Korea and her neighbors; a narrative of travel, with an account of the recent vicissitudes and present position of the country
by Bird, Isabella L. (Isabella Lucy), 1831-1904
Publication date 1898-
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이사벨라 버드 비숍 `한국과 그 이웃 나라들` 서평
목차
한국과 그 이웃 나라들 1
한국과 그 이웃 나라들 2
본문내용
비숍은 제3자의 입장이었기 때문에 더욱 동학농민혁명운동에 대해서 객관적으로 묘사했다고 생각을 한다. 이런 사실들로 보아 그 동안 우리들이 알고 있었던 동학혁명운동이 잘못되었다는 것을 알게되었다. 우리들은 그 운동이 자랑스러운 아래로부터의 개혁운동이라고 알려져 있기는 했지만 매우 난폭하고 정부를 엎기 위한 운동이라고 생각을 하고 있었다. 즉 새로운 세계를 건설하기 위한 혁명이라고 생각을 했는데 왕에 대한 충성심은 유지한 채 지방관들의 부패를 근절시키기 위한 운동이었다는 점은 내게 새로운 사실을 알려주었다. 또한 이들의 선언문은 그들의 이익을 전혀 표방하지도 않았으며 외국인들에 대한 적개심도 없었다고 했다
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Page -43-
On visiting them a year later I found them still well and happy. The excitement among the Koreans consequent on the Tong-hak rebellion and the war had left them unmolested. A Japanese regiment had encamped close to them, and, by permission, had drawn water from the well in their compound, and had shown them nothing but courtesy. Having in two years gained general confidence and good-will, they built a small bungalow just above the old native house, which has been turned into a very primitive orphanage.
Page -104-
no newspapers. The Tong-haks (rebels, or armed reformers) were strong in a region immediately to the south of the great bend, which showed some dissatisfaction with things as they were, and a desire for reform in some minds.
Page -205-
HAVING heard nothing at all of public events during my long inland journey, and only a few rumors of unlocalized collisions between the Tong-haks (rebels) and the Royal troops, the atmosphere of canards at Won-san was somewhat stimulating, though I had already been long enough in Korea not to attach much importance to the stories with which the air was thick. One day it was said that the Tong-haks had gained great successes and had taken Gatling guns from the Royal army, another that they had been crushed and their mysterious and ubiquitous leader beheaded, while the latest rumor before my departure was that they were marching in great force on Fusan. Judging from the proclamation which they circulated, and which, while stating that they rose against corrupt officials and traitorous advisers, professed unswerving loyalty to the throne, it seemed credible that, if there were a throb of patriotism anywhere in Korea, it was in the breasts of these peasants. Their risings appeared to be free from excesses and useless bloodshed, and they confined themselves to the attempt to carry out their programme of reform. Some foreign sympathy was bestowed upon them, because it was thought that the iniquities of misrule could go no further, and that the time was ripe for an armed protest on a larger scale than the ordinary peasant risings against intolerable exactions. But at the very moment when these matters were being discussed in Won-san with not more than a languid interest, a formidable menace to the established order of things was taking shape, destined in a few days to cast the Tong-haks into
Page -207-
The rebellion in southern Korea was exciting much alarm in the capital. Such movements, though on a smaller scale, are annual spring events in the peninsula, when in one or other of the provinces the peasantry, driven to exasperation by official extortions, rise, and, with more or less violence (occasionally, fatal), drive out the off'ending mandarin. Punishment rarely ensues. The King sends a new official, who squeezes and extorts in his turn with more or less vigor, until, if he also passes bearable limits, he is forcibly expelled, and things settle down once more. This Tong-hak (*'Oriental " or ''National") movement, though lost sight of in presence of more important issues, was of greater moment, as being organized on a broader basis, so as to include a great number of adherents in Seoul and the other cities, and with such definite and reasonable objects that at first I was inclined to call its leaders " armed reformers " rather than '* rebels." At that time there was no question as to the Royal authority.
Page -208-
The Tong-hak proclamation began by declaring in respectful language loyal allegiance to the King, and went on to state the grievances in very moderate terms. The Tong-haks asserted, and with undoubted truth, that officials in Korea, for their own purposes, closed the eyes and ears of the King to all news and reports of the wrongs inflicted on his people. That ministers of State, governors, and magistrates were all indifferent to the welfare of their country, and were bent only on enriching themselves, and that there were no checks on their rapacity. That examinations (the only avenues to official life) were nothing more than scenes of bribery, barter, and sale, and were no longer tests of fitness for civil appointment. That officials cared not for the debt into which the country was fast sinking. That " they were proud, vainglorious, adulterous, avaricious." That many officials receiving appointments in the country lived in Seoul. That " they flatter and fawn in peace, and desert and betray in times of trouble."
Page -209-
But the events of the two or three days before I landed at Chemulpo threw the local disturbance into the shade, and it is only with the object of showing with what an excellent pretext for interference the Tong-haks had furnished the Japanese, that I recall this petty chapter of what is now ancient history.
Page -236-
The Tong-haks, as was mentioned in chapter xiii., had on several occasions defeated the Royal Korean troops, and after much hesitation the Korean King invoked the help of China. China replied promptly by giving Japan notice of her intention to send troops to Korea on 7th June, 1894, both countries, under the treaty of Tientsin, having equal rights to do so under such circumstances as had then arisen. On the same day Japan announced to China a similar intention. The Chinese General, Yi, landed at A-san with 3,000 men, and the Japanese occupied Chemulpo and Seoul in force.
Page -308-
The Tong-haks, who had respectfully thrown off allegiance to the King on the ground that he was in the hands of foreigners, and had appointed another sovereign, had been vanquished early in January, and their king's head had been sent to Seoul by a loyal governor. There I saw it in the busiest part of the Peking Road, a bustling market outside the *' little West Gate," hanging from a rude arrangement of three sticks like a camp-kettle stand, with another head below it. Both faces wore a calm, almost dignified, expression. Not far off two more heads had been exposed in a similar frame, but it had given way, and they lay in the dust of the roadway, much gnawed by dogs at the back. The last agony was stiffened on their features. A turnip lay beside them, and some small children cut pieces from it and presented them mockingly to the blackened mouths. This brutalizing spectacle had existed for a week.
Page -548-
333, 345Tol Maru, 302. Tomak-na-dali, 85. Tombs, 77. Tong-haks, the, 29, 80, 177, 180,
Page -548-
181, 206, 264, 370. Tong-ku, 131. Top-knot, the, 359, 360, 361,
264 Korea and Her Neighbors
to which the sovereign was exposed. The forcing of former conspirators into high office was a grave error, and tactless proceedings, such as the abolition of long pipes, alterations in Court and other dress, many interferences with social customs, and petty and harassing restrictions and regulations, embit- tered the people against the new regime.
The Tong-haks, who had respectfully thrown off allegiance to the King on the ground that he was in the hands of for- eigners, and had appointed another sovereign, had been van- quished early in January, and their king's head had been sent to Seoul by a loyal governor. There I saw it in the busiest part of the Peking Road, a bustling market outside the *' little West Gate," hanging from a rude arrangement of three sticks like a camp-kettle stand, with another head below it. Both faces wore a calm, almost dignified, expression. Not far off two more heads had been exposed in a similar frame, but it had given way, and they lay in the dust of the roadway, much gnawed by dogs at the back. The last agony was stiffened on their features. A turnip lay beside them, and some small chil- dren cut pieces from it and presented them mockingly to the blackened mouths. This brutalizing spectacle had existed for a week.
Three days later, in the stillness of the Korean New Year's Day, I rode with a friend along a lonely road passing through a fair agricultural valley among pine-clothed knolls outside the South and East Gates of Seoul. Snow lay on the ground and the grim sky threatened a further storm. It was cold, and we observed with surprise three coolies in summer cotton clothing lying by the roadside asleep; but it was the last sleep, for on approaching them we found that, though their attitudes were those of easy repose, the bodies were without heads, nor had the headsman's axe been merciful or sharp. In the middle of the road were great, frozen, crimson splashes where the Tong- hak leaders had expiated their treason, criminals in Korea, as in old Jerusalem, suffering "without the gate."
A Transition Stage 265
A few days later an order appeared in the Gazette abolish- ing beheading and ''slicing to death," and substituting death by strangulation for civil, and by sliooting for military capital crimes. This order practically made an end of the prerogative of life and death heretofore possessed by the Korean sovereigns.
So the '' old order " was daily changing under the pressure of the Japanese advisers, and on the whole changing most de- cidedly for the better, though, owing to the number of reforms decreed and in contemplation, everything was in a tentative and chaotic state. Korea was " swithering " between China and Japan, afraid to go in heartily for the reforms initiated by Japan lest China should regain position and be ''down" upon her, and afraid to oppose them actively lest Japan should be permanently successful.
On that same New Year's Day there was more to be seen than headless trunks. Through the length of Seoul, towards twilight, an odor of burning hair overpowered the aromatic scent of the pine brush, and all down every street, outside every door, there were red glimmers of light. It is the custom in every family on that day to carry out the carefully preserved clippings and combings of the family hair and burn them in potsherds, a practice which it is hoped will prevent the entrance of certain daemons into the house during the year. Rude straw dolls stuffed with a few cash were also thrown into the street. This effigy is believed to take away troubles and foist them on whoever picks it up. To prevent such a vicarious calamity, more than one mother on that evening pounced upon a child who childlike had picked up the doll and threw it far from him.
On that night round pieces of red or white paper placed in cleft sticks are put upon the roofs of houses, and those persons who have been warned by the sorcerers of troubles to cdtne, pray (?) to the moon to remove them.
A common Korean custom on the same day is for people to paint images on paper, and to write against them their troubles
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texts
Korea and her neighbors; a narrative of travel, with an account of the recent vicissitudes and present position of the country
by Bird, Isabella L. (Isabella Lucy), 1831-1904
Publication date 1898-
Korea and her neighbors; a narrative of travel
by bird, isabella l. (isabella lucy), 1831-1904
texts
