(Translation) 孝宗實錄 孝宗 六年 九月 二日 癸未
| Primary Source | ||
|---|---|---|
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Title | |
| English | ||
| Chinese | 孝宗實錄 孝宗 六年 九月 二日 癸未 | |
| Korean(RR) | 효종실록 효종 6년 9월 2일 계미 | |
| Text Details | ||
| Genre | Royal Documents | |
| Type | Official History | |
| Author(s) | Hyojong | |
| Year | 1655 | |
| Source | ||
| Key Concepts | ||
| Translation Info | ||
| Translator(s) | Participants of 2017 Summer Hanmun Workshop (Intermediate Training Group) | |
| Editor(s) | ||
| Year | 2017 | |
목차
Introduction
In 1653, two cattle-traders from China traveled to Korea and were murdered on their return journey. This crime escalated into a border dispute between two realms: Chosŏn Korea (1391-1910) and Qing China (1644-1911). The Qing emperor sent envoys to investigate the incident fully, having found King Hyojong (r. 1649-1659) and his officials reluctant to closely examine and report on the case.[1] While suspects and local governmental officials connected to the murder case were convicted, the Korean king and high ranking officials in the capital were exempt from any further repercussions, apart from a stern warning. This story is well described in two Chosŏn historical texts: The Annals of the Chosŏn Dynasty (Chosŏn wangjo sillok 朝鮮王朝實錄) (the Annals)[2] and The Collective Compilation of Diplomatic Documents of the Chosŏn Dynasty (Tongmun hwigo 同文彙考).[3] This paper translates and annotates selected extracts from both of these key texts: one particular article from the former and several examples of diplomatic correspondence between the Chosŏn and the Qing from the latter. These documents were originally produced in the latter half of the seventeenth century and have been selected here for specific reasons. Firstly, they illustrate the economic and trade situation in the border regions, as well as people’s lives in the contact zone. Secondly, these texts can help provide answers to historical questions, not only regarding the ways in which border issues were raised and resolved between neighboring countries, but in the types of institutional frameworks within which the issues were resolved by each country. Finally, in addition to providing basic insights into the Chosŏn-Qing relationship, the texts also illuminate how the two neighboring countries differed in their views on their peripheral territories. More significantly, a comparative analysis of these documents—the Annals article and the original diplomatic correspondences—can assist with identifying the ideologies that were incorporated or infused into the reproduction of historical memories. The selected article from The Annals of the Chosŏn Dynasty will be translated here, because it recapitulates the incident and its context in its entirety.
Original Script
| Classical Chinese | English |
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癸未, 慶源府使權大德將改造將官廳, 使將官蔡允立率土兵金忠一等九十人, 斫取材木於我地。允立等不言於大德, 潛令越境, 斫木採參。且逢厚春部落二人貿牛而去, 奪其牛而殺之。淸人尋得其屍, 來詰於府使權大德, 大德以猪二口, 布二十匹與之, 使作埋葬之資。淸人持此訟於衙門, 淸國遣使於本國, 査問其由。[4]
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[A daily record of the second day of September in 1655] As Kwŏn Tae-dŏk, the magistrate of the Kyŏng’wŏn prefecture, was going to renovate the Office of General Officers, he ordered general officer Ch’ae Yun-rip to lead ninety people, including a local soldier, Kim Ch’ung-il, to get lumber cut from trees within our territory.[7] Without reporting to Kwŏn, Ch’ae and his men ignored the order and crossed the border, chopping down trees and collecting ginseng. When (the Chosŏn soldiers) came across two people, who were from a [Qing] village in Huch’un (C. Houchun) and returning after trading cattle, the soldiers robbed them of the cattle and killed them.[8] People of the Qing, who found the dead bodies, came up to Magistrate Kwŏn and questioned him closely [about the murder case]. The magistrate let them have money for burial by giving them two pigs and twenty bolts of cotton cloth.[9] As the Qing people filed the petition to a [Qing] government office, the Qing court sent envoys to the Chosŏn dynasty to investigate the whole story of the incident.
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Concluding Remarks
Historical descriptions often depict ‘porous borders’ and ‘secret trades’ between the Chosŏn and the Qing as alienating to the borderers’ daily socio-economic lives. However, more crucially, the perception of geographical peripheries held greater value as reference-points for borderers. Diplomatic issues did not simply arise in relation to the incident discussed above simply on account of the deaths of two people. The incident was effectively a representation of how the two countries perceived the space in the border areas differently.
The short article from the Annals does not mention the investigation process undertaken by the Qing envoys. It also omits the story that the Chosŏn King and his officials were exempted from guilt as a result of the Qing emperor’s forgiveness, receiving only a stern warning instead. Finally, throughout the diplomatic documents from the Tonmun hwigo, there is no mention of the Chosŏn King valuing his people’s lives.
Cross-checking historical materials with other original sources can be crucial in historical studies. The answer to the question of who gave the cotton cloth and the pigs to the Chinese people may differ according to the weight given to the value of each text. The Annals are, fundamentally, reproduced historical documents. As part of the reproduction process, historical memories might have been filtered through or reproduced within the context of nationalism or political ideology, based on sovereignty or kingship, especially when political necessity has arisen. Therefore, it is important to be aware that history can be reframed and used to reproduce a multiplicity of different stories, or at least differently nuanced tones of narrative voices within historical documents. Although few would disagree that the Annals are a valuable source of primary historical information, it is important to study them within the context of the background in which they were compiled.
Further Readings(Bibliography)
Primary Sources (national and official records of Chosŏn and Qing history)
Collective Compilation of Diplomatic Documents of the Chosŏn Dynasty [Tongmun hwigo 同文彙考].
Daily Records of the Royal Secretariat [Sŭngjŏngwŏn ilgi 承政院日記]
Records of the Border Defense Council [Pibyŏnsa tŭngnok 備邊司謄錄]
The Annals of the Chosŏn Dynasty [Chosŏn Wangjo Sillok 朝鮮王朝實錄]
Veritable Records of the Great Qing [Da Qing li chao shi lu 大淸歷朝實錄]
Dictionaries and Secondary Sources
Hucker, Charles. 1985. A Dictionary of Official Titles in Imperial China. Taiwanese edition. Taipei: Southern Materials Center Inc.
Hummel, Arthur. 1943-1944. Eminent Chinese of the Ch’ing Period. Washington: Government Printing Office.
Luo Zhufeng. 1987. Han yu da ci dian (漢語大辭典 [Great Chinese Word Dictionary]). Shanghai: Shanghai ci shu chu ban she.
Tanʼguk Taehakkyo Pusŏl Tongyanghak Yŏnʼguso (단국대학교 부설 동양학연구소 Institute of Oriental Studies at Dankook University). 1999-2008. Han-Han taesajŏn (漢韓大辭典 Great Chinese-Korean Dictionary).
———. 1992-1996. Hanʼguk Hanchaŏ sajŏn (韓國漢字語辭典 Korean Classical Chinese Word Dictionary).
Online Database
China Biographical Database Project (CBDB), by Harvard University. http://isites.harvard.edu/icb/icb.do?keyword=k16229
Chinese Civilization in Time and Space. http://ccts.ascc.net/index.php?lang=en
DDBC Time Authority Database [時間規範檢索]. http://authority.ddbc.edu.tw/time/
Han’guk yŏktae inmul chonghap chŏngbo sisŭt’em [한국역대인물 종합정보시스템 Comprehensive Biographical Database of Historical Figures in Korea]. http://people.aks.ac.kr/index.aks
Han’gukkak charyo p’ot’al kojido [한국학자료포털 고지도 Korean Studies Portal Old Maps] http://www.kostma.net/e-
Kwanjikmyŏng sajŏn [관직명 사전 A Dictionary of Government Posts in Korean History] http://people.aks.ac.kr/front/tabCon/tabConGanadaList.aks?conType=POS&isEQ=true&kristalSearchArea=P
Ming Qing ren wu zhuan ji zi liao cha xun [明清人物传记资料查询 Digital database for biographical materials from the Ming and Qing dynasties] http://archive.ihp.sinica.edu.tw/ttsweb/html_name/index.php
Nai ge da ku dang an [內閣大庫檔案 Grand Secretariat Archives] http://archive.ihp.sinica.edu.tw/ttscgi/v2/ttsweb?%400:0:1:mctmetao%40%400.9072219131207013
Footnotes
- ↑ King Hyojong (孝宗 1619 – 1659) was the seventeenth Chosŏn king, reigning from 1649 to 1659. After his father, King Injo (仁祖), was enthroned, he received the title Grand Prince Bongnim (Bongnim taegun 鳳林大君). Together with his brother Crown Prince Sohyŏn (Sohyŏn seja 昭顯世子) he spent almost nine years in China as captives after the end of the second Manchu invasion in 1637.
- ↑ The Annals of the Chosŏn Dynasty (the Annals) consist of 1,893 books, covering 472 years (1392-1863) of the history of the Chosŏn Dynasty (1392-1910), from the reign of its founder, King Taejo, to the end of the reign of King Chŏlchong. For the final forty-eight years of the Chosŏn dynasty, the Annals are not regarded as legitimate, because they were compiled by the Japanese. The Annals were compiled by historiographers (sagwan 史官), who directly collected material, wrote drafts, edited and published them. These historiographers were also professional officials, legally guaranteed independence in their record-keeping and the right to keep secrets. Their role was to participate in and record all of the King’s movements and all other national affairs, documenting court history. Their daily drafts (sach’o 史草) and the various other documents and daily records of the King’s and government offices form the main sources for the compilation of the annals. After the death of a King and the coronation of his successor, the Office for Compilation of the Veritable Record (Sillokch’ŏng 實錄廳) started compiling his annals. No-one, including the King, was allowed to read the drafts and any historiographer who disclosed its contents was severely punished. These strict regulations lend significant credibility to these records. Four copies of the annals published for the previous King were made and stored, with one set in the Bureau of State Records (Ch’unch’u’gwan 春秋館) and one set in each of three archives in deep mountain sites, built to safeguard the annals and ensure their survival for posterity.
- ↑ The first edition of Tongmun hwigo was published in 1788. The volumes themselves were supplemented and revised several times in the nineteenth century. The original volumes are now preserved in the Kyuganggak Institute at Seoul National University and the Royal Jangseogak Archive at the Academy of Korean Studies. This is one of the most essential historical source materials used in the study of the late Chosŏn’s foreign relations. The original volumes were reprinted in Korea and Taiwan in the 1970s. The Taiwanese reprint version has been used for this paper.
- ↑ Hyojong Sillok, Hyojong 6 (1655), 9. 2 (kyemi 癸未). The Annals of the Chosŏn Dynasty is cited as follows: Title, followed by the reign date, with C.E. date in brackets, then month and day by lunar calendar, with the day in the sixty year cycle in brackets.
- ↑ Hyojong Sillok, Hyojong 6 (1655), 9. 2 (kyemi 癸未).
- ↑ Hyojong Sillok, Hyojong 6 (1655), 9. 2 (kyemi 癸未).
- ↑ The Kyŏng’wŏn prefecture (慶源府), the Kyŏngsŏng region in present-day North Korea, was one of the border districts in the northeastern province of Chosŏn. It shares borders with China and Russia. Many Jurchen groups lived around that region. Changgwan (將官) was a collective title for military generals below the rank of taejang (大將) in the Chosŏn military system. According to the Great Chinese Word Dictionary, t’obyŏng (土兵) could mean a native or indigenous soldier who might be non-Korean. As it is difficult to distinguish the ethnicity of Kim Ch’ung-il, it is translated as ‘a local soldier’, based on the Great Chinese-Korean Dictionary, published by the Institute of Oriental Studies at Dankook University. In addition, “土兵金忠一等九十人” might be ‘a local soldier, Kim Ch’ung-il, and ninety people.’ If it is translated as ‘local soldiers, Kim Ch’ung-il and ninety people’, the original texts should be “金忠一等土兵九十人.” Aji (我地) literally means ‘my or our land’ in classical Korean texts written in classical Chinese. Of particular interest, Kwŏn Tae-dŏk (權大德) does not appear in rosters of provincial and national examination passers. The only another Kwŏn Tae-dŏk in the rosters was born in 1534. Thus, he is absent from the rosters. He may have been appointed to an official post without passing the national examination, thanks to the great accomplishments of his ancestors. In the official national records, he only appears between 1629 and 1656. He was often given temporary positions within the court. Biographical information for Ch’ae Yun-rip and Kim Ch’ung-il is absent from national records and other historical resources, including biographical databases in South Korea, because they were local and relatively unimportant people.
- ↑ Huch’un (厚春) is today’s Hunchun (琿春) a county-level city in the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture in Jilin Province, bordering North Korea and Russia.
- ↑ “匹” is a unit of cotton cloth. Specific research on the measurement might be required, but it is certain that fifteen bolts was a significant number. At the time, most of Chosŏn commoners annually paid two bolts of cotton cloth as military tax, which was regarded as a huge financial burden to the Chosŏn people.
- ↑ According to the China Biographical Database at Harvard, O Bae (吳拜) was born in 1680 (the twenty-third year of the Kangxi Emperor) and died in 1768 (the thirty-third year of the Qianlong Emperor). However, O Bae is recorded as having been sent to Chosŏn in 1655. There is no possibility of the existence of two distinct people of the same name in the Qing court. The online biographical information for O Bae might need to be reexamined. However, it is certain that he was a Manchu bannerman, which is evident from additional Qing and Chosŏn texts including Grand Secretariat Archives and Digital database for biographical materials from the Ming and Qing dynasties in China. According to the China Biographical Database, his alternative Manchu name, written down in classical Chinese, was Jiaoluowubai (覺羅吳拜). Also see Arthur Hummel, Eminent Chinese of the Ch’ing Period (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1943–1944), 798. O Bae appears under the name of Ubai.
- ↑ The six ministries included the Ministries of Personnel (吏部), Revenue (戶部), Rites (禮部), War (兵部), Justice (刑部) and Works (工部). These were the main central administrative agencies, not only in Chosŏn, but also in imperial China. The Office of State Tribunal (Ŭigŭmbu 義禁府) was an investigative and enforcement office under direct control of the King. It chiefly dealt with treason and other serious cases that concerned the King. The Office of the Inspector General (Sahŏnbu 司憲府) and the Office of Special Counselors (Saganwŏn 司諫院) together were called ‘the two offices’ (yangsa 兩司). The former monitored government administration and officials, in both central and local governments, for corruption or incompetence, while the latter remonstrated with the King in the event of improper action or policy.
- ↑ Yi Ki-nam (李起男 1598-1680) was a military official who passed a military service examination in 1637 at the age of forty. He was a son of former Prime Minister Yi Hang-bok. However, he might not be the same as the person of this name appearing in this document. According to the national records, Sin Ŭn-san, Kim Ch’ung-il, and Yi Ki-nam (李起男) were all executed in 1656. There is little biographical information on Sin Ŭn-san in historical sources.
- ↑ Kim Ŭng-hae (金應海 1588-1666) was a military official. He passed a military service examination in 1616.
- ↑ Yi Ŭng-si (李應蓍 1594-1660) was a civil official. He passed a national civil service examination in 1633. He was discharged from his government position because of the border-crossing murder issue in 1655. A year later, he was appointed to an official post again.
- ↑ Han Kŏ-wŏn (韓巨源) was the chief interpreter (大通官) accompanying with the Qing envoy. The chief interpreter additionally dealt with tribute and trade affairs. According to Chosŏn national records, he was sent to Chosŏn several times and often made unreasonable and personal demands.
