questions and Answers with Yu and P'o),<sup>3</sup> an account of these exchanges written later, mentions rather different interests of one side and the other:

While Koreans wanted to learn more from Westerners about celestial globes, precise astronomic calculations, and the Gregorian calendar, Westerners wanted to attract Koreans to Christianity. (28)

Ledyard (1982) further describes two other eighteenth-century memoirs that may be compared with Hong's *Peking Memoir*. They are *Nogajae Yŏnhaengnok* by Kim Chang-Ŏp, who visited Beijing in 1712‑13, and *Yŏrha ilgi* by Pak Chi-Wŏn, who visited Beijing in 1780 (85). Because Hallerstein was in office at the Chinese court between

<sup>3</sup> Koidl's description is based on a translation of this work into modern vernacular Korean, published in 2008.

1739 and 1774, it seems that Hong's *Memoir* is the only written record in which the details of Hallerstein's contacts with Koreans were recorded. There are probably no other written accounts about Hallerstein from the Korean perspective.

Whether or not this encounter between Hallerstein and Hong Tae-Yong should be counted as one of the 'Slovenian discoveries' of Korea is perhaps difficult to determine. Hallerstein was from what is now Slovenia and a prominent European intellectual at the time, and he regularly reported his activities, facts, and situations in China with a broader view of the East Asian region. His reports were sent to the academies in London, Paris, and Saint-Petersburg, and he often wrote private letters to his brother Weichard, also a Jesuit, who was based in Brussels (Saje 2015, 17).

Hallerstein's great reputation in Korea already in the eighteenth century is confirmed, but Hallerstein himself probably did not recognize his encounter with the Koreans particularly as his 'discovery of Korea'.

#### 3 Maritime Activities by Members of the Austro-Hungarian Navy

#### **3.1 Period and Background of Maritime Activities**

More than a hundred years later, Austrian merchant and war ships started to sail to East Asia and around the world predominantly for diplomatic, trade, research, and educational purposes. When these maritime activities became more frequent, many men from Slovenian ethnic territory also sailed on board the Austro-Hungarian warships as officers, petty-officers, and seamen (Marinac 2017, 189). One can identify individual warships, officers, and crew members, who mainly sailed from the Austro-Hungarian port in Pula (today in Croatia) and came into contact with Korean locals in Korean ports, and with Japanese officers stationed in Korea shortly after the Russo-Japanese War. Some specific gifts and souvenirs from Korea from that period are also held by museums in Slovenia. Table 1 outlines the period from the 1860s up to the Second World War in relation to the Korean and Slovenian nations. The Austro-Hungarian dual monarchy, in the framework of which these officers and seamen had direct contacts with the East Asians, came to an end in 1918.



The existence of the dual monarchy of Austria-Hungary (1867‑1918) overlaps with the last thirty years of the Chosŏn dynasty and the succeeding Great Korean Empire (1897‑1910). From 1910 until the end of the Second World War, Korea was annexed to the Japanese Empire. Today, most of the materials related to the Austria-Hungarian Navy of that period are archived in the Sergej Mašera Maritime Museum in Piran, a town on the Adriatic coast of Slovenia. Because the Slovenian ethnic region was part of Austria-Hungary with its ports on the coast, and because of the construction of the Austrian Southern Railway through this region (between Vienna and Trieste, completed in 1857), many Slovenian young men, also from the interior, sought jobs in the navy. Some of these navy members' legacy can also be found in other institutions in today's Slovenia; for example, at the National and University Library in Ljubljana, as well as in private collections. Most numerous are picture postcards and photographs, but there are also diaries and letters of individual members of the navy. Sent postcards reveal various information regarding the persons on both ends of the correspondence, and the dates and circumstances of the communication (Marinac 2017; Shigemori Bučar 2019a, 2019b). The postal systems of various countries and photography technology both developed quickly during this period, and therefore, supported by the commercial activities of the photography and printing industries, sending short messages on picture postcards came into fashion around the turn of the century. Some members of the navy were very eager to buy and send postcards with local Asian scenes. Regarding Korea-related contacts, particularly on the basis of archived postcards and photographs, three main collectors have been identified in the museum in Piran (Shigemori Bučar 2019a, 138-9).

#### **3.2 Anton Haus**

Anton Haus joined the Austro-Hungarian Navy in 1869 and became an instructor at the Imperial and Royal Naval Academy in Rijeka. He was on board SMS *Kaiserin und Königin Maria Theresia* on a mission in the Far East in relation to the Boxer Rebellion. According to

**Chikako Shigemori Bučar Maritime, Christianity and Adventure: Slovenian Discovery of Korea**

**Figure 1** Postcard of the Korean peninsula, used by Anton Haus

#### **Chikako Shigemori Bučar Maritime, Christianity and Adventure: Slovenian Discovery of Korea**

**Figure 2** Reverse of the postcard in figure 1

Donko (2013, 360), the ship arrived in Chemulp'o (now Inch'ŏn) on August 30th, 1901, and was anchored there for some days. He visited the city of Seoul with the Austro-Hungarian consul in Shanghai, Julius Pisko (Marinac 2017, 87). Haus himself had to return home on other commercial ships due to his son's sudden death, but the cruiser SMS *Kaiserin und Königin Maria Theresia* later called on Kŏmundo (巨文島, a.k.a. Port Hamilton), Pusan (釜山), and Masanhappo (馬山 合浦) as well (84-90). Later, Haus served in the ministry in Vienna and in 1904 used copies of a postcard that was produced in Austria-Hungary, showing a map of the Korean peninsula with place names changed into peculiar Austrian names **[figs 1‑2]**. Because he himself was in the area a few years earlier and was probably very concerned with the political developments of the time, he found this postcard production very timely and amusing, and thus used it for correspondence with his relatives (Shigemori Bučar 2019a, 140‑3).

**Chikako Shigemori Bučar Maritime, Christianity and Adventure: Slovenian Discovery of Korea**

**Figure 3** Postcard sent from Korea in August 1906, Koršič collection

**Figure 4** Postcard sent from Dairen on August 10th, 1906, Koršič collection

**Chikako Shigemori Bučar Maritime, Christianity and Adventure: Slovenian Discovery of Korea**

**Figure 5** Postcard of the Russian cruiser *Varyag*, Koršič collection

#### **3.3 Albums of Postcard and Photograph Collections**

#### 3.3.1 Ivan Koršič

The navy military chaplain Ivan Koršič (1870‑1941) never traveled to East Asia but was stationed in Pula in today's Croatia. He collected picture postcards sent to him by many seamen from all ends of the world. Among the numerous postcards in his albums, there are three very interesting postcards from Korea. One is dated August 1906 and was sent from Seoul by a Slovenian member of the navy (the signature is unclear). The photo was made by the French photographer and linguist Charles Alévêque around 1900, and the postcard was printed in France (Shigemori Bučar 2019a). The brief handwritten message states that the sender was invited to the Korean ambassador's residence (i.e. the residence of Austria-Hungary's ambassador in Korea), probably in Seoul **[fig. 3]**.

The second postcard **[fig. 4]** was sent a few days later from Port Authur (旅順, Lüshun Port), and the photo shows the Russian battleship *Retvizan* and a few more in the bay. There is a short message in Slovenian, the date, and the signature of Morihiro Chōichi (森弘長 一), a Japanese officer who probably sat with this Slovenian person somewhere in Port Arthur (i.e. in Dalny or Dairen, 大連, now Dalian) on August 10th, 1906.

Another postcard shows the Russian cruiser *Varyag* **[fig. 5]**. It is a black-and-white photograph of the ship with captions in Russian, Ger-

**Figure 6** Photograph of Chemulp'o Bay, Kristan's album

man, and French (the name of the ship), and of interest here is the additional penciled explanation in Slovenian, "Rusi, ??? - Čemulpo-; Korejec" (Shigemori Bučar 2019a, 146‑7). It seems that these three postcards were sent by the same Slovenian member of the navy to Koršič at the same time with a few days' difference, and that this person was on the cruiser SMS *Kaiser Franz Joseph I*. According to Donko (2013, 330-1), the ship was anchored in Chemulp'o between July 29th and August 8th, and then went in and out of Dalny.<sup>4</sup> This was only less than a year after the Russo-Japanese War, and the Japanese navy probably had much to show off to the western visitors.

#### 3.3.2 Viktor Kristan

There are four postcards from Korea in the collection of Viktor Kristan (1876‑1947). Kristan was in Korea from 1908 to 1909 on the cruiser SMS *Leopard*. In a few years, Korea went through drastic political changes, which can also be seen on the picture postcards. All four postcards, although they show Korean landscapes and people, were produced by Japanese with Japanese captions. One shows Japanese houses and boats in Chemulp'o Bay, and another one is a photo of a Korean store in a village. The other two are portraits of Kore-

<sup>4</sup> "Dalny ein und aus, auf einem japanischen Torpedoboot Befestigungen von port Arthur besichtigt" (Donko 2013, 331).

an women wearing the typical Korean *hanbok* and photographed in a studio and later hand-tinted **[fig. 7]** (more details about these postcards are available in Shigemori Bučar 2019a). There are also additional black-and-white photos from Korea in Kristan's album. Among them are a view of Chemulp'o Bay **[fig. 6]**, a palace garden, and a photo of the "Russian fleet leaving Port Arthur during the battle" (Marinac 2017, 111). In the photograph of Chemulp'o Bay, an important landmark, James Johnstone's summer house, is visible. This house was later destroyed in the Korean War.

There is also the picture "The Korean Emperor and His Highness", a photo of Emperor Kojong 高宗 and Crown Prince Sunjong 純 宗 (1874‑1976) standing next to each other, which is often found in other photo collections of the time. Kristan probably bought these photos in the same manner as the postcards, or perhaps acquired them as gifts.

#### 3.3.3 Written Materials and Souvenirs

For the purpose of this article, diaries and memoirs of the seamen are also important. In addition to Commissary Officer Viktor Kristan, Second Mate Martin Toplak (1885-1938) was also from Slovenia, and they were both on the torpedo cruiser SMS *Leopard*. Marinac compares the writings of both<sup>5</sup> and concludes that many of their observations are similar but, due to their difference in positions in the navy, they were acquainted with different kinds of people and circles: Toplak was lower in rank and usually stayed in the ports and observed buildings from the outside, whereas Kristan as a higher officer could visit ambassadors, influential local individuals, and government officials (Marinac 2017, 123). They both clearly observed that Koreans are different from Chinese and Japanese. They noticed the white clothes and black hats of the Korean men, or the hairstyles of those without hats, always put up in a bun. Males and females were difficult to distinguish because they wore similar clothes and the hairstyle was also the same. Both seamen had comments on the Russo-Japanese War and the hulk of the cruiser *Varyag* outside Chemulp'o Bay. Kristan, who visited the city of Seoul, also wrote about Japanese influence regarding the modernization of the city, wide streets, electricity and streetcars, and other details. He also visited Kyŏngbok Palace (景福宮) and was informed about the assassination of the Queen Min 閔妃 (1851-1895) (more details in 131-3).

<sup>5</sup> Martin Toplak wrote his memoirs in Slovenian, whereas Viktor Kristan kept his diary in German and later wrote a travelogue in Slovenian, which he did not complete (Marinac 2017, 121).

**Chikako Shigemori Bučar Maritime, Christianity and Adventure: Slovenian Discovery of Korea**

**Figure 7** Postcard of a Korean lady, Kristan's album

**Figure 8** Postcard sent from Seoul by Alma Karlin

Various objects brought back from East Asia by members of the Austro-Hungarian Navy were in private collections for some time, but some of them were donated to museums and similar institutions, mainly by their family members. The Slovenian Ethnographic Museum obtained such objects in the 1960s from a relative of Anton Dolenc. Among them is also a covered mother-of-pearl lacquer box, obviously of Korean origin. Dolenc was the captain of the torpedo cruiser SMS *Panther* from 1909 to 1910.

#### 3.3.4 Similar Collections in Other Central European Countries

In relation to the postcards, photos and artefacts from Korea brought back in the first decades of the twentieth century mainly by members of the navy, the catalogue of the Ferenc Hopp Museum in Budapest (Fajcsák, Mecsi 2012) is a very good reference. Some of the postcards and photos presented in the catalogue are similar or almost identical to those archived in Slovenia. It is mentioned that there are photo collections of two Hungarian photographers: Ferenc Hopp, who visited Korea in 1903, and Dezső Bozóky, who traveled there in 1908 (Kardos 2012, 9). Among the photographs currently archived in Slovenia, one can identify some of their photos. The catalogue also states that there were three professional Korean photographers in the 1880s, but they were forced to leave Korea, and Japanese photographers took over the role of photo studios after the 1890s (Kardos 2012, 9-10).

**Chikako Shigemori Bučar Maritime, Christianity and Adventure: Slovenian Discovery of Korea**

**Figure 9** Reverse of the postcard in figure 7

This research may be extended to today's Croatian and Italian ports and archives because parts of these nations were formerly parts of Austria-Hungary. Some episodes may be connected to one other to form a greater picture to grasp how central Europeans of various ethnic origins perceived Korea and the Koreans.

#### 4 Travel Records by a Female Adventurer, Alma M. Karlin

Shortly after the collapse of the dual monarchy, an intrepid female adventurer from the small town of Celje in today's Slovenia embarked on a journey around the world. This section focuses on the Korean part of her journey.

Alma Maximiliana Karlin (1889-1950) was a young woman adventurer from a small Slovenian town in the newly founded Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes (the former Austria-Hungarian Empire). Although both her parents were of Slovenian origin, she was raised speaking German. She was extremely interested in languages and learned multiple languages in England and Sweden before she decided to make her journey around the world, which lasted eight years, between 1919 and 1928. As a young woman without abundant funds, she relied on her own ability and language knowledge to earn her living during her journey as a writer, correspondent, and sometimes as a language teacher, translator, and embassy worker (Shigemori Bučar 2020). After staying in Japan for a little more than a year, she trave-


**Figure 10** Karlin's article in the local newspaper *Cillier Zeitung*

**Figure 11** A Korean fan in Karlin's collection

led to Korea in the early days of July 1923. This was the time when Korea was a part of Imperial Japan, more than ten years after its formal annexation. It seems that Karlin was the guest of a Japanese family in Seoul for the entire time when she was traveling. She left Japan from the southern island of Kyūshū by a boat to Pusan, on the south coast of the Korean peninsula, and then took a train to Seoul. After a brief stay in Seoul, she continued her way by train to Pyongyang. She was in the Korean peninsula area at least several weeks altogether, and then she continued her journey to Shenyang and Beijing.

In Karlin's material at the Celje Regional Museum, there are sixteen picture postcards and thirty-nine photos from Korea (Shigemori Bučar 2020). The postcards were all made in Japan with captions in Japanese and English **[figs 8-9]**. They show photos of temples and palaces, city views, and Korean people and customs. The black-and-white photographs in Karlin's material show country landscapes, farmers, handworkers, traders, funeral scenes, and so on (on the funeral photos, see Kang 2019). Both the picture postcards and photographs from

**Figure 12** Postcard of Tokwon (Tŏkwŏn) Abbey

Korea are numbered on the back with pencil markings, and on most of them there are some remarks or explanation in German. Obviously, Karlin used some of them as additional illustrations for her writings (Shigemori Bučar 2020, 213-15).

There are also three instalments of Karlin's feuilleton articles about Korea, entitled *Im Land der Morgenstille* (In the Land of the Morning Calm), published in the local newspaper in her hometown Celje, *Cillier Zeitung*, and currently archived at the National and University Library in Ljubljana. The three instalments appeared on November 18th, 22nd, and 25th, 1923 **[fig. 10]**.

Already on the train from Pusan to Seoul, Karlin saw clear differences between Koreans and Japanese in how they were dressed. The landscape was also noticeably different, rougher but also fresher than what she had seen in Japan (216). Observing the naked children and half-naked men, she contemplated whether "civilization means progress or decline". She seemed to approve of the nudity of the Korean people. In the second instalment, Karlin described the market in Seoul and a visit to a Korean nobleman's residence. In the kitchen of a Korean house, she saw that the cooking utensils were very different from those in Japan. The third instalment is a description of Pyongyang, called Heijō at the time in Japanese. She also explained that the Koreans were making fortunes by exporting ginseng to China (Shigemori Bučar 2020, 220-1 feuilleton articles in German and English translation).

The Celje Regional Museum holds many objects brought back by Alma Karlin: among them are also two Korean fans (*taegŭksŏn* 太極 扇). These fans can be associated with Karlin's visit to the Korean nobleman's house, described in her writings in the second part of her article in *Cillier Zeitung* **[fig. 11]**.

#### 5 Christian Missionary Work in Wŏnsan

In the Cartography Department of the National and University Library in Ljubljana, there is a single picture postcard showing a blackand-white photo of the Benedictine abbey in Tokwon (Tŏkwŏn) (德源), near Wŏnsan (元山, today's North Korea). The postcard was printed in Slovenia, or by a Slovenian printing house, because the caption is in Slovenian: *Azija, Koreja: Benediktinski samostan v zimskem miru* (Asia, Korea: Benedictine abbey in winter peace). This picture postcard was not mailed, and there is no additional information regarding who possessed the card and when **[fig. 12]**.

In relation to the missionaries posted to Korea during the early twentieth century, Koidl (2020) states, based on his careful research:

The Vatican had carved up Korea amongst various missionary orders, with French missionaries responsible for the southern regions of the peninsula, Americans for the northwest, and the German Missionary Benedictines for the northeast, in addition to southeastern Manchuria. […] In 1927, they [the Germans] moved their main abbey from Seoul to the newly built headquarters in Tokwon, near Wŏnsan. (14)

At the National and University Library in Ljubljana, there are many similar missionary postcards from other parts of Asia, particularly from India and Ceylon; that is, showing local scenes in relation to missionary works with captions in Slovenian.

Further research will be conducted to obtain more information about the activities of Slovenian missionaries in order to determine whether anybody from the Slovenian region was physically in Tokwon<sup>6</sup> in the 1930s and brought back stories and memories, or perhaps only the printing of the postcards took place.

<sup>6</sup> For the history of the abbey, see Mahr 2009, 11‑347, among other sources.

#### 6 From Individual Contacts to the Real Discovery of a Nation

The discovery of Korea and Koreans by people from what is now Slovenia can be traced back to the middle of the eighteenth century. It is interesting that the Jesuit scholars at the Chinese court were familiar with Korea and the Koreans earlier and much better than with Japan or the Japanese. According to Koidl (2020), Hallerstein wrote the following in one of his letters in 1757 to his brother, who lived in Brussels:

And what news do we have from Japan regarding the Christian faith? None at all – although the country is very close to us, silence about it reigns everywhere, as if Japan did not even exist in the world. […] There are also Koreans arriving here each year, without bringing any news from Japan. They say that on a clear day one can see the mountains of Japan, but about Japan they know nothing – or nearer to the truth would be that they do not wish to say anything. (27)

One can say that, at least officially, Tokugawa Japan's national isolation was quite successful in the eighteenth century.

On the other hand, in the context of our recent research on objects and ideas from East Asia, contacts with China and Japan are at the foreground in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and the volume of Chinese objects in the museums in Slovenia exceeds that of Japanese or Korean ones. The common trend in Europe was collecting so-called *chinoiserie* furniture, ceramics, and other objects. Then came the period of *Japonisme*, which was followed by the time of Austro-Hungarian maritime activities. Throughout, Korean landscapes, objects, people, and their customs have been identified as observed by specific individuals from central Europe and from the Slovenian milieu. The photographs and picture postcards are a powerful means of visual communication. Thanks to the technological development of photography, printing, and postal systems, interesting facts were conveyed from East Asia to people in central Europe. Picture postcards, particularly ones that were mailed, convey much about the time of their production and their use, and even the exact dates of correspondence between individuals.

However, the most detailed part of such discovery is usually confirmed in recorded materials by individuals in writing: letters, reports, and memoirs. The messages on the picture postcards are usually short and limited to greetings, often set phrases, and do not disclose much in terms of personal impressions or concrete experience. In the case of Alma Karlin, because she was a writer herself, although perhaps not always very objective, her personal feelings and reflections in the foreign environment are felt in her writings: she was discovering. Moreover, because her writing was also partly published, the wider public in her home country could take part in the discovery of distant places – in this case, the 'land of morning calm'.

Though chronologically later than Karlin's adventure, the Christian missionary work is still to be worked on. It is hoped that this will reveal some written materials by Slovenian individuals that were involved in this activity.

Further research in cooperation with neighboring countries and institutions, with scholars with various languages, and examining historical data will contribute to further findings. The search will also continue for more materials in Slovenia as well.

#### **Bibliography**


Shigemori Bučar, C. (2020). "Alma Karlin in Korea: Observation of the Land and Its People by an Adventurer from Slovenia". Schirmer, A. (ed.), *Central Eu‑ ropeans in Korea: Alice Schalek, Alma Karlin, Fritz Hansgirg, and Many Oth‑ ers*. Vienna: Praesens, 207-22.

Šmitek, Z. (1995). *Srečevanje z drugačnostjo: slovenska izkustva eksotike*. Radovljica: Didakta.

#### **Cultural Exchanges Between Korea and the West** Artifacts and Intangible Heritage edited by Jong-Chol An and Ariane Perrin

### When Camera Encountered 'Chosŏn Beauties'

*Kisaeng* **Photographs, Tourism, and Postcards from the 1880s to Colonial-Period Korea**

#### Yizhou Wang

Hong Kong Baptist University, China

**Abstract** This chapter contributes to an under-researched topic: *kisaeng* 妓生 (Korean female entertainers or courtesans) in early photographs of Korea associated with tourism. It examines the photographic representation of *kisaeng* from the perspectives of American travelers and Japanese colonial agents respectively. The second section focuses on the period between the 1880s and 1910 when Korea began to open up to the world. It explores the earliest photographic records of *kisaeng* through the lens of American travelers, set parallel to descriptions from their travel writings. The third section, set during the colonial period (1910-45), identifies a repertoire of visual practices associated with nation-building politics that celebrated *kisaeng* as idealized and civilized 'Chosŏn Beauties', or icons of traditional Korean culture, through the medium of photographic postcards initiated by the Japanese colonizers. It argues that such practices, relying on resources drawn from Korean entertainment culture, attempted to reshape Korea's national identity and create an imagery of a 'feminized' Korea under Japanese colonial rule.

**Keywords** Kisaeng. Korean photography. Tourism. Postcard. Nation building.

**Summary** 1 Introduction. – 2 Early *Kisaeng* Photographs by American Travelers (1880s-1910). – 2.1 Percival Lowell's 'Fragrant Iris' in Winter Landscapes (1884). – 2.2 The "Impassive" Charm: Imperial *Kisaeng* in Burton Holmes' Lens (1901) and *Travelogues* (1908). – 2.3 *Kisaeng* and Ancient Greek *Hetairai* Alike: Homer Hulbert's *The Passing of Korea* (1906). – 2.4 *Kisaeng* at Photo Studios: Frank Carpenter's Collection. – 3 Embodying and Feminizing Korea: *Kisaeng* Postcards and Japanese Tourism in Colonial Period (1910-45). – 3.1 Touring the New Land, *Kisaeng* as the Guide and Tourist Attraction. – 3.2 *Kisaeng* as the 'Chosŏn Beauty', an Icon of Traditional Korean Culture. – 3.3 Westernizing the Bodies of *Kisaeng*. – 4 Conclusion.

**Studi e ricerche 32** e-ISSN 2610-9123 | ISSN 2610-993X ISBN [ebook] 978-88-6969-717-3 | ISBN [print] 978-88-6969-718-0

**Peer review | Open access 169** Submitted 2022-11-24 | Accepted 2022-12-10 | Published 2023-08-30 © 2023 Wang | cb 4.0 **DOI 10.30687/978‑88-6969‑717-3/008**

#### 1 Introduction

Starting in the 1880s, late Chosŏn period Korea began to import 'Western' technology and culture through China and Japan. In the course of this process, photographic technology and equipment were introduced to Korea, followed by the advent of photography studios on the Korean peninsula. Meanwhile, the interplay of global tourism and colonialism fostered the making and circulation of images representing 'exotic' and 'local' cultures and knowledge. This chapter focuses on photographs of *kisaeng* 妓生 (Korean female entertainers or courtesans) that were produced in contexts related to the rise of international tourism in Korea. This research initiates an examination of photographs by individual 'Western' travelers, and builds a parallel between 'Western' perspectives and the Japanese perspective by analysing the ideas imposed on commercialized *kisaeng* photographs mass-produced on picture postcards by Japanese publishers.<sup>1</sup> It illuminates the production, practices of staging and performativity, circulation, and consumption of these *kisaeng* images in the transcultural contexts of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century Korea. It was a period of political upheaval, ranging from the end of the Chosŏn dynasty to the Korean Empire (1897‑1910) to the Japanese colonial period (1910‑45).<sup>2</sup> The intentions, function, visual effects, photographers, publishers, and audiences and reception are considered.

Compared to American travelers' photographs, *kisaeng* on the purchased photographs were carefully staged to represent 'Chosŏn beauties' or 'Korean beauties' and became closely bound to the concepts of 'Koreana' and Japanese empire-building. Their images emphasize themes of Korean scenic views or famous tourist sites, customs, food, entertainment culture, education, etc. To construct an ideal of femininity for Korea, *kisaeng* were often beautifully dressed up and elegantly posed with exquisite ornaments and costumes. In some images, they performed their artistic skills such as painting and calligraphy or performed music. In many photographic portraits of *kisaeng*, Western-style furniture, movable wallpaper, carpets, and

Many thanks to Burglind Jungmann for bringing me to the realm of early photography of Korea and providing feedback. Special thanks to Ariane Perrin, Ding Chennan, Sugiyama Kazuya, and two anonymous reviewers for help and critiques.

<sup>1</sup> The *kisaeng* photographs by Western travelers have rarely been studied. The colonial-period Japanese *kisaeng* photographs have attracted scholarly attention in the recent decades (e.g. Yi 2005; Pak 2018). Pak contributed a Master's thesis on *kisaeng* portrait photographs published in newspaper and illustrated books, in which she includes a detailed literature review of research on *kisaeng* images (4-11).

<sup>2</sup> The Japanese materials published during the Japanese colonial period in Korea are transcribed in Japanese.

costumes were mingled with traditional Korean elements, suggesting inspiration from Western sources through the 'Japanese lens'.

The production of picture postcards originated in Europe in the 1860s-70s. By 1900, postcards had become widespread due to lower costs for the reproduction process. The tourist photographic postcard soon became a popular category of postcard (Freund 1980, 99-100). Postcards likely reached Korea around 1900, and their production blossomed during the colonial period due to their promotion by Japanese institutions and companies. In early twentieth century Korea and Japan, the postcard was undoubtedly still a novel medium that provided a new way to connect with the increasingly open world.

Photographs of *kisaeng* were reproduced in large quantities by Japanese publishers on postcards. They served the increasing Japanese demand to tour and know the colonized Korea, and propaganda purposes of reshaping the identities and concepts of 'Koreana' and the expanded Japanese empire through visual media. Hyung Il Pai's (2010; 2013) discussion of Japanese tourism in colonial Korea touches on picture postcards. I suggest that *kisaeng* in photographs on early twentieth-century commercial postcards were not represented as suffering victims nor as mere sexual objects for male desire. They were strategically remodelled as stunning, elaborately or fashionably dressed, well-educated, civilized, and talented women under the new regime of colonial rule.

#### 2 Early *Kisaeng* Photographs by American Travelers (1880s-1910)

After Korea, the 'Hermit Kingdom', was forced by the Japanese Empire to open diplomatic and commercial relations with Meiji Japan and signed the Treaty of Kanghwa in 1876, King Kojong (1864‑1907) made the decision to establish diplomatic relations with the United States and signed a treaty with the Americans in 1882.<sup>3</sup> Since that point, American travelers made trips to Korea with their cameras, during which they explored the unknown country and attempted to record its 'authentic' life and culture. Four of them – Percival Lowell, Burton Holmes, Homer Hulbert, and Frank Carpenter – arrived in Korea between the 1880s and 1910 for different reasons – diplomacy, travel, and evangelism. They all shared an interest in representing *kisaeng* through the photographic lens, either by making *kisaeng* photographs or collecting them.

<sup>3</sup> The Treaty of Kanghwa marked the turning point when Korea ended its isolation from the world.

#### **2.1 Percival Lowell's 'Fragrant Iris' in Winter Landscapes (1884)**

Percival Lowell (1855‑1916), best known for his later career as the astronomer who mapped the 'canals' on Mars and discovered the planetoid Pluto, was significant in modern Korean history as a successful U.S.-Korea diplomat and a pioneer of Korean photography.<sup>4</sup> As a photographer, Lowell is well known for his ground-breaking photographic portraits of King Kojong and the royal family, and for his photographs of the Korean palace. He was likely the first to take photographs of *kisaeng*, which he later included in his travel diary, *Chosön, the Land of the Morning Calm: A Sketch of Korea*, which contains award-winning photo illustrations that introduced Korea to the 'Western' world.<sup>5</sup>

Lowell was prolific during his three-month stay in Seoul, the capital of Korea, between December 1883 and March 1884. 6 Many of his photographs produced during this trip have been preserved in Lowell's photographic archive at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.<sup>7</sup> Among the sixty-one photographs in the archive, two photographs taken in 1884 feature a lone *kisaeng* against the backdrop of winter landscapes **[figs 1‑2]**. These two photographs stand out from his oeuvre as he preferred landscapes, architecture, and crowds in most of his photography. The photograph with the forest view was used as the frontispiece for *Chosön, the Land of the Morning Calm*, suggesting his fondness for the *kisaeng* **[fig. 2]**. Both photographs depict the same *kisaeng*, nicknamed 'Fragrant Iris', riding a horse and accompanied by an old groom. They were likely photographed in winter as she wears heavy, thick clothes, and snow can be seen on the horizon and along the forest footpath. Unlike the other *kisaeng* photographs discussed in this article, Lowell places much weight on the delineation of the rural landscape, featuring either deserted land, trees, snow, and remote hills, or dense woods with a footpath. The two photographs were likely taken on the same day in late winter or early spring in 1884 during his trip to Seoul.

According to *Chosön, the Land of the Morning Calm*, Lowell met 'Fragrant Iris' at several banquets, and he was particularly fond of her. When talking about Korean women throughout his book, Low-

<sup>4</sup> Pai (2016) has done research on the archive of Percival Lowell's photographs.

<sup>5</sup> Lowell's *Chosön, the Land of the Morning Calm: A Sketch of Korea* (1888) provides detailed information of his travels in Korea. Earlier editions were printed in 1885 and 1886.

<sup>6</sup> The records of Lowell's trip to Seoul can be found in his *Chosön, the Land of the Morning Calm*.

<sup>7</sup> For Percival Lowell's photo archive at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, see https://collections.mfa.org/.

**Figure 1** Percival Lowell, *The Kisaeng 'Fragrant Iris' in a Winter Landscape*. 1884. Albumen print, 28 × 36 cm. Photograph. © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

**Figure 2** Percival Lowell, *The Kisaeng 'Fragrant Iris' in a Wood*. 1884. Photograph, as the frontispiece of *Chosön, the Land of the Morning Calm: A Sketch of Korea* (Boston: Ticknor and Company, 1888)

ell considered *kisaeng* (he mostly used the Japanese term *geisha*) a social class different from other Korean women who were 'invisible' on several different levels. This observation of the *kisaeng* unique status and visibility in Korean society, and Lowell's personal interest in the *kisaeng* 'Fragrant Iris', might have motivated him to capture her twice.

#### **2.2 The "Impassive" Charm: Imperial** *Kisaeng* **in Burton Holmes' Lens (1901) and** *Travelogues* **(1908)**

Burton Holmes (1870‑1958), born in Chicago, was a celebrated American traveler, photographer, lecturer, and film producer. His camera preserved rare portrayals of government *kisaeng* in the Korean imperial palace, which have not been studied yet. In the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth century, travel lectures illustrated with photography were extremely popular in the United States. Magic lantern slides were widely used to accompany illustrated lectures where speakers described foreign lands to public audiences (Peterson 2013, 23). Emerging from this popular medium, film technology led to the development of commercial travelogue films as another popular entertainment form (24). Holmes was a pioneer among his American contemporaries in the fields of both photographic travel lectures and travelogue films. When delivering his lecture series that toured the United States between the 1890s and the 1950s, he incorporated photographs and film clips that he made during his travels worldwide (24).

Holmes' travels included one trip to Seoul in 1901, during which he not only documented Korea through the medium of photography but also made the earliest film that recorded people's lives in Seoul during the short-lived period of the Korean Empire (1897‑1910).<sup>8</sup> Through Holmes' lens, *kisaeng* played a notable role in both media. In addition, Holmes (1910; 1908) included descriptions of *kisaeng* in the tenth volume of his travelogue series, the *Burton Holmes Travelogues* (1901 first edition titled *The Burton Holmes Lectures*).<sup>9</sup>

Like Lowell, Holmes had a chance to meet the emperor Kojong at the imperial palace in Seoul. It is particularly remarkable that Holmes received an invitation to see and take pictures of government *kisaeng* in the royal palace (107‑10). Noted in his *Travelogues*, Holmes observed a large troupe of more than eighty *kisaeng* serving the court, who constantly waited for a summons to dance in front of the emperor (107‑8). Despite the lack of supplementary information about the content of Holmes' monochrome silent film footage of Ko-

<sup>8</sup> For the full version of Burton Holmes' film footage about Korea (length: 5′12″), see https://www.travelfilmarchive.com/item.php?id=13393&clip=n&num=10&startrow =0&keywords=korea. The Burton Holmes Collection at UCLA contains more than 16,000 hand-painted glass lantern slides produced between 1887 and 1937 for Holmes' illustrated travel lectures. For information on the Burton Holmes Digital Archive, see https://humtech.ucla.edu/project/burton-holmes-digital-archive.

<sup>9</sup> Holmes reorganized the contents of his travel lectures and transferred them into the ten published volumes of the *Burton Holmes Travelogues*. In the tenth volume of his *Travelogue*s about Korea, Holmes used different terms, including 'dancing girls', 'gesang', 'coryphée', and 'corps-de-ballet' to refer to *kisaeng* or a *kisaeng* troupe.

**Figure 3ab** Burton Holmes, *Official Kisaeng at the Palace*. 1901. Seoul, Korea. Two shots from the 35 mm film footage about Korea. The Travel Film Archive

rea, I postulate that the one-minute clip (from 3′30″ to 4′36″), which features dancing girls, was a rare encounter made fortuitously when the *kisaeng* were practising in the palace. At the beginning of the clip, Holmes shows the faces of several young *kisaeng* **[fig. 3a]**, which parallels the focus on *kisaeng*'s faces in his textual descriptions. He writes that they "are sometimes pretty", "with faces powdered and made up" (108). The rest of the clip showed the *kisaeng* dancing with musical accompaniment from the male musicians sitting in the back **[fig. 3b]**. The ease of the facial expressions and movements of the *kisaeng* reveals that when Holmes was holding his camera and shooting the scene, they were merely practising or warming up rather than performing on a formal occasion. Meanwhile, corresponding to Holmes's observation in the *Travelogues* that *kisaeng* were "always immaculately dressed" (108), most of the *kisaeng* in the footage were dressed in white or light-coloured *hanbok* with their hair neatly bound up in a similar style.

In addition to the film clip, Holmes' photographs of *kisaeng* on hand-painted glass lantern slides offer more visual details about *kisaeng*'s bodies, facial expressions, dresses, and accessories, and their living and working spaces. Figure 4 features one *kisaeng* in

**Figure 4** Burton Holmes, *A Kisaeng Seated with a Folding Fan*. 1901. Hand-painted 3.5 × 4 inches glass lantern slide. © Burton Holmes Digital Archive, UCLA

a white top and grey skirt, seated on a floral-patterned carpet and resting her right hand, which holds a green folded fan with tassels, on her knee. She calmly looks directly into the camera, which suggests her awareness of Holmes and the fact that she was being captured by the camera **[fig. 4]**. She was surrounded by other figures. To her right, another seated figure pinching a similar green folded fan with her hands is partially visible. They were probably both at dancing practice. This photograph is a rare close-up documentary image of the interior space for *kisaeng*'s regular practice, possibly at court.

More details of *kisaeng*'s space are portrayed in figure 5 **[fig. 5]**. This photograph depicts a group of six young *kisaeng* sitting in a room decorated with screen panels showing bird-and-flower paintings, figure paintings, and calligraphy in the Chinese style. The interior setting suggests the *kisaeng*'s artistic and literary cultivation and the refinement of their daily lives. Five of them stare into the camera, while none of the six girls smile or express any excitement on their placid faces. Holmes' critical commentary on the palace *kisaeng* in the *Travelogues* coincided with such visual representations in his photographs. He was disappointed by the "calm-faced" or "quite expressionless" *kisaeng*, or "impassive coryphées", who danced to the "dull music", "monotonous, stiff, and automatic in their posturing", although he noted the Korean emperor's unceasing interest in watching their performance (Holmes 1908, 108-9, 112). In contrast to the calmness of the *kisaeng* represented in the glass lantern slides, Holmes' film footage contains more vivid expressions and motions. Thus, the expressionlessness of *kisaeng* captured in the still photographs might have, to a large extent, reflect-

**Figure 5** Burton Holmes, *Kisaeng Seated in a Room with Bird-and-Flower Paintings and Calligraphy*. 1901. Hand-painted 3.5 × 4 inches glass lantern slide. © Burton Holmes Digital Archive, UCLA

ed Holmes' personal perceptions and feelings about *kisaeng*. From the perspective of using visual materials as historical resources, it is worth noting that Holmes provided valuable first-hand visual resources that documented the lives and performances of *kisaeng* at the court in 1901 Seoul before the government *kisaeng* (*kwan'gi*  官妓) system was officially banned in 1908.10 These works represent a unique viewpoint visualizing *kisaeng* in everyday life with more randomness and spontaneity. They are distinct from the numerous staged or highly performative photographs of *kisaeng* (often smiling) produced in photography studios or outdoor settings that were printed as postcards and other illustrated products by Japanese publishers.

#### **2.3** *Kisaeng* **and Ancient Greek** *Hetairai* **Alike: Homer Hulbert's** *The Passing of Korea* **(1906)**

Homer B. Hulbert (1863‑1949) was an American missionary, journalist, historian, and educator who resided in Korea from 1886 until he was forced to leave by the Japanese resident-general in 1907. He lived through the Japanese establishment of a protectorate over Korea in 1905 and the Protectorate period (1905-10). He was also known for his political activities, advocating for Korean independence from Japanese imperial rule (Schmid 2010, 7‑23). His 600-page book, *The* 

<sup>10</sup> Park (2015) has done a comprehensive historical study on government *kisaeng* in late Chosŏn Korea.

*Passing of Korea* (1906), presents his extensive experiences in Korea, and it has been argued as a critique of the Japanese colonial efforts in Korea. In addition to the book's main intention to criticize Japanese colonization, it also attempted to portray to the 'outside' world an 'authentic' view of a distinctive Korean culture and society as seen through Hulbert's eyes. I suggest that the illustration of the *kisaeng* helped to serve this purpose.

In the second chapter, "The People", from *The Passing of Korea*, Hulbert included a studio photograph of a government *kisaeng*  dressed in a refined costume for performance and standing in a dancing pose with her back facing the viewer **[fig. 6]**. To accompany the photograph, Hulbert wrote a paragraph articulating his personal thoughts about Korean *kisaeng*. To elucidate these female social roles from a culture with which he was unfamiliar, Hulbert's approach was to search for more familiar equivalent examples to compare and contrast. He linked Korean *kisaeng* to ancient Greek courtesans or high-class prostitutes, called *hetairai* or *hetaira*, literally 'female companion' (Glazebrook 2020).<sup>11</sup> He asserts, though without further elaboration, that "the condition of Korea to-day [today] as regards the relations of the sexes is much like that of ancient Greece in the days of Pericles"<sup>12</sup> and "there is much similarity between the *kisang* [*kisaeng*] (dancing-girl) of Korea and the *hetairai* of Greece" (Hulbert 1906, 41). *Hetairai* were known to accompany men's drinking parties as a means to display status, and they were often depicted on ancient Greek vases and drinking cups.

In contrast, Hulbert maintains that "the *geisha* of Japan [is] the exact counterpart of the *kisang* [*kisaeng*] of Korea" (41). The reasons are not explained clearly, but he might have intended to suggest that there was much more freedom in sexual relations among Korean *kisaeng* than among Japanese *geishas*. <sup>13</sup> At the beginning of the same paragraph, Hulbert stated:

As for morality in its narrow sense, the Koreans allow themselves great latitude. There is no word for home in their language, and much of the meaning which that word connotes is lost to them. (41)

Hulbert seemed to regard Korea as a country with fewer moral restrictions. Furthermore, he showed sympathy for *kisaeng* girls who

<sup>11</sup> *Hetairai* is an ancient Greek term and euphemism, and it refers to those who were known to have possessed outstanding physical beauty, cultural accomplishments, and, importantly, greater freedom than married women bound within the familial structure.

<sup>12</sup> Pericles (c. 495-429 BC) was a powerful Athenian statesman and general in ancient Greece around the fifth century BC who affixed a legendary status to *hetairai*.

<sup>13</sup> Taylor Atkins (2010, 175‑84) includes a comparison between Korean *kisaeng* and Japanese *geisha* with discussion on the Japanese perception of *kisaeng*.

belonged to the "degraded class", although he positioned himself as a member of the "most enlightened countries", a category to which Korea did not belong (41). In the context of the Japanese protectorate over Korea, by associating *kisaeng* with the tradition of *hetairai* rather than *geishas*, Hulbert implied that Korea was a country with a long history and refined culture comparable to the ancient civilization of Greece.

#### **2.4** *Kisaeng* **at Photo Studios: Frank Carpenter's Collection**

The photograph of a government *kisaeng* published in Hulbert's *The Passing of Korea* was likely made in a photography studio before or during 1901. Studio photographs featuring *kisaeng* in similar exquisite attire and ornaments can be found in the collections of other American travelers, for example, Frank G. Carpenter (1855-1924). Carpenter, born in Mansfield, Ohio, was an American journalist, photographer, world traveler, travel writer, and geography writer and lecturer. He travelled to Korea twice (as well as China and Japan) in 1894 and 1908 as part of his first and second world journeys (Swanson, Friend 2010). After that, Carpenter (1926) published one travelogue about Korea and Japan. As a journalist, Carpenter's extensive world travels (including Europe, Asia, Africa, and North, Central, and South America) were mainly financed by writing assignments from newspapers, magazines, and presses.<sup>14</sup> As such, his travelogues reached a wide readership. His publications on his travels, including syndicated publications, were in wider circulation than the accounts produced by other 'Western' travelers in Korea.

During his world travels, he took many photographs, but he also gathered photographs from the countries to which he travelled. In his collection of over 15,000 photographs, there is a group of photographs of Korea (currently 46 digitalized files) that cover a wide range of subjects including the Korean emperor/empress, street scenes, Korean men/women, Japanese generals in Korea, etc.<sup>15</sup> In contrast to Lowell's enthusiasm for the Korean landscape, most of Carpenter's collected photographs depict the Korean people, among which *kisaeng* photographs can be found.

Two monochrome photographs from Carpenter's collection portray the same government *kisaeng* dressing up in a studio setting and posing **[figs 7‑8]**. Both photographs show the shared interior settings, including the same carpet and pot of plants, probably from a photography studio in Korea. The background of the *kisaeng* in profile features a long curtain in the Western style and pattern **[fig. 7]**, while the screen depicting a bookshelf holding thread-bound books and vessels was set behind the *kisaeng* showing her back in a standing pose **[fig. 8]**. Moreover, the decorative headdress, the carefully prepared hairstyles (though slightly different), the refined embroidery on the costume for performance with extended sleeves, the dangling ornaments, and the physical beauty of the young *kisaeng* are highlighted in black and white contrast with rich, layered tones.

A similar style of dress, posture (back to the audience), and interior setting is shared by Hulbert's *kisaeng* photograph **[fig. 6]**. All contribute to our knowledge about the early photographs of *kisaeng* that were produced or circulated between 1894 and 1908, just before and at the start of the Japanese occupation. They also shed light on the subject matters and settings of the early Korean photography studios. Between the 1880s and 1910, especially in the period after the First Sino-Japanese War (1894-95), entrepreneurs from Japan's ports and commercial centres, e.g. Yokohama, established and dominated the

<sup>14</sup> For examples, the newspaper *Cleveland Leader* (for which Carpenter had a regular column entitled 'Carp's Washington'), the *Boston Globe*, the American Press Association, the *New York World*, *Cosmopolitan Magazine*.

<sup>15</sup> They were donated to the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. For the online database of the Carpenter Collection, seehttps://www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/ffcarp.

**Yizhou Wang When Camera Encountered 'Chosŏn Beauties'**

**Figure 7** Anonymous, *A Seated Government Kisaeng*. c. 1894 or 1908. Black and white photographic print. © Frank and Frances Carpenter Collection, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, D.C.

**Figure 8** Anonymous, *A Standing Government Kisaeng*. c. 1894 or 1908. Black and white photographic print. © Frank and Frances Carpenter Collection, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, D.C.

photo studio and printing business in Korea (Lee 2014). It was only in 1907 that the first photo studio, likely run by Koreans, Ch'ŏnyŏndang Photo Studio 天然當, opened, marking a turning point in the history of Korean photo studios and photography. A rapid increase in Korean-run photo studios soon followed (Lee 2014). *Kisaeng* were indeed 'public women' in Chŏson society who could be visible in public. They were not required to cover their heads and bodies with long clothing as was the case for gentry women. As both Hulbert's and Carpenter's *kisaeng* photographs show, the staged settings in photo studios rather than on the street or in an open-air background indicate that they likely were photographed in Japanese-run photo studios and sold on the market, probably targeting both 'Western' and Japanese travelers in Korea. They were printed on a higher quality paper stock than the one used for the later Japanese postcards from the colonial period. It suggests a higher price point than the affordable mass-produced picture postcards. Perhaps because they were products of the Japanese-run photo studios, the government *kisaeng* photographs from the collections of Hulbert and Carpenter were later reproduced by Japanese publishers on picture postcards in the colonial era **[figs 9‑10]**.

#### 3 Embodying and Feminizing Korea: *Kisaeng* Postcards and Japanese Tourism in Colonial Period (1910-45)

During Korea's colonial period, numerous postcards of *kisaeng* photographs were produced by Japanese publishers. Based on the texts written on extant colonial-period postcards from the available databases, they mainly targeted Japanese residents in Korea and Japan for the communication of quotidian and trivial matters.<sup>16</sup> The publishers of the *kisaeng* photo postcards in colonial-period Korea were many and varied, and they included their names in Japanese and sometimes English on the postcards. Among them, the government institutions such as Chosen [Chosŏn] Branch of Japanese Tourist Bureau (*Mantetsu Keijō kanrikyoku* 満鉄京城管理局) and The Railway Bureau of the Government-General of Chosen [Chosŏn] (*Chōsen Sōtokufu Tetsudōkyoku* 朝鮮総督府鉄道局) facilitated production. Besides the names of publishing houses, business enterprises and photo studios either from Japan or Korea, e.g. Tokyo Publishing Press (*Tōkyō Insatsu Kabushikigaisha* 東京印刷株式会社), Taisho, Hinde-Shoko Seoul Korea (*Keijō Hinode Shōkō* 京城日之出商行), Tanida, Wakizaka Shoten Heijio [Pyongyang] (*Heijō Wakizaka Shashimbu* 平壌脇坂写真部), K. Iwata, Seoul, Corea [Korea] (Kankoku Keijō Iwata Shashinkan 韓 国京城岩田写真館), and Shoseido 東京松声堂, appeared on the postcards as the publishers. This section analyses the design of the colonial-period *kisaeng* postcards, and it explores the imposed idea connecting *kisaeng* images with nation-building.

#### **3.1 Touring the New Land,** *Kisaeng* **as the Guide and Tourist Attraction**

After Japan became the mandated protector of Korea and then colonized it, Japanese authorities deployed visual tools to promote tourism in their new territory. *Kisaeng* were selected as the imagined 'guide'

<sup>16</sup> For a glimpse into the quantitative data, the collection database of the National Museum of Korea includes roughly eight hundred photo postcards with the *kisaeng* subject. See http://www.emuseum.go.kr/. The digital Korean Photo Postcard Database from the International Research Center for Japanese Studies in Kyoto, Japan contains about 858 postcards with *kisaeng*, many of which were used and carry a stamped postdate and hand-written texts. See https://kutsukake.nichibun.ac.jp/CHO/index.html?page=1. The database for the North American project *Photo Postcard Image Collection of Colonial Korea* holds a massive collection of 8,000 postcards of colonial Korea, which also contains *kisaeng* photo postcards. This database is only available on site at University of Chicago, Columbia University, Harvard University, University of Michigan, Duke University, University of Toronto, and UCLA. The author had a chance to examine the database at the University of Chicago Library. For more information, see https://ceas.uchicago.edu/news/8000-images-colonial-korea-captured-postcard-collection.

**Figure 9** Anonymous, *A Government Kisaeng in Dancing Posturing*. Colonial period, Korea. Photography postcard. Collection of Yamamoto Shunsuke, Kyoto. © International Research Centre for Japanese Studies, Kyoto, Japan

**Figure 10** Anonymous, *A Government Kisaeng Dressed Up*. Colonial period, Korea. Photography postcard. Collection of Yamamoto Shunsuke, Kyoto. © International Research Centre for Japanese Studies, Kyoto, Japan

and a tourist attraction for actual and potential Japanese tourists. When opening a Korean railway map published by the Railway Bureau of the Government-General of Chosen [Chosŏn], the image of a beautiful *kisaeng* might have appeared as an alluring welcome.<sup>17</sup> Postcards, as an affordable means of attracting tourists, were manufactured to show Japanese the tourist attractions to be found in their Korean colony. It was a common practice to combine *kisaeng* photographs and scenic views of Korea. Titles such as *A Hundred Views of Keijo [Seoul]*  (*Keijō Hyakkei* 京城百景) and *The Fifty Scenic Views of Heijo [Pyongyang]* (*Heijō Gojikkei* 平壤五十景) were printed on *kisaeng* picture postcards, establishing *kisaeng* in the role of introducing and representing Korea. A beloved tourist experience was a boat tour along the Taedong River (Taedonggang 大同江) in Pyongyang accompanied by *kisaeng* and their entertainment service. Some postcards present a mixture of *kisaeng*, boat tours, and Japanese tourists. A number of other postcards

<sup>17</sup> Such maps can be found in the online database of the International Research Centre for Japanese Studies, Kyoto, Japan.

**Figure 11** Anonymous, *Kisaeng with the Taedong River and the Peony Platform*. Colonial period, Korea. Photography postcard. Collection of Yamamoto Shunsuke, Kyoto. © International Research Centre for Japanese Studies, Kyoto, Japan

merge three elements – *kisaeng*, the Taedong River, and the nearby tourist site, Peony Platform – in a single postcard. In figure 11, eleven *kisaeng*, dressed up and arranged on a riverbank surrounded by rocks, have the Taedong River and the Peony Platform as their background **[fig. 11]**. The combination creates an unnatural and intentional performance. These postcards were sold to Japanese tourists as souvenirs to be collected or posted to Japan (Pai 2010). Through the circulation of these postcards, the imagery of *kisaeng* became bound up with important Korean natural and cultural sites, and thus the land and national identity of Korea.

Furthermore, *kisaeng* postcards served to manipulate the knowledge of famous sites and tourist attractions in colonial Korea. The *kisaeng* school was a conspicuous theme in photo postcards as evidenced by its frequent appearance. The *kisaeng* became one of the tourist attractions in Korea for Japanese tourists. It is striking that, as indicated by the Japanese and English texts on the postcards, the *kisaeng* school was regarded as a famous site of Pyongyang. For instance, on the postcard in figure 12 **[fig. 12]**, the upper left corner reads, "View of the Famous Place, Heijō [Pyongyang]" (*Heijō Meishō* 平壤名勝). Its delineation emphasizes the entrance gate and *kisaeng* of the *kisaeng* school at Pyongyang. Moreover, the postcards combining *kisaeng* images with a symbolic site representing Japanese imperial power disclose the intention to implant Japanese identity onto a map of the Korean land.

**Figure 12** Anonymous, *The Kisaeng School*. Colonial period, Korea. Photography postcard. Collection of Yamamoto Shunsuke, Kyoto. © International Research Centre for Japanese Studies, Kyoto, Japan

For example, Chōsen Jingū (built in 1925), a Shinto shrine in Seoul for worshipping the Japanese emperor Meiji Tennō that was built in 1925 during the Japanese occupation, was represented in *kisaeng* postcards. Figure 13 combines a photograph of Chōsen Jingū and a photograph of a young *kisaeng* in *hanbok* surrounded by Korean drums **[fig. 13]**. Such a union of two originally unconnected subjects blurred the boundaries between place and the human figure, Japan and Korea, new and old. By establishing *kisaeng* as tour guides and a tourist attraction of colonial Korea, the Japanese transformed the subordinated female bodies of *kisaeng* into embodiments of their Korean colony.

#### **3.2** *Kisaeng* **as the 'Chosŏn Beauty', an Icon of Traditional Korean Culture**

Colonial-period Japanese postcards almost always contained certain Japanese terms or *kanji* to explain the main themes of the pictures or scenes printed on them. The picture postcards with *kisaeng* photographs often bear the term for *kisaeng*, including "The *Kisaeng*" 妓生, "The Official *Kisaeng*" 官妓, "The Chosŏn Beauty" (*Chōsen Bijin* 朝鮮美人), and "The Korean Beauty" (*Kankoku Bijin* 韓 國美人). The Korean government's courtesan system was reorganized into a system of licensed prostitution after its official abolition

**Yizhou Wang When Camera Encountered 'Chosŏn Beauties'**

**Figure 13** Anonymous, *Chōsen Jingū and a Kisaeng with Drums*. Colonial period, Korea. Photography postcard. Collection of Yamamoto Shunsuke, Kyoto. © International Research Centre for Japanese Studies, Kyoto, Japan

in 1908. Although *kisaeng* belonged to the category of prostitutes, they were represented and considered to be decent and beautiful women who were not obscenely depicted on Japanese postcards. They were portrayed either individually or in a group. Scenes of their interactions with male clients were seldom shown (although there are exceptions). I argue that *kisaeng*, through their visual representation on Japanese picture postcards, were elevated into icons of traditional Korean culture during the colonial period.

*Kisaeng* on Japanese picture postcards were often staged to show their mastery of refined elite skills in calligraphy, poetry, ink painting, music, etc. The legacy of Korean elite culture from the Chosŏn dynasty was a dominant component in *kisaeng* photographs on Japanese postcards, and often labelled and categorized as "Customs of Chosen [Chosŏn]" (*Chōsen Fūzoku* 朝鮮風俗). Figure 14 focuses on a group of young *kisaeng* learning classical ink painting of the conventional 'gentleman' subject of plants, e.g. orchids and bamboo, at the *kisaeng* school in Pyongyang, under the instruction of a man, perhaps Japanese **[fig. 14]**. Likewise, their expertise in playing musical instruments was another merit in representations of *kisaeng* as 'Chosŏn beauties'.

**Figure 14** Anonymous, *The Training of Painting at Kisaeng School*, *Pyongyang*. Colonial period, Korea. Photography postcard. Busan City Museum © National Museum of Korea

Besides their expertise in Chosŏn elite culture signified by calligraphy, painting, and traditional musical instruments, Korean cuisine as representative of Korean culture and tradition was also combined with the imagery of *kisaeng* on postcards with titles such as *The Famous Cuisine of Chosen [Chosŏn]* (*Chōsen Meibutsu Ryōri* 朝鮮名物料 理). This category of *kisaeng* postcards adds layers of olfactory and gustatory sensation and renders these *kisaeng* images more participatory and closer to daily life. Tasting local and 'authentic' food, after all, is an essential part of modern tourism. The photo postcard in figure 15 shows three *kisaeng* in *hanbok* sitting around a table covered with a tablecloth set with a potted plant **[fig. 15]**. They are all smiling and the one on the left is touching the leaves of the plant, probably orchids, while trying to smell it. The English text on the postcard specifies that the *kisaeng* were "famous singers" and they were "smelling the fragrance of flowers" at "a well-known Korean restaurant" in Seoul. The accompanying Japanese text gives the name of the Korean restaurant as "Garden of the *Dao* of Food, Seoul, Chosen [Chosŏn]" (*Chōsen Keijō Shokudōen* 朝鮮京城食道園). Meanwhile, a stamp of the restaurant appears on the surface of the *kisaeng* photograph. Another postcard promoting the same restaurant features a group of *kisaeng* performing a sword dance at the restaurant dressed in costumes and hats. The sword dance was a traditional performance during the Chosŏn dynasty, especially by government *kisaeng*, and can be found in earlier Chosŏn genre paintings.

#### **Figure 15**

Anonymous, *Kisaeng at a Korean Restaurant*. Colonial period, Korea. Photography postcard.Collection of Yamamoto Shunsuke, Kyoto. © International Research Centre for Japanese Studies, Kyoto, Japan

#### **3.3 Westernizing the Bodies of** *Kisaeng*

The colonial period under Japanese rule was a period of modernization, although Koreans' agency was limited and ambiguous under colonial rule. Picture postcards became a visual platform for representing and facilitating the process of colonial modernization and made it accessible to wide audiences in Korea, Japan, and beyond. 'Western' identity was in demand so that Japan could stand out from other Asian countries as a 'modernized' and superior empire. This concern was also passed on to its colonies, including Korea, and it was reflected in the colonial-period visual culture. The feminine and obedient bodies of *kisaeng*, mingling the Korean cultural traditions and the 'Western' dress, fashion, art deco, etc., were chosen to visually perform both coloniality and modernity on the mass-produced picture postcards for public purchase and extended transregional circulation along with the expansion of Japanese tourism in colonial Korea.

**Figure 16** Anonymous, *A Kisaeng Resting on a Bed*. Colonial period, Korea. Photography postcard. Busan City Museum. © National Museum of Korea

Within the framed pictorial space on portable postcards, *kisaeng*  were not only established as icons of traditional Korean culture but also staged to embrace and assimilate 'Western' elements through the objects surrounding and on their bodies.

At a basic level, 'Western' elements appeared in the background and settings that framed the *kisaeng* figures. The photo postcard in figure 16 depicts a *kisaeng* resting on a bed in her inner chamber. The room is decorated with a mirror, a Western-style clock, and a framed oil painting hanging on the wall **[fig. 16]**. To be photographed by the imported camera was indeed a 'modern' gesture. Most remarkably, the photographer, likely a Japanese man in a Western-style suit, and his large camera mounted on the tripod are visible in the mirror. The image captures a rare moment representing the *kisaeng*, the photographer, and the camera together in one photograph.

The next step was to 'Westernize' the body by altering costume and hairstyle. Clothing has a performative quality and social power to convey symbolic meanings and construct identities associated with gender, class/social status, ethnicity/nationality, modernity, etc. Jina E. Kim (2019, 150) indicates that 'Western' clothes became popular in Korea during the 1930s and 1940s, especially in the public sphere. Western-style clothing and accessories were incorporated into the body of *kisaeng* as part of their representations on postcards. *Kisaeng* in the early-colonial-era photographs mostly wore the traditional Korean *hanbok*. Yet, there was an increasing interest in representing *kisaeng* in Western-style costumes, or in a mixture of

#### **Figure 17**

Anonymous, *A Kisaeng in Western-Style Suit Holding an Umbrella*. Colonial period, Korea. Stamped date (on its backside): 10 May 1932. Photography postcard, 10.8 × 8.2 cm. Collection of Yamamoto Shunsuke, Kyoto. © International Research Centre for Japanese Studies, Kyoto, Japan

Western-style attire and Korean *hanbok*. *Kisaeng* on postcards with stamped dates in the 1900s already incorporated certain 'Western' elements, e.g. Western-style hats, in their costumes. It implies that *kisaeng* might have led the embrace of Western-style clothing and hairstyles, at least on the mass-produced postcards. On a picture postcard with the stamped date May 10, 1932 **[fig. 17]**, the *kisaeng* eschewed Korean dress for Western-style clothes, hairstyle, and accessories from top to bottom: a high-crowned and wide-brimmed hat, curled hair, one-piece dress decorated with a tie, and a laced umbrella.18 It is also worth noting that in the numerous widely-circulated *kisaeng* photographs, Japanese producers did not seek to replace traditional Korean attire with the Japanese *kimono* (though some *kisaeng* wore the *kimono*) but represent traditional Korean dress or the new Western style.

<sup>18</sup> Although there is no text on the postcard indicating that she is a *kisaeng*, her face is identical to the renowned *kisaeng* Jang Yŏn-hong 장연홍 張蓮紅 (1911-?) who was often featured and acknowledged on Japanese *kisaeng* postcards.

#### 4 Conclusion

This chapter has examined *kisaeng* photographs associated with both 'Western' and Japanese tourism between the 1880s and 1945. In a first period from the 1880s to 1910, when 'Western' travelers started to arrive in the newly open Korea with their cameras, four American travelers, for diplomatic, touristic, or evangelistic purposes, photographed *kisaeng* or collected *kisaeng* photographs available on the market, which they circulated to the outside world. As the 'invisibility' of Korean women was often noted in travelogues about Korea written by 'Western' travelers in this period, these photographs contributed to the early knowledge and visual imagery of *kisaeng* and Korean women as counterparts to the 'non-beings' and 'non-status' arguments found in their texts.

Second, during the Japanese colonial period (1910-45), a large quantity of postcards featuring photographs of *kisaeng* or the combination of *kisaeng* and scenic views were continuously produced by Japanese institutions and publishers to promote Japanese tourism in their new colony. At the same time, *kisaeng*, instead of being represented as debased low-class women, were carefully staged as 'Chosŏn Beauties' who embodied both the refined elite culture and heritage of Chosŏn Korea and the negotiated modernization in fashion, education, and lifestyle under the colonial domination. It was a means of visual propaganda to create colonial intimacy and to feminize and romanticize Korea. The analysis of the *kisaeng* picture postcards reveals the complexity of Japanese colonial visual politics in Korea. It illuminates how the colonized Other could have been exoticized and Orientalized on the bodily and psychical levels within the Orient, while it also uncovers the ambivalent agency of the colonized and their visual representation in the case of those Korean women who entertained known as *kisaeng*.

The term in this essay's title, 'Chosŏn Beauties', is used to denote *kisaeng* as the subjects in photographs from the 1880s to the end of the colonial period. Through the circulation of *kisaeng* photographs and postcards, the imagery of *kisaeng* became the beautiful and decent public embodiment of traditional Korean culture and customs drawn from the refined elite culture of the Chosŏn past. The photographs of *kisaeng* expressed nostalgic inquiry while, especially in the colonial period, they also became representations of modernity exemplified by Western-style interiors, costumes, hairstyles, etc. Two aspects remain for further exploration: the first is to compare *kisaeng* images with Meiji-period Japanese souvenir photographs representing *geishas*, while the other is to analyse the text-image relationship through a close reading of the hand-written Japanese texts on *kisaeng* picture postcards.

#### **Bibliography**


**Cultural Exchanges Between Korea and the West** Artifacts and Intangible Heritage edited by Jong-Chol An and Ariane Perrin

## Mapping the Earth and Ordering the Heavens

**The Circulation and Transformation of Jesuit World Maps and Star Charts on a Screen in the Late Chosŏn Dynasty**

#### Seo Yoonjung

Myongji University, Seoul, Korea

**Abstract** This chapter delves into the exchange of Western pictorial motifs and techniques in copies of world maps and astronomical charts in the eighteenth century of the Chosŏn dynasty. Modeled after Sino-European world maps and star charts by Jesuit priests, these Korean works attest to the profound exchange of cartographic and astronomical knowledge between China and Korea. The influence of Jesuit world maps and astronomical charts not only spurred scientific advancements within Chosŏn society but also facilitated the connection of Chosŏn to the broader global network of knowledge and information.

**Keywords** Jesuits. World map. Star chart. Screen. Chosŏn dynasty.

**Summary** 1 Introduction. – 2 Interactions Between Korean Envoys and Jesuits Missionaries in China. – 3 Figured Manuscript Copies of the Jesuit's World Maps. – 4 Star Charts on Screens. – 5 Conclusion.

#### 1 Introduction

This chapter explores the exchange of Western pictorial motifs and techniques in copies of world maps and astronomical charts in the eighteenth century of the Chosŏn dynasty. Modeled after Sino-European world maps and star charts by Jesuit priests – including Matteo

**Studi e ricerche 32** e-ISSN 2610-9123 | ISSN 2610-993X ISBN [ebook] 978-88-6969-717-3 | ISBN [print] 978-88-6969-718-0

**Peer review | Open access 193** Submitted 2022-09-05 | Accepted 2023-03-06 | Published 2023-08-30 © 2023 Yoonjung | cb 4.0 **DOI 10.30687/978‑88-6969‑717-3/009**

Ricci (1552‑1610), Ferdinand Verbiest (1623‑88), and Ignatius Kögler (1680‑1746) – these Korean works attest to the exchange of cartographic and astronomical knowledge between China and the Korea. The Jesuits' materials that were exported to Korea and their reproductions serve as useful resources for discussing changes in the Sino-centric worldview and Confucian ideologies shared by Chosŏn intellectuals. In addition, this chapter will demonstrate how Western knowledge was transmitted to the Chosŏn, how foreign pictorial images were understood and modified, and how this newly imported techniques, artworks and ideas affected Koreans' self-identification and worldview.

Comparing diverse visual and textual sources from China and Europe, the discussion will then expand to scrutinize the transformation of pictorial motifs, the advancement of geographical and astronomical knowledge from the standpoint of cultural exchange between the East and the West, and Chosŏn Koreans' response to the West within the socio-cultural context. Lastly, this chapter delves into not only the scientific accuracy of the reproductions but also the political context surrounding the royal patronage of the reproduction, the symbolic meaning of map- and calendar-making in Confucian society, and the characteristics of screens as royal regalia. Pictorial maps on folding screens offer valuable opportunities for examining the ritual roles that screen paintings played in and the transformation or domestication of foreign images and technologies have occurred in Chosŏn society. Whereas the Sino-European maps and star charts were mainly made to be hung on the walls or printed in books in China, extant Chosŏn versions were produced on large-scale hand-colored folding screens. This requires a thorough analysis of the multiple functions and significance of the screen format specific to the late Chosŏn court, which offers insights into the Chosŏn Koreans' response to 'global encounters'.

#### 2 Interactions Between Korean Envoys and Jesuits Missionaries in China

Although Korea had not established direct contact with the Jesuit missionaries in the late Chosŏn period, the world maps and the astronomical ideas of the West flowed into Korea mainly through diplomatic missions returning from Beijing (Shin 2006; Lim 2016b). The Chosŏn kingdom played the role of faithful tributary to the Ming and Qing dynasties until 1895. Ming emperor was regarded as the 'Son of Heaven' in the Sino-centric world, and the Chosŏn paid respect to China by adopting its ritual protocols and sending tributary embassies regularly. This marked the start of Korea's entry into the realm of Confucian civilization through the noble culture of the Ming. After the Manchu's military campaigns to the Chosŏn in 1627 and 1636 and the subsequent demise of the Ming empire, Korea transferred its formal tributary obligations from the Ming to the Qing in 1637. Although the Chosŏn government was forced to accept Qing suzerainty, the court and the ruling elites of Korea – who considered the Ming as the legitimate successor of the culture of the 'Middle Kingdom' and the Qing as the barbarians who threatened the harmonious orders of the Confucian civilization – expressed hostility toward the new Manchu regime and claimed themselves to be the last bastion of true Confucian civilization (Haboush 1999). During the Qing dynasty, the Chosŏn dispatched four tributary embassies to the Qing annually to attend the official rituals of the Qing court on the occasions of the three junctures and annual tribute, respectively. Each envoy included thirty-five official envoys and two to three hundred workers.<sup>1</sup>

During such diplomatic visits, a series of gift exchanges took place. In addition to the official gift exchange between the Chinese emperor and Korean king, gift-giving and receiving through personal contacts occurred *en route* to Beijing also constituted an important conduit whereby the Korean embassy might accomplish various practical goals, such as obtaining several books, paintings, and calligraphies, luxury items, and learning new technologies. Among the new information and knowledge acquired through such diplomatic exchanges, Jesuit cartography and astronomy particular attracted Chosŏn intellectuals' attention. In 1631, the first contact between a Korean envoy, Chŏng Tu-Wŏn 鄭斗源 (1581-?), and Joaõ Rodrigues (1561‑1633), a Portuguese Jesuit skilled in astronomy and temporarily stationed in the military campaign of Dengzhou, Shandong Province, brought meaningful results.<sup>2</sup> Rodrigues presented Chŏng with a number of books on European astronomy and geography, as well as a world map, a telescope, a sundial, and automatic striking clock, and pair of small firearms. Through this encounter, Chŏng received a set of five sheets of maps entitled *Complete Map of Ten Thousand Li* (*Wali quantu* 萬里 全圖), which is believed to be Matteo Ricci's map, *Records of Areas Outside the Concern of the Imperial Geographer* (*Zhifang waiji* 職方外 紀), a geographical treatise by Giulio Aleni (1582‑1649), *Explanation of* 

<sup>1</sup> Four major junctures of ritual importance are New Year's Day, the emperor's birthday, the winter solstice, and for the presentation of annual tribute. In the 257 years from 1637 through 1894, Chosŏn sent envoys to the Qing court a total of 507 times, while the Qing from 1636 through 1880 dispatched imperial envoys only 169 times.

<sup>2</sup> The meeting was on Chŏng's return trip to Seoul from Beijing, in the 5th lunar month of 1631. The encounter between Chŏng and Rodrigues was unexpected; Chŏng travelled to China as an official tributary envoy of the Chosŏn dynasty to convey King Injo's condolences to the Ming Emperor Chongzhen 崇禎 (r. 1628‑1644), whereas Rodrigues was sent to assist Ming China from the Portuguese colony at Macao in response to the Ming's request for military aid against the Jurchens. When conflicts between the Ming and Jurchen were ever-intensifying, they were sent to China as the Ming's foreign allies.

*the Telescope* (*Yuanjing shuo* 遠鏡說) by Johann Adam Schall von Bell (1591‑1666), a telescope (*qianlijing* 千里鏡), *Star Maps of the Northern and Southern Hemispheres* (*Tianwen tu nanbei ji* 天文圖南北極), a sundial (*riguiguan* 日晷觀), an automatic striking clock, a gun (*niaochong* 鳥 銃), and *Memorial by the Westerner for Presenting Powerful Cannon* (*Xiyang gongxian shenwei dachong shu* 西洋貢獻神威大銃疏) (Lim 2016a). The Jesuit's world map, presumably a six-scroll map drawn by Matteo Ricci in 1602, was introduced to Korea as early as 1603, and its first record was found in *Classified Essays of Jibong* (*Chibong yusŏl* 芝峰類 說) written by Yi Su-Gwang 李睟光 (1563‑1628), a famous Korean scholar (Üçerler 2016, 3‑4). Chŏng suggested that Jesuits' gifts contributed to the fields of astronomy and military technology. In particular European astronomical knowledge would be helpful in reforming calendrical methods and correcting the errors in the positions of meridian stars. After about a decade, Schall von Bell befriended with the Korean Crown Prince Sohyŏn 昭顯世子 (1612‑45), who was then a hostage to the Manchu court in Shenyang and the Qing capital Yanjing. When the prince was finally allowed to return to Korea in 1645, the missionary presented him with books on the Western calendar and science, a map, a celestial globe and images of Christ.

From the late seventeenth century onward, the tension and conflicts between Qing and Chosŏn had been relaxed and limits on the activities of Korean envoys were lifted. They were allowed to tour the city and meet Chinese freely. Some of the most frequented places in Beijing were Catholic churches, where Korean emissaries met and conversed with the Jesuits. Korean envoys were eager to visit the churches and learn Western knowledge from the Jesuits. Some of them succeeded in establishing a favorable relationship with the Jesuit priests and were presented with various books, scientific instruments, maps, and oil paintings (Yi 2015).<sup>3</sup> For instance, Yi Ki-Ji 李 器之 (1690‑1722), who visited Beijing on a tributary mission in 1720, befriended Portuguese and French Jesuits and visited the Catholic churches a total eleven times during his two-month stay. He was interested in the Jesuit's methods of astronomical calculation and their production of scientific instruments such as armillary spheres, mechanical clocks, telescopes, and other optical apparatus. Through this series of encounters Yi Ki-Ji received many valuable gifts, including a telescope, paper armillary sphere, a star atlas, Matteo

<sup>3</sup> The influx of Western paintings by Chosŏn envoys is mentioned by Yi Ik 李瀷 (1681‑1763) in his *Sŏngho's Encyclopedic Discourse* (*Sŏngho sasŏl* 星湖僿說), vol. 4: "Most of the envoys traveling to Beijing recently bought Western paintings and have them hanging on their walls". Yi Ki-Ji 李器之 (1690‑1722), who visited Bejing in 1720, received seven Western paintings, and Yi Ŭi-Hyŏn 李宜顯 (1669‑1745) was gifted fifteen paintings. Yi Kyŏn-Myŏng 李健命 (1663‑1722) was presented with books of drawings and paintings by a Westerner in 1722.

Ricci's *The True Meaning of the Lord of Heaven* (*Tianzhu shiyi* 天主 實義), Verbiest's *Map of the World* (*Kunyutu* 坤輿圖), alarm clocks, portable sundials, cigarettes, paintings, and poison-absorbent rocks (*Hŭpchŏngsŏk* 吸毒石) (Lim 2010). In the wall and ceiling paintings of the Jesuit church, the realistic and accurate representations achieved through linear perspective and shading effects were of utmost interest to the Chosŏn envoys visiting the Churches. The illusionistic mural paintings, which were mainly associated with Italian church frescoes of the Baroque period, made a deep impression on the Chosŏn viewers. Their responses are detailed in the Beijing travelogues by Yi Ki-Ji 李器之 (1690‑1722), Yi Tŏk-Mu 李德懋 (1741‑1793), and Pak Chi-Wŏn 朴趾源 (1737‑1805) (Yi 2015; Sŏ 2019a). Korean envoys who realized the practical importance of such astronomical knowledge visited the Qing Bureau of Astronomy (*Qiantian jian* 欽天監) during their tributary mission to China. In particular, Chosŏn scholars and astronomers were interested in Western astronomy as it was essential knowledge to conduct an accurate calendrical calculations that were necessary for the implementation of the *Shixianli* 時憲曆 (Calendar of the Conformity of Time), the new Qing calendrical system invented by Schall von Bell. Hong Tae-Yong met Augustin von Hallerstein and Anton Gogeisl at the South Church in Peking during his trip to Beijing in 1766. Through sporadic visits to the church and conversations with Jesuit astronomers, Hong was able to see the Jesuit's astronomical apparatuses and learn their views on celestial phenomenon and the structure of the heavens. He was given two pieces of small prints, woodblock-printed books, dried fruits and two pieces of poison-absorbent rocks (Baker 1982, 232-4).

Gifts from the European missionaries, unfortunately, were not fully appreciated in the early seventeenth century and were denounced as "deceitful, strange and useless things" (Lim 2016a, 157). However, when Western learning took root in Korea and Chosŏn intellectuals realized the value of such cartographic and cultural achievements, the Jesuit world maps, and star charts became important objects for the official envoys to see and then acquire them during their tributary missions to China. Many Jesuit cartographic works and celestial charts were brought into Korea, including several versions of Ricci's maps, Aleni's *Complete Map of Ten Thousand Countries* (*Wanguo quantu* 萬國全圖, 1623), Ferdinand Verbiest's *Complete Map of the World* (*Kunyu quantu* 坤輿全圖, 1672) and *Two General Maps of the Stars South and North of the Equator* (*Chidao nanbei liangzong xingtu* 赤道南北兩總星圖, 1674), and Ignatius Kögler's *Two General Maps of the Stars South and North of the Ecliptic* (*Huangdao nanbei liangzong xingtu* 黃道南北兩總星圖, 1723). These Jesuit world maps and celestial charts were considered gifts of practical and political value to be reproduced under the royal patronage.

#### 3 Figured Manuscript Copies of the Jesuit's World Maps

As Korea lacked direct contact with the Jesuit missionaries until the nineteenth century, world maps such as Ricci's were transmitted to the peninsular by Korean envoys returning from Beijing. Yi Su-Gwang's record in 1603 presents one of the earliest Korean encounters with European world maps brought to the court by an envoy. Yi simply called it a "terrestrial map of European countries" and it was drawn by a certain "European envoy" named Feng Baobao (馮寶寶). Because it consists of six scrolls, previous research has suggested that it is a copy of the famous *Complete Map of Ten Thousand Countries of the World* (*Kunyu wanguo quantu* 坤輿萬國全圖) by Ricci and Li Zhizao 李之藻 (1565‑1630) in 1602 (Lim 2011, 278‑9).

Matteo Ricci's world maps widely circulated in the Chosŏn and were even copied by royal order in 1708. When the Royal Bureau of Astronomy (*Kwansanggam* 觀象監) offered the copy of Shall von Bell's star atlas to King Sukchong 肅宗 (r. 1674‑1720) in the spring of 1708, the king was duly impressed.<sup>4</sup> He ordered a copy of its terrestrial companion, which was ready later that year. Chief State Councilor and Director of the Royal Bureau of the Astronomy Ch'oe Sŏk-Chŏng 崔錫鼎 (1646‑1715) supervised the reproduction at that time. Three Korean copies resulting from this project are known, each in the form of an eight- or ten-panel screen with the 1708 preface by Ch'oe Sŏk-Chŏng. Court sponsorship of the reproduction of these two Jesuit maps was for practical and ideological reasons. First, it was driven by an urgent need of the Chosŏn court to keep its calendrical system in accordance with that of the Qing calendar. The *Shixian li* calendrical system based on Schall von Bell's methods was promulgated in 1645 after the Manchu conquest and Chosŏn, as a tributary country to the Qing, immediately adopted this new system. However, the lack of knowledge caused the noticeable discrepancies between local and the Qing calendars, so King Sukchong wanted to master the principles of the new Jesuit astronomy. Second, Ming loyalism was salient at Sukchong's court, which culminated in the establishment of the Altar for the Great Repayment (*Taebodan* 大報壇) in the rear garden of Changdŏk Palace in 1704.<sup>5</sup> Ming loyalism and anti-Qing sentiment were deeply rooted in the minds of Chosŏn intellectuals even in the sixty years after the demise of the Ming dynasty in 1644. Choe's preface illuminates how Chosŏn intellectuals' Confucian ideology and perception of the Western world map stemmed from a Sino-centric worldview (Pegg 2019, 49).

<sup>4</sup> Adam Schall's astronomical chart, *Two General Maps of the Stars South and North of the Ecliptic*, served as a model of the 1708 screen.

<sup>5</sup> This monument was built to commemorate Emperor Wanli's generosity and benevolence in salvaging Chosŏn during the Imjin War.

Although the terrestrial maps of past and present [in East Asian tradition] have adopted a variety of ways [of representing the world], commonly observed were [first] to represent a square earth as a flat surface and [second] to limit the scope of the maps up to the region that the sagely teaching of China had reached. The Western scholars' ideas, however, adopted as the fundamental principle [the idea of] a round earth. They said, "The heavens are round and so is the earth". […] Across all the surface of the round earth, they put ten thousand countries and their names. The Nine Provinces of China are located on the Asian Continent and near the Northern Region. Their teachings are exaggerated and fabulous, which lie beyond reasonable discussions and thus could not be counted as orthodox teachings. (Lim 2011, 288)

Ch'oe found that the Western's idea of a round earth and the cosmological structure of concentric spheres offered a more reasonable explanation of the systematic correspondence between heaven and earth. In providing an accurate explanation of the relationship between terrestrial phenomena, such as changes of seasons and the division of climate zones, the European maps worked better than the traditional ones, which were characterized by the pictorial representations of topography and the heavy textual explanations of geography from more cultural and historical perspectives. Despite his objective evaluation of the Jesuits' cartographical and geographical achievements, his association with the Ming legacy have become obsolete; he emphasized that the screens bears characters reading "in the Mujin year of the Chongzhen reign" and "Unity of the Great Ming" (*daming yitong* 大明一統). Ch'oe also attempted to link the Jesuit world map to "the calendar of the Zhou dynasty" (*wubong juryŏk* 禹封周曆), that is, the sacred institution of geography and astronomy created by the sage rulers in the ancient 'Middle Kingdom' (Lim 2012, 221-2). Ricci's map had its origin in Ming China and thus reminded the Chosŏn court of the Middle Kingdom's principles of 'order'. The Chosŏn court justified its status by lending a noble origin of Ming legacy to the barbarian objects. This response reflects the government's ideological agenda to establish the Chosŏn dynasty (1392‑1897) as the last bastion of the Confucian civilization after the collapse of the Ming empire in 1644. By commemorating the legacy of the Ming dynasty embedded in the Jesuit maps, Chosŏn intellectuals extended the lineage of the Middle Kingdom to elevate Korea's position as the legitimate successor of Ming culture (Lim 2016b).

Copies of Ricci's maps were made on at least three occasions;the copy (1708) in the collection of the Seoul National University Museum (SNUM) **[fig. 1]**, the copy (ca. 1766) formerly housed in Bongsŏn Temple but nothing is known about its current whereabout **[fig. 2]**, the copy in the collection of Nanban Bunkakan Museum in Osaka. The

SNUM screen consists of eight panels; prefaces by Ricci and Ch'oe occupy a panel each, flanking the six panels of the map with figures.<sup>6</sup> At the corner of the seventh panel it shows representations of the northern and southern hemispheres, and the corner of the second shows the nine levels of heaven and an armillary sphere. The Nanban Bunkakan map has ten panels, with a configuration similar to that of the SNUM map.

As aptly pointed in previous studies, zoological depictions of animals around the world reflected advanced knowledge of natural history during the Age of Discovery in Europe. The sea creatures and animals, and ships on the maps seem to be derived from European models but show modified styles, pictorial elements and compositions. The images of the animals derive from *Historia Animalium*, the famous zoological encyclopedia published by Conrad Gessner in the sixteenth century. These images were adopted in the *Complete* 

<sup>6</sup> For the image of the *Complete Map of Ten Thousand Countries of the World* in the Nanban Bunkakan collection, see Minako Debergh (1989, 428‑35, figs 1, 3, 4).

**Figure 1** Attr. Kim Chin-Yŏ, *Complete Map of Ten Thousand Countries of the World*. 1708. Eight-panel folding screen, ink and color on paper, 172 × 531 cm, Seoul National University Museum

*Map of the World* compiled by the Flemish Jesuit Ferdinand Verbiest in 1674 (Day 1995; Cheng 2019). Compared to the woodblock print of Ricci's original map in 1603, the most discernable aspects of the Korean copies are the addition of exotic animals and European sailing vessels. Many convincing arguments commonly assume that a multi-colored world map with figures made for imperial perusal was the Chinese model for the Korean figured maps (Pegg 2019, 49). For instance, an elaborately decorated version of Ricci's map was produced in 1608 at the request of eunuchs to delight the Emperor Wanli 萬曆 (1572‑1620). The eight-panel screen map by Pantoja and Urisis just after 1612 presumably features the figures to leverage the emperor's interests in the maps from Europe (Cheng 2019).<sup>7</sup> Figures were

<sup>7</sup> Only seven figured manuscript copies of Matteo Ricci's maps were known; copies in the National Library of China (Beijing), the New Bedford Whaling Museum, the Nanban Bunkakan (Osaka), the Nanjing Museum (reproduction in the Palace Museum), SNUM, two lost copies from previously housed in Pongsŏn Temple and formerly owned by G. Nicolas, a French wine merchant in Beijing during the 1930s, and two panels auctioned by Kaminski in 2016. According to Cheng Fangyi, these were all appar-

added on to these two maps to attract the Ming emperor's interest, which in turn helped to expedites the processes of mapmaking and the circulation. When the figured manuscript maps were transmitted to Korea, due to their visual attractiveness and decorative quality, they were more likely to appeal to the Chosŏn king as they had to the Chinese monarch.

The hand-drawn copies in the late Chosŏn period embraced a variety of animal motifs and sea vessels depicted through Western pictorial techniques such as shading, cross-hatching, or foreshortening. The world maps in 1708 were rendered by court painters of the Royal Bureau of Painting (*Tohwasŏ* 圖畵署) in the late Chosŏn dynasty. The awkward cross-hatching and inaccurate foreshortening illustrate the court painters' rudimentary understanding of European techniques. The twisted body and turned head of the mythical beast, however, convey a sense of volume and movement in space.

ently based on Ricci's famous *Complete Map of Ten Thousand Countries of the World*, the 1602 printed version.

**Figure 2** *Complete Map of Ten Thousand Countries of the World*. Photo taken in 1932. Black and white photography, 29 × 62 cm, the screen formerly housed in Pongsŏn Temple, Kyujanggak Institute for Korean Studies (奎25289)

Although similar territorial shapes, depictions of animals and sea creatures, and explanatory texts appear in the three manuscript copies of Ricci's world map, a subtle difference can be noted among them. Two screens in the former collection of Pongsŏn Temple and Nanban Bunkakan are painted on silk, and both carry the monogram IHS, the seal of the Society of Jesus. By contrast, the screen of the SNUM was painted on paper omitting the IHS symbol. The inscriptions indicate that the former two works were completed in the ninth lunar month of 1708, whereas the latter one was completed in the eighth. The fact that three copies of the same world map were reproduced in such short time raises questions as to the relationship among the three screens, as well as the purpose behind their production. Earlier research assumes that the SNUM screen was a draft made prior to the Pongsŏn Temple screen in that the former work shows the cruder renditions of figural motifs and the more obvious errors in the texts and cartography (Yang 2012, 53-5).

However, it is hard to believe that such a large-sized painting with colors was merely a sketch. In addition, the shadings effects and voluminous body shapes of the animals in the SNUM screen suggest that it was a completed work, rather than a draft. Differences in calligraphic style are also noticeable; the inscription on the SNUM screen was done in running script, which allows for personal touches and a wide range of speed in the execution of the strokes. However, the Pongsŏn Temple screen and the Nanban screens bear a neatly executed clerical script, an intense style font commonly seen in the official documents and the inscriptions for the king's appreciation. This

**Figure 3** *Complete Map of the World*. Eighteenth century. Eight-panel folding screen, ink and color on silk, 168.8 × 391.8 cm, Busan Museum

suggests that the Pongsŏn Temple screen and the Nanban screens were produced for kings, whereas the SNUM screen was likely made for the high officials of the Royal Bureau of Astronomy involved in the 1706 project (Sŏ 2019a, 140-1).

The empty spaces in the southern continent then known as 'Magellanica' are filled with lively representations of a total eight land animals and eighteen sea creatures and several ships in the ocean. The eight animals include a rhinoceros, a winged creature, an elephant, a sloth, a Patagonian *sú* (*succarath*), a crocodile, a lion and a great rhea. Figures in the three works closely resemble their Sino-European precedents, but the details and colorings show variations. The Pongsŏn Temple screen shows the most delicate and accurate depictions in the scales and wrinkles of the fish as well as the teeth and eyes of the animals. Those of the SNUM screen are more distorted and curtailed than those in the other two maps. The Nanban map is paired with a ten-panel screen featuring the celestial chart modeled after *New Astronomical Chart* by Kögler in 1723. The astronomical chart also contains excerpts of explanatory texts from the *Compendium of Calendrical Science and Astronomy* (*Lixiang kaocheng* 曆象考成) compiled by the order of Emperor Qianlong 乾隆 (r. 1735‑96). Through the collaborative efforts of Jesuit astronomers – such as Kögler, Augustin von Hallerstein, Anton Gogeisl, and Felix da Rocha (1713‑81) – *Lixiang kaocheng* was completed with a preface by Emperor Qianlong in 1757. This work was transmitted to Korea by astronomer-envoy Yi Tŏk-Sŏng in 1766, which proves that the Nanban screen was reproduced in Chosŏn after 1766 (Debergh 1986).

The 1674 map of Ferdinand Verbiest was made for Emperor Kangxi 康熙 (r. 1654‑1722) and included updated information about the Americas and China as well as images and descriptions of strange and exotic animals of the new world. The manuscript copy of the *Complete Map of the World* was also rendered in the format of an eight-panel folding screen. The screen currently in the collection of Busan Museum **[fig. 3]**, which closely follows the Verbiest's map of 1674, consists of the six panels depicting the northern and southern hemispheres and two outermost scrolls displaying four baroque-style 'cartouches', respectively. The texts provide information on the Aristotelian theory of the Four Elements, atmospheric phenomena, earthquakes, humankind, rivers, and the great mountains.

Verbiest's maps present various animals such as a rhinoceros, chameleon, salamander, alligator, giraffe, lion, beaver, hyena, ostrich, unicorn, flying fish, American turkey, and arachnids. In the sea appear whales, seahorses, a merman and a mermaid, and various monsters. Text and images for the creatures were taken from Verbiest's *Illustrated Explanations of the World* (*Kunyu tushuo* 坤輿 圖說), a geographical work he published slightly earlier in 1674. As reknown, Conrad Gessner's (1516‑65) zoological encyclopedia *Historia Animalium*, compiled between 1551 and 1586, was used as a primary source for Verbiest's zoological treatise. In addition, various European sources such as Olaus Magnus' (1490‑1557) *Carta Marina* (1539), Abraham Ortelius' (1527‑98) *Theatrum Orbis Terrarum*  (1570), Ulisse Aldrovandi's (1522‑1605) *Historia Animalium* and Johannes Johnston's (1603‑75) *Historiae Naturalis* (1650‑53) served as a model for seventeenth-century Sino-European world maps (Mir 2016). The Jesuit cartographers used materials available in the libraries of Beijing's four churches. Among many references, *Records*  *of Areas Outside the Concern of the Imperial Geographer* (*Zhifang waiji*  職方外紀) compiled by the Italian Jesuit Giulio Aleni and published by the Hangzhou scholar Yang Tingyun 杨廷筠 (ca. 1560‑1627) played a pivotal role; some of the ships, animals, and texts on the manuscript versions are strongly related to those of *Zhifang waiji*.

In terms of rendering, the artist of the Busan screen is clumsier and less accurate in the representation of details. Some figures closely follow the Sino-European models, while others are more distorted than the images appearing on the *Kyunyu wanguo quntu* of 1708. Comparisons of the *sú* (*succarath*), a lion-like creature carrying cubs on its back, reveal variations in the iconography and styles of animals drawn on the maps. The image first appears in Andre Thevet's (1516‑90) description of a ferocious beast inhabiting Patagonia. The image also appeared in Gesner's renowned zoological treatise, *Historia Animalium*, before being incorporated into Verbiest's *Complete Map of the World* (Lai 2018, 144‑6). The *sú* appears in both Chosŏn versions of manuscript world maps, but they are quite different as if they derived from two distinctive sources. The *sú* on the *Complete Map of the Ten Thousand Countries of the World* looks like a lion with a human face, featuring a curly mane and furry tail. The beast's foreleg is raised as if stepping forward. Long thin hair covers the body. By contrast, the *sú* in the Busan screen presents a strange combination of sunken eyes, a monkey-like face with a goatee and a flat abdomen. The latter more closely resembles Verbiest's map of 1674. The stylized rendering of three cubs on the back, bizarre shapes of appearance, and the lack of details such as individual hairs indicate that the Chosŏn painter did not successfully use the European pictorial techniques of volume and texture with modeling to depict the anatomy more reasonably. The Busan screen has paper backing that bears the characters for Sujin Palace (*Sujingung* 壽進宮) in Seoul and the calligraphy inscribed on the screen resembles Ming-style printing type, which was widely used in the first half of the eighteenth century in the Chosŏn dynasty (Yi 2012). This indicates that the screen was produced during the palace in early eighteenth century.

Lastly, it is noted that extant copies of the Sino-Jesuit world map were done in a screen format. This was unusual format for a map, as Western maps were often made to be hung on walls or to be printed in books, whereas their and Chinese and Japanese counterparts were produced in diverse forms, such as albums, hanging scrolls, and folded maps. Academic attention to the format invites a socio-cultural analysis of the historical function and aspects of the screen-formatted maps from the period, providing important clues for understanding the distinctive Korean qualities and transfiguration of the colored manuscript of world maps.

**Seo Yoonjung Mapping the Earth and Ordering the Heavens**

**Figure 4** *Positions of the Heavenly Bodies in Their Natural Order and Their Allocated Fields*. 1687 (copy after the 1395 star chart). Ink rubbing, 108.5 × 206.5 × 30.2 cm, National Palace Museum of Korea

#### 4 Star Charts on Screens

In the East, the traditional notion of *chaeiron* (災異論) means that unusual astronomical phenomena are closely related to the ruler's political successes and failures. Accordingly, observing and predicting heavenly phenomena such as lunar eclipses and the calculating the celestial movements are the prime duties of a Confucian monarch who rules by heavenly mandate. Making an accurate calendar in exact accordance with the heavenly phenomena symbolized imperial authority and made possible the harmonious lives of the people under the heavens. Thus, issuing the state's calendar was considered an imperial prerogative exclusively implemented by the emperor and not by the rulers of tributary countries. According to the traditional Sino-centric world order, the emperor's gifts of calendars to his tributary states epitomized his superiority, while the reception thereof indicated the tributary ruler's submission to imperial power. As Chosŏn was conventionally regarded as a tributary state of the Chinese empire, it was supposed to use the calendar that the emperor had decreed. The so-called 'calendar mission' (*yŏkhaeng* 曆行), whose task was to receive the imperial calendar issued by the imperial Bureau of Astronomy for the next year, was sent to Bijing on the tenth month of each year (Lim 2016b, 154-8).

After the *Shixian li* (Calendar of the Conformity of Time) designed by Adam Schall von Bell, the German Jesuit missionary and director of the Imperial Bureau of Astronomy of the Qing dynasty, was promulgated as the official Qing calendrical system in 1645,<sup>8</sup> the Chosŏn court soon adopted this Western calendrical methods for practical and diplomatic reasons in 1653 (185).<sup>9</sup> However, these calendar reforms were not fully embraced by the Chosŏn court. Until enough knowledge about the techniques of calendrical astronomy had been acquired by the Chosŏn, they were enthusiastic about the contacts with the Jesuit astronomers of the Imperial Bureau of Astronomy in Beijing.<sup>10</sup> King Sukchong was one of the Chosŏn monarchs who were keenly interested in the Qing calendar and continuously sent astronomer-envoys to learn the astronomical calculation and to obtain books on the Western calendar system. In addition, he commissioned a series of reproductions of Jesuit's world maps and star atlases. For example, in 1708 the Royal Bureau of Astronomy made copies of the 1608 version of Ricci's *Complete Map of Ten Thousand Countries of the World* and Schall von Bell's start chart. King Sukchong promoted possession of knowledge of astronomy and calendar-making as important vehicles to strengthen royal power.

At the court of Yŏngjo 英祖 (r. 1724‑76), several large-format folding screens after the Kögler's astronomical charts were commissioned. This reflects the increased interest in Western astronomy and calendar as well as the influence of the Western books on astronomy that were imported into Korean without delay in the eighteenth century. Among many sources, Kögler's two treatises on astronomy – *Two General Maps of the Stars Relative to the Ecliptic* (*Huangdao zong xingtu* 黃道總星圖) in 1723 and *Compendium of Calendrical Science and Astronomy* prefaced by the Emperor Qianlong in 1757 – served

<sup>8</sup> In 1645, shortly after the first Qing emperor came to the throne, Schall von Bell was asked to make a new calendar, which he based on the 1635 calendar that he had presented to the last Ming emperor.

<sup>9</sup> Discrepancies between the locally produced Chosŏn version and the one that was based on the new Qing calendar system might have caused serious diplomatic problems.

<sup>10</sup> Astronomers were dispatched to Beijing almost every two years on average; however, it is noted that the frequency of astronomy missions increased sharply in the mideighteenth century. Due to frequent changes in the Qing calendrical system, Chosŏn astronomers attempted to contact the Jesuit astronomers of the Imperial Bureau of Astronomy to keep the Korean calendar in accordance with the ever-changing Qing astronomical system.

as important models for the Chosŏn copies. The 1723 star map was considered a physical and symbolic representation of the 'order' of time and space and an important visual arbiter between Western scientific knowledge and Qing imperial authority under the new Yongzheng emperor (1722‑35) (Pegg 2019, 48).

Korean envoys visiting Beijing were well aware of Kögler's accomplishment in calendrical science and astronomy and befriended him during their stay in Beijing. In 1742, An Kuk-Pin (1699-?), an official in the Royal Bureau of Astronomy, met with Kögler and then-vice-director Antonio Pereira and received books on astronomy. An Kuk-Pin's encounters with Kögler resulted in the production of the eight-panel folding screen in Pŏpchu Temple known as *Improved Methods Star Charts* (*Sinbŏp ch'ŏnmundo* 新法天文圖). This was created by the commission of King Yŏngjo to copy Kögler's 1723 *Huangdao zong xingtu* in 1742 (Yi 1966). The first panel bears a long introductory text and diagrams of the Seven Directors which were derived from Kögler's

**Figure 5** *Old and Improved Methods Star Charts*. Mid-eighteenth century. Eight-panel folding screen, ink and color on paper, 108.5 × 206.5 × 30.2 cm, National Folk Museum of Korea (Folk 15666)

map. The six panels from the second through the seventh includes two large-scale star charts along the ecliptic poles of the northern and southern hemispheres. The last panel presents the names and titles of six court officials, including An Kuk-Pin and other officials of the Royal Bureau of Astronomy, who were involved in the project. Although these screens are deeply indebted to its Western model in terms of the contents and compositions of the texts and diagrams, the large-scale multi-panel screen format accompanied by a list of the relevant officials' names solely belongs to the indigenous tradition. Inclusion of the list of participants with their official titles follows the standard format of documentary painting commissioned by the government office called *togam* (都監) in the late Chosŏn dynasty (Seo 2020, 183‑6).

Kögler's 1723 star map was copied again during the reign of King Yŏngjo. The star catalogue and related astral charts titled *Yixiang kaocheng* (1757) and Verbiest's work, *Description of Astronom-*

#### **Seo Yoonjung Mapping the Earth and Ordering the Heavens**

*ical Instruments* (*Yixiang zhi* 儀象志, 1674), provided the most advanced astronomical knowledge to Chosŏn astronomers in making the Chosŏn version known as the *Old and Improved Methods Star Charts* (*Singubŏp ch'ŏnmundo* 新舊法天文圖), an eight-panel screen dated around 1766 (An 2013). Interestingly, Chosŏn copies combines the traditional Chinese constellation chart called *Positions of the Heavenly Bodies in Their Natural Order and Their Allocated Fields* (*Ch'ŏnsang yŏlch'a punyajido* 天象列次分野之圖) with Kögler's star atlas of 1723 on a large standing multiple folding screen. The juxtaposition of the old Chinese star chart alongside the new Jesuit star map on a single screen is a rare case only found in mid-eighteenth centu-

**Figure 6** *Old and Improved Methods Star Charts*. Mid-nineteenth century. Eight-panel folding screen, 230 × 448 cm. National Folk Museum of Korea (Folk 70195)

ry Chosŏn, Korea. This pictorial program is related to King Yŏngjo's political and ritual intention to use the star atlas as a symbol of royal authority and legitimacy.

*Ch'ŏnsang yŏlch'a punyajido* was a stele originally made by King Taejo in 1395 to show the classical Chinese constellations and demonstrate the principles of Chinese astronomy. Later the reproduction was engraved into a block of marble in 1687 under the auspices of King Sukchong **[fig. 4]**. The badly damaged stele of 1395 which had been left unattended at Kyŏngbok Palace was moved to the Changdŏk Palace to be preserved with King Sukchong's copy in a newly built pavilion named Hall of Respectable Veneration (*Hŭmgyŏnggak* 欽

**Seo Yoonjung Mapping the Earth and Ordering the Heavens**

敬閣) by the order of King Yŏngjo in 1770 (Mun 2004, 35). The stele was valued mainly as an historical relic for its symbolic importance, not for its scientific merits. King Yŏngjo's *Record on Pavilion of Respectable Veneration* (*Hŭmgyŏnggaki* 欽敬閣記), dedicated to the newly built pavilion, confirms the symbolic and political significance of this event. The king made the most of his opportunity to associate the previous kings' accomplishments with his own and thus to augment the legitimacy that he inherited from King Taejo through Sukchong. King Yŏngjo's apt use of previous rulers' legacy and his pronouncement of pursuing antiquity and succeeding former kings' accomplishments were more than mere rhetoric. To strengthen his legitimacy, which had been inherently damaged by his mother's unnoble birth and challenged by rebellion, King Yŏngjo emphasized

**Figure 7** *Old and Improved Methods Star Charts*. Late nineteenth century. Eight-panel folding screen, ink and color on silk, each panel 170.3 × 55.7 cm. Jeonju National Museum of Korea (Deoksu 1218)

his close association with previous rulers – particularly his father, King Sukchong – by emulating his accomplishments and following in his footsteps (Kim 2005). This was evident in King Yŏngjo's organization of numerous court events and ceremonies reminiscent of those of King Sukchong, such as the ritual of admission to the Office of Statesmen of Venerable Age in 1744, a congratulatory ceremony at Sungjŏng Hall 崇政殿 in 1763, and the reprinting and distribution of the *Record to Celebrate the Glory of the State* (*Kwangguk chigyŏngnok* 光國志慶錄) (Pak, Kim 2007).

*Ch'ŏnsang yŏlch'a punyajido* depicted on the three panels to the far right is closer to that in the 1687 version than to that in 1395. However, the short inscription on the first panel links its origin back to the 1395 stele and explains that the star maps were offered to King Taejo by the people of Pyongyang. Such archaic representation of constellations was required to verify its historical authenticity and origin, not to fulfill any responsibility in the field of natural science. Notable errors in the visibility of constellation and misplaced stars caused no serious problems in as far as the antique star charts attested to the legitimacy of the King Taejo, the dynastic founder (Stephenson 2008, 567‑8). Two concentric circles represent the northern circumpolar boundary and the celestial equator, respectively. The ecliptic-colored yellow is incorrectly shown as a circle, and the boundaries of the twenty-eight lunar lodges are represented by lines extending from the north circumpolar circle to the rim of the chart. The stars are shown in three colors – red, blue, or yellow – according to Chinese tradition. The Milky Way is clearly depicted in light blue color.

The two large hemisphere charts on panels 4 through 7 employ the structure and texts of Adam Schall von Bell's star chart of 1634 and again used by Kögler in 1723. The same three colors were used for the stars and followed the Chinese constellation configurations as in the 1395 chart. In contrast to the tradition of East Asian maps, the Kögler's chart was drawn with polar stereographic projection from the north-south ecliptic pole to the ecliptic. The inscription above the planispheres resembles Kögler's charts of 1723 with minor changes. This passage bears the date of 1723, the first year of the Yongzheng's reign of the Great Qing dynasty, and the names of two Jesuit astronomers, Dai Jinxian 戴進賢 (Kögler) and Li Boming 利博明 (Ferdinando Bonaventura Moggi, 1684‑1761). The lower inscription attests to a history of classical Chinese star charts along with the Jesuit's contributions, and the use of telescope to observe stars accurately. The last panel bears diagrams of the Seven Directors.

Seven versions of this star chart in a large-screen format survive today, all of which are decorative and beautifully colored (Na 1998; Needham 2004; O 2020). These *Old and Improved Methods Star Charts* are held in Whipple Museum of History of Science, two in National Folk Museum of Korea **[figs 5‑6]**, Nanban Bunkakan Museum, National Diet Library of Japan, Jeonju National Museum of Korea **[fig. 7]**, and a K-auction in Seoul (O 2020, 354). Among the copies, maps in the collections of Whipple Museum of History of Science and the National Folk Museum of Korea were dated to circa 1766, based on their scientific analysis of pigments and bibliographic study.<sup>11</sup> The

<sup>11</sup> The screen of the National Folk Museum of Korea (Folk 15666) was painted with only traditional pigments such as azurite, indigo lake, malachite, atacamite, vermilion, iron oxide, cochineal, gamboge, orpiment, lead white, talc and soot. The work in the National Diet Library of Japan was painted with traditional and artificial inorganic pigments together. For its green and blue colors emerald green and ultramarine blue were used together with atacamite and indigo lake, respectively. These artificial pig-

screen in National Folk Museum of Korea (Folk 1566) is painted on a conspicuous eight-panel folding screen, approximately each panel measuring approximately 55.5 × 169.5 cm, and combines two star charts derived from Eastern and Western traditions, respectively. Stars are represented by red, yellow, or black dots and linked into named constellations by straight red lines.

All the Chosŏn screens of heaven and earth discussed in this study are stunning and impressive in their rendition and scale as they were commissioned by the king and intended to be placed in the royal court as agents of royal authority over the 'order' of time and space. Visually juxtaposing an old star chart reminiscent of the dynastic founder's legacy with an up-to-date map from the Qing on a largeformat screen visually confirmed King Yŏngjo's legitimate succession and strong sovereignty. For King Yŏngjo, these screens were important visual vehicles to identify himself as legitimate successor of the throne and would be displayed during royal ceremonies to assert the 'order' of the realm and affirm the his rulership that he had inherited from the glorious past (Pegg 2019).<sup>12</sup> The political significance of star charts is also evidenced by the fact that a celestial map was offered to the crown prince just after the royal investiture ceremony (Yi 2001). These screens not only provide important evidence for the transmission of Jesuit science from China as part of Korea's acquisition of astronomic knowledge in the eighteenth century but also played a significant role in strengthening royal authority around the calendar and conceptions of space and time more broadly.

It is an exceptional phenomenon that the Korean court primarily produced terrestrial and celestial maps in the format of large-scale folding screens while their neighboring countries, China and Japan, employed various formats such as wall-hanging scrolls or printed in books. Why did the screen, a somewhat obsolete tradition in the contemporary art of East Asia, appear as a favorable format for maps in Korea? What was the intention or purpose of this peculiar format in the Chosŏn court? By nature, commissioning a screen entailed much higher costs than a hanging scroll or an album; furthermore, a screen offered more conspicuous or public display and monumental-

ments were imported from Europe after the mid-nineteenth century. By contrast, the screen of the National Folk Museum of Korea (Folk 70195) used only artificial inorganic pigments for its green and blue colors. Based on pigment analysis and close examination, the star charts were painted after the mid-eighteenth century. Considering that the screens of the National Diet Library of Japan and National Folk Museum of Korea (Folk 70195) used artificial Western pigments, both can be dated after the mid-nineteenth century, later than the screen of the National Folk Museum of Korea (Folk 15666).

<sup>12</sup> Richard Pegg interprets the juxtaposition of the old and new star charts as a unique perspective on time and space found in China. According to his argument, posing "'then' a former/old visual presentation of celestial and terrestrial worlds and 'now' new Western-based presentations" side by side was a recurring phenomenon in East Asia.

ity to its viewers. For this reason, the most privileged patrons such as royalty and government agents preferred the screen in their commissions for official occasions as the most suitable medium to display their social prominence and propagate their political agendas. For this reason, many documentary paintings sponsored by kings and the government were rendered in screen-format since the King Yŏngjo's reign (Seo 2020).

Considering the ritual functions and significance of the screen format in the Chosŏn court, we can assume that these maps played a symbolic role. In Korea, screens were used both inside and outside the palace to create backdrops for ceremonies and to document court rituals, government projects, ceremonies, palace banquets, birthday celebrations, and royal processions. The large-format folding screen was the preferred and primary format for conspicuous displays of royal authority, forming an essential part of the backdrop for official governance and political power and serving as a manifestation of the cosmological order of the Chosŏn royal court (Pegg 2019, 51). The large-scale, multi-panel screen was an ideal format to maximize the magnificence of the motifs and to display political supremacy.

#### 5 Conclusion

Maps of the world and heavens themselves challenged Chosŏn Koreans' world view and brought about epistemological turns while at the same time being used to demonstrate the dynasty's cosmic legitimacy, to represent power, and to symbolize hierarchical order. Among Chosŏn intellectuals, they aroused curiosity about the world outside of Sino-centric perspectives, inviting further discussion on the nature, science, and religions departing from traditional values. Increased exposure to the European knowledge and information that was imported along with the world maps and star atlases in the late Chosŏn period opened the eyes of Chosŏn Confucian scholars to Western learning as well as Northern Learning (*pukhak* 北學) with their recognition of the Qing cultural achievement. The interest in Western Learning and the positive evaluation of the Qing civilization changed Korean scholars' attitude toward the Qing and its culture, which Koreans had for centuries looked down upon as 'barbarians'.

Thus, Jesuit world maps and astronomical charts not only brought about scientific changes in the Chosŏn society, but also connected the Chosŏn to the larger global network of transmission of knowledge and information. Examining the origins, development, and transformation of the animal motifs in particular, elucidates the interchange as well as to the (mis)perception of Western pictorial techniques, motifs, and styles. The imported knowledge was used to produce Chosŏn version of celestial and terrestrial maps, combining indigenous tradition with new Sino-European techniques. The king and Chosŏn court played an important role as agents in the transmission and domestication of these foreign maps. The Jesuits' explanations of the structure of heaven and earth were slightly filtered through adjustments to traditional astronomical conventions. More importantly, they were framed on screens, a long-standing tradition of the Chosŏn dynasty. In later periods, the Western maps and star charts circulated more widely beyond the court, providing abundant resources for mapmakers and literati scholars to pursue their intellectual interests in cartography and astronomy.

#### **Bibliography**


Üçerler, A.J. (2016). "Missionaries, Mandarins, and Maps". Reichle 2016, 1-16. *Veritable Records of King Yŏngjo*. https://sillok.history.go.kr/main/


#### **Cultural Exchanges Between Korea and the West: Artifacts and Intangible Heritage**

edited by Jong-Chol An and Ariane Perrin

### Index

Alévêque, Charles 156 Anderson, Frederick 81 Andong 132, 136-8, 140-1 Austrian Southern Railway 152 Austro-Hungarian Navy 147-8, 152, 160, 167 Authenticity xi, 75, 77, 79, 81, 90, 97, 128-30, 134, 136, 141, 143, 216 barbarian 27, 33-4, 48, 52, 59, 195, 199, 218 Belgium x, 27-54 Belgium-Korea Treaty x, 27-54 Bird, Isabella x, 5-13, 15, 17-19, 24-6, 56, 69 Blasco Ibáñez, Vicente x, 55, 60-9 Bozóky, Dezső 160 Catholic Church xi, 102, 104, 106-7, 109, 111-12, 120-1, 123, 196, 220 Changan Buddhist temple 90 Ch'ŏnggyech'ŏn 135-6 *chin'gyŏng sansu* 73-4, 98 Chinjudam 90 *chinoiserie* 166 Chosŏn period v, ix-xii, 94, 170, 194, 202, 218, 221 Chosŏn dynasty x, xii, 5, 98, 108, 123, 134, 152, 170, 186-7, 193, 195, 199, 202, 207, 211, 219-20

Cillier Zeitung 162, 164-5

civilization 27, 32, 57-8, 60, 65-8, 164, 179, 194-5, 199, 218-19 colonial v, xii, 6, 14, 28, 54-6, 60-1, 64, 68-70, 110, 130, 138, 169-71, 178, 181-92 colonial Korea 55-6, 60-1, 70, 171, 182, 184-5, 188, 192 colonial modernity xii commerce x, 27-54, 57 Complete Map of Ten Thousand Countries of the World 198, 200-3, 209 conservation xi, 53, 125-43 Cultural Heritage Administration 132-3, 137 diplomatic relations x, 12, 27-9, 35, 37, 53, 171 documentary film 5, 14, 19 Eastern Pioneer Company 27, 35 femininity 170 forgery xi, 73, 75, 77, 80-1 Haemi holy site 101, 123 Hahoe 132, 136-8, 141-2 Hallerstein, Ferdinand Augustin Haller von xi, 147-51, 166-7, 197, 206 Han Kwang-Sŏk 101, 113, 121 Haus, Anton 147, 152-4

The Editors wish to thank Giulia Prandina, an MA student in Korean Studies, for her precious help completing the Index.

heritage v, ix- xi, 53, 76, 104, 106, 115, 123, 125-43, 149, 191 *hetairai* 169, 177-9, 192 Holmes, Burton x, xii, 5-6, 14-19, 24-6, 169, 171, 174-7, 192 Hong Tae-Yong 147, 149-50, 197 Hopp, Ferenc 9, 160, 167 Hulbert, Homer Bezaleel 80-1, 169, 171, 177-81, 192 ICOMOS xi, 126, 128-9, 131-7, 140-1, 143 imperialism 27, 29-30, 34, 48, 53, 101-3, 109, 110-11, 121 Japanese occupation 55, 180, 185 Japonisme 166 Jesuits 149, 193-4, 196, 199, 219 Karlin, Alma M. xii, 147-8, 160-4, 166-8 Kim Tae-Gŏn Andrew 103, 110, 112, 115, 123 King Sukchong 198, 209, 213, 215 King Yŏngjo 210-11, 213-15, 217-19, 221 *kisaeng* v, xii, 11-12, 169-92 Kojong 5, 6, 9-11, 14, 27, 30, 36-7, 43-4, 49-51, 102, 158, 171-2, 174 Kögler, Ignatius 149, 194, 197, 206, 209-12, 216, 220 Koršič, Ivan 155-7 Kristan, Viktor 157-9 Kŭmgang Mountains x, 73-6, 78-80, 82, 84-6, 88-92, 94-9 Kunstkamera x, 73-99 *kwan'gi* 177 Kwangt'ong Bridge 78 Kyŏmjae Chŏng Sŏn x-xi, 73-99 Kyŏngdŏk Palace 93 London, Jack x, 5-6, 9, 19, 20-6 *mi* ink-dots 84 Morihiro Chōichi 156 Mutel, Gustave 105, 110, 123 Myŏngdong Cathedral 104-5, 107, 110 national identity 169, 184 nation building 169

neutrality x, 27-8, 33, 36-7, 49, 53 Oppert Incident 101, 111, 121, 123 painting xi-xii, 59, 73-80, 84-5, 94, 97-9, 170, 176-7, 186-7, 189, 194-7, 202, 204, 211, 218, 220-1 Pak Che-Sun 27, 37-9, 41, 43-4, 50-1 Photography 5, 9, 19, 25, 152, 166, 169, 170, 172, 174, 177, 179-81, 183-90, 192, 203 Pihong Bridge 90 pilgrim sites 101 *p'imajun* 84 Pope Francis 101, 103, 110, 112, 114, 116, 118, 121 postcard v, xi-xii, 147-8, 152-61, 163-7, 169-71, 177, 181-92 preservation 125-6, 129, 134, 136-7, 141 *Punsŏltam* 85, 90 Puŏnggol 101, 103, 118-22 Queen Myŏngsŏng 5, 10-11, 15 Ricci, Matteo 194-203, 209, 219-20 Royal Bureau of Astronomy 198, 205, 209-11 Royal Bureau of Painting 202 Russo-Japanese War 5, 14, 19, 49, 52, 60, 68-9, 151-2, 157-8 Screen v, x- xii, 14-15, 52, 73-99, 138, 176, 180, 193-4, 198-201, 203-13, 215-20 Seoul City Wall 134, 142 Slovenia xi, 147-68 soft diplomacy 125-6, 138 soft power 125, 127, 138 Solmoe holy site 101, 103, 111, 115-18 star chart 193-4, 197, 208, 210-13, 215-17, 219-21 Stripling, Alfred Burt 79, 80 Tato Cumming, Gaspar x, 55, 60, 65-9

Tokwon (Tŏkwŏn) Abbey 147, 164-5 tourism v, xii, 107, 127, 132-4, 137-8, 140-2, 169, 170-1, 182, 187-8, 191 travelogue 5, 14, 25, 55-6, 61-4, 158, 169, 174-6, 180, 191-2, 197 True-scenery landscape (see *chin'gyŏng sansu*)

*Ŭnamdongnok* 93 Unequal treaty 27, 30, 48 UNESCO xi, 101, 115-16, 121, 125-8, 130-1, 133-4, 137-41, 143

Ǔnsan gold mine 27, 35 Vatican xi, 101, 103, 107, 111, 113-14, 165 Verbiest, Ferdinand 194, 197, 201, 206-7, 211, 220 Vincart, Léon 27, 37-44, 46, 48-51, 53 Weber, Norbert 79, 99 Western perception 55, 60, 62 Western traveler v, ix-x, 70, 170 world map xii, 6, 193-9, 201-3, 206-7, 209, 218-20 Yakhyŏn Catholic Church 104, 106 Yangdong 132, 136-7, 141-2 Yanghwajin Foreign Missionary Cemetery 105, 123 Zhou Wenmo 104

### Studi e ricerche


This volume encompasses the proceedings of the First International Conference of the East and West in Korean Studies project *Cultural Exchanges Between Korea and the West: Artifacts and Intangible Heritage*, organized by Jong-Chol An and Ariane Perrin in the Department of Asian and North African Studies at Ca' Foscari University of Venice in May 2021 with the support of the Academy of Korean Studies. Following an interdisciplinary approach from such fields as history, heritage studies, history of art and religious studies, nine essays were selected that best illustrate the main themes of the conference. This richly-illustrated publication presents little-known historical documents and various artifacts that had been lost to time within various institutions, private collections or museum collections, tracing back their history and significance.

**32**

AN, PERRIN

**BETWEEN KOREA AND THE WEST**

**CULTURAL EXCHANGES**