Research The Written Conversations Of Pak Chiwon's The Jehol Diary

The present thesis aims to consider the Sino-Korea exchange at the time of Qianlong Emperor,by analysing the written conversations ??)in The Jehol Diary.China and Korea are located very near to each other,and have,thanks to the similarity of culture,over two thousand years history of friendly exchange.Especially in Qing dynasty,its unprecedently friendly policy made Joseon dynasty regularly send royal envoys to Qing,which led to frequent exchanges between the two countries.During their visit to Beijing(Yon),Joseon envoys kept journals,called Yonhaengnok(???,Records of Visits to Yon).The most remarkable piece of Yonhaengnok would be The Jehol Diary(Yorha ilgi,??????)of Pak Chiwon(???).In 1780,Pak accompanied the royal envoys,led by the chief Envoy Pak Myongwon,Pak Chiwon's cousin,to Jehol,to visit Emperor Qianlong for his seventieth birthday.The Jehol Diary is a record of this journey to the summer palace of the emperor;Pak recorded,while making friends with various Chinese,what he observed of Qing's culture and technology.This travelogue is regarded as the most excellent masterpiece among the Yonhaengnok,extensively and closely describing the whole gamut of Chinese way of life:history,geography,politics,economy,culture,religion,literature,art,as well as civil engineering,ship-building,medicine,and antiquarianism.Even concerning landscapes and natural scenes,he not only gives us a detailed description of them but also a pondering on their relation with 'Profitable Usage and Benefiting the People'(????)).In The Jehol Diary,the style of recording events on a daily basis,then popular in Yonhaengnok,is appropriately mixed with the style of writing on a theme after theme,thus complementing shortcomings of each style.And observations Pak made during the journey are arranged in a variety of genres ? sihua(??),zalou(??),bitan(??,written conversations),and(??).All this means Pak adopted a unique and efficient method of recording things.Pak poured great efforts into the written conversations,among the rest,which,amounting to as much as half the whole work,occupy greater portion than in any other examples of Yonhaengnok.What is recorded in these parts through direct written conversations with various Chinese people has significant literary and philosophical values,as well as historical ones;there we can see Chinese way of life,ideas of the Chinese people,and the socio-political situation of Qing at that time.The present thesis is composed of five chapters.In the Introductory is presented a history of previous researches on The Jehol Diary,and an account of the previous Sino-Korea exchange.The second chapter describes the structure and characteristics of The Jehol Diary.Coupled with analyses Pak's conversation partners and their types,and the attitude Park maintains during the conversations;the third chapter considers what is revealed during the written conversations,in four topics—Sinocentrism,Neo-Conlucianism,the domestic situation under Qing rule,things concerning Joseon;the fourth chapter considers what the written conversation parts achieved.And the conclusion draws a conclusion from all that is considered so far.In The Jehol Diary written conversations are concentrated in "Suzhaipiidam"(r????J),"Sangrupildam"(??????),"Gokjeongpildam"(??????),"Hwangyomundap'"(?????)(including "Chalsimnyunpo"??????and "Banseonsimal"??????),and besides,a lot of written conversations are found in "Taehakyugwannok"(???????),"Gyeongaerok"(?????),"Simsepyeon"(?????),"Piseorok"(?????),"Yangmaesihua"(??????),"Dongnanseoppil"(??????),"Hwanhuigi"(?????),"Sanjangjapgi"(??????).The written conversations in The Jehol Diary,can be largely grouped into three:those in Seonggyeong,those in Taehakgwan,and those in Yurichang.Among these,the conversations in Seonggyeong are mainly with merchants with intellectual ability lower than that of literati,and deal with daily lives.There is no deep philosophic discussion in these conversations but we can see abundance of life and economic development under Qing rule as well as the merchants' friendliness toward a foreigner and their sufferings in life.On the other hand,Qing literati show a variety of behaviors-some are strained under the Literary inquisition,others rebelling against reality with indignance,still others accepting reality and seeking to make a name for himself We find some arrogant Manchus who despise,beside Joseon people,Hans,revealing an aspect of the Han-Manchu conflictPeople of barbarian races such as Mongols and Muslims are generally described as treacherous persons.This tells us that even Pak Chiwon who has the egalitarian mind could not wholly overcome racial prej udice against barbarian races.To make written conversations successful,Pak maintains a particular attitude of his own.He addresses people in an indirect and roundabout way,and when a specifically sensitive subject is on,he becomes more cautious.To collect as accurate data as possible,he asks several persons on the same subject,and,for objective evaluation,tries to remain open-minded all the time.Written conversations concerning Hwairon show that Pak has a critical attitude toward the traditional sinocentrism.The Qing government needed a new sinocentrism to make its rule stable,and Pak,who argues for 'learning from the north(Quing),' has no other way but to admit the legitimacy of Qing dynasty.Among the Qing literati of the time can be found some critique of Neo-Confucianism,which critique was not an philosophic one against the classic scriptures but a resistance against Qing government's control,through Neo-Confucianism,over Han scholars.Moreover,one can foresee the decline of Qing dynasty from instances such as too honorable treatment of Panchen Lama in contrast with relative discrimination against merchants.Though Pak joined the visit to Yon in order to experience and learn from the advanced Chinese way of life,he used every opportunity available,during the written conversations,to propagate Joseon culture and correct Chinese people's prejudices and misconceptions concerning Joseon.Pak establishes strong friendships with sundry people from various manner of avocations,and,in Seongyung and Yurichang,is deeply impressed by the abundant,thriving aspects of Qing.He sees various different policies Qing government practices—the high-pressure policy practiced at home for stability,the appeasement policy practiced for foreign countries,and the policy of seclusion against western countries.Besides,he predicts the decline of Qing dynasty,from symptoms of social instability such as discontents against the high-pressure policy,corruption of bureaucrats,Han-Manchu conflict,and becoming weakening of many Manchus through Sinicization.He actively propagates,among the Chinese people,positive aspects of Joseon,and enhances the image of Joseon by correcting Chinese people's prejudices and misconceptions concerning Joseon.In sum,the written conversations in The Jehol Diary not only communicate Chinese reality under Qing rule and Sino-Korea exchange of that time,but also brings with them a kind of revelation concerning further development of Sino-Korea exchange,now and in the future.