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Chŏng Ta-san: A Study in Korea's Intellectual History

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 March 2011

Gregory Henderson
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Extract

The internal political dissensions of the Yi period (1392–1910) provide a fruitful object of study for students of Korean history. Throughout all but its first decades they troubled the dynasty, eroding the effectiveness of government, introverting the intellectual concerns of the educated, narrowing access to needed new influences, producing social and political rifts which have become deeply ingrained. For all their faults, factional dissensions also brought marked political and intellectual stimulation, and are as important as any of Korea's native institutional phenomena for the formation of her modern political life. Ending only with Yi power in 1910, these struggles still echo under the surface of Korean society.

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Articles
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The Journal of Asian Studies , Volume 16 , Issue 3 , May 1957 , pp. 377 - 386
Copyright
Copyright © The Association for Asian Studies, Inc. 1957

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References

1 For reference on Yi-dynasty factionalism see Ko Kwŏn-sam, Chosŏn chŏngch'i so [History of Korean Politics] (Seoul: Ŭlyu munhwa-sa, 1948), pp. 31–79; and Yi Pyŏng-do, Kuksa taegwan [General Survey of National History] (Seoul: Pomungak, 1956), pp. 381–390, 395–402.

2 A recent and authoritative account of Chŏng Ta-san's life and work is the article by Professor Takahashi Tōru, “Tei Chazan no daigaku keisetsu” (“A Study on Tyŏng Da San's Philosophical Theory of Confucianism”) in Tenri daigaku gakuhō, VII, No. 1 (10 1955), 1–19Google Scholar. To this article and its author for much memorable conversation, I acknowledge a deep debt of gratitude. Cf. also Yi Sŭng-gyu, “Chŏng Yak-yong,” a biography in Chosŏn myŏngin jŏn [Biographies of Korean Eminents] (Seoul: Chosŏn ilbo ch'ulp 'an-sa, 1939).

3 So called because the houses of many of the leaders who formed this faction were located in the southern part of the city of Seoul. The term has no relation to the concept of “South Korea.”

4 For Yi Ik (1682–1765), see biography in Chosŏn myŏngin jŏn, pp. 333–336.Google Scholar

5 Chosŏn myŏngin jŏn, p. 324.Google Scholar

6 Yŏju is a town not far southeast of Seoul. The family relations in this incident throw much light on the ingrown, tightly-woven composition of the factions.

7 Akagi Nihei, “Chōsen ni okeru tenshukyō no ryūnyū to tenrei mondai ni tsuite” (“Über das Einfliessen des Christentums in Korea und die Ritusfrage”) Shigaku zasshi, LI (1940), 716–717Google Scholar. Yi Sŭng-hun was baptized in 1782 by the Portuguese priest in Peking known as Mgr. Alexandre de Gouvea.

8 Abbé Charles Dallet, Histoire de l'Église de Corée, (Paris, 1874), pp. 13–36Google Scholar. In his desire to glorify the early history of Catholicism in Korea, the Abbé appears to have dilated on his sources considerably.

9 Takahashi Tōru, pp. 4–7. Most of Chŏng's relatives and decendants were Catholics.

10 The number of Christians in Korea today is reported as 166, 732 Catholics and 849, 608 Protestants (includes Presbyterians, Methodists, and Holiness Church only), see Hanguk yŏngam [Korea Annual] (1956), p. 300; whereas Japanese Christians number 271,399 Catholics and 246,232 Protestants, see Kirisulokyō nenkan [Christian Annual] (1956), p. 492.Google Scholar

11 The priest's name was Chou Wen-mou (in Korean, Chu Mun-mo). For this incident see Dallet, , pp. 69–81Google Scholar, and Yi Nŭng-hwa, , Chosŏn kidokkyo kŭp oegyo sa [History of Korean Christianity and Diplomacy] (Seoul, 1925), I, 138–145.Google Scholar

12 A district in South Ch'ungch'ŏng Province near the west coast.

13 A village near the town of Kwangju, Kyŏnggi Province, near Seoul. Ta-san was born in this neighborhood.

14 Among the most important of these are: Kyŏmgse yup'yo on economics; Aŏn kakpi on philology; Hŏmhŏm sinsŏ on politics, and Abang kan'gyok ko on geography. On Ta-san's medical works, see Chŏngln-bo, “Ta-san sŏnsaeng ŭi saeng'ae wa ŏpch'ŏk,” Tamwŏn kukhak sango (Seoul, 1955).Google Scholar

15 Takahashi Tōru, “Chōsen gakusha no tochi heibun setsu to kyōsan setsu,” [“Korean Scholars' Theory of Equal Land Division and the Communist Theory”] in Hattori sensei kōgi shukuga kinen rombun shū (Tokyo, 1936)Google Scholar, has an excellent discussion of the various views involved. A recent North Korean translation of passages from the Yŏjŏngo with comment is: Ch'oe Ik-han, “Chŏng Ta-san chakp'um jŏn” in Chosŏn munhak, No. 4 (04 1956), pp. 124–143Google Scholar. (The same magazine contains an article by Yun Se-p'yŏng, “Chŏng Ta-san kwa kŭ ŭi siga,” translating certain poems of Ta-san which, the author believes, afford insight into social and political conditions.)