Chosun Dynasty Intellectuals’ Imagination And Experience On China

The Yanxinglu is a genre of travelogue written by Chosun Koreans who visited China continuously over five centuries. There are approximately five hundred works handed down to present day. The genre is significant in the world literature in terms of its quantity, time span and continuity. Also, the Yanxinglu contains encyclopedic contents on contemporary China. Thus, research into the Yanxinglu has been increasing in literature as well as in history, cultural studies, economics, and so forth.Given the aspects of author (Korean), subject (China), language (classical Chinese) and contents (encyclopedic), the Yanxinglu has distinctively international characteristics, which serves as a suitable material for comparative literature and cultural studies. On this ground, this dissertation elaborates on China and Chinese people depicted in the Yanxinglu from the perspective of comparative literature and cultural studies. Although this thesis investigates the image of China (and Chinese people), its main concern is how such subjective factors as the image had been formed and developed. In other words, the focus of this dissertation is given not on the’observed’(or on the objects) but on the observer. The topic of this writing is, in a broader sense,"China as viewed from its surroundings," or in a narrower sense,"China as recognized by Chosun Koreans."This dissertation is composed of six chapters and two appendices, besides the preface and conclusion. The body is divided into four parts-the discourse (Chapter2), the narrative (Chapters3&4), and the rhetoric of the Yanxinglu (Chapter5). The appendix is an applied research.Chapter1, the Literature Review, introduces the trends of the existent studies by Korean and Chinese scholars. A focus is given on introducing the most recent tendency and achievements made by Korean scholars. In addition, it introduces the characteristics of the Yanxinglu.Chapter2, the Structure of Horizon of Expectations, illuminates how the recognition of China had been formed and developed in early Chosun period. Also, it covers how the formation, as well as the types and changes, of the discourse on China, took place in Chosun during the Ming-Qing transitional period.Chapters3and4deal with the particular relationship between the narrative of China in the Yanxinglu and Chosun’s discourse on China, by looking up specific sentences and paragraphs in the Yanxinglu. Furthermore, it illustrates how Chosun’s notion on China and Chinese had changed through the direct visit.(Yanxing) Chapter5concerns stereotypes in the Yanxinglu in the field of comparative literature.Chapter6elaborates on the process of the fusion of horizons (Horizontverschmelzung) which took place through the direct experience (Yanxing) of Chosun visitors.Finally, the appendix presents research on the origin and the transition of the typical stereotypes which are spoken currently in China and Korea, from the perspective of cultural studies. The appendix is an expansion of Chapter5and its stereotypes.