This article constitutes the first part of a broader project aimed at translating and annotating the full text of the Canon on Rites (禮典) within the Grand Canon of Administrating the State (經國大典), the comprehensive codification of the Chosŏn Dynasty completed in 1485. While the Grand Canon possesses the characteristics of administrative law based on the East Asian traditional Six Codes (六典) framework, it is deeply intertwined with the fundamental nature and governing ideology of Chosŏn as a Confucian state. The Canon on Rites covers areas such as rites and music (禮樂), state sacrifices (祭祀), banquets (宴享), diplomatic protocol (朝聘), schools and students (學校), and civil service examinations (科擧), encompassing comprehensive regulations on the administration of rites and the broader political and ideological background of the era. Because the rigorous hierarchical order consistently imposed throughout the Grand Canon is strictly reflected in the contents and terminology of each section, it is difficult to reveal the overarching order of the codes simply by literally translating individual sections. Consequently, this work represents an attempt to overcome the challenges of translating the Grand Canon into a foreign language as a holistic system, deliberately capturing the close interrelations among the clauses and the legislative intent behind its design. This paper introduces the translation and annotation of the first four sections of the Canon on Rites: Various Examination Courses (諸科), Attires and Belongings (儀章), Students (生徒), and Five Grades of Mourning Attire (五服). The section of Various Examination Courses, positioned at the very beginning of the Canon on Rites, establishes regulations for the civil, licentiate, and technical examinations; by restricting eligibility, it is deeply associated with the social structure of Chosŏn. The Attires and Belongings section is a strictly prohibitive provision that regulates the attire and belongings officials could wear and carry according to their ranks, visually manifesting the differential hierarchy through detailed restrictions on garments, colors, and patterns. The Student section specifies the quotas for the National College (成均 館) and various schools (諸學), dictating admission qualifications to institutionally guarantee the status of the privileged class. The section of Five Grades of Mourning Attire defines the grades of mourning garments and the duration of mourning periods based on kinship relations and proximity. By presenting the translation examples of these four clauses, this article proposes methodological approaches—derived from the translators' seminar discussions—necessary for accurately translating the Grand Canon, a foundational text that encapsulates the structural and ideological essence of the Chosŏn state.
This article examines the literary forms of envoy records (sahaengnok / sứ trình) composed by Chosŏn Korean and Vietnamese envoys sent to China, arguing that the two traditions followed divergent formal trajectories with distinct communicative functions. Both traditions began in verse, but over 95 percent of Vietnamese envoy records survive in verse form through the nineteenth century, while Chosŏn envoy writing underwent a decisive “prose turn” beginning in the mid-sixteenth century. This formal divergence reflected different authorial motivations: Vietnamese envoys wrote as poets producing personal anthologies, whereas Chosŏn envoys wrote as reporters accumulating practical knowledge for future missions—an orientation that gave rise to a distinctly intertextual tradition in which successive envoys read, cited, and rewrote their predecessors. Through close comparison of the 1790 Beijing encounter between Chosŏn deputy envoy Sŏ Hosu and Vietnamese envoy Phan Huy Ích, this article shows that the same diplomatic encounter became a poetic achievement in Vietnamese records and actionable political intelligence in Korean ones.
This article examines the Chosŏn court’s engagement with Western knowledge in the eighteenth century from the perspective of book acquisition and classification. As early as the sixteenth century, Chosŏn envoys encountered Western missionaries in Beijing and brought back Western texts, sparking a growing intellectual curiosity about the outside world. By the eighteenth century, as diplomatic and cultural exchanges with Qing China intensified, the importation of Chinese—and by extension, Western—books into Chosŏn increased significantly. This influx contributed to the development of a new intellectual field known as Western Learning 西學 (Sŏhak). Prior to the court’s eventual suppression of Western books, there appears to have been an initial phase of openness and even enthusiasm toward Western knowledge. Yet how this knowledge was positioned and managed within the court’s institutional framework in response to shifting official attitudes remains an open question. Drawing on catalogues of the royal library Kyujanggak 奎章閣, this article compares materials compiled in different periods to trace changes in the presence and status of Western books in royal collections. It demonstrates that Western texts were not simply rejected, but were selectively incorporated into existing systems of classification and collection. The subsequent destruction of these books in the late eighteenth century was therefore not an isolated act of censorship, but part of a broader process of epistemic control.
This paper examines the global success of K-Culture not as the product of a transient trend or deliberate industrial strategy, but as a manifestation of Korean cultural genes—historically formed patterns of sensibility and practice that have been continuously re-contextualized across time. While existing scholarship has extensively analyzed K-Culture through the lenses of media studies, industry, and cultural hybridity, comparatively little attention has been paid to the long-term continuity between Korean traditional culture and its contemporary popular cultural forms. This study addresses that gap by proposing an analytical framework that categorizes Korean cultural genes into two axes: dynamic elements, encompassing Shinmyŏng (collective exultation), haehak (wit), and p'ungnyu (leisurely enjoyment); and static elements, encompassing Chŏng (affective communal bond), choha (harmony), Han (suppressed sorrow and endurance), and perseverance. Drawing on historical sources, traditional performing arts, food culture, literature, and architecture, the paper traces how each of these cultural genes was formed in pre-modern Korean society and how it has evolved into new forms within contemporary K-pop, K-drama, and K-food. The analysis suggests that K-Culture's distinctive capacity to simultaneously generate sensory dynamism and emotional depth for global audiences derives from this dual structure of dynamic energy and static depth that has characterized Korean cultural expression since antiquity. The findings contribute to a humanistic and historical understanding of K-Culture that complements existing media-and industry-centered approaches, while acknowledging that the mechanisms of continuity between tradition and modernity remain a subject for further inquiry.
This study examines Kim Sa-haeng (?–1398), a eunuch-architect trained in the Yuan imperial household who directed the foundational construction projects of the early Chosŏn dynasty, most notably Kyŏngbokkung Palace. By cross-referencing historical records of the Yuan Daming Palace—including Xiao Xun’s Yuangugong Yilu 元故宮遺 錄—with Kim’s executed projects, this article reconstructs the direct transfer of imperial architectural technology to the Korean peninsula. I argue that Kim functioned as a “technical translator” rather than a passive imitator. He selectively adopted Yuan architectural grammar, such as the rectangular throne-hall plan and the powerful central axis, while deliberately refining elements that conflicted with Confucian ritual propriety. Ultimately, Kim’s architecture embodies a “pluralistic cosmopolitanism” that fused Mongol spatial sensibilities, Chinese ritual norms, and Korean geomantic principles, offering a new micro-level perspective on East Asian architectural exchange within the Mongol world order.
This study comprehensively analyzes archaeological data and literary records from the Early Iron Age centered on the Yopuk and Killam regions to re-examine the character and political shifts of Chinbŏn. The spatial structures and burial patterns of the Sagaga-type and Sŏhwangsandun-type site groups—representative cultures of the Early Iron Age in this region—demonstrate that this area was not a mere periphery but a core hub where politics, rituals, and trade intersected. Such archaeological evidence closely corresponds to the functions of Chinbŏn as depicted in historical texts, suggesting that Chinbŏn was a fluid political entity rather than a fixed geographical unit. By elucidating the reorganization of ancient political space centered on Chinbŏn, this research aims to shed new light on the continuity of early state formation leading into Puyŏ and Koguryŏ.
Chosŏn envoys traveling to Beijing in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries constructed and perpetuated memories of the Ming dynasty through their encounters with historical sites associated with the Ming-Qing transition. Utilizing Pierre Nora’s concept of lieux de mémoire (sites of memory), the study explores how physical spaces along the envoy route, in particular, the Kuhyŏltae (嘔血臺, Blood-Vomiting Terrace) in Ningyuan, served as a catalyst for historical imagination and collective memory among Chosŏn literati. The travelogues of Chosŏn envoys, the Yŏnhaengnok (燕行錄), reveal how these envoys not only commemorated Yuan Chonghuan’s defense of Ningyuan but also constructed a unique narrative that reinforced their nostalgia for the Ming dynasty and expressed subtle criticism of the Qing. The paper argues that narratives about the Kuhyŏltae, completely absent from official Qing records, exemplify the process by which the Yŏnhaengnok served as a medium for creating and maintaining a distinct historical narrative. This process of memory construction allowed Chosŏn literati to navigate the tension between political reality and cultural ideals, expressing their views within the constraints of their political relationship with the Qing empire. The study contributes to our understanding of China-Korea relations, historical memory discourse, and the historiography of the Ming-Qing transition, illustrating how societies create and transmit historical narratives in contexts of cultural and political tension.
This comparative study explores cross-cultural encounters between Chosŏn and Vietnamese envoys and Western knowledge during the 18th and 19th centuries. Through their regular tributary missions to China and other places, these envoys were exposed to Western ideas, prompting distinct processes of othering. This study examines the differing historical contexts and channels that shaped their perceptions, the specific aspects of the West they observed, and the mechanisms through which they constructed their understanding. Using a comparative analysis of travelogues and scholarly literature, the research reveals that both groups engaged selectively with the West as other, a process shaped by Hua-Yi thinking, utilitarian motivations, and third-party mediation. By comparing their experiences, this study provides critical insights into how the envoys’ encounters with the West influenced their self-reflection on their own cultures, values, and positions in the world, contributing to a deeper understanding of knowledge production and circulation in East Asia during a period of significant global change.
This article examines the emergence of psychiatric epidemiology in post-Korean War South Korea, when psychiatric data barely existed and there was little capacity to produce it. Although psychiatry had existed in the country since the colonial period, it was only after the Korean War that psychiatrists began to pursue psychiatric epidemiology as a distinct practice. In the late 1950s, the absence of psychiatric statistics was not merely a technical gap but a political and professional condition that exposed the limits of state governance and created new space for psychiatric authority. Focusing on Yu Sŏk-chin’s pioneering survey conducted between 1956 and 1960, the article illustrates how Korean psychiatrists mobilized epidemiological approaches circulating internationally to generate prevalence figures. Drawing on survey reports, newspapers, and professional publications, this article situates psychiatric epidemiology within Cold War health discourse and demonstrates how numbers functioned simultaneously as medical knowledge and political significance.
This study examines the cultural exchanges between the Koryŏ dynasty and the Tang(唐) and Song(宋) dynasties from the perspective of coinage culture. It analyzes the form, inscriptions, materials and techniques of Koryŏ coinage to illustrate how the Koryŏ dynasty, drawing on the advanced coinage culture of the Tang and Song dynasties and in light of its own political and diplomatic contexts, actual social conditions and cultural traditions, developed a coinage system with distinctive indigenous characteristics. This study argues that despite Koryŏ dynasty’s admiration for Tang and Song cultures, it did not merely imitate those traditions in constructing its own coinage system, but instead implemented a series of successful adaptations and innovations. That process constitutes a vivid historical manifestation of the transmission and innovation of ancient knowledge and craftsmanship, and provides valuable insights into cultural transfer and local transformation among ancient East Asian states. It also contributes to a better understanding of the diversity and complexity of cultural exchanges in ancient times.
Scholars have long identified Ch’oe Ikhyŏn (1834-1907) as an exemplar of conservative opposition to the Korean imperial project. This study presents a new reading of his memorials in the 1895-1899 period to show that Ch’oe Ikhyŏn did not reject the Korean imperial project but rather called on the emperor to reign as emperor in reality as well as in name. Rejecting Korean progressives’ claims to civilization and enlightenment, Ch’oe admonished the emperor to cultivate himself so as to defend authentic human civilization and in so doing establish a genuine universal imperium. Limited by binary understandings of tradition and modernity, existing scholarship has typically misread and marginalized his critique of Korean empire as a hopeless resistance against modernity, but his substantial memorials from this period must be understood not as a non-modern other but rather as an intellectual project integral to the Korean modernity of the turn of the twentieth century.
This study examines the paradoxes embedded in South Korea’s postwar reconstruction in the 1950s and illuminates the structural contradictions and tensions that shaped the decade’s economic strategy. The state’s attempt to restore war-devastated manufacturing capacity demanded massive fiscal resources, yet it was sharply constrained by the overriding policy priority of containing inflation. Under these conditions, enterprise privatization and the mobilization of private capital emerged as key policy instruments and were advanced in earnest under the Cold War banner of market-oriented policy. Yet this policy approach did not entail a straightforward move toward the principle of “free enterprise.” Rather, it unfolded as a process of controlled privatization in which the state intervened forcefully, selectively fostering and supporting particular firms and capitalists. At the same time, the government presented “economic self-reliance” as a central goal of industrial planning and pursued a dual-track strategy to promote both light industry and foundational heavy and chemical sectors. The financial basis for this self-reliance project, however, remained unavoidably dependent on foreign aid. This article therefore argues that the 1950s constituted a formative period in which these mutually contradictory policies operated simultaneously and intersected—price stabilization, state-managed privatization, and aid-dependent self-reliance—thereby exerting a decisive influence on the subsequent trajectory of South Korean industrial capitalism.
This study explores the experiences and representations of Italian diplomat Carlo Rossetti at the court of King Kojong of Korea during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Drawing upon archival documents, personal letters, travel accounts, and contemporary publications, the research investigates Rossetti’s role in diplomatic negotiations and his observations of Korean society, institutions, and international relations. Visual sources and eyewitness accounts are examined to understand how European perspectives on Korea were constructed and circulated, situating Rossetti’s experiences within the broader context of imperial competition, unequal treaties, and the representation of Korea as ‘the Other’. Italy established diplomatic relations with Korea in 1884, opening its consulate in Seoul in the same year. Rossetti, appointed Consul to Korea in 1902, served for only a brief period (1902-1903). Yet he was able to collect a remarkable amount of material on the social, economic, geographical, and cultural aspects of Korea. His documentation included books, reports, and photographs that together provide a detailed and comprehensive picture of Korean life at the turn of the century. This study pays particular attention to Rossetti’s photographic collection, analyzing how his images reflect Western perceptions and contribute to the historical narrative of Korea. By combining textual and visual analysis, the article highlights Rossetti’s unique contribution as both a diplomat and an observer, offering fresh insights into the Italian presence in East Asia and Korea’s encounter with Europe.
This study empirically analyzes the process through which Korean history education shifts its paradigm from the inward-looking narrative of Guksa to Hanguksa oriented toward global universality, using the K-History Program under the “Fostering a New Wave of K-Academics” Initiative as a case study. To this end, the study examines the outcomes of the past five years by employing four driving forces, namely the intellectual, era-based, technical, and institutional dimensions, as its analytical framework. The results show that, at the intellectual level, a universal knowledge framework was constructed through the modularization of fifty diachronically structured thematic units and the adoption of a hybrid terminology notation system. At the era-based level, global demand catalyzed by Hallyu was addressed through the participation of overseas instructors and the implementation of localization strategies. At the technical level, a digital learning ecosystem that transcends temporal and spatial constraints was established through the use of microlearning approaches and the K-MOOC platform. At the institutional level, the role of the state was redefined from that of a simple narrator to that of a platform provider, thereby laying the foundation for sustainable knowledge dissemination. In conclusion, this study proposes that, for Korean history to become established as a sustainable global knowledge system, it is essential to advance user experience (UX)–centered platform development, achieve a balanced integration of standardization and localization, and build a framework of international collaborative governance.
Sunam JI(sic)An Chong-pok (sic)(sic)(sic)(1712-1791) once remarked: "Although our country has several types of old yuefu songs, among them, the work by Hyu-ong tiK(sic) Sim Kwang-se i)LYtft (1577-1624) is considered the finest." Sim Kwang-se's Haedong akpu (sic)(sic)(sic)(sic) (Songs of the Eastern Land) is a series of historical yuefu poetry (yongsa akpu (sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)) composed during his exile to Kosong in Kyongsang Province following the Kyech'uk Treason Case of 1613 (5th year of King Kwanghae). Using episodes from Korean history as his material, he sought to embed moral admonition and didactic purpose. Selecting forty-four engaging stories from the early histories of Silla, Koryo, and early Choson, he provided explanatory introductions for each piece and then rendered the historical events in verse. It is well known that the immediate impetus for the creation of Haedong akpu lay in the circulation of the Choson-printed edition of the Ming scholar Li Dongyang's Xiya Nigu yuefu (sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic)(sic). This raises several questions: What historical sources does Haedong akpu primarily cite? In what manner are they employed? And what do these uses reveal about Sim Kwang-se's historical consciousness and scholarly orientation? This article investigates the sources and patterns of citation in Haedong akpu in order to elucidate the historical worldview embedded in his work.
This study examines the underexplored debate over the retention of Ming troops in Korea during the early phase of the Imjin War (1592-1598). Drawing on the writings of Choson and Ming officials alongside the records of the two courts, it traces how the question of retaining troops (yubyong/liubing ) in Korea emerged as a major source of contention-not only between the Choson and Ming courts but also among Ming officials-following the recapture of P'yongyang in early 1593. Although the Choson court initially requested the continued presence of Ming troops, its officials soon voiced concern over the substantial financial burden this would impose, especially amid the nationwide devastation wrought by the Japanese invasion. Song Yingchang (1536-1606), the Ming commissioner of military affairs, strongly advocated maintaining a sizable Ming force in Korea to guard against future Japanese aggression, even as he pursued peace negotiations with the Japanese. He pressed the Choson court to assume responsibility for provisioning these troops, while simultaneously seeking to persuade the Ming court to shoulder a greater share of the financial costs. His proposal, however, was ultimately rejected, and the Ming court ordered the complete withdrawal of its forces from Korea. The debate over the retention of Ming troops in Korea in 1593 thus reveals the centrality of financial considerations in shaping the scope of Ming assistance and highlights the divergent ways in which Choson and Ming officials envisioned the aftermath of the Imjin War-and the costs it entailed. The 1593 debate on the retention of Ming troops also foreshadows the diplomatic tensions that would resurface between the Choson and Ming courts after the Japanese withdrawal in 1598. Considering these continuities situates the 1593 debate within a longer trajectory of postwar planning and deepens our understanding of the underlying tensions between the two courts that persisted well beyond the cessation of active hostilities with the Japanese forces in 1598.
This study examines the fortress structure and construction techniques of Hagosŏngja Fortress, located in Hwanin, Liaoning Province, China, with the aim of identifying its key characteristics and historical significance through comparison with other earthen fortresses from the Koguryŏ and Han periods in Northeast China. Previous interpretations have suggested either Han influence or Koguryŏ origin in its construction; however, stratigraphic investigations and comparative analysis do not support these claims. The ramparts of Hagosŏngja Fortress were not built using alternating fill (Kyohosŏngt'o) or rammed earth techniques (P'anch'uk), but rather through a general method of horizontal layering. Notably, the structure exhibits a distinctive feature wherein the core and inner/outer walls were constructed simultaneously, interlocked in a staggered fashion. This technique is clearly distinct from the segmented construction method found in Han-period fortresses and instead shows strong structural affinities with the wall construction of the Dongtuanshan of Puyŏ and the Sŏgo Fortress of Balhae. These findings suggest that Hagosŏngja Fortress should be understood not as a derivative of Han fortress models, but rather within the broader architectural tradition of ancient Northeast Asian states. As one of the earliest known earthen fortresses of Koguryŏ, its construction illustrates the technological and cultural continuity that links Puyŏ and Balhae. While limitations remain due to partial wall collapse and gaps in excavation data, further archaeological investigation is expected to offer deeper insight into the development of construction methods at Hagosŏngja Fortress and its relationship with surrounding regions.
This study investigates the formation of early Mahan society within the broader context of Late Kojosŏn’s cultural expansion. It argues that the Korean-style bronze dagger culture, which emerged in the Hoseo region during the 4th to 3rd centuries BCE, developed through ideological and ritual networks rooted in Kojosŏn's foundational traditions, particularly ancestor worship and elite exchange systems. The study highlights how the Songguk-ri cultural group became a key regional ally of Kojosŏn, forming diplomatic and military ties through the distribution of prestige items such as bronze daggers and mirrors. The arrival of King Chun and other political refugees further catalyzed the formation of early Han society in the southwestern peninsula. Though short-lived, this early polity helped shape the peninsula-centered worldview later adopted by the Mahan confederacy. Ultimately, the research presents Mahan as a product of both internal cultural continuity and external geopolitical dynamics.
Marxist historiography emerged as a brief but intense intellectual movement in 1930s colonial Korea. Its historians asserted that their approach was more scientific and epistemologically superior, grounded in the principle of rationality, the laws of history, and the concept of class alignment. Initiated by Paek Nam-un and Pak Mun-gyu in 1933, this school attracted approximately ten Marxist historians who actively investigated various periods of Korean history and explored historical methodology until the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937.Marxist historiography in colonial Korea influenced both contemporary historical scholarship and the later development of historical studies in postcolonial Korea. At the time, it helped introduce a world-historical perspective to the study of Korean history. For instance, Paek Nam-un developed the idea of universal laws of world history, while Kim Kwang-chin and Lee Ch'ŏng-wŏn articulated Asiatic particularism as one among multiple trajectories of historical development.This historiographical school also shaped the development of socioeconomic history and Minjung-sa (People’s History) in later decades. It offered frameworks for understanding post-liberation history, spurred historical debates among South and North Korean historians, and laid the foundation for further scholarly advancement. Korean historians’ continuing engagement with the “scientificity” of historiography owes much to this colonial-era Marxist school.
