Old travelogue revisited

Bak Ji-won's "The Jehol Diary" is a multiple-volume book which detailed his experiences and discoveries during his five-month trip to China in 1780. / Korea Times file

Author says 'Jehol Diary' is Joseon's finest literary work

By Kang Hyun-kyung

Joseon scholar Bak Ji-won (1737-1805) was an academic ahead of his time.

Unlike his contemporaries, who were content with the Confucian way of thinking and made little effort to move forward, Bak was creative, inquisitive and open to new ideas and ways of thinking. His strong personality and his pragmatic way of thinking are reflected in his famous travelogue, "The Jehol Diary," a multiple-volume book which detailed his experiences and discoveries during his five-month trip to China in 1780. He was part of Joseon's delegation sent to China to pay tribute to Qing's Qianglong Emperor on the occasion of his 70th birthday.

Park Soo-mil, an expert who has researched Bak and his works for 25 years, revisited the Joseon scholar's travelogue in his new book, "First Step Toward the Jehol Diary: Meet Joseon's Best Literary Piece" published by Dolbegae publishing house.

In each chapter, the author cites parts of the travelogue written in classical Chinese letters and explains what they mean with detailed background information.

The author says "The Jehol Diary" was a sensational piece back in 1780.

News about the travelogue spread quickly through word of mouth as its readers discussed the fun experiences the author described.

Reactions to the travelogue were polarized. Some liked it because it was entertaining. But some, particularly the conservative upper class, found it distasteful because they thought Bak had tried to curry favor with the Qing Dynasty ruled by Manchus, an ethnic group they considered barbarians.

"Back then, the ruling class and high-ranking officials of the Joseon Kingdom considered the Qing Dynasty an illegitimate regime that took power after overthrowing the Ming Dynasty," Park wrote.

"At that time, Joseon scholars viewed the previous Ming Dynasty ruled by Han Chinese as a legitimate government and they didn't withdraw their endorsement even after the Ming Dynasty was brought to an end by the Qing. So, the ruling class of Joseon felt offended when they read Bak's travelogue which praised China ruled by the Qing Dynasty."

Bak's discoveries of and lessons he drew from them also bothered Joseon's ruling class.

They were also disturbed by Bak's description of the lessons he learned from the way of life and customs of Chinese people.

Park said Bak was an unrivaled writer of his time and maybe the greatest of all Joseon-era scholars, noting he agrees with an expert who argued Bak's works are one of the three finest legacies of the Joseon era. The remaining two, he said, were Admiral Yi Sun-sin's military tactics and the academic accomplishments achieved by two Confucian scholars, Yi Hwang and Yi I, whose academic rivalry raised the level of philosophical debate in Joseon.

"The Jehol Diary" is Bak's account of China based on his experiences during his lengthy expedition to the country from May 25 to Oct. 27 in 1780.

"First Step Toward the Jehol Diary: Meet Joseon's Best Literary Piece" by Park Soo-mil

The trip was a life-changing experience for Bak. It was his first time outside of the country and the destination was a place people of Joseon were anxious to visit. His family ties with Bak Myong-won, who was appointed as a chief emissary of the Joseon delegation, helped him grab the rare opportunity.

Bak was 44 when he embarked on the China trip.

Although the delegation's trip began in May, Bak's travelogue started on June 24 when his team arrived at the Amrok River, or Yalu River, on the border of Joseon and China.

The travelogue offers a detailed description of border control officials' duties. Travelers had no passports so the immigration officers took down details about people coming into the country such as their names, mailing addresses, height and whether they had visible scars on their face or body. The color of their horses' hair was also recorded.

Gold and pearl were some of the banned products travelers were not allowed to take during their foreign trip.

Bak's culture shock began when he first arrived in the Chinese border town known to Koreans as Chaekmun. Before the trip, he was told it was one of the more marginalized Chinese towns. He was surprised to find the border town was sophisticated, clean and thriving. Bak wondered how fancy the heartland of China could be when the most marginalized border town was as sophisticated as it was.

Bak's China trip enlightened him. While visiting Shenyang, Beijing and Jehol (Chengde), the Joseon scholar realized that his home country was heading in the wrong direction. He wrote that Joseon needed to beef up its defense capabilities and boost commerce and trade to make the country stronger.

His words were considered sensational at the time because Joseon was a closed society that demonized materialism. Moral values and ethics were praised as dominant social norms and trade and commerce were considered sectors for lower-class citizens. In the upper class, unemployed scholars were common. They read books and wrote all day without making money. Jobless scholars living in poverty were considered frugal, rather than rebuked. Few people blamed them for their unwillingness to find jobs because materialism was portrayed as an evil.

"First Step" blames the Joseon Kingdom for failing to listen to Bak's innovative proposals.