A pioneer heritage guide

By Kim Ji-myung

He was travelling with a friend and his dog in his four-wheel-drive jeep. It was in the autumn of 1969. We ― five college girls from the Yonsei English Department ― stayed a night at a farmer's home near Magoksa Temple.

We met him on our way to the temple that morning. He was taking photos of everything around ― the temple buildings, rice paddies, fields in yellow, thatched houses, the faces of the Korean farmers and us.

It must have been a pleasant surprise for him to meet English-speaking girls along his way. A foreigner driving around with a dog taking photos was also a surprise to most Koreans in the countryside at that time.

From my experience, I always think that the basic Korean psyche has changed little from the turn of the previous century. Elements of shamanism, fatalism, sentimentalism, truthful passion, groundless positivism, enormous optimism, grand patriotism, cosmopolitan care and a naïve, unlimited trust in humanity still exist today.

It was a time when there was actually no danger to travel around the country for a woman or in a group. Basically the agrarian Korean society was safe as no stranger ever set foot on the peninsula. Foreign invaders had historically betrayed this belief.

Strangely enough, only two things remain longest in my memory about that trip. The travelling American man and the freezing water that was too cold to wash away the soap in the morning.

After three decades, it was an unexpected encounter to find a photo of my friend, one of the five travelling girls, printed in a two-volume book ''Through Gates of Seoul" by Edward B. Adams. The rest of us did not know that Adams had contacted her and asked her to model for his book on Korean heritage sites.

Why am I still talking about the trip and the travelling American? After decades of work as a journalist, lecturer, simultaneous interpreter and international conference organizer, I am back writing and talking about Korea in English. Adams was a pioneer in this profession.

"It is my hope that the colorful history and vibrant culture of a country still relatively unknown to Westerners will unfold as each chapter becomes your guide to a new secluded hill or vale in the vicinity of Seoul," Adam wrote in his preface.

I am saddened and frustrated to find that Korea is still "relatively unknown to Westerners" after so many years of success stories ― of Samsung and Hyundai and Psy's "Gangnam Style."

Maybe you need a whole century to debrief the negative ideas about Korea that had been instilled into the Western brain by neighboring countries long before the introvert and ignorant Joseon began to emerge on the world stage, after a long seclusion in darkness.

Adams sounds like me when he writes about his work of introducing cultural heritage sites around Seoul: "This book is not a history but the historical facts connected with the legends have been carefully checked for accuracy."

I did the same in carrying out my recent project for the government on improving texts that interpret Korean cultural heritage.

"Edward Adams is a perfect guide," wrote Samuel Hugh Moffett in his foreword for Adams' book in summer 1970. "He was born in Korea. For three generations, his family has played its own part in Korean history. His grandfather, James E. Adams, was one of the Protestant missionary pioneers, reaching Korea in May 1895, not long before the assassination of Queen Min."

When we met Adams at a pastoral corner of a farming village near the Magoksa Temple, we had absolutely no idea about him. He could well have had a good command of Korean, but we spoke only in English. Oh, what clumsy English, we naive Korean girls.

But my friend whom Adams chose to contact later was already on a different path. She was mature and wise from the beginning. Later she worked as a public relations manager of a top international hotel in Seoul, and then made her way to a professorship of theology in Washington DC.

I am grateful to Adams for all his efforts and toil to traverse the Korean countryside, when no single highway offered comfortable passage. He drew accurate maps to help his readers find their way.

The Seoul International School introduces its founder: "Edward Adams' reputation as an author of Korean history, culture and children's books reached the attention of the Presidential Blue House and in 1973 the Ministry of Education granted him a permit to establish an independent international school."

My research into Edward Adams revealed his family background archived under the title "Adams Family Papers Inclusive Dates 1896-1941, Repository Presbyterian Historical Society, Philadelphia, U.S.A."

"The Adams family served as missionaries in Korea for two generations. Their work began with James Edward Adams (1867-1929) who was born in McCoy, Decatur County, Indiana. He married Nellie Dick (1866-1909) in 1893 and shortly thereafter was ordained. In 1894, the two were appointed by the Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. to the Korea Mission, where James's sister, Annie Laurie Adams Baird (1864-1916), was already stationed. The Adams conducted evangelistic work at the newly established station of Taiku [Daegu]. They had four children: Edward, Benjamin, Dorothy, and George."

The writer is chairwoman of the Korea Heritage Education Institute (K*Heritage). Her email address is Heritagekorea21@gmail.com .

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