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| A Korean official riding on a choheon. |
By Robert Neff
"When talking about bicycles, one cannot fail to mention Yun Chi-ho," claims the City History Compilation Committee of Seoul.
"It is said that he was the first person to ride a bicycle in Korea. It was quite a sight to see at the time. His bicycle riding became the talk of the capital city, and all sorts of rumors circulated. There were rumors that he used a magical means of contracting space and in the end these spread as [a] supernatural myth that he flew over Myungdong Cathedral."
Yun Chi-ho, most assuredly, was not the first person to ride a bicycle in Korea but he may have been one of the first Korean bicyclists in the country.
By the mid-1890s, cycling was quite popular in the foreign community and with some of the more progressive Koreans. Even the royal family displayed some interest.
Allegedly, when Lieut. Lansdale of the U.S. Navy rode his bike to Seoul in December 1884, King Gojong heard of this fantastic vehicle and summoned the officer to appear before him and demonstrate the bicycle.
He promptly complied and King Gojong (according to numerous newspaper articles) was "astonished at the sight of the officer astride the bicycle" as there was nothing holding him up.
"Lansdale explained the art of riding, and under him the King took lessons with such good progress that he sent an order to America for a score of bicycles."
The latter part probably never happened ― merely a heroic yarn manufactured at the time of Lansdale's death in 1899.
There is, however, no doubt that King Gojong was interested in cycling ― at least as a spectator. One day, when Oliver Avison, a Canadian missionary doctor, had an audience with the Korean monarch, he was asked by what means he had traveled to the palace. Avison answered that he had come by bicycle, which immediately excited great interest in the king who commanded the bicycle be immediately brought and demonstrated.
According to Avison:
"I explained that it was difficult at first to keep it balanced, but that it became easy with practice. Then he wanted to see me ride it. Although I had on my Prince Albert suit, there was nothing to do but to tuck its tails under me, bestride my bicycle and let him see it in action. As I rode round and round the courtyard, the King laughed and seemed to enjoy the spectacle, but he did not, as I had hoped he would, ask to try it himself."
Not all the royal family was hesitant to ride. Prince Uiwha (Yi Kang), the fifth son of King Gojong, was an avid rider in the United States. According to The Independent ― an English-language newspaper in Seoul:
"The Prince is also a devotee of the bicycle, and takes many a long spins over the roads, often unaccompanied, and considers wheeling an excellent exercise. He has with him at present a friend, a Mr. Sheen, about his own age, and they are often seen together."
Cycling may have been good exercise for the prince but some blamed it, at least partially, for the death of So Kwang-pom (the Korean representative to the United States) in August 1897. So was apparently suffering from "acute consumption" (tuberculosis) and died from a massive "hemorrhage caused by violent bicycle exercise."
Next week we will look at the dangers of riding bicycles in Joseon and the desperate means taken to obtain a bike.
