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One of the earliest Westerners to live in Jemulpo was a Spanish woman named Amalia C. Amador, who came to Korea with her Chinese husband Woo Li-tang, in 1884. They made an unlikely couple — she was young with a fiery temper while he was 20 years older, cold in personality and very quiet.
It isn’t clear how Amador and Li-tang (apparently his Spanish name was Louis) met. One account claims that she was a ballet dancer in Paris and attracted his attention but more than likely they met in the late 1870s while he was attached to the Chinese diplomatic mission in Madrid, Spain. She was extremely beautiful and young — only in her mid teens — and was apparently quite popular in the foreign diplomatic community. They soon married and she returned with him to Shanghai, China.
In 1883 Woo was hired by the Korean government to serve with the Korean Customs Department in Jemulpo. It wasn’t until the summer of 1884 that he was able to bring her to Jemulpo where they dwelt in a house that he had built.Jemulpo at the time was still relatively a frontier port with very few amenities and, except for a Russian woman, she was the only Western female residing at the port.
As time passed more and more Westerners moved into the city but Amalia seems to have been shunned. It may have been due to the prejudices associated with her having married a Chinese man — especially one working with the Chinese government in Korea, but more than likely it was due to her poor English ability and her attitude. Amalia was said to be cold, heartless and overly proud of the wealth she and her husband had acquired.
But by the mid-1890s the strain of her isolation seems to have proven to be too much and she began to make an effort to become an integral part of the Western community. She joined the Jemulpo Women’s Tennis Club and held elaborate parties at her home that were the talk of the town.
She became “restless and chattering” while her husband remained calm and quiet which angered her to no end and provided the community with gossip of their “quarrels and arguments.” Their fabulous garden was probably due to her fiery tongue and his desire to get away from her — a solace from her nagging.
Many of the Westerners in Jemulpo had large houses filled with children and noise but Amalia’s house was quiet. Perhaps this is why she adopted two children — one, a Japanese boy (name unknown) and the other a baby Russian girl she named Lucia Maria Amalia.
By the early 1900s, Li-tang was described as a “genial Chinese millionaire.” In 1909, he had a huge Victorian-style home built from the finest materials available. It was the envy of the community with its huge windows providing a wonderful view of the harbor.
Although their married life was filled with strife and quarrels, they undoubtedly loved one another and were only separated when Li-tang died in 1912.The large home was too much for Amalia to live in alone and so she sold it to a Japanese businessman but she continued to live in Jemulpo until her death on January 11, 1939.
She was the first Spaniard to live in Korea and also one of the longest Westerners to live in Korea during this period — some 55 years.
Robert Neff is a contributing writer for The Korea Times.
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