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CHINA'S INTERCOURSE 
 
 WITH KOREA 
 
 FROM THE 
 
 XV"' CENTURY TO 1895. 
 
 BY 
 
 WILLIAM WOODVILLE ROCKHILL. 
 
 LONDON: LUZAC & CO. 
 
 PUHLISHERS TO THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO 
 
 (Opposite the British Museum). 
 
 1905. 
 
^ OF TTHE 
 
 NIVFRS1TYJ 
 
 SARPENTin? 
 
CHINA'S INTERCOFRSE 
 WITH KOREA 
 
 FROM THE 
 
 XV™ CENTURY TO 1895. 
 
 WILLIAM WOODVILLE: = SDOXHILIv: 
 
 LONDON: LUZAC & CO. 
 
 Publishers to the University of Chicago 
 {Opposite the British Museum). 
 
 1905. 
 
CARPENTIER 
 
 <)^S 
 
 PRINTED IJT 
 
 STEPHEN AUSTIN AND SONS, LTD., 
 
 HBRTFORD. 
 
 c a c «..•,, , 
 
 e re e p' , ', , 
 
s- 
 
 PREFATORY XOTE. 
 
 In 1888 I published in vol. xiii of the Journal of the 
 American Oriental Society a paper entitled *' Korea in its 
 Relations to China." 
 
 During succeeding years I made frequent changes in 
 this study as my readings supplied me with additional 
 matter, or as passing events enabled me to add something 
 of interest to it. 
 
 It has been suggested to me that in this amplified form 
 my paper might prove of interest: to attfd^iits of; Oriental 
 history, and for that reason I have brought it :out. ^n; trb© 
 present form, adding to it a chapfer oh some of "the Taws 
 and customs of Korea, the substance of a portion of which 
 appeared in 1891 in the American Anthropologist, 
 
 W. WOODYILLE ROCKHILL. 
 
 Washington. 
 
 ^th March, 1905. 
 
 731307 
 
CHINA'S INTERCOURSE WITH KOREA 
 
 FROM THE 
 
 XV™ CENTURY TO 1895. 
 
 KOEEA'S POLITICAL STATUS. 
 
 In the following pages I have endeavoured to explain with 
 the aid of official Chinese puhlications and writings of 
 Chinese holding official positions, or well situated to know 
 whereof they wrote, the nature of Korea's relation to China 
 from the end of the fourteenth century to the conclusion 
 in 1876 of the treaty of Kang-hua between Japan and 
 Korea, which marks the beginning of a new era in th^' 
 history of the latter country, its entry into the family of 
 nations. ; ^ ,\\ ' 
 
 Prior to the Kang-hua treaty the nature of Korea's 
 relation to China was a puzzle to Western nations. They 
 were told, at one and the same time, that Korea, " though 
 a vassal and tributary state of China, was entirely independent 
 as far as her government, religion, and intercourse with 
 foreign states were concerned," a condition of things hardly 
 compatible with our ideas of either absolute dependence or 
 complete independence. 
 
 In 1871 the Chinese Foreign Office wrote to the United 
 States Minister in Peking, Mr. Frederick F. Low, who had 
 informed it that he had been appointed by his Government 
 special envoy to Korea, and was about proceeding there, 
 that : " Korea is regarded as a country subordinate to China, 
 yet she is wholly independent in everything that relates to 
 
2 china's intercourse with KOREA. 
 
 her government, her religion, her prohibitions, and her laws ; 
 in none of these things has China hitherto interfered." ^ 
 
 Again, in 1882, though in the meanwhile the treaty of 
 Kang-hua had been signed with Japan, the first article 
 of which is, " Chosen, being an independent state, enjoys 
 the same sovereign rights as does Japan," the King of Korea 
 wrote to the President of the United States saying : — 
 
 "The Chao-hsien coimtry (Korea) is a dependency of China, 
 but the management of her Governmental affairs, home and 
 foreign, have always been vested in the Sovereign. 
 
 "Now as the Governments of the United States and Korea are 
 about to enter into treaty relations, the intercourse between the 
 two nations shall be carried on in every respect on terms of 
 equality and courtesy, and the King of Korea clearly assents 
 that all of the Articles of the treaty shall be acknowledged 
 and carried into effect according to the laws of independent states. 
 
 "In the matter of Korea being a dependency of China, in any 
 questions that may arise between them in consequence of such 
 dependency, the United States shall in no way interfere. The 
 King has accordingly deputed Commissioners for the purpose of 
 negotiating the treaty, and now as in duty bound addresses this 
 communication for the information of the President of the United 
 . .;Staies."* 
 
 o* . . And yet as late as June 29th, 1894, the Korean Foreign 
 '■? .';^()ffi'Ce' quoted the treaty of Kang-hua and the preceding 
 letter of the King to the President of the United States, to 
 make clear to the Japanese Minister its particular status ! 
 
 Korea's complete independence was only recognized by 
 China in 1895 after the war with Japan. Article I of the 
 Treaty of Peace between China and Japan reads : " China 
 recognizes definitely the full and complete independence 
 and autonomy of Korea, and in consequence the payment of 
 tributes and the performance of ceremonies and formalities 
 
 * Foreign Relations of the United States, 1871, p. 112. 
 
 * • * This letter, which has been accepted by China as authoritative, contains the 
 only official statement ever received by the U.S. Government as to Korea's 
 relation to China " {Foreign Relations of the United States, 1888, p. 256). Cf. the 
 terms of the Chinese proclamation after the arrest of the Tai-viren-kun in 1882 
 signed by the Chinese Commissioner, Ma Chien-chung, and the Imperial decree of 
 Sept. 26th of the same year relating to the recent Korean revolt. 
 
china's intercourse with KOREA. 8 
 
 by Korea to China, in derogation of such independence and 
 autonomy, shall wholly cease for the future." 
 
 Korean traditions point to Ki-tzii, or Viscount of Ki, 
 a noble of China during the reign of Chou-hsin of the Shang 
 Dynasty (b.c. 1154-1122),^ as the founder of the present 
 civilization of Korea in b.c. 1122, and through him Korea 
 claims relationship with China, to which country Koreans say 
 they stand in the same relation of subjection as a younger 
 brother does to an elder one and head of the family. This 
 peculiar form of subservience, based as it is on Confucian 
 theories, which have shaped all Chinese and Korean society 
 and made the people of those countries what they are, must 
 never be lost sight of in studying Korea's relations with and 
 to China. 
 
 Stress has been laid on the expression, used alike by 
 Chinese and Koreans in official documents, of speaking of 
 Korea as a shu kuo, a term usually translated * vassal 
 kingdom, fief,' but these terms are misleading, for the 
 character shu carries with it the idea of relationship, which, 
 as stated, is the keynote to the whole question. Even the 
 investiture by the Emperor of China of the King of Korea, 
 which was for many centuries the most important act 
 of suzerainty exercised by China over Korea, should, to 
 a certain extent, be interpreted in the light of the relation- 
 ship in which the two countries have ever stood to each 
 other. We find in both Korean and Chinese works, and 
 hear among the Korean people, frequent allusion to the 
 relationship of the two countries. The Emperors of the 
 Ming Dynasty were *' fathers to Korea " ; the Manchu 
 Emperors have been " elder brothers " ; and the present 
 Emperor of China in an edict in 1882 spoke of the reigning 
 family of Korea as his " near kindred." ^ 
 
 ^ See ^Y. P. Mayers, Chinese Header's Manual^ p. 77. Ki-tzu made his capital 
 at P'yong-yang, and the dynasty which he founded lasted until the fourth 
 century b.c. His memory is still kept in the names of the different yamens, 
 while his grave is preserved with great respect, and a hall containing his portrait 
 lies to the south of the city. In its immediate neighhourhood is the standard of 
 land measurement introduced by him, which is illustrated by paths and ditches 
 said to have been cut under his direction (W. R. Carles, Beport of a Journey m» 
 the North of Gorea,^.^). 
 
 2 Peking Gazette, Sept. 23rd, 1882. 
 
4 china's intercourse with KOREA. 
 
 As to the custom of Korean kings submitting to the 
 Emperor of China for his approval the names of the heirs 
 to their throne, of their consorts, of informing him of deaths 
 in the Royal Family, these again are strictly ceremonial 
 relations bearing with them no idea of subordination, other 
 than that of respect and deference on the part of a younger 
 member of a family to its recognized head. 
 
 Twice, at least, during the Ming Djmasty of China 
 (a.d. 1368-1644) the people of Korea chose their sovereign 
 without consulting China, and the latter power only entered 
 a mild protest. So far as I can learn, there is no case 
 recorded in which the Emperor of China has disapproved 
 of the choice the King of Korea has made of his successor or 
 his consort. In 1699, the King had his son by a concubine 
 recognized as his heir, the Queen having no children. In 
 1722 and in 1724 he asked for the recognition of his 
 younger brother as his heir. In 1763 the grandson of 
 the then reigning king was recognized as heir to the throne, 
 the Peking Board of Rites quoting the Book of Rites 
 {Li Ki, T'ao kung, i) to show that a grandson is the natural 
 heir to the throne, if the son dies during the father's 
 lifetime.^ In 1691 ^ the King of Korea asked the Emperor's 
 approval of his again taking as his consort a person whom 
 he had previously put away in favour of a concubine, and 
 of reducing the latter to her former rank. All these 
 requests, and every other one recorded, were granted. 
 
 What did the investiture by China of the kings of Siam, 
 Burmah, Annam, Korea, etc., amount to ? To nothing 
 more than the recognition of a weak sovereign by the most 
 powerful state in Asia. Take for example Burmah : we 
 know as a matter of fact that the Chinese invasion of that 
 country in 1769 was successfully repelled, and that the 
 Chinese generals were forced to sue for peace. In the 
 convention signed by them and the Burmese commissioners 
 
 ^ The present heir-apparent {Shih-tzu) to the throne of Korea received 
 a patent of investiture from the Emperor of China in 1875. See Peking Gazette , 
 Nov. 21st and Dec. 9th, 1875. 
 
 * Du Halde, Description de VEmpire de la Chine^ iv, p. 447, and Dallet, 
 Mistoire de VEglise de Coree, i, p. xvi, place this event in 1694. 
 
china's intercourse with KOREA. 5 
 
 on December 13th, 1769, it was agreed among other things 
 that " letters of friendship were to be sent every ten years 
 from one sovereign to another." ^ Let us turn now to the 
 " Institutes of the Ta Ch'ing Dynasty," and we find it 
 mentioned, for example, that in 1790 the King of Burmah 
 sent an envoy to the Emperor " with presents and a humble 
 statement {piao)j and asked him to confer on him a patent 
 of investiture {feng)." Such is the Chinese method of 
 writing history ! 
 
 In 1800 the same work tells us that the King of Burmah 
 sent the Emperor "a^mo on gold leaf with the regulation 
 tribute ! " 
 
 The Burmese " tribute " to China has been considered of 
 such a purely ceremonial nature that the British Government 
 showed no hesitation, when concluding the Burmah con- 
 vention with China in 1886, by which the latter power agrees 
 to the occupation of Upper Burmah by Great Britain, to 
 guarantee the continuance of the decennial tribute mission 
 to Peking.2 
 
 Take, again, Japan : although it is a well-known fact that 
 it never admitted the Chinese claim of sovereignty over it, 
 
 * Sir Arthur P. Phayre, History of Burma, p. 202. 
 
 2 In 1875 the then Governor of Yiin-nan memorialized the Throne in respect 
 to a tribute mission from Burmah to the Court of China. " Eurmah," he says, 
 "has long since been ranked among the tributary allies {Wai Fan) of China." 
 The tribute mission, which arrived on the Chinese frontier on the 1st of February, 
 1875, carried five elephants, a quantity of tribute presents, and a letter on 
 a sheet of gold from King Meng-tung to the Emperor. The Governor appends 
 a translation (?) of this document. In it he makes the King to say: *'Your 
 vassal {ch'en) would with all humility set forth that under the universal sway of 
 His Holiness the ' streams and hills ' are all objects of his fostering care, the 
 kingdoms of the distant ocean become converted to his civilising rule, and as the 
 sunflower bows before the sun, so does all mankind turn with adoration towards 
 the Imperial person. Succeeding to your barren and far-off dependency of 
 , Burmah, your vassal is impressed with the deep favours conferred by your 
 Heavenly Dynasty when permitting his country to be enrolled among the territory 
 of Yii . . . . " {Fekinff Gazette, May 15th, 1875). Cf. with this the letter 
 to the Emperor of the King of Annam sent with his tribute mission to Peking, 
 and published in the Peking Gazette of Dec. 24th, 1880. Its tone and not a few 
 of the expressions used are the same as those found in the letter of the King of 
 Burmah ; one might think that both were inspired by the same person, or that 
 the writers had used the same model. On the British Burmah Convention 
 of 1886, General A. R. MacMahon wrote in the Asiatic Quarterly Review 
 (ii, p. 349 et seq.) that it was a blunder to concede the sending of tribute to 
 China, for it had caused a great loss of prestige to England, which is, all words 
 to the contrary notwithstanding, the tribute-bearer. 
 
6 china's intercourse with KOREA. 
 
 we find, for example, in Chinese histories that the Emperor 
 Yung-lo of the Ming sent an envoy to Japan in 1404 with 
 presents for the king of that country (Yuan-tao-i), among 
 which were a hundred blank passports and permissions for 
 the king to send tribute every ten years, on condition that 
 there should not be over 200 persons in each mission, that 
 the ships on which they came should not be armed, and that 
 all their trading should be done with the Emperor. It is 
 also said that this same Emperor sent a second mission 
 shortly after this one with a patent of investiture for the 
 King of Japan. ^ 
 
 Even the tribute sent to Peking by such ' vassal states ' as 
 the Tibetans, and the aboriginal tribes of Western China, 
 is solely a quid pro quo for the privilege of trading with the 
 Chinese under extraordinarily favourable conditions, the 
 merchants and merchandise being brought to the market 
 and returned home free of all charges. 
 
 ^ See Amiot in Mem. con. les Chinois, xiv, pp. 82-83. 
 
china's INTERCOUESE with KOREA. 7 
 
 II. 
 
 INTERCOURSE DURING THE XIV™ AND XVth 
 CENTURIES. 
 
 In 1392 the Ministers of State of Korea reported to the 
 Emperor T'ai-tsu of the Ming Dynasty as follows : — 
 
 "Our much lamented sovereign having died without leaving 
 issue, the powerful minister Ni In- in gave the sovereign rule 
 to U the son of Sin-chun,^ but he showed himself both stupid 
 and fond of shedding blood. It happened that he wanted 
 to send a military expedition to the border, but General 
 Ni Sbng-k^, disapproving of it, marched the troops back. 
 U saw his error, and, filled with terror, abdicated in favour 
 of his son Chiang. The people were opposed to this, and 
 besought the Queen of our lamented sovereign, who belonged 
 to the An family, to select her relative Yo to manage the 
 affairs of the State. After four years he also showed himself 
 stupid and wicked, and, believing in calumnies, he grievously 
 wounded the son of an officer of long-established merit. 
 Now his son Syek being also a silly man without any ability, 
 the people of the kingdom said * Yo is unable to rule the 
 gods of the land and grain,' and they caused the Queen, 
 belonging to the An family, to restore Yo to private life ; 
 and the Wang dynasty (lit. family), having no able repre- 
 sentative, was at an end. 
 
 " The people both within and without the capital are 
 devoted to Song-ke, so the Ministers and the elders of 
 the people have requested him to become their sovereign, 
 and the Emperor -s approval is asked." 
 
 ^ Ming shih, Bk. 320, gives also another account of these events, derived 
 presumably from an independent source. It says that in 1370 Ni In-in killed 
 Chyen, King of Korea, and put on the throne the King's adopted son U, the child 
 of his favourite Sin-chun. In 1388 King U killed the son of Ni Song-ke, who 
 commanded at Pyong-yang, whereat Ni attacked the capital and took the King 
 prisoner. The King abdicated in favour of his son Ch'ang, but the Emperor of 
 China would not recognize him. Song-ke deposed him and put on the throne (or 
 rather made regent) Wang Yo. Shortly afterwards Song-ke assumed the sovereign 
 power himself, and sent Yo to live at AVon-ju in Kang-won do, and with hua 
 ended the sovereignty of the Wang family, which had been on the throne of 
 Korea ever since the epoch of the Five Djuasties in China {tenth century a.d.). 
 I have everywhere given the Korean pronunciation of Chinese characters for 
 names of Korean persons and places. 
 
8 china's intercourse with KOREA. 
 
 The Emperor said : ** Kao-li is a small region in the far 
 east, and is not under the rule of the Middle Kingdom 
 (fei CJmng-kuo so chih)} Let the Board of Eites inform 
 it that so long as its rule is in conformity with the will of 
 Heaven and in harmony with the hearts of men, and so long 
 as it creates no strife on our borders, so long will its people 
 be allowed to go and come and the kingdom will enjoy 
 happiness ; but we have no investigation to make in the 
 matter (of the change of dynasty)."^ 
 
 In the "Winter of the same year Song-ke sent letters of 
 condolence to the Emperor upon the death of the heir to the 
 throne, and asked to change the name of the dynasty. The 
 Emperor ordered that it should assume its old name of 
 Chao-hsien (The calm of dawn). 
 
 The above is the official account of tbe founding of the 
 dynasty which still rules Korea, as found in the " Annals 
 of the Ming Dynasty," Bk. 320, and of the attitude taken 
 by the ruler of China in regard to the revolution which 
 brought it to the throne. The tacit recognition by China 
 of the new dynasty in Korea was, however, a most important 
 event, and fully justified its new ruler in continuing the 
 relations previously existing with the Empire, and showing 
 its ruler the dutifulness due from a son to a father. But 
 besides getting from Korea simple marks of deference, the 
 emperors of the Ming derived profit from the valuable 
 tribute which they exacted from the king in exchange for 
 their friendship. 
 
 In 1393, Song-ke sent the Emperor 9,800 and odd horses, 
 19,700 and odd pieces of hempen, linen, and cotton stuffs. 
 The same year he sent a second mission with presents of horses, 
 and requested that a new gold seal of office be given him. 
 
 ^ China does not appear ever to have appreciated the full importance of such 
 statements, and the inference which foreign nations must draw from them that 
 Korea was an independent state. China never overstepped the bounds which 
 this admission of Korea's right to self-government carried with it, nor interfered 
 in the management of the country, until 1882. 
 
 * The founder of the Chao-hsien Dynasty was born a few miles east of Ham- 
 heung, the capital of Ham-gyong do. A hall has been built at his birthplace, 
 and in it is still to be seen his portrait. (See W. R. Carles, Report of a Journey, 
 etc., p. 27.) 
 
china's intercourse with KOREA. 9 
 
 In 1407, 3,000 head of horses were sent to China ; but 
 on reaching Liao-tung, and at the request of the Board of 
 Eevenue, there were sent instead 15,000 pieces of cotton 
 lustring. 
 
 In 1423, Ni-to sent the Emperor 10,000 head of horses, 
 when asking for the recognition of his son as heir to his 
 throne. 
 
 In 1450, Korea sent the Emperor 500 horses, and made 
 apologies for not sending the 20,000 or 30,000 asked for by 
 the Emperor. 
 
 Many other examples might be adduced to show the 
 valuable nature of the gifts made by Korea to its powerful 
 neighbour. 
 
 Of the nature and extent of the commercial relations 
 which existed between the two countries during the Ming 
 Dynasty (1368-1628), the books at my disposal hardly 
 enable me to judge. "We know, however, that the annual 
 missions to China did the bulk of the trading, and that the 
 rest was done at the periodical fairs at Wi-ju on the Yalu 
 River. No trade by sea between China and Korea was 
 allowed by the latter state, and all Chinese shipwrecked on 
 its coasts were sent to China by the land route. 
 
 The help in men and money which China gave Korea 
 during the Japanese invasion,^ the cannon and powder with 
 which it had supplied it as early as 1461, may be cited 
 among the proofs of its recognition of Korea's devotion to it. 
 But naturally the weaker power had, in the earlier days of 
 its existence at least, to give much more than it received.^ 
 
 ^ It appears, however, more than likely that China would never have helped 
 Korea at this critical period had it not entertained serious fears that the Japanese 
 would attack China after having subdued Korea. This opinion is, in fact, borne 
 out by the Ming Annals. ^ 
 
 2 Mr. James Scott makes the following interesting statement: "In 1392 the 
 present dynasty began to reign, and the first king, desirous of accentuating his 
 independence of China, resolved to abandon the use of Chinese writing as the 
 official medium of correspondence, and invented an alphabet suited to the special 
 requirements of the native vernacular. The Korean alphabet was published in 
 1447 ; but native conservatism proved too strong for even royal decrees, and the 
 Korean script has become relegated to the lower masses and among women and 
 children." (James Scott, Stray Notes on Corean Literature and History, in 
 Journal of the China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, n.s., vol. xxviii, p. 220.) 
 
10 china's intercourse with KOREA. 
 
 III. 
 
 THE MANCHU INVASIONS OF KOREA.1 
 
 A DECREE of the forty-fifth year K'ang-hsi (a.d. 1706) says : — 
 "Chao-hsien is among the outer barbarians the country 
 which approximates the closest to China in its literature and 
 customs. When the Emperor T'ai-sung-wen conquered 
 in person that country, there was no spot throughout its 
 eight provinces and its many islands where his troops did 
 not penetrate. The kingdom was destroyed and brought 
 to life again (through his bounty), and so the people of the 
 country erected a commemorative tablet in stone at a place 
 where the Emperor's headquarters had been, and his virtue 
 is extolled to the present day.^ 
 
 " They (the Koreans) are very deserving of praise.. 
 During the Ming period they never wavered in their 
 allegiance, and from first to last they have never shown 
 duplicity." 
 
 Great are these words of the Sovereign, and how they 
 should stimulate foreign nations to perpetual loyalty ! 
 
 Chao-hsien is (the same as) Ching-chou beyond the sea 
 (mentioned in) the Tribute of Yii {Yu kung),^ Shun divided 
 it ofi" as Ying chou, and during the Chou Dynasty it was 
 given as a fief to Ki - tzii. It was originally Chinese 
 territory, and separated from Sheng-ching (Manchuria) by 
 the Yalu River. 
 
 In the fourth year of T*ien-ming of the Emperor T'ai-tsu- 
 kao (1619), 200,000 of the Ming troops invaded (Manchuria) 
 by four roads, and Korea sent General Kang Hong-ip with 
 
 1 Translated from the Sheng -wu-chi by Wei Yuan, Bk. vi, p. 10 et seq. See^ 
 also C. Imbault Huart, Journal Jsiatique, 7th series, xiv, pp. 308-340. 
 
 2 This refers to the Songpha inscription at Sam- j on do, of which a translation 
 is given further on. 
 
 3 See Legge's translation of the Shu king {Sacred Books of the East, vol. iii)^ 
 p. 65. 
 
china's INTERCOUESE with KOREA. 11 
 
 troops to assist the Hai and Kai divisions of the Ming army.^ 
 But while the two corps were encamped together at Pu-ko 
 chal - pang ^ the winds suddenly shifted and sent down 
 a deluge of rain, which rendered the firearms of the Ming 
 army useless, so that our (Manchu) troops overcame them, 
 and captured Kang Hong-ip and 5,000 men. 
 
 The Emperor sent General Kang and ten others back to 
 the King of Korea, Ni-hu, with a letter, in which he said : 
 " Formerly the Ming assisted you with troops (during your 
 troubles with the Japanese), so it was only natural that 
 you should assist the Ming with your soldiers, but it is not 
 out of enmity for us. Now I send your general and your 
 officers back to you for the sake of you, the king, and you 
 may decide for yourself whether you shall rally to our cause 
 or not." 
 
 The king having made up his mind, Korea did not offer 
 any thanks (for this kindness). 
 
 The Korean troops repeatedly crossed their frontiers and 
 opposed our troops engaged in Warka,^ and were constantly 
 fighting with our Beileh of Wula Pu-chan-tai. 
 
 When the Emperor T'ai-tsu died, Korea sent no messages 
 of condolence. 
 
 The Ming general, Mao Wen-lung, got together several 
 tens of thousands of refugees from Liao-tung in the island 
 of Pi-do, which is also known as Tong-gang, and is situated 
 at the mouth of the Yalu River at 80 li from the Korean 
 (coast) and from our eastern border. From there he made 
 repeated forays on the seaboard towns and cantonments, 
 causing us great annoyance, forming with Korea as it were 
 a pair of horns (between which we were caught). 
 
 Having procured the services of two Korean deserters, 
 Han Yun and Chang Mai, who had escaped to our country. 
 
 1 Eai kai ehiin, which is explained to me as the Hai-chou and Kai-chou 
 divisions of the army in Shan-tung. 
 
 2 The text has Fu cha (in Korean Fu chal), which I have assumed is an 
 abbre\'iation for Fu-chu- cha -fang {Pn-¥6- chal -pang in Korean) in Ham- 
 gyong do. 
 
 3 Warka is north of the Yalu River and south of Mukden at the foot of the 
 Chang-pai shan. It is conterminous with Korea. (Note in the Sheng-wu-chi.) 
 
12 china's intercourse with KOREA. 
 
 to act as guides, war was declared against Korea in the first 
 year T'ien-tsung of the Emperor T*ai-tsung (1627), the 
 seventh year T*ien-chi of the Ming, the third year of the 
 reign of Ni-Sung of Korea.^ In the first month, the Beileh 
 Amin and others were ordered to take command of the 
 troops and enter Korea. After fording the Yalu River, and 
 defeating Mao Wen-lung's troops at Chhol-san,^ which fled 
 back to Pi-do, the towns of "Wi-ju and Jong-ju and the 
 fortress of Han-san were occupied, and myriads of soldiers 
 and people killed and over 100,000 measures of grain 
 destroyed. 
 
 The same month, the army, having crossed the Chhong- 
 chhon gang,^ took An-ju, which place bore the name of 
 An-si, when it was besieged by the first emperor of the 
 T*ang Dynasty. The troops then occupied Phyong-yang,* 
 from which place the officials and people had fled at their 
 approach. After this they crossed the Ta-tong Eiver and 
 occupied Chung-hua.-^ 
 
 In the second month Huang-ju^ was captured, and 
 consternation spread to the heart of the country. Succour 
 was asked of the Ming, and numerous envoys were sent to 
 try and arrange matters with us. The Ming governor of 
 Liao-tung, Yiian Ch*ung-huan by name, sent a fleet to 
 relieve Pi- do, and 9,000 picked troops took up a position on 
 the San-ch*a ho,^ to close the road to our army (i.e. cut off 
 its retreat). The Emperor, fearing the consequences of the 
 stationing by the Ming of this corps of observation, went in 
 person to defend the frontier and animate his troops, and 
 the banks of the Liao were put in a state of defence. 
 
 ^ In 1623 the people of Korea deposed Ni-hu and put on the throne his 
 nephew, the Prince of Ling-yang Ni Sung. (See Ming shih, Bk. 320, p. 27.) 
 
 2 A second-class prefecture town in Pyong-an do. The towns of Wi-ju and 
 Jong-ju are also situated in the same province. 
 
 2 The Ching-ch'uan chiang of modem maps. It empties into the sea south- 
 west of An-ju. 
 
 * A second-class prefecture in Pyong-an do, and a little west of the Ta-tong 
 Eiyer. 
 
 ^ Also in Pyong-an do, near the border of the Hwang-hai do. 
 
 ^ In Huang-hai do, on the Ta-tong River ; it is a first-class prefecture. 
 
 ' The San-ch'a ho flows into the Liao ho a little above Niu-chuang. 
 
china's intercourse with KOREA. 13 
 
 At the same time the (Manchu) expeditionary forces to 
 Korea were closing around Seoul, so Ni-sung took his wife and 
 son and fled to the island of Kang-hua, sending repeatedly 
 messengers to meet the army and confess his errors. Now 
 the island of Kang-hua is south of Kai-ju/ and in the sea, 
 so our army, being without any boats, could not cross over 
 to it, but an envoy was sent to the island to communicate 
 the Emperor's orders. In the meanwhile the troops stopped 
 at Phyong-san.^ 
 
 Ni-sung sent a relative of his called Ni-gak, Prince of 
 Won-ch*ang, and others, with presents, consisting of 100 
 horses, 100 tiger-skins, and 100 panther-skins, 100 pieces of 
 pongee and hemp cloth, and 15,000 pieces of cotton cloth as 
 peace-offerings to the Emperor. After this envoys were sent 
 to Kang-hua Island to make a treaty, and on the day keng wu 
 of the third month, a white horse and a black ox^ having 
 been slaughtered, (both parties) took an oath by Heaven and 
 Earth when the negotiations were completed. The treaty 
 was such as are concluded between kingdoms of elder and 
 younger brothers. It had first been sought for by Korea ; 
 and the Beileh, in view of the danger of their two enemies, 
 the Ming and the Mongols, cutting them off, and of the 
 impossibility therefore of remaining long (in Korea), and 
 being, moreover, well satisfied with the success of their 
 operations, were willing to conclude a treaty. The Beileh 
 Amin had, however, been so much pleased with the site of 
 Seoul and the beauty of its palaces, that he was unwilling to 
 have the army evacuate the country. So the Beileh 
 Chi-erh-ha-lang and Yiieh-t'o-shuo-t'o, having secretly 
 discussed the subject, ordered Amin to go to Phyong-san, 
 and while he was away they concluded the treaty. When 
 the matter was finished they told Amin. Amin replied that 
 
 ^ I suppose Kai-song is meant. It is a second-class prefecture in Kyong-ki do, 
 north-east of Kang-hua Island. 
 
 2 A large town in Huang-hai do on the main road to Seoul. It is a second- 
 class prefecture. 
 
 3 It may be of interest to note that the black oxen used in Korea for royal 
 sacrifices are exclusively supplied by Quelpart Island. They are sent in pairs, and 
 always kept in readiness at all the towns on the road from Quelpart to Seoul, 
 being forwarded to the capital as required. 
 
14 china's intercourse with KOREA, 
 
 he had made no treaty, so he ravaged the whole country. 
 Later on, however, Ni-gak made a treaty with him at the 
 town of Phyong-yang. The Emperor (in the meanwhile) 
 sent a courier to Amin with orders to commit no further 
 ravages whatsoever, and to leave a detachment of 3,000 men 
 to garrison Wi-ju on his march back. 
 
 In the fourth month Ni-gak came to court with the 
 (returning) troops, and in the Autumn of the same year 
 Ni-sung requested the recall of the Wi-ju garrison, pledging 
 himself to redeem all the people who had been made 
 ■captives. The amount of the presents to be sent alternately 
 in Spring and Autumn to the Emperor was agreed upon, as 
 also the question of the fair for the peoples of both countries 
 at Chung-gang. 1 
 
 The same year, the Ming commander-in-chief, Yiian 
 Ch*ung-huan, killed Mao Wen-lung at Shuang-tao,^ and 
 the troops of the islands were without a chief. 
 
 In the third year (1629), our army routed the Ming, and 
 their general Yiian Ch'ung-huan was put to death for his 
 former misdeeds. 
 
 In the fifth year (1631), the islands (off the Korean coast) 
 having been occupied, thanks to their unprotected condition, 
 «hips of war were sent to Korea ; and an envoy arrived at 
 Seoul. He was received in audience the third day after his 
 arrival, when Ni-sung said to him : " The Ming Dynasty 
 is as a father; how can I be expected to help to destroy 
 my father ! '* From this time onwards the treaty (of 1627) 
 was gradually more and more disregarded. 
 
 In the seventh year (1632), the Emperor wrote to Ni-sung 
 
 1 Chung-gang {Chung chiang in Chinese) means 'mid river.' It is the name 
 of a small island about a mile wide near the north bank of the main channel of 
 the Yalu River at Wi-ju. It is Chinese territory, and frontier trade is still 
 carried on there. There is a Chinese custom-house and a small warehouse on the 
 island. (See W. R. Carles, Beport of a Journey, etc., pp. 14-15.) The same 
 writer says that Wi-ju contains at the present day a population of about 30,000 
 persons. On the new regulations for trade at Chung-gang after the conclusion of 
 the trade regulations between China and Korea of 1882, see Foreign Relations of 
 the United States for 1883, p. 173 et seq., and Peking Gazette, Sept. 27th, 1883. 
 
 * There is an island of this name off Shan-tung Province, but I do not know 
 if this is the place referred to. 
 
china's intercourse with KOREA. 15 
 
 charging him with cutting down the annual gifts, harbouring 
 refugees from our country, stealing our ginseng and cattle. 
 He also charged him with designs of ceasing to send envoys, 
 and of closing the (Chung-gang) market to our people. 
 
 In the Summer (of the same year), the brigadier- general 
 under Mao Wen-lung, Kung Yo-te by name, and also Keng 
 Chung - ming, Shang K'o - shi, and others, deserted the 
 Ming, and with a fleet and 20,000 men set to sea from 
 T^ng-chou, and came and made their submission (to the 
 Manchus). 
 
 A mission was sent to Korea to levy tribute- grain with 
 these words : " Your country looks upon the Ming as a father, 
 and many times you have sent them tribute-rice. Now we 
 are your elder brother, can you not give it us once ? " But 
 Ni-sung would not agree to it. Wait (he said) until Kung 
 Yo-te has left Shen-yang (Sheng-ching, i.e. Mukden), and 
 we will send of ourselves oflficers on ships and forward rice 
 as a subsidy.^ As to the question of the Hui-ning refugees 
 and the Pu-chan-tai people, it has been the subject of 
 frequent communications. He forthwith hastened the building 
 of twelve walled cities in the provinces of Kyong-kwi do, 
 Huang-hai do, and Phyong-an do. 
 
 The Emperor's letter charged Ni-sung with breaking the 
 Wi-ju market treaty, (in that he had) stopped our satins and 
 linens and depreciated the value of our ginseng.^ As to the 
 Warka people, they were of a Nii-chen (Tungusic) tribe, 
 and not to be compared with the Pu-chan-tai Mongols, for 
 they are said to be of the same stock as ourselves (i.e. Manchus), 
 as may be seen by referring to the Liao and Chin dynastic 
 histories. 
 
 In the Spring of the eighth year (1634) the Emperor, 
 being desirous of concluding a treaty with the Ming, ordered 
 Ni-sung to inform them of the fact ; but Ni-sung wrote to 
 the general at Pi-do in such terms that no treaty was made. 
 
 * My translation of this passage is subject to correction. 
 
 ^ Formerly the value of an ounce of (our) ginseng had been Tls. 16, but 
 Korea only gave Tls. 9 (for it). When first Wu Han-cha went to Ninguta, 
 he cooked half a catty of ginseng and ate it ; on going back he had diarrhoea. 
 So cheap vy^as ginseng in the early days. (Note of the Sheng-vm-chi.) 
 
16 china's intercourse with KOREA. 
 
 That Winter an envoy of Ni-sung came rejecting the 
 demand for the (Hui-ning) refugees and that concerning the 
 (Chung-gang) market. He used most arrogant language, 
 and wished to take precedence over our high ministers. 
 The Emperor was angered at this, refused the gifts, and 
 would have nothing more to do with the King's envoy. 
 
 When first Korean envoys came to our Court, they 
 exchanged frequent courtesies (with our high officers). 
 We on our part sent envoys to Korea to condole at the 
 death of the King's father, mother, or consort. The King's 
 letters (to the Emperor) were called feng shUy or ^' respectful 
 dispatch," and his tribute suipi, or "annual presents." The 
 expression kuei kiiOy or " honoured country," was reciprocally 
 used, and instead of jt?^A:MO, "humble country," the expression 
 pu ku, " the unworthy one," was used, in accordance with 
 usages prevailing between neighbouring countries which 
 are on a footing of equality.^ 
 
 At this time the Manchu troops had subdued the Chahar 
 tribes of Lingdan Khan and possessed themselves of the 
 dynastic seal of the Yiian.^ In view of this the Beileh 
 Pa-ho-shuo and forty-nine Beileh of the outer barbarians 
 and Mongols petitioned the Emperor to take an additional 
 title.^ The Emperor replied, " Korea is a younger brother 
 country, with whom it is also necessary to discuss the 
 question." So the inner and outer Beileh wrote letters 
 and sent messengers, asking Korea to join with them in 
 
 1 Paragraph 24 of the Rules agreed upon between China and Korea for traffic 
 on the frontier between Liao-tung and Korea, etc., in March, 1883, referring to 
 correspondence between officials of the two countries, says: " The despatches ta 
 be exchanged must be drawn up in accordance with the customary rules of 
 politeness. Koreans must speak of China as ' The Heavenly Court ' {THen Chad) 
 and as ' The Superior Country ' {Shang Kuo) , and in the ordinary correspondence 
 they must also use the style prescribed by Government ; they must not resort to 
 careless scribbling. The use of the character Chung for China and Tung for 
 Korea is forbidden by Rule ; and, in order to show due national consideration, 
 the Chinese authorities on the frontier in Liao-tung will write Gh^ao-hsien Kuo 
 for Korea, and speak of Kuei Kuo (* respected country ') when writing about or 
 to Korea." (See Hertslet, Treaties, etc., between Great Britain and China, 
 etc., i, 138.) 
 
 ^ See H. H. Howorth, History of the Mongols, i, p. 379. The Ming had 
 never held this seal. It was held by the Chahar prince lineally representing the 
 Mongol Dynasty. See also China Review, vol. xv, p. 323. 
 
 » Or " petitioned the Emperor to take the title of Emperor of China." 
 
china's intercourse with KOREA. 17 
 
 requesting the Emperor to add to his titles. Not only did 
 the Koreans disagree to the proposal, but they set a guard 
 of soldiers over the envoy. At this the envoy Ying-o-erh-tai 
 and his suite seized horses and fled from the city. Ni-sung 
 sent a messenger bearing a letter after him, and also wrote to 
 the high officer at the frontier to keep a strict watch. 
 
 This was a breach of the terms of the peace of the ting mao 
 year (1627) ; it was imperative to interrupt all communi- 
 cations; the envoy continued his flight and reported the 
 occurrence to the Emperor. 
 
 In the tenth year T'ien-tsung, the eighth year of Ming 
 Ch'ung-cheng, the fourth month of the first year Tsung-te 
 (1636), the Korean envoy Ni Kek and others came to Court 
 to congratulate the Emperor ; but they did not make 
 obeisance. The Emperor sent the King a letter ordering 
 him to send hostages. To this no reply was made. 
 
 At this time the Emperor with the tributary Mongols had 
 utterly routed the Ming army, and the country was in 
 security. So it was that in the eleventh, month, after having 
 sacrificed to Heaven and Earth and made sacrifice to the god 
 of war, at the T*ai-miao and the T*ang-tzu, the Emperor started 
 on an expedition to punish. Korea for having broken the treaty. 
 
 In the twelfth month (1637), the Mongols having con- 
 centrated their forces, the Emperor ordered the Cheng 
 Ch*in-wang Chi-erh-ha-lang to see to the defence of the 
 country. The Wu-ying Chiin-wang A-chi-ko and the To-lo 
 jao-yu Beileh Apat'ai he ordered to hold the Liao River and 
 the coast ports, so as to cover tbe country from an attack by 
 the Ming fleet. He ordered the Jui Ch*in-wang To-erh-kun 
 and the Beileh Hao-ko to take the left wing of the Manchu- 
 Mongol forces, and from K*uan-tien to enter (Korea) by the 
 Ch'ang-shan pass. He commanded the Yii Ch*in-wang To-to 
 and others to take 1,500 men of the vanguard and capture 
 Seoul by a coup de main, the Beileh Yiieh-t'o and others 
 with 3,000 men supporting him. 
 
 The Emperor with the Li Ch.*in-wang^ Tai-shan and others 
 
 ^ The Prince of Li gained for himself by his bravery in this campaign the 
 popular title of Prince of Korea {Kao-li Wang -y eh), which the head of the 
 family still bears. 
 
 2 
 
18 china's intercourse with KOREA. 
 
 entered Korea with the main army, amounting to 100,000 men. 
 They having crossed the Chin-gang and camped at Kuak- 
 san,^ Jong-ju and An-ju surrendered. The army then 
 marched to the Im-jin gang. This river is a hundred and 
 odd U north of the capital of the kingdom, and Seoul is 
 between it and Han-gang, which is south of the capital.^ 
 At this time of the year the ice was not solid over the 
 whole river ; but just as the army carts arrived on its banks, 
 the ice suddenly closed, and the whole army was able to 
 cross over on it. 
 
 Three hundred cavalrymen under Ma-fu-t*a, belonging to 
 the Yii Ch*in-wang's vanguard, stole up to Seoul and routed 
 several thousand picked troops. M-sung in dismay sent 
 messengers to welcome (our troops) and to wait on them 
 outside the city, treating the soldiers with great courtesy. 
 In the meanwhile he sent his wife and son to Kang-hua 
 Island, while he with his best troops crossed the river and 
 shut himself up in Nam Han-san, the strongest place in his 
 kingdom. 3 Our troops entered the capital, and Yii the Gh*iii^ 
 wang and the Beileh Yiieh-to who had captured Phyong-yang 
 arrived there also. The whole force then crossed the riyer 
 and invested Nam Han-san. They defeated three bodies of 
 troops sent to relieve the place and also the forces in the 
 fortress. At this time the three hundred and odd families 
 from Warka who had formerly fled to Korea all came and 
 asked to return to their native land. 
 
 The Emperor arrived, and, having divided the police 
 service of Seoul among the troops, crossed the river with 
 the army and defeated the relieving forces from Chol-la do 
 
 ^ A third-class prefecture on the high road from Wi-jii to Pyong-yang and 
 Seoul. 
 
 * The Im-jin gang has a general direction from north-east to south-west, and 
 flows into the Han-gang a little south-east of the town of Ni-tok. 
 
 ' The Han-gang is also called the Ung-jin gang, and is a most important 
 defence of Seoul. All Government money and tribute-rice is brought by it. 
 (Note of Sheng-wu-chi.) This fortress is generally called the Kuang-ju fortress, 
 and is about 11 miles from Seoul. Mr. G. C. Foulk gives its height above sea- 
 level as 1,350 feet. He says that on the occasion spoken of in these pages it 
 was defended against the Chinese army by its villagers and 120 soldiers. (See 
 Foreign Relations of the United States, 1885, p. 326.) 
 
china's intercourse with KOREA. 19 
 
 and Chhung-clihong do. Then he sent a letter (to the King) 
 censuring the conduct of his high ministers of state. 
 
 In the first month of the following year (February, 1637), 
 the army crossed to the north bank of the river, where it 
 camped 20 U to the east of Seoul. The Jui Ch*in- wang, entering 
 (Korea) by the Chang-shan pass, had taken Ch'ang-ju,^ and 
 having defeated 15,000 men composing the relieving forces 
 of An-ju, Huang-ju, Y6ng-ju, and neighbouring places, he 
 made his junction (with the main forces). When the Beileh 
 To- to was sending his artillery (towards Seoul), on it reaching 
 the Im-jin gang the ice which was thawing froze tight again 
 (so that it could cross over). 
 
 Prior to this the King of Korea, Ni-sung, had despatched 
 a message to the Ming Emperor informing him of the grave 
 events occurring, and had also sent warning to all the 
 provinces of his kingdom. The prudent king was anxious 
 to keep on the defensive until the auxiliary forces arrived, 
 but the Empire of the Ming was reduced to extremities, the 
 land was everywhere covered with bands of brigands, and 
 it was not in a position to help its neighbour. The (Ming) 
 general of Teng-Lai,^ Ch'en Hung-fan, set to sea with a fleet 
 (to help Korea), but contrary winds prevented his crossing 
 the sea. 
 
 The troops from the eastern and southern provinces of 
 Korea had all been successively routed and dispersed. The 
 western and northern forces were hidden among the 
 mountains, and dared not advance. In Seoul provisions were 
 nearly exhausted, and our army had gone over all the 
 provinces like roaring thunder or the fiery blast. 
 
 Ni-sung having again written to the Emperor begging 
 for peace, he replied throwing the responsibility of the war 
 on him, and ordered him to come out of the fortress into 
 his presence, and to deliver up those who had been his 
 counsellors in breaking the treaty. Ni-sung then wrote to 
 the Emperor saying : " Your vassal {Ch'en) begs that he may 
 not have to come out of the fortress." 
 
 ^ A strongly fortified place on the Yalu River above Wi-ju. 
 2 The Teng-Lai Ch'ing circuit in Shan-timg Province. 
 
20 china's intercourse with KOREA. 
 
 In the meanwhile the queen and the crown prince, 
 together with the families of the high ministers of state, 
 were on Kang-hua Island. The Jui Ch*in-wang put to sea in 
 some barges, and having sunk with his cannon thirty large 
 boats of the Koreans, crossed over to Kang-hua, where he 
 defeated the garrison of over 1,000 men and entered the 
 island fortress. He captured the queen, the crown prince, 
 and their household, 76 persons in all, and 166 persons 
 belonging to the families of the high ministers of state. 
 These were, however, all treated like guests and assigned 
 separate apartments. Then the Emperor issued a pro- 
 clamation saying: '*Ni-sung's island of Kang-hua has been 
 taken, but his family has been subjected to no hardship ; 
 let him at once, as previously directed, leave the citadel and 
 come into our presence." 
 
 Ni-sung sent to the Emperor's headquarters those who 
 had advised him to break the treaty : En-ki, a Kyo-ri ^ of 
 the Hong-mun Kuan, Wo Tal-che, the Compiler of the 
 Academy, and Hong I-han, chief Councillor of State. 
 
 The Emperor then ordered the King to give him the 
 patent of investiture and the seal which he had received 
 from the Ming, to offer his allegiance, to give him two of 
 his sons as hostages, to adopt the (Manchu) new year,^ and 
 to send each year tribute {hung) with a congratulatory 
 address {piao). In case of war he would have to raise an 
 auxiliary force and furnish supplies to the army. He was 
 not to erect fortresses (or walled cities) at his pleasure, or 
 give refuge to fugitives. On these conditions the boundaries 
 of the fief {f^ng) which his ancestors had held for the last 
 three hundred years would be assured to him and suffer no 
 changes. 
 
 ^ Kyo-ri, or Secretary of the Hong-mun office, a historical library, the 
 officials of which were very near the King, and kept him posted in matters of 
 history. The Secretary alluded to also heard the King read a passage of history 
 every three days, and corrected him if he made mistakes. See also F. Scherzer, 
 Tehao'Sien-tche, in Journ. Asiat., Aug.-Oct., 1885, p. 198. 
 
 2 That is to say, adopt the Chinese calendar, which is, according to Chinese 
 customs, a proof of recognition of Chinese suzerainty. The almanac was given 
 each year in the tenth month (latter part of November) to a special Korean envoy 
 who came to Peking to receive it. 
 
china's intercourse with KOREA. 21 
 
 Ni-simg with bowed head received the Imperial commands. 
 
 In the second month (the King) came out of the fortress 
 with several tens of horsemen, and built on the (south-) east 
 bank of the Han gang at Sam-jon do ^ an altar, and erected 
 a yellow tent. Then the Emperor with an escort, having 
 crossed the river, ascended the altar to the sound of music, 
 while his officers in armour lined the way. Ni-sung, escorted 
 by his ministers, left Nam Han-san, and when five li (from 
 the altar) proceeded the rest of the way on foot. Our 
 Emperor sent a messenger to welcome him when he was 
 a li off, and to inform him of the ceremonies to be performed. 
 The Emperor having descended to receive Ni-sung, both 
 of them together with the King's sons and his ministers 
 worshipped Heaven. 
 
 This ceremony ended, the Emperor took up his former 
 position, when Ni-sung and his suite fell to the ground and 
 acknowledged their transgressions, which the Emperor 
 pardoned, when Ni-sung and his sons and ministers 
 respectfully bowed their heads nine times in thanks. The 
 Emperor then told the King to take a seat at the foot of the 
 altar on the left-hand side facing the west, taking precedence 
 of all the princes ( Wang). The ceremonies being ended, the 
 Prince {Chun), his ministers, and their families returned to 
 Seoul. 
 
 In the second month all the troops in the provinces were 
 ordered to concentrate (at Seoul) and to march westward. 
 Ni-sung and his sons and ministers escorted (the Emperor) 
 ten li outside the city, and kneeling down bade him 
 good-bye. 
 
 The Emperor issued a decree stating that, in view of the 
 sufferings of Korea through the recent military operations, 
 he remitted the tribute for the years ting chou (1637) and 
 wu yin (1638), and that the first tribute would be that of the 
 Autumn of the year chi mao (1639). In case Korea was not 
 in a position at any time to meet its obligations, the Emperor 
 would devise means of arranging matters. 
 
 ^ Sam-ion do is a post station south of Seoul and between that town and the 
 prefectural city of Kuang-ju. 
 
22 china's intercourse with KOREA. 
 
 The Korean Ministers of State and the people erected 
 a monument at the foot of the altar at San-jon do to 
 commemorate the Emperor's goodness.^ 
 
 In the fourth month, Ni-sung's hostage-sons Wang and Ho 
 arrived (at Mukden). 
 
 In the fifth month, the Ming troops on Pi- do were 
 attacked, General Kung Yo-te and others who had deserted 
 the Ming acting as guides, and Korean war vessels being 
 made use of. Several tens of thousands of persons were 
 captured on the island ; after which (our troops) returned, 
 nor did the Ming thereafter occupy the island. 
 
 In the third year of Ch'ung-te (1638), the Emperor, 
 being desirous of crushing the Ming, ordered the Korean 
 troops to co-operate with his, but they were so dilatory that 
 he had to address reproaches to the King. The Emperor 
 then ordered him to send a fleet to reduce those Kurka of 
 the eastern border who, having rebelled, had fled to tJng do ; 
 this he did, capturing the rebel leader, who was brought to 
 the Emperor. 
 
 In the sixth year (1641), our army having attacked the 
 Ming troops at Chin-chou,^ a Korean fleet with 5,000 men 
 was ordered to convey 10,000 piculs of tribute-rice. After 
 a while Ni-sung reported that the thirty-two war vessels and 
 grain junks with all their crews and rice had been lost at sea. 
 The Emperor, seeing that tribute-rice fleets had previously 
 been exposed to severe weather without the whole fleet having 
 ever thus been lost, reprimanded the King, who hastened to 
 send a second time the 10,000 piculs of rice. This fleet was 
 composed of 115 ships, which started out from the mouths 
 of the Ta-ling and Hsiao-ling Rivers. When off San-shan 
 tao, over fifty ships were wrecked, and others were captured 
 by the Ming fleet. Fifty-two ships reached Kai-chou in 
 safety, but they could advance no further, so they requested 
 to complete the transportation by land, but the Emperor 
 refused to allow them to do so. Three of the Korean vessels 
 
 ^ See infra^ Chap. VI, p. 40, the translation of this inscription. 
 2 Chin-chou Fu on the Hsiao-ling ho in the Feng-Chm-Shan-hai circuit of 
 Sheng-ching. 
 
china's intercouese with koeea. 23 
 
 (he said) had sailed into Ming waters and delivered letters. 
 Furthermore, when falling in with Ming war vessels they 
 had not acted with them as with enemies, and now they had 
 stopped on the way : " We do not want this grain ; you may 
 throw it on the road or take it back to your country, just as 
 you choose." 
 
 The Korean minister Ni Kyong-ep, alarmed at this, 
 requested to be permitted to brave the dangers of transporting 
 the grain, and the Emperor allowed him to take the overland 
 route and to retain in his service a thousand Koreans as match- 
 lock men and 500 as camp-followers, all the others to return 
 home. But neither the tribute-rice nor the soldiers arriving, 
 the Emperor sent an envoy to Korea to complain of the 
 conduct of the Ministers of State. The envoy proved that 
 the President Kim Syeng-heuk-ni and the Minister of the 
 Council Shin Teuk-yong had caused the delay, and reported 
 the facts to the Throne. 
 
 In the seventh year (1642) took place the great defeat of 
 Chin-chou, after which the Ming sent envoys to make peace. 
 This the Emperor was willing to do, but all his generals 
 were anxious to carry on the war. The Emperor wrote to 
 M-sung asking his advice. Ni-sung replied, " Not to kill 
 but to give peace to the people is to act in conformity with 
 the will of Heaven." 
 
 Later on it was discovered that two ships of the Ming had 
 come to Korea. The Emperor made strict inquiries, after 
 which the Minister of the Council Soi Myeng-ki, General 
 Im Kyong-ep, and others were arrested for having secretly 
 kept up communication with the Ming, and were punished 
 after trial. 
 
 In the ninth month of the eighth year (November, 1643), 
 the Emperor Shih - tsu - chang (Shun - chih) ascended the 
 throne, and one-third of the Korean tribute for the year was 
 remitted in conformity with the Emperor T'ai-tsung's dying 
 commands. 
 
 In the first year of Shun-chih (1644), on the re- 
 establishment of peace, the Korean hostages were sent 
 home and one-half of the year's tribute was remitted. 
 
24 china's intercourse with KOREA. 
 
 Furthermore, a general pardon was granted (by the King) to 
 all Korean criminals condemned to death. 
 
 During the three reigns K'ang-hsi, Yung-cheng, and 
 Ch'ien-lung the tribute was frequently remitted, only 
 one-tenth being kept ; and notwithstanding the fact that 
 Korea belonged to the outer barbarian nations, it was 
 assimilated to the Chinese. 
 
 From the K'ang-hsi reign, whenever there has been a 
 famine in Korea, grain has been sent there by junks to 
 relieve it ; and whenever there has been a rebellion in the 
 land, troops and myriads of taels as subsidy have been given 
 to assist in its repression. 
 
china's IITTEECOURSE WITH KOREA. 25 
 
 lY. 
 
 OFFICIAL INTERCOURSE. 
 
 The extract from, the Sheng-ivu-chi translated in the pre- 
 ceding chapter supplies a general account of the earliest 
 relations between Korea and the Ta Ch'ing Dynasty of China. 
 We will now examine, with the help of the Dynastic Institutes 
 of the Ta Ch'ing [Ta ChHng Sici-tien), the character and 
 extent of the intercourse between the two countries since 
 the invasion of 1637. 
 
 The treaty of 1637 provided that Korea should send 
 yearly tribute-bearing missions to the Manchu Court. The 
 tribute originally demanded was to consist of 100 ounces 
 of gold, 1,000 ounces of silver, 200 pieces of grass cloth, 
 200 pieces of a mixed silk and cotton stuff, 4,400 pieces of 
 cotton stuffs of various colours, 2 mats with dragon patterns, 
 20 mats with variegated patterns, 100 deer-skins, 400 otter- 
 skins, 142 leopard-skins, 300 black squirrel-skins, ^ 10 girdle 
 knives, 5,000 rolls of large and small paper, and 100 piculs 
 of rice. 
 
 The amount of tribute was gradually decreased, and in 
 1723 the Emperor issued a decree stating that '* Chao-hsien 
 has from early days been obedient to our dynasty, and has 
 been sedulously vigilant as a neighbouring country. On many 
 occasions when bringing tribute to Court in obedience to the 
 Imperial will, certain articles of it have, as a special act of 
 grace, been remitted. Let now the Board of Rites inquire 
 what portion of the tribute that is still due can henceforth be 
 remitted. 
 
 " The Board of Rites reported that during the Ming 
 
 ^ The text has chinff shu, ' black millet ' ; the latter character is probably an 
 error for shu, *rat.' This error occurs in several passages of the Htii-tien. 
 a. Ballet, op. sup. cit., i, p. xv. 
 
26 china's intercourse with KOREA. 
 
 period the Korean tribute comprised gold and silver utensils, 
 ginseng, horses, and ten different varieties of grass cloth, 
 mixed cotton and silk fabrics, etc. In 1637, one-half of the 
 tribute due the Emperor was remitted. In 1640, 9,000 bags 
 of tribute -rice were remitted. In the Shun-chih reign 
 (1644-1662), all the gold and silver utensils, the ginseng, 
 and the horses were permanently remitted. 
 
 " In 1693, Korea was dispensed from sending the 100 
 ounces of gold and 100 of silver, the blue and red dye, 
 and 600 pieces of cotton stuff. 
 
 "In 1712, the whole 1,000 ounces of silver and the 142 
 leopard-skins werej remitted, the tribute being thus reduced 
 to less than half what it was in the Ming period. 
 
 " The following articles can now be done away with : 
 300 black squirrel-skins, 100 otter-skins, 800 pieces of cotton 
 piece goods, and 2,000 rolls of white cotton-made paper ; 
 the balance of the tribute to remain as heretofore."^ 
 
 Besides sending the annual tribute mission, the King of 
 Korea sent representatives to the Chinese Court to con- 
 gratulate the Emperor on I^ew Year's Day and also on 
 special occasions of rejoicing — as in 1763, when the Empress 
 celebrated her 80th birthday, or in 1785, on the Emperor 
 Ch'ien-lung's jubilee. It was also customary, when the 
 Emperor went to Manchuria to visit his ancestral tombs, 
 for the King of Korea to send him congratulatory messages 
 and presents. Thus in 1682, when the Emperor K'ang-hsi 
 visited his ancestral tombs, the King of Korea sent an envoy 
 and the following presents : leopard, deer, otter, and black 
 squirrel- skins, Japanese swords, haliotis shells, various kinds 
 of fish, edible seaweed, red shells, chili pepper, white honey, 
 pine-nuts, apricot-seeds, yellow chestnuts (?), and dried 
 persimmons. 
 
 Down to 1715 it was also customary for the King of Korea 
 to send missions to return thanks to the Emperor for any 
 favour which he had bestowed on him ; but from that date 
 the Emperor requested them to be discontinued. 
 
 » Ta ChHng Hui-tien, ch. 393. 
 
china's INTERCOUESE with KOREA. 
 
 27 
 
 Concerning the ceremonial followed for the annual missions 
 which the Kings of Korea used to send to the Emperor of 
 China, we are told that "at the beginning of the year, as 
 well as at that of the great cold (period) and on the principal 
 feasts, the King, accompanied by the Princes, his sons, and 
 by his officers, performs the ceremony called wang kuei U 
 (i.e. the kotow ceremony). On each of these occasions he 
 sends an embassy bearing a letter of homage to the Emperor 
 of China. 
 
 ** The King, still followed by the Princes, his sons, and by 
 his officers, goes through the four prostrations in honour of 
 the Imperial Throne. The King on his knees takes the 
 letter which he puts in his envoy's hands, then he makes 
 three bows and escorts the bearer of the letter sent to the 
 Throne as far as outside the city 
 
 " The King observes the same ceremonies when he goes 
 out to meet his ambassadors coming back to China." ^ 
 
 The fact was that the Koreans sought by every means to 
 increase the number of these missions to China, for they 
 travelled at the expense of the Chinese Government, and, 
 being allowed to bring goods for sale at the capital duty 
 free, they constituted a source of great profit to the King 
 and his officers. 
 
 Besides the presents which the Emperors sent the Kings of 
 Korea by their envoys on their return home, special envoys 
 have on all occasions been sent to carry the Emperor's letters 
 to the kings, approving their acts or condoling with them 
 for deaths in their families. A narrative of the ceremonies 
 observed on the arrival at Seoul of such missions will be 
 found in the translation given further on of an extract from 
 the diary of Po Chiin, who was sent on a special mission 
 to Korea in 1843. 
 
 In all times of internal warfare or discord in Korea, China 
 has observed a strict neutrality, and has always closed her 
 frontiers on fugitives from Korea. For example, in 1729 
 the Emperor Yung-cheng, at the request of the King of 
 
 1 F. Scherzer, Tchao-sien-tche {Journ. Asiat., Aug.-Oct., 1885), p. 208. 
 
28 china's intercourse with KOREA. 
 
 Korea, gave him 10,000 taels to assist in suppressing a revolt 
 in his kingdom. A decree was issued at the same time 
 by the Emperor ordering the officers at the frontier barriers 
 and elsewhere to seize any fugitives who might present 
 themselves, and forward them to the capital, " for it is the 
 policy of our dynast}'- to endeavour to have such men 
 punished." In case any Chinese subjects should secrete 
 such rebel fugitives, they were to be severely punished.^ 
 
 In 1777, the Emperor Ch'ien-lung issued the following 
 decree : — " The King of Chao-hsien has written to Us that 
 in the 'matter of the conspiracy of Hong In-han and others 
 the chief culprits have been put to death. He fears, however, 
 that there are many persons implicated in the plot, and that 
 possibly some have escaped and are in concealment, and he 
 requests that the officers at the barriers be instructed to look 
 out for such criminals and apprehend any they may find. 
 
 " The rulers of Chao-hsien have long been devoted to Us, 
 and have ever shown due reverence; now as the King is 
 apprehensive lest any of the rebels escape, We have informed 
 him that We would adopt measures for preventing any of 
 them entering China surreptitiously. 
 
 "Let this be communicated to the Tartar general at 
 Mukden, and to the Governor of Shan-tung, so that officers 
 along the Korean frontier and on the coast roads may be 
 instructed by them to use the utmost diligence in this matter. 
 . . . Any Korean arrested shall be handed over to the 
 authorities of his country to be dealt with . . ." ' 
 
 Among the different questions which have arisen between 
 the Q-overnments of Peking and Seoul, the following may be 
 mentioned : — 
 
 In 1731, the Tartar general at Mukden asked the Emperor 
 to authorize the erection of a military station at Mang-niu- 
 dhao, at the confluence of the Ts*ao ho with the Ai ho.^ The 
 Emperor approved of the suggestion, but stated that, the 
 
 1 Ta ChHng Hui-tien, ch. 399. 
 
 2 Ta ChHng Hui-tien, ch. 399. 
 
 3 The Ts'ao ho flows into the Ai ho a short distance east of the Feng-huang 
 harrier of stakes. The Ai ho flows into the Yalu a little above Wi-ju. 
 
china's intercourse with KOREA. 2^ 
 
 place mentioned being on the Korean frontier, the Board of 
 E/ites must address the King and ask his approval and 
 consent. The King of Korea replied, begging that the old 
 order of things be adhered to, and the Emperor issued 
 a decree accordingly. 
 
 In 1746, this question was brought up again, as was also 
 that of opening up to settlers the ' no-man's-land ' between 
 the Barrier of stakes and the Korean frontier. The King 
 of Korea wrote to the Emperor opposing both measures. 
 The Emperor replied as follows : — " We have the greatest 
 consideration for Korea, and have heretofore bestowed many- 
 favours upon it. Now as to this question of erecting a watch 
 station at Mang-niu-shao, it has been carefully looked into. 
 It is situated on the Korean frontier, and the proposed 
 measure cannot cause trouble or disturb the peace. Moreover^ 
 it is to the equal advantage of both countries. Notwithstanding 
 this, the King tells Us that it is inexpedient, and earnestly 
 requests that the project be abandoned. As We cannot 
 possibly know the exact character of this section of country, 
 let it therefore be examined into and a report made to Us. 
 If the locality is really within the frontier of China, then 
 the establishment of a military guard -house to prevent 
 brigandage, establish order, and guard the frontier is a 
 necessary measure. 
 
 " As to the King of Korea's request that the post be not 
 established because the locality in question is debatable land, 
 it is impossible not to have doubtful places, as his frontier 
 is intricately mixed with Ours, so We cannot countermand 
 Our orders as the King request. 
 
 "As to the question of opening to agriculture land outside "^ 
 the Barrier of stakes, a subject which has in former times 
 been under deliberation, the King of Korea asks that there 
 be left as heretofore a hundred and odd li of uninhabited 
 land outside the Barrier of stakes of Feng-huang-ch'eng, 
 as an obstacle to intercourse between the two countries and 
 as a means of preventing a congregating of people on the 
 frontier, which would create all kinds of trouble. This 
 request is approved of ; so the prohibition concerning 
 
30 china's intercourse with KOREA. 
 
 settling on the land outside the barrier of Feng-huang- 
 ch^eng will remain in vigour as heretofore." ^ 
 
 In all cases where Koreans passed on to Chinese territory 
 and there committed crimes for which they were seized by 
 the Chinese authorities, or in cases where the crimes were 
 committed on Korean territory by Chinese subjects, the 
 culprits were handed over to the authorities of their 
 respective countries to be dealt with.^ 
 
 The commercial relations existing between the two 
 countries now demand our consideration. 
 
 The regular trade between Korea and China was transacted 
 (1) twice a year at Chung gang, near Wi-ju, on the Yalu 
 River, and (2) by the annual Korean missions to Peking. 
 
 The fair at Wi-ju was held twice a year in the second and 
 the eighth months, and the trading was done on the part of 
 the Chinese by the military stationed in the Feng-huang 
 and Feng-t'ien Fu (Mukden) districts.^ 
 
 In 1736, the Emperor Ch*ien-lung issued a decree stating 
 that " heretofore the officers and troops of the banner corps 
 stationed at the frontier posts have gone each year in the 
 second month with merchandise to Chung-chiang (Chung 
 gang), to trade there with the Koreans. We consider that 
 these bannermen's sole duty is to watch and patrol, and that 
 they have no time for trading, and moreover they know 
 nothing about mercantile operations. It is also to be feared 
 that this trading prevents a proper surveillance of people 
 arriving on the frontier. This system has, therefore, many 
 inconveniences. Hereafter (the trade will be open to all 
 and) the custom officer at Chung-chiang will carefully watch 
 all Chinese who are trading with Koreans,, so that trade 
 shall be carried on without partiality, extortion, or brawls." ^ 
 
 ^ See Ta ChHng Hui-tien, ch. 399. In 1875, this neutral strip between China 
 and Korea was incorporated into the Chinese domain, on the proposition of 
 Li Hung-chang. It appears probable that this territory belonged originally to 
 China. See W. R. Carles, Report of a Journey in the North of Corea, p. 14. 
 See also on the organization of the neutral strip, Peking Gazette ^ April 14th and 
 Sept. 18th, 1877. 
 
 2 See d^ree of 1704 in Ta ChHng Hui-tien, Bk. 399 ; also Peking Gazette, 
 May 14th, 1877, and Oct. 8th, 1876. 
 
 3 Ta Ch'ing Hui-tien, Bk. 398. 
 
china's intercourse with KOREA. 31 
 
 The following year, however, the King of Korea wrote to 
 the Emperor requesting that the old order of things be 
 reverted to, and his request was acceded to. 
 
 A small trade was carried on between Kirin and Ninguta 
 and Korea, but the most valuable articles from those 
 localities, such as sable, sea otter, river otter, lynx-skins, 
 etc., were not allowed to be exported.^ 
 
 The number of persons authorized to accompany the 
 Korean missions to Peking for purposes of trade, and the 
 quantity of goods they might bring with them, do not 
 appear to have been determined by regulation. Not so, 
 however, the road which they might follow, which was that 
 by Feng-huang-ch'eng and Shan-hai kuan. 
 
 In 1748 the Board of Rites issued the following notification : 
 " When Koreans enter Shan-hai kuan ^ with merchandise of 
 Korean origin, the Superintendent of customs must examine 
 whether they agree in quantity and description with those 
 reported to him by the official at Feng-huang-ch.*eng. 
 
 " Koreans going out by Shan-hai kuan with merchandise 
 will pay no duties if the goods they have agree with the list 
 forwarded by the Board of Rites. Goods not mentioned 
 in the list and not of Korean origin will pay regular duties. 
 As to the trick of travellers smuggling goods concealed on 
 their persons, they must be searched to see that they carry 
 no prohibited goods, and in case they do, the superintendent 
 must report to the Board of Rites for the punishment of the 
 offenders." 
 
 On arriving in Peking, the number of Korean traders 
 was reported to the Throne, and permission given them to 
 trade, but there were many articles which they were not 
 allowed to purchase, such as arms, munitions of war, the 
 
 ^ See Ta ChHng Hui-tien, Bk. 399, 44th Ch'ien-lung. Queetions have 
 frequently arisen between the Chinese and Korean authorities caused by hunters 
 of the latter nationality crossing over into Chinese territory to hunt fur-bearing 
 animals. See for example the case which occurred in 1763. Ta ChHng Hui-tien, 
 Bk. 399, 28th Ch'ien-lung. The Chinese Government has often had to complain 
 of Koreans hunting for mountain ginseng on Chinese territory. 
 
 * Shan-hai kuan is on the high road between Wi-ju and Peking, at the 
 eastern extremity of the Great "Wall, and is the frontier post of Chih-li in that 
 direction. 
 
ill 
 
 33 china's intercourse with KOREA. 
 
 dynastic histories of China/ horn for making bows, etc. 
 These restrictions were not against Koreans alone, but 
 applied to all foreigners trading in China. Special re- 
 strictions on Korean trade seem to have been directed against 
 the exportation of silver and metals.^ Thus, in 1793, the 
 King of Korea asked that the goods which he had sent to 
 Peking might be exchanged for money to be taken back 
 for use in his kingdom. The request was refused. 
 
 In 1807, an imperial decree threatened the officials on the 
 Korean frontier with degradation if they allowed cash or 
 copper or iron to be exported to Korea.^ 
 
 The only restriction on the export trade of Korea was put 
 on ginseng, which was a royal monopoly. In 1759 the 
 King of Korea wrote to the Chinese Government stating : 
 " In the matter of the trade in ginseng, which is a natural 
 product of our kingdom, though the crop is accidentally short 
 this year, it is not usually rare (and therefore constitutes an 
 important article of trade). The King requests that the 
 regulations of 1653 governing the matter, and which prohibit 
 buying it as an (ordinary) medicinal substance, be put in 
 force again. He does not request that it be forbidden to buy 
 ginseng, but that the trade be no longer carried on according 
 to the existing regulations." * 
 
 No direct trade by sea has ever been allowed between 
 China and Korea prior to the treaties with Western nations. 
 As early as 1637, the Manchus issued orders to the effect 
 that all Chinese merchants coming to Korea by sea should 
 be sent back to their country. 
 
 In 1717, the Peking Board of Rites issued the following 
 notification : — *' Hereafter, when Chinese reach Korea through 
 
 1 In 1691, one of the members of the Korean mission bought a full set of the 
 dynastic histories. The culprit was degraded by the King of Korea, and sent to 
 military servitude on the frontier, and the chief of the mission received the imperial 
 censure. See Ta ChHng Sui-tien, Bk. 399, 30th K*ang-hsi. 
 
 2 I note also in the Ta ChHng Hui-tien, Bk. 399, that in 1729 the Siamese 
 envoys had to obtain special permission to purchase ten loads of copper wire for 
 exportation to their country. 
 
 3 See also Ta ChHng Eui-tien, Bk. 399, 14th Chia-Ch'ing, the case of Kung 
 Feng-lai et al. 
 
 * Ta ChHng Eui-tien, Bk. 398. 
 
china's intercourse with KOREA. 33 
 
 stress of weather, if they have passports and no business to 
 transact, they shall be sent home according to established 
 rules. If they have no passports and have surreptitiously 
 crossed the river frontier for purposes of business, the King 
 of Korea shall have them seized, judged, and punished 
 according to the laws of the kingdom : the Korean authorities 
 reporting to the Board of E-ites what they have done in the 
 matter." ^ 
 
 The right to fish on the Korean coasts was not conceded 
 to China by Korea, most probably so as not to encourage 
 smuggling. In 1712, the Emperor K'ang-hsi issued a decree 
 stating : " In former times fishing-boats were strictly 
 forbidden to frequent the Korean coast, but at present boats 
 go on the coasts of Korea and fish. This is an act of piracy. 
 Henceforth the Koreans may pursue and capture such persons. 
 If captured alive, they must at once be sent back to China." 
 
 The rules issued to prevent smuggling over the land 
 frontier were no less stringent on the part of China. In 
 1715 the Emperor stated to the Board of Rites : " As 
 regards persons surreptitiously crossing the Yalu River, 
 a communication will be addressed to the Tartar General at 
 Mukden, the Prefect of Feng-t'ien Fu, and the difi'erent 
 governors- general that they instruct the naval authorities 
 along the coast to capture and punish all persons caught in 
 the attempt. Moreover, the King of Korea has been written 
 to {tzu wen) ^ with a request that he give stringent orders to 
 his troops stationed along the seaboard to be continually on 
 the look-out for persons crossing the frontier without per- 
 mission, to apprehend them and send them back to China." 
 
 We know by the accounts given us by the French 
 missionaries when they attempted to enter Korea how well 
 these orders were executed down to the signing of the treaties. 
 
 It should be stated that all questions which had to be 
 submitted by Korea to the Chinese Government were addressed 
 
 1 Ta GhHng Hui-tien, Bk. 399. 
 
 ' Tzu wen designates the official dispatch between equals. It is probable 
 that in the present case it was the Peking Board of Rites that wrote to the 
 Korean Board. 
 
34 china's intercourse with KOREA. 
 
 by it to the Peking Board of Rites, the same board with 
 which all foreign nations dealt until the Tsung-li Ya-men was 
 created in 1861. From 1764, until within recent times, 
 all questions of minor importance, such as those concerning 
 the return of shipwrecked seamen, of violation of the frontier, 
 etc., were addressed to the officer at Feng-huang-ch'eng, who 
 forwarded them to the Board of Rites at Mukden, to be by 
 it passed on to the Peking Board of Rites ; by this means 
 the Koreans had not to send special envoys for unimportant 
 matters. 
 
china's intercourse with KOREA. 35 
 
 AUDIENCE AT THE COURT OF SEOUL. 
 
 The following account of the reception by the King of Korea 
 of a Chinese ambassador in 1843 accurately describes the 
 ceremonies observed on such occasions down to within 
 recent years. Po Chlin, the Chinese envoy, was sent to 
 Korea by the Emperor to offer the King his condolences 
 on the death of his father. 
 
 " On the 21st of the second month, (Po Chlin ^) having 
 passed through a narrow defile came to a stone arch called 
 the Ying-en men (" Bounty greeting gate ") or the 
 Mu-hua kuan.^ After resting there awhile under an 
 awning, the King (of Korea) came to welcome the Imperial 
 letter, after which he preceded the embassy to the city.^ 
 Then mounting their horses, preceded by the Imperial letter 
 borne under a canopy and accompanied by a great armed 
 retinue, the embassy entered Seoul by the Ch*ung-li men, 
 the main southern gate.* Advancing along a wide market 
 street some three or four li^ they entered the Tun-hua men 
 (which is believed to lead into the Forbidden City). To 
 prevent staring into the park, screens of cotton had been 
 
 1 This is an extract from Po Chiin's diary of Ms mission to Korea in 1843, 
 entitled Feng-shih Chao-hsien i-ch^eng jih-chi. 
 
 2 On the Ying-en men, see Korean Repository ^ ii, p. 213. The gate {ox pailou) 
 has been removed since the Japanese-Chinese war of 1894, and an arch built 
 near it called " Independence Gate." See Angus Hamilton, Korea, p. 11. 
 
 ^ The envoy and the King did not meet. (Note of Chinese author.) The 
 envoys of the Emperor of China to Korea are called in the latter country Ch'ik-sa 
 or Imperial envoys. 
 
 * The following figures, taken from the Dynastic Institutes of Korea [Tai jon 
 hoi t'ong), Bk. vi, may not be devoid of interest: "The walls of Seoul (in 
 Chinese ching-tu) are 14,935 j9?< in circumference, or 89,610 feet {chih), the foot 
 of the Chou Dynasty being used." I do not know whether the Korean pace 
 {pi4) corresponds with that now in use in China, but assuming the two measures 
 to be identical, viz. 5-26 English feet, we find that the length of the walls of 
 Seoul is about 41^ U, or nearly 13^ English miles. 
 
3*6 china's intercourse with KOREA. 
 
 put up all along the way. Going round to the east by the 
 Chin-shan men, they passed by the Jen-chang men and 
 entered the Su-chang men. Following a circuitous route, 
 they then came to the Ming-cheng men, where they alighted 
 from their horses. The masters of ceremonies introduced 
 the envoys into the King's presence, the chief envoy bearing 
 in both hands the Imperial letter, which he placed on the 
 eastern table in the Ming-cheng tien (Throne Hall). Then, 
 while they stood to one side, the King went through the 
 usual ceremonies (of kotowing), standing at the foot of the 
 
 " When this was done, the masters of ceremonies requested 
 the envoys to leave the hall and to enter a small pavilion, 
 where thej^ removed their long black sheepskin gowns. 
 After a good while, when the King had put on mourning 
 clothes, they were requested to come to a hall, and going 
 round to the east they came to the Hall of the Manes. 
 The two envoys each in turn made an offering and poured 
 out a libation. When this was finished, they took their 
 places facing the north, and the King stood facing south 
 on the top of the northern steps. Then the King and all 
 his family, dressed in mourning, fell on their faces while 
 they listened to the contents of the Imperial letter. When 
 this was over, the masters of ceremonies told all present to 
 cry (the host and guests alike). When this was finished, 
 (the King) raised the Imperial letter (to his head), and 
 incense having been burnt, the ceremonies were concluded. 
 
 " Walking to the right and left, the envoys then went to 
 the back of the hall, where they and the King saluted each 
 other and separated. They then went to the pavilion where 
 they had changed their clothes, and took off their riding 
 jackets. After waiting awhile, they were invited into the 
 Meng-cheng tien to perform the tea ceremony. While 
 the two envoys stood facing the west, the King, who wore 
 his ordinary clothes and was standing facing south, intimated 
 his desire to salute them in turn. Thrice they refused, and 
 finally they exchanged salutations. The King then asked 
 about the Emperor's and Empress's health, to which suitable 
 
china's intercourse with KOREA. 37 
 
 replies were made. After this they all sat down, and the 
 King asked if our princes and Beileh were in good health. 
 He then asked the envoys if they had had a prosperous 
 journey, and whether it had been warm or cold. Tea and 
 fruit were then brought, and the King, taking a pair of 
 silver chopsticks in his hand, invited them to eat. Having 
 partaken of one or two things, the King ordered the 
 attendants to go and take tea, and with this the ceremony 
 ended. 
 
 " The envoys then prepared to leave, and having exchanged 
 salutations with the King, they walked out by the east and 
 west.^ When they had got outside the door of the Ming- 
 cheng tien, they exchanged salutations ; then, going down 
 the steps, the envoys got on their horses, when the King 
 saluted them from the doorway and went away. 
 
 "The envoys then went to the Nam-pyol Kung, where 
 they abode." 
 
 The following day* the King returned the envoys' visit, 
 and Po Chiin describes it as follows : " The King came to 
 pay a visit. The great hall of the Nam-pyol Kung was 
 fitted up with the folding screens. The envoys received the 
 King at the foot of the eastern steps, and having exchanged 
 salutations they walked forward together (i.e. side by side). 
 
 ** When they reached the hall, they bowed to each other. 
 The King having inquired of them if they had reached 
 home safely the day before, they sat down, and had tea and 
 an entertainment similar to that which they had had the 
 day before. The King, in reply to an inquiry, said that he 
 was 18 years old. 
 
 " The next day, which had been fixed for the departure 
 of the embassy, happened to be an unlucky one,^ on which 
 it was impossible to leave, so the King insisted with much 
 earnestness that the departure should be deferred, to which 
 the envoys finally agreed. They then rose, and having 
 bowed to each other, went to the foot of the eastern steps. 
 
 ^ That is to say, the chief envoy and the King walked side by side, the King 
 walking on the east side, the envoy on the west. 
 * Tueh chi, the 5th, 14th, and 23rd of each month. 
 
38 china's intercourse with KOREA. 
 
 The King would not consent to their seeing him take his 
 leave, so after talking a little, the two envoys stood in the 
 open road until he had left ; after which the King sent a 
 person with his card to thank them." ^ 
 
 1 Hamel says : "When the Tartar'' s embassadour comes, the King, going in 
 person with all his Court out of town to receive him, waits upon him to his 
 lodging, and in all places everj-body does him as much or more honour than to 
 the King. AU sorts of musicians, dancers, and vaulters go before him, striving 
 who shall divert him most. During the whole time the Tartar is at Court, all 
 the streets from his lodging to the palace are lin'd with soldiers, who stand 
 within ten or twelve foot one of the other. There are two or three men who 
 have no other employment but to pick up notes thrown out of the Tartar's 
 window to be carry'd to the King, who desires to know what the embassadour is 
 doing at all times. To conclude, that prince studies all ways to please him, 
 endeavouring by all manner of courtesy to make him sensible of the respect he 
 bears the great Cham, that he may make a favourable report concerning him to 
 his master" {Description, p. 742). Hamel elsewhere {Description, p. 741) 
 says: "The Tartar comes three times a year to receive the heavy tribute they 
 pay." And Father Regis, in his Observations geographiques sur le Royaume de 
 Coree (Du Halde, Description, etc., iv, p. 425), says: *'Le Seigneur Tartare 
 envoye a la Cour du Roi de Coree, nous a dit qu'il avoit ete pareillement dans une 
 grande gene, qu'il y avoit dans son H6tel des gens qui I'obser oient sans cesse, 
 et qui faisaient passer tout ce qu'il disoit jusqu'ay Palais par de jeunes gens 
 disposez d'espace en espace le long de la rue." 
 
china's intercourse with KOREA. 39 
 
 VI. 
 
 MANCHU INSCRIPTION ON THE CONQUEST OF KOREA. 
 
 The Song-p^a inscription ^ of which I offer a translation in 
 this chapter, was kindly communicated to me in 1886 by the 
 late Lieut. Geo. C Foulk, U.S.N., formerly Charge d' Affaires 
 ad interim of the United States in Korea. Mr. Foulk had 
 after much difficulty obtained a rubbing of it in the three 
 languages in which it was written, Chinese, Manchu, and 
 Mongol. 
 
 Speaking of the locality in which this valuable record of 
 the past history of Korea stands, Mr. Foulk says : — 
 
 ** Descending into the valley west of the city (of Kwang 
 ju), we moved northwards along its east border to Songpha, 
 a village of historic interest on the south bank of the Seoul 
 River, 7 miles from Kwang ju and 11 from Seoul. It was 
 just behind this village that the Chinese army which 
 besieged Kwang ju had its camp, the remains of which are 
 yet visible in broken-down walls and heaps of earth in the 
 fields. On the edge of the village is a tall building of 
 graceful shape, and indicated to be official by its decorations 
 in red, containing a great marble tablet fully 12 feet high 
 and a foot thick, mounted upon the back of a gigantic 
 granite turtle. The front of the stone is closely filled 
 entirely with an inscription deeply cut in what I took to be 
 
 Manchu Tartar script characters On the back 
 
 of the stone is another inscription, only partly covering it, 
 in Chinese square characters. Outside of this building, 
 inclosed by a rough railing, is a second great granite turtle, 
 
 ^ I have adopted the name in use among Koreans to designate this celebrated 
 inscription. Song -p^ a is the Korean pronunciation of the Chinese characters 
 sung pd^ meaning ' commemorative tablet.' It would be, however, more accurate 
 to caU it the Sam-jon do inscription, from the name of the place where it stands. 
 The Chinese text of this inscription, together with a translation, has been 
 published by W. R. Carles in the Journal China Branch Royal Asiatic Society ^ 
 xxiii, pp. 1-18. 
 
40 china's intercourse with KOREA. 
 
 but without a tablet mounted on it. About the place, 
 irregularly scattered on the ground, were many dressed 
 stones, and a number of the stone posts, columns, sheep, and 
 drums seen about Corean graves. 
 
 " An officer stationed at Songpha, a Pyelchang, 
 accompanied me in my inspection of these relics. He stated 
 that after the Chinese had begun the invasion of Corea, in 
 1637, two large marble tablets covered with inscriptions 
 were brought to Corea from China by sea ; that the erection 
 of these was violently resisted by Coreans, and one was 
 destroyed ; the other was brought to Songpha, and there set 
 up as I saw it, and has been since under the protection of 
 the Corean Government. Neither the Pyelchang nor other 
 persons present could (or would) explain the inscriptions, 
 and I was told without special permission from the governor 
 of Kwang ju copies of them could not be made." ^ 
 
 Translation, 
 
 Monument commemorating the Benevolence of the 
 Emperor of the Ta-ch'ing Dynasty. 
 
 "In the first year Ts*ung-te of the Ta-Ch'ing, in the twelfth 
 month in "Winter (January, 1637), the Emperor Kuan-wen- 
 jen-sheng, being greatly incensed at our wrongdoings, 
 marched straight to the Eastern country with his army 
 which none could withstand. Then our Sovereign {Kua Chun) 
 was in (Nam) Han, trembling with fear, as one who walks on 
 ice in the Springtime before the break of day. In fifty days 
 the troops in the eastern and southern provinces were routed 
 and dispersed, and the armies of the west and north were 
 skulking among the mountains unable to advance a step. 
 In the capital provisions were exhausted. It was then that 
 the army (of the Manchu) occupied the city (as suddenly) as 
 the frosty blast sweeps away the withered autumn leaves 
 or as the brazier's fire consumes a wild goose's feather. 
 
 * See Foreign Relations of the United States, 1885, p. 326. 
 
china's INTERCOUESE with KOREA. 41 
 
 Though this had come to pass, the Emperor put no one to 
 death, but again manifested his benevolence and proclaimed 
 his will, saying : ' Come, or else we will utterly destroy you 
 by the sword, like Generals Ying and Ma/ 
 
 " Messengers bearing the imperial commands filled every 
 road. 
 
 "Then I, your Sovereign, assembled my ministers, civil and 
 military, and said to them : * I have been at peace with the 
 great country {ta pang) for ten years, but now through my 
 foolishness I have brought on me the punishment of Heaven, 
 and myriads of families have been brought to naught^ 
 through the fault of myself alone. Still, the Emperor has 
 not allowed our destruction, and has issued an edict like this : 
 how can I but obey his command, and perform my duties to 
 my ancestors above and save my people below ? ' 
 
 *' The ministers agreeing with this, they followed me several 
 tens on horseback, and coming in front of the (Manchu) 
 army I confessed their faults. 
 
 " The Emperor showed great courtesy and treated (me) with 
 kindness. As soon as he saw me his heart went out to me, 
 and his benevolence extended to all, even to the accompanying 
 officers. The ceremony being ended, I, your Sovereign, returned 
 to Seoul. The Emperor ordered the troops which had gone 
 southward to come back and march westward (to Manchuria). 
 He allayed the people's fears and exhorted them to go back 
 to their farming, and though scattered far and near like 
 starlings, they went back to their homes. Was not this 
 a great blessing ? 
 
 "Our country (hsiaopang) had offended the superior country 
 long ago by its deeds of the year i ivei (a.d. 1619), when the 
 (Korean) general Kang Hong-ip assisted the Ming with 
 troops. They were routed and he was captured. The 
 Emperor T'ai-tsu-wu only kept Hong-ip and some others, 
 and sent all the others back. 
 
 "Nothing could exceed this clemency, but our country in 
 its ignorance did not comprehend it. 
 
 ^ Lit. myriads of families (were hashed) like fishes' flesh. 
 
42 china's intercourse with KOREA. 
 
 "In the year ting mao (1627), the Emperor ordered his 
 generals to subdue our country. Our Prince and his ministers 
 fled to the islands in the sea, and sent an envo}^ to sue for 
 peace. The Emperor, bearing in mind that (Korea) was 
 a younger brother country (hsiung-ti kuo), returned the land 
 to (the reigning) family, and moreover sent back Hong-ip. 
 
 " After the submission (of Korea), relations (between it and 
 Manchuria) were free, and the hats (of both nations were 
 seen) mingling together. 
 
 " Reckless talk which had fed the fire of discord suddenly 
 made it burst forth. Our government {hsiao 2^(i>W) repri- 
 manded the border officers, but its words were not friendly, 
 and its dispatches fell into the hands of the high ministers 
 of state (of the Manchus and were submitted to the Emperor). 
 The Emperor in his great clemency pardoned this, and did 
 not at once send his troops. He first proclaimed his orders, 
 stating that he would restore tranquillity with his troops if 
 his orders were not obeyed. Again and again he carefully 
 repeated his orders, as though he held us by the ear and 
 spoke to us face to face. The Prince and ministers had no 
 means of escaping their punishment. 
 
 " Then the Emperor with his great army surrounded Nan- 
 han, and ordered one of his generals to capture first Kang do 
 (i.e. Kang-hwa Island), where the queens, the princes, and 
 the families of the high officers of the Crown were captured 
 (on it). The Emperor, however, gave orders to his officers 
 that no injury should be done them, and sent eunuchs to 
 look after and protect them. What abundance of gracious- 
 ness ! He allowed the Prince of our country, his ministers, 
 and the captives whom he had protected to return to their 
 homes. Once more the season of frost and snow had given 
 place to that of bright Spring (or of sunshine and Spring), 
 the drought had vanished before the rains. The country 
 (ch'u) which had been lost was restored again ; the ancestral 
 line (lit. ancestors) which had been cut asunder was again 
 tied together. All the thousands of It within the Eastern 
 country (i.e. Korea) were regenerated by His favour. Since 
 of old, rarely had such a thing been seen. 
 
China's intercourse with korea. 43 
 
 " The Emperor's headquarters were on the Han River to the 
 south of the San tien ferry. Here stood an altar. I, the 
 Sovereign, have therefore given orders to the Board of Works, 
 that the altar be added to and made higher, and that a stone 
 with an inscription be erected thereon, to make known to 
 all future generations that the mercy and virtue of the 
 Emperor is all-pervading like Heaven and Earth, that on 
 them not only our country for all future generations will rely, 
 but the most remote places will reverence the praiseworthy 
 humanity of the great dynasty (of Ta-Ch*ing) founded on 
 these deeds. It has no parallel ; we may consider the 
 expanse of Heaven and Earth, or the brilliancy of the sun 
 and moon, but they cannot compare to one ten thousandth 
 (of its humanity). 
 
 " This inscription vaguely and but imperfectly records it : — 
 
 ' Heaven sends down the frost and dew, 
 Bringing cold and bringing life ; 
 So also is the Emperor ; 
 
 "Wide-spreading is his majesty and his kindness. 
 The Emperor came to the East 
 With ten myriads of his men, 
 (Like) the rumbling of thunder, 
 Like (the roar of) tigers and bears — 
 The western Fan, the Ch'iung-fa, 
 The wild tribes of the !North, 
 Grasping their spears rode before.^ 
 Glorious is (the Emperor's) might. ^ 
 The Emperor, in his great mercy. 
 Graciously spoke words of kindness. 
 All the orders which he spoke, 
 While awe-inspiring, were yet kind, * 
 
 When first spoken they were not understood, 
 So we brought misery on ourselves. 
 
 ^ This line is taken from Book of Odes {Shih ching) , Pt. i, Bk. v, Ode viii. 
 
 "^ This may be a quotation from Shih ching, Pt. iv, Bk. iii, Ode v, 5. Carles 
 in his translation thinks these lines imply the presence of Hsi Fan (Tibetan) 
 troops with the Manchu army. I believe it is simply a bombastic simile 
 adapted from the classics. I know nothing about the Ch'iung (or K'iung)-fa; 
 I have never met with this name elsewhere in my readings. It may be that in 
 the present case the words chHung-fa are not used as the name of a tribe, but in 
 their ordinary sense of 'poor, needy' (lit. * poor to a hair'), and refer to the 
 western Fan {Hsi Fan) . 
 
M china's intercourse with KOREA. 
 
 Clear were the Emperor's commands ; 
 
 We awakened as from sleep. 
 
 Our Sovereign was filled with reverence, 
 
 And together with his people he returned (to obedience). 
 
 Not only did they fear (the Emperor's) might, 
 
 But they also confided in his goodness. 
 
 The Emperor commended him ; 
 
 And His kindness was great and vast his graciousness. 
 
 It brought back brightness and smiles, 
 
 And the arms of war were put away. 
 
 What has He given us ? 
 
 Noble steeds and light fur gowns ; 
 
 The people of Seoul, young men and women, 
 
 Sing songs and ballads (in his praise). 
 
 Our King's return was the Emperor's gift. 
 
 The Emperor sent back home his troops. 
 
 He has brought to life the people, 
 
 And, pitying our dismembered state. 
 
 He has exhorted us to take to our occupations. 
 
 He built up the walls of Seoul as of old. 
 
 He raised our splendid altar. 
 
 It was as flesh reappearing on dried bones, 
 
 Or Winter vanishing before returning Spring. 
 
 There is a mighty block of stone 
 
 At the head of the great river {Ta chiang)^ 
 
 And for ten thousand years Sam Ham ^ 
 
 Will enjoy the protection of the Emperor. 
 
 * Erected in the fourth year of Ch'ung-te, twelfth month, eighth 
 day (January, 1640). 
 
 * The Minister Yo I-ch*i with the title of Ka-san tai-pu, a Vice- 
 President of the first x^lass {Champan) of the Board of Kites, and 
 Tong-chi-wi-kon Pusa, composed (this) under royal instructions. 
 
 \ The Minister Wo Syun with the title of Cha-hon tai-pu, a Vice- 
 President of the second class (Pan-z), of the mayoralty of Seoul 
 (Han-cheng pu), traced the characters under royal instructions. 
 
 ' The Minister Ni Kyong-shiik with the title of Cha-hon tai-pu. 
 President (Fan-so) of the Board of Civil Office, and Chancellor 
 of the Academy {Hong-mun kuan)^ Chancellor of the College for 
 literary studies {HaJc-ye-mmt kuan), and Ki-syong Kyun-sa wrote 
 the seal characters (on the headline) under royal instructions.' " 
 
45 
 
 SOME LAWS AND CUSTOMS OF KOEEA. 
 
 Korea, for some inexplicable reason, has repelled scientific 
 research. Those who have been in the best position to 
 inquire into its history, institutions, and ethnology, have 
 either kept their discoveries to themselves or else have 
 abandoned in disgust researches which were surrounded by 
 endless unforeseen obstacles, arising generally from the 
 indolent, apathetic character of the natives, who cannot 
 understand our restless curiosity and waste of energy in 
 apparent idle inquiry. This must be my apology for offering 
 these discursory notes, most of which were jotted down from 
 day to day during my residence at Seoul as United States 
 Charge d' Affaires in 1886-7, as they were furnished me by 
 natives or Chinese friends, or as I stumbled across them 
 in reading Korean or Chinese books. I should add that 
 some of the laws and regulations I mention are probably 
 no longer in force, for Korea has undergone considerable 
 changes since the ending of the Chino-Japaoese war of 
 1894-95. 
 
 In 1871 the King of Korea, writing to his suzerain, the 
 Emperor of China, said of his country : " Its educated men 
 observe and practise the teachings of Confucius and of "Wen 
 Wang ; its common people cultivate pulse and millet and 
 get their wealth in silk and hemp, and thus studying 
 frugality, in its poverty the country preserves its supplies, 
 and its Government reposes in safety on its own basis." 
 
 Confucianism has thoroughly permeated the country both 
 politically and socially, and Chinese modes of thought, 
 Chinese literature and culture of the T'ang and Ming periods, 
 have made Korea what it is. The Chinese of a thousand 
 years ago is the groundwork of the present Sinico-Korean 
 style of literature, the Chinese institutions of the Ming 
 Dynasty those on which the Institutes of the reigning 
 dynasty of Chosen are framed. 
 
 Passing over the subject of the political organization of 
 
 J 
 
46 china's intercourse with KOREA. 
 
 the kingdom, which is tolerably well known from previously- 
 published works/ a few words are not amiss on the subject 
 of the revenue of the State, and these I take from the 
 Dynastic Institutes {Tajon hoi-t'ong). 
 
 As in China, the principal source of revenue is a land-tax, 
 paid in kind and fixed annually according to the condition 
 of the crops, fields situated along the sea-coast or rivers and 
 subject to flooding paying about half the amount levied on 
 highland culture. The grain (mostly rice) thus collected 
 in governmental granaries in the different provincial capitals 
 and at Seoul is used in the payment of salaries and for other 
 official expenditures. The provinces, moreover, pay into the 
 treasury a fixed tribute of horses, rice, hempen cloth, paper, 
 ginseng, dried fish, etc., or their value in copper cash.^ 
 These products, or at least some of them, such as paper, are 
 also used in lieu of money, which is ver}^ scarce, in payment of 
 salaries, one piece of common hemp cloth being exchangeable 
 for twenty sheets of paper, one quart of rice for one sheet. 
 
 All mechanics, artisans, and pedlars are taxed, according 
 to the nature of their business, at a certain number of sheets 
 of paper or pieces of hemp cloth. All junks and fishing- 
 boats have to pay a tax, the latter kind from 100 to 200 
 fish, according to the size of the craft. 
 
 It is to be noted that nowhere are payments in silver or 
 any other metal, save occasionally copper cash, mentioned 
 in the Korean Institutes, and even then these latter are not 
 the standard unit of value, but rather the sheet of paper. 
 
 The sale of ginseng is a royal monopoly ; so it is not 
 surprising to find regulations for preventing the illicit 
 
 1 See C. W. Campbell, Report on a Journey in North Corea, pp. 16-18 ; 
 Dallet, Histoire de VEglise de Coree, i, p. xxxiii at seq. ; and F. Scherzer, 
 Tchao-sien-tche, Memoire sur la Coree (in Journal Asiat., 1885), p. 178. 
 
 2 On the currency of Korea, see C. T. Gardner, The Coinage of Corea [Journ. 
 China branch Roy. Asiat. Soc, xxvii, pp. 72-130). Dallet (op. sup. cit., i, 
 p. clxxxv) says that during the dynasties preceding the present one there was 
 a paper money in the form of an arrow-head, worth about three sheets of paper. 
 Hamel, writing of Korea of the middle of the seventeenth century, says : '* They 
 know no money but their casts, and those pass only on the frontiers of China. 
 They pay silver by weight in little ingots, like those we bring from Japan" 
 {Description, p. 741). The word casts is our cash, John Davis (a.d. 1600), in 
 Purchas, i, p. 117, writes the word caxas. See H. Yule, Glossary of Reference, 
 p. 128. 
 
china's intercourse with KOREA. 47 
 
 purchase of this root or its sale by the farmers who grow 
 it, except at authorized places in the province of Kuan-ting. 
 From the sale of ginseng the king derives an annual revenue 
 roughly estimated at S 250,000, U.S. currency.^ 
 
 Among the most unexpected taxes levied on tradespeople 
 is one on sorceresses {muPang) arriving at the capital, where 
 they had until recently to pay to the Board of E-evenue 
 a certain number of logs or sticks of wood ; for what purpose 
 is not said, but certainly not to burn them with later on, 
 for they are an influential class of the community. 
 
 In Korea, as in China, banks and money-changers are 
 numerous, but the Government exercises no control over 
 their business, in so far as private depositors and the issue 
 of notes are concerned. In Korea, however, no money- 
 changer can open a shop in the capital without the permission 
 of the Treasury department, and in case he makes use of 
 debased coin his shop is closed. 
 
 Passing to the question of Korean laws and modes of 
 procedure, we find that some of their provisions show an 
 enlightened spirit not always present among nations that 
 lay claim to a much higher civilization. Thus, in cases 
 of murder, the punishment being death, the testimony of 
 persons under 16 years of age cannot be introduced as 
 evidence. An insane person or deaf mute is not punished 
 with death for murder, but only exiled to a remote locality. ^ 
 Written evidence is necessary for the recovery of debts. 
 
 ^ There are two kinds of ginseng {in sam), the red {honff sum) and white 
 {paJc sam) ; the former is steamed in closed vessels and then dried, while the 
 latter, which is held to be better, is only sun-dried. There is another variety 
 called mountain ginseng {san sam), which is exceedingly rare and greatly priced. 
 See Geo. C. Foulk's Report on the Ginseng of Korea in Foreign Relations of the 
 United States for 1885, p. 328 et seq., also Foreign Relations for 1886, p. 214. 
 In the Peking Gazette for Nov. 21st, 1886, we read that the Governor of Kirin 
 had collected for the use of the Emperor of China 9 ounces of wild (i.e. moimtain) 
 gmseng at a cost of 2*185 taels of silver, which at the then rate of exchange was 
 about equivalent to S 2*950 U.S. money. See also Peking Gazette, Nov. 17th, 
 1883, et passim. Hamel (op. sup. cit., p. 734) calls ginseng nisy, proba,bly an 
 imperfect transcription of the Korean in sam. See also on the subject of ginseng, 
 W. R. Carles, Report of a Journey in the North of Corea, p. 3 {Brit. Dipl. and 
 Com. Reports, Corea, No. 2, 1885) ; also U.S. Consular Reports, xiv, pp. 223-241, 
 and Dallet, op. sup. cit., i, p. vii. 
 
 2 In China a lunatic who murders his father or mother is put to death by 
 the ling chHh method. See Peking Gazette, July 12th and Aug. 23rd, 1875, 
 et passim. 
 
48 china's intercourse with KOREA. 
 
 Appeals from the provincial judges to the Board of 
 Punishments and from it to the sovereign are allowed. In 
 petitioning the king two methods are employed. In one 
 the petitioner, bearing his prayer, written on a large roll of 
 the finest paper and bound round with red strips, goes to 
 the Palace gate, spreads his mat, and there takes his seat, the 
 petition resting upright against the wall. In this position 
 he remains until some one is sent out from the Palace to 
 take his petition and present it to the king. Another mode 
 of petitioning is for a person to take an empty brass rice 
 bowl and strike it as the king passes along in one of his 
 progresses. Should the king choose to receive the petition, 
 the procession stops and it is presented to him then and there. 
 
 With the first mode of petitioning we may possibly 
 compare the Hindu institution (now forbidden by law) of 
 " sitting dharna^^ consisting in staying at one's debtor's door 
 and fasting till he pays, and the Irish method of "fasting 
 upon a person," recognized by the old Brehon laws as a 
 legal method. With the second mode of petitioning I can 
 only compare the Chinese mode of " clamouring for justice " 
 {han yuan)} 
 
 Crime is punished in Korea by decapitation, bastinado 
 (subdivided into heavy and light), and banishment ; but, as 
 in most Asiatic countries, a money commutation is allowed 
 in all save capital cases. Thus we find that two pieces of 
 hemp cloth or seven ounces of silver is the fine, instead of 
 one hundred blows, or one year's banishment, ten pieces 
 of hemp cloth, or thirty-fi\z^ ounces of silver in lieu of one 
 year's exile to the remotest frontiers of the realm, and so on. 
 
 Hamel (middle of seventeenth century) says : ** He that 
 rebels against the King is destroy'd, with all his race, 
 his houses are thrown down, and no man does ever rebuild 
 'em, and all his goods forfeited, and sometimes given to 
 
 1 " In China an unrelieved suitor may gather his friends together, and, sitting 
 round the residence of the judge, howl as loud as they can. This custom is called 
 han yuan. Sometimes a wronged man, out of spite {huai puan), will commit 
 suicide to avenge himself (pao chu) on the wrongdoer, the idea being that the 
 ghost of the oppressed will haunt the oppressor." (Chris. Gardner in Journ. 
 Roy. Asiat. Soc, n.s., xv, p. 231.) 
 
CHINA'S INTERCOUESE WITH KOREA. 49 
 
 some private person. ... If a woman kills her 
 husband, she 's buried alive up to her shoulders, in 
 a highway that is much frequented, and by her is laid 
 an axe, with which all that pass by, and are not noble, 
 are obliged to give her a stroke on the head till she's 
 dead. The judges of the town where this happens are 
 suspended for a while ; the governor is taken away, and t' is 
 made subordinate to another government, or, at best, only 
 a private gentleman is left to command in it. . . . The 
 man that kills his wife and proves he has cause so to do, as 
 for catching her in adultery, or any other heinous fault, is in 
 no danger for so doing. If the woman so kill'd was a slave, 
 the penalty is to pay three times her value to the owner. 
 Slaves that kill their masters are cruelly tormented to death, 
 but they look upon it as nothing for a master to kill his 
 slave, though it be upon a slight account. Thus they 
 punish murder. After they have long trampled upon the 
 criminal, they pour vinegar on the putrify'd carcase, which 
 they then pour down the offender's throat thro' a funnel, 
 and when he is full, they beat him on the belly with cudgels 
 till he bursts. Thieves are trampled to death. ... If 
 a single man is found a-bed with a married woman, he is 
 stripp'd naked to a little pair of drawers, then daubing his 
 face with lime, they run an arrow through each ear, and 
 fasten a little drum on his back, which they beat at all the 
 cross streets to expose him to shame. This punishment 
 ends in forty or fifty strokes of a cudgel on the man's bare 
 buttocks, but the woman receives 'em with drawers on. . . . 
 If a married man be taken lying with another man's wife, he 
 is to suffer death . . . and the criminal's father, if living, 
 or else his nearest relation, must be the executioner. The 
 offender is to choose what death he will die, but generally 
 the men desire to be run thro' the back, and the women to 
 have their throat cut. . . . The slightest punishment 
 in that country is to be bastinado'd on the bare buttocks, 
 or on the calfs of the legs." ^ 
 
 Neither party in a suit can be represented or assisted by 
 1 Description, pp. 736-737. Cf. Dallet, op. sup. cit., i, p. Iviii et seq. 
 
 4 
 
50 china's intercourse with KOREA. 
 
 an attorney, nor is any one allowed to defend a person accused 
 of a crime. Such an offence is punishable with a hundred 
 blows and banishment to the frontier. 
 
 The limit of time within which a civil suit can be brought 
 against a person is fixed at 60 years in case serious interests 
 are involved, and at 30 for cases of small importance. 
 
 Korean society being organized according to Confucian 
 ideas, we find the rights of parents over children, of elder 
 over younger brothers, etc., as firmly established in this 
 country as in China, and punishments graduated accordingly. 
 Thus a parent killing his child, or an elder his younger 
 brother, does not commit a capital offence, but is punished 
 with a beating and exile. But if a son kills a father or an 
 elder brother, or even a man his wife's parents, he is beheaded 
 at once. 
 
 In Korea, as in China, we find that magistrates or other 
 local oJBficers hold an inquest on all persons deceased, and 
 that certificates of decease are given by them to the family. 
 
 Slavery, in one form or other, has existed in Korea, as in 
 China, from the remote periods of its history. Criminals and 
 female children sold by their parents formed the bulk of this 
 class. Cases have occurred where husbands sold their wives 
 to acquit a debt, but the law forbade this practice, as it did 
 also that of selling one's fields for a like purpose. A man 
 marrying a slave owned the children she bore him, but the 
 males became free on reaching their majority.^ The rights 
 of owners over their slaves were limited by law. Thus a slave 
 might not be put to death by his owner before the latter had 
 obtained the permission of the Board of Punishments if he 
 resided within Seoul, or of the high provincial authorities 
 if living elsewhere. Slaves, moreover, enjoyed certain civil 
 rights ; for example, one might bring an action against 
 another to obtain damages or recover debts.^ 
 
 ^ Hamel [Description, p. 735) says the issue of a slave woman by a freeman 
 or of a free woman by a slave are also slaves, and that children of slaves belonged 
 to the owner of the mother. Cf. also Dallet, op. sup. cit., i, p. cxiv. 
 
 2 On the 6th of February, 1886, the King of Korea abolished the hereditary 
 transmission of slaves and the guilds for furnishing slave labour to the palaces- 
 and Government offices, see Foreign Relations of the United States for 1886,. 
 p. 213. 
 
china's intercourse with KOREA. 51 
 
 Turning now to tlie subject of the measures adopted by 
 the Government for developing the resources of the country 
 and for promoting its prosperity, it is pleasing to note its 
 endeavours (at least on paper) to increase the production 
 of silk, rewards being given to localities that plant mulberry- 
 trees. The planting of lacquer and fruit trees was also 
 sedulously fostered, and the provisions made in the Dynastic 
 Institutes for encouraging the plantation of forest trees 
 are worthy of our emulation. In the early Spring and late 
 Autumn of each year men were sent to the mountains to 
 plant pine and other varieties of trees, and the localities 
 which omitted having this done incurred a severe penalty. 
 Pine nurseries, situated along the coast, provided the 
 necessary saplings, and monthly inspections were made to see 
 that none of the timber was cut. 
 
 The Board of Works, among its functions, had to see that 
 the trades and industries of the country did not fall off in 
 importance, and that the workmen in each branch and the 
 labourers in the fields were kept at certain fixed numbers, 
 the whole population, exclusive of the noble and middle 
 classes, being divided up among the different avocations 
 recognized in the country, the members of each family 
 working, from father to son, at a certain trade, from which 
 they might not depart, such as artisan, trader, farmer, 
 fisherman, etc. 
 
 In this connection it is proper to remark that most of 
 the native trade was, and still is, controlled by merchant 
 guilds, who are under the supervision of a high officer of the 
 State. ^ The most powerful guild is that of the pedlars or 
 Pu-syang hoi. 
 
 Beside the taxes and imposts referred to previously, the 
 people owe the Government a personal service or corvee,^ 
 calculated at the rate of six days a year for every eight 
 acres owned or, rather, under cultivation. A person may, 
 however, work in any one year for a longer period and have 
 
 ^ Korean Repository, ii, pp. 41-48. 
 
 2 On the corvee in Korea, see C. "W. Campbell, Report of a Journey in North 
 Corea, p. 4. 
 
52 china's intercourse with KOREA. 
 
 himself credited with the number of days in excess for the 
 following years. All persons belonging to the common herd 
 are corveahle until the age of 60.^ 
 
 The dress of the Korean is so familiar to us that a descrip- 
 tion of it is hardly necessary. A long full gown, usually 
 white, thick wadded socks, a light bamboo woven hat, and 
 a fillet tightly bound around the head are its distinctive 
 features. The origin of this dress is less well known, and 
 though the stories told me concerning it may not be true, 
 they are universally accepted by the people. 
 
 Koreans have ever been fond of drinking to excess, and 
 when under the influence of liquor are quarrelsome in the 
 extreme. When the present dynasty was young,^ some four 
 hundred years ago, one of the sovereigns devised the following 
 plan for putting a stop to the continual fighting and drunken 
 brawls which disgraced the country. He decreed that all 
 his male subjects should wear light earthenware hats with 
 very broad brims, in shape like those of the present day. 
 To protect the head from chafing against the hard surface 
 of this headgear a light padded cap was worn underneath 
 it. Korean rooms are small, not over eight feet square, 
 and as the hat was to be always worn, except when lying 
 down, not more than four persons could sit in one apartment 
 at the same time. If anyone was found with a broken hat, 
 the accident was attributed to the wearer having been 
 engaged in a brawl, and he was beaten. This drastic measure 
 soon had a salutary efiect, but the style of headdress had 
 
 ^ In hamlets too small to demand the presence of an official, the collection of 
 taxes devolves on the head of the tithing. " The tithing-men are divided into 
 three classes: (1) the ' Sa-im,' (2) the ' Tjoa-shang/ and (3) the ' Tson-en,' the 
 first of whom is chosen by the magistrate and the two latter by the villagers. 
 The ' Sa-im ' keeps the register of the inhabitants in a book called ' Song-tchaik,' 
 a copy of which is sent to the magistrate, and therein records all deaths and 
 births ; the ' Tjoa-shang ' attends to public matters, such as the repair of roads 
 and bridges, and reports deaths and births to the ' Sa-im ' ; while the 
 ' Tson-en ' are instructed with the settlement of minor disputes among the 
 villagers, the amount of land-tax due from each household, and the subscription 
 to be raised for the erection of tablets to officials, and similar public expenditure." 
 (W. R. Carles, op. sup. cit., p. 21. Cf. C. W. Campbell, op. sup. cit., 
 pp. 16-18.) 
 
 2 Jas. S. Gale, in the Korean Repository, ii, p. 322, places the introduction of 
 these hats in the reign of the semi-historical Keui-ja (Ki-tzu) in the twelfth 
 century b.c. 
 

 
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china's intercourse with KOREA. 53 
 
 become popular, and though the material of the hat and the 
 cap have been changed and are made exceedingly light, the 
 shape has remained in vogue ever since. 
 
 The gowns which the women wear over their heads have, it 
 is said, their origin in their desire to be ready at any moment 
 to turn them into clothes for soldiers. To a like end the 
 quilts used in houses are all made of red and green stuff, 
 red being used for the sleeves of soldiers* gowns, so that 
 when they wipe their dripping swords on them the blood 
 may not show. 
 
 It may here be noted that Korean officials [yanghan) do 
 not wear, as do the Chinese, a globule on their hats, varying 
 in substance according to their rank, but small buttons or 
 rather rings fastened behind the ears to the strings of their 
 head fillet, those of officers of the highest rank being of 
 embossed gold. Generals wear a jade ornament on the top 
 of their hats, carved to represent a bird, if I remember rightly. 
 
 White garments in Korea, as in many other Asiatic 
 countries, are those of mourning,^ but the outer every-day 
 gowns of nearly all the people are of that colour at the 
 present day. It is said that in the early part of this century 
 three kings died in rapid succession, and as it is obligatory 
 on all the people to put on and wear for three years white 
 clothes on the death of the king, the country was in mourning 
 for such a long time that dyers ceased their work and no 
 more coloured clothes were found when the period of mourning 
 was at an end. Some years ago Prince Min Yung-ik persuaded 
 the present Emperor to issue a decree allowing the people to 
 wear coloured clothes and to reduce the size of their wide- 
 flowing sleeves (which had also been made obligatory in 
 the early days of this dynasty to make fighting more 
 difficult), and adopt the narrower and more commodious 
 Chinese pattern. But white is still the prevailing colour 
 of dress seen everywhere, and a worse one could not be 
 found, for not being a neat people, the Koreans' clothes are 
 invariably dirty. Korean washing and ironing are done 
 in a peculiar and expensive way. The clothes are ripped 
 1 See on this subject, Dr. E. B. Landis, Mourning and Burial Eites in Korea. 
 
54 china's intercourse with KOREA. 
 
 to pieces, and, after being washed and paddled in some 
 stream, are given a fine gloss by being pounded with a pair 
 of small clubs over a smooth, rounded stone. I have been 
 told that to clean an ordinary gown costs about seventy-five 
 cents, a large sum for a poor Korean, and for a fine silk one 
 the expense is not less than seven dollars. 
 
 To every Korean, man or woman, the most important and 
 seemingly indispensable article of personal apparel is the 
 tobacco pipe,^ a light metallic bowl, with a stem from three 
 to five feet long, in which they commonly smoke leaves of 
 tobacco moistened with spittle and rolled in the shape 
 of a cigar.2 The use of this pipe has perhaps contributed 
 not a little to make this people what they are, inveterate 
 procrastinators and happy - go - lucky loafers, for work is 
 impossible with this long, unwieldy instrument functioning, 
 and life is apparently not worth living when it is not in 
 their mouths. Time is even reckoned by them by the 
 number of pipes smoked. Thus you will hear them say 
 " han tae man mokii torawatta " (" he only stopped long enough 
 to smoke one pipe "). 
 
 Like the Japanese, the Koreans have but little religious 
 sentiment, but the devil is an important personage,^ and 
 
 * Speaking of tobacco, Hamel, writing of the middle of the seventeenth century, 
 says : ** Within these fifty or sixty years, since when the Japanese taught them to 
 plant tobacco, to dress and make use of it, for till then it was unknown to them 
 . . . . They take so much at present that the very children practise it at 
 four or five years of age, and there are very few men or women among them that 
 do not smoke. When first brought them they bought it for its weight in silver." 
 {Deseriptiony p. 741.) 
 
 2 The people of Ssii-ch'uan in Western China smoke tobacco in exactly the 
 same fashion. 
 
 3 A Chinese writer of the Ming period says of this people : " In their habits 
 they are apathetic and idle ; they greatly honour bonzes and revere the devils ; 
 they do not like to kill .... The deportment of aU classes is eminently 
 dignified" (Ssti-I k'ao, Bk. i, p. 6). Mr. James Scott says of the Koreans that 
 they are ''patient and docile ; free from all animus or hauteur against Europeans ; 
 conscious of their national weakness ; poor and oppressed ; the slaves of a selfish, 
 grinding ofiicialdom, but capable under a just government of intellectual develop- 
 ment and national progress. Their one national weakness, — a fondness for 
 alcohol and tobacco ; their one pleasure and enjoyment, — to saunter sightseeing 
 over hUl and valley, the term kukyerig (picnic) being part and parcel of their 
 daily life. In religion the Koreans would appear to have none — only a dead level 
 of Confucian philosophy or materialism." See Journal of the China Branch of 
 the Royal Asiatic Society, n.s., xxviii, p. 231. Hamel is as accurate in his 
 estimate of the Korean character as he is elsewhere in his writing. He says of 
 them : " The Coresians are very much addicted to stealing, and so apt to cheat 
 
china's intercourse with KOREA. 55 
 
 they have many ceremonies for exorcising him or them, for 
 devils and wicked spirits innumerable infest the land, and 
 the muf'ang or sorceresses are a numerous and influential 
 class among them.^ Wearing an ornament of silver or 
 carrying some silver about the person is said to keep the 
 devils away. 
 
 Among the^eople there are not a few who obtain power 
 over evil spirits. It is done as follows: The would-be 
 sorcerer goes for a hundred consecutive nights to some 
 secluded glen and recites prayers and spells. On the 
 ninety-seventh night the demons assail the neophyte, but 
 if he conquers he obtains on the ninety-eighth night power 
 over them, and by the hundredth he is able to evoke or 
 exorcise them at his will. 
 
 The belief in the existence of a soul is general, as may 
 be gathered from the fact that Koreans say that in sleep 
 it goes out of the body, and if a piece of paper is put over 
 the face of the sleeper he will surely die, for his soul cannot 
 find its way back into him again. Transmigration is also 
 a recognized doctrine among Koreans. The following 
 practice prevails among the common people for finding out 
 in what form a person is about to transmigrate : — 
 
 Koreans do not put dry salt into their food, but, like many 
 Polynesian races, use salt water instead ; so over the bowl 
 in which brine is kept a dish is laid, and on it are strewn 
 fine ashes, the whole being covered with a sieve. As soon 
 
 and lye that there is no trusting of them . . . Nevertheless they are silly 
 and credulous . . . They are an effeminate people, and show very little 
 courage and resolution when they are put to it . , . They are not asham'd 
 of cowardice, and lament the misfortune of those that must fight . . . They 
 abhor blood, and fly when they meet with any. They are much afraid of the 
 sick, and particularly those that have contagious distempers . . . When 
 there is a plague in one town or village, the avenues to it are shut up with 
 a hedge of briars and brambles, and they lay some on the tops of the houses 
 where there are any sick, that all people may know it." {Description, p. 740.) 
 
 1 Cf. Hamel, op. sup. cit., p. 740 : *' The poor people make use of blind men 
 and conjurors, in whom they once repos'd such great confidence that they follow'd 
 them everywhere, cross rivers and rocks, and particularly into the temples of the 
 idols, where they call'd upon the de\ils. But this custom was abolish'd by 
 the King's order in the year 1662." On fortune-telling by blind men, see 
 DaUet, op. sup. cit., i, p. cxlix. Dr. E. B. Landis, in his valuable paper 
 entitled Notes on the Exorcism of Spirits in Korea, gives a list of 36 classes of 
 spirits which are exorcised. 
 
56 chi:j^a's intercourse with xorea. 
 
 as a person is dead the sieve is raised and the ashes examined. 
 If traces of a small human foot are found on them the 
 deceased has gone to inhabit another human form. If 
 serpentine or fine lines are seen he has become a reptile or 
 some crawling or creeping animal. 
 
 Another superstition, the origin of which is not quite clear 
 to me, is that if a cat jumps over a corpse it wijl sit up. To 
 make it resume its recumbent position a person must strike 
 its left cheek with his left hand and kick it with his left foot. 
 
 Korean medical science ^ and practice appear to be chiefly 
 derived from China, but some of the ideas concerning the 
 causes of disease are, I think, quite original. Cholera, a 
 common and much dreaded disease among them, is known as 
 the " rat in the stomach disease,'* it being caused by a rat 
 which, crawling up through the muscles of the leg, produces 
 the violent muscular contractions noticed in the early stages 
 of the malady. When the rat gets into the patient's 
 stomach death ensues. 
 
 Soup made of dog's flesh is one of the favourite tonics, 
 blood-purifiers, and cures for sore throat, etc. It is, in 
 short, the panacea of Korean doctors, and everyone considers 
 it a duty to take a bowl of it at least once a year to ensure 
 good health. In December, 1884, when Prince Min Yung-ik 
 was cut down by revolutionists and dangerously wounded, 
 the native doctors tried to bring about his recovery by giving 
 him dog soup. 
 
 Another of the popular notions of this people which should 
 be called to the attention of all parents with small children 
 is that of making them ea^ walnuts when sufiering from 
 indigestion caused by swallowing copper cash. Walnuts are 
 said to dissolve the copper, or rather to cause it to crumble 
 into small pieces, and I have seen a Korean demonstrate the 
 accuracy of this by crushing a cash in his mouth with 
 
 ^ On Korean medical science, see Dallet, op. sup. cit., i, p. clxxx et seq., and 
 E. B. Landis, Notes from the Korean Pharmacopoea. On the Korean treatment 
 of smallpox, see Dallet, op. sup. cit., i, p. cxlviii. Children suffering with the 
 disease, he says, are supposed to have second sight and hold intercourse with the 
 spirits. 
 
china's intercourse with KOREA. 67 
 
 walnuts ; but good teeth and bad copper are quite sufficient 
 to explain the mystery. 
 
 Korea, since the Manchu invasion, in the first half of the 
 seventeenth century, has adopted the Chinese almanac,^ and 
 the new year begins somewhere between the middle of 
 January and the middle of February. There is, however, a 
 feast celebrated in the eleventh moon which possibly marks 
 the end of the year as it used to be reckoned before that 
 time. This festivity, known as Tong-ji-tal, is celebrated 
 with banquets in which hot dishes play an important role, 
 especially one made of rice and peas and called pa-chuk. 
 When the people have finished eating this dish they say the 
 year is at an end. Some of the food is stuck against the 
 door as an offering to the spirits and devils to propitiate 
 them or keep them away. 
 
 During a certain night, known as Chu-il, in the twelfth 
 moon, the palace eunuchs, of whom there are some 300, 
 perform a ceremony supposed to secure bountiful crops in 
 the ensuing year. They chant in chorus prayers, swinging 
 burning torches around them the while. This is said to 
 be symbolical of burning the dead grass, so as to destroy the 
 field mice and other vermin. 
 
 On New Year's eve the devils are driven out of the towns 
 by firing off guns and crackers, a custom also observed 
 throughout China. 
 
 New Year is celebrated in Korea, much as it is in China, 
 by making congratulatory visits and by family gatherings.^ 
 The fifteenth of the first moon (known as the Feast of 
 Lanterns in China) is the most important festival of the 
 year. Among the distinctly Korean customs connected 
 with it is that of throwing into the street before one's house 
 a little straw doll in which a few cash have been put. This 
 
 ^ On tlie Korean almanac, see the interesting paper in the Korean Repository, n, 
 pp. 68-73, where may also be found (p. 73) some facts on the subject of Korean 
 physicians and apothecaries, and the different positions of one's body spirit each 
 day of the month. On the first day of each month this spirit {chuk-il in sin) is 
 in the big toes, on the fifteenth throughout the whole body, and on the thirtieth 
 in the heels. 
 
 2 On the New Tear festivities, see Dallet, op. sup. cit., i, p. clxiv. 
 
 5 
 
58 china's intercourse with KOREA. 
 
 vicarious offering carries with it all one's ills and troubles, 
 and whoever picks it up takes them to himself. Others 
 paint images on paper, and beside it write their bodily and 
 mental troubles ; it is then carried by an urchin to the 
 centre of the town and there burnt. 
 
 Kite-flying, a favourite amusement of the people (in 
 which each one tries to cut with the string of his kite that 
 of some other person), comes to an end on the fourteenth of 
 the first moon. On that day it is common for people to 
 write the names of their ills on a kite, and he who cuts it 
 loose takes them all on himself.^ 
 
 On the fifteenth, everyone should walk over some bridge. 
 * Bridge ' and * leg * are homophonous words in Korean 
 {tari)y and it is believed that if one crosses a bridge on this 
 day he will have no pains in his feet or legs during the year. 
 
 During the day Buddhist monks recite liturgies in the 
 different official residences and hold ceremonies in their 
 temples, and this, I believe, is the only day of the year when 
 they are allowed to come into the capital. 
 
 On the night of the fifteenth, round pieces of paper, either 
 red or white (representations of the moon), held perpen- 
 dicularly in split sticks, are placed on the tops of all the 
 houses, and those who have been forewarned by fortune- 
 tellers ^ of impending evil pray to the moon to remove it. 
 
 Of the other yearly feasts the thirdriiay of the third mt)on 
 is called Han sik or " return of the swallows." It is said to 
 be a good day for planting pumpkins. If a girl plant one, 
 then the number of fruit on the vine will indicate the 
 number of children she will bear. 
 
 The fifth day of the fifth moon is called Tano nal. 
 Ancestors are then worshipped, and swings are put up in 
 
 ^ On the subject of Korean kites, see Stewart Culin, Korean Games, p. 9. 
 
 2 Dr. H. N. Allen, U.S. Minister to Korea, has told me that one of the most 
 popular modes of fortune -telling is the following : — A precocious child dies, its 
 spirit roams about until finally it asks some old woman or mut'ang to arrange 
 a clean bottle for it to enter, when the spirit comes into it with a whistling 
 sound, after which the hag places a spray of artificial flowers in the neck of the 
 bottle, and lets the people know that she has a spirit at her command. People 
 come, and after paying her they tell her what they wish to know, and she 
 questions the spirit, when a whistling sound proceeds from the bottle and the 
 leaves shake. The hag then interprets the message. 
 
china's intercourse with KOREA. 59 
 
 the yards of most houses for the amusement of the people. 
 The women on this day may go about the streets ; during 
 the rest of the year they may go out only after dark. 
 Dressed in their prettiest clothes, they visit the different 
 houses and amuse themselves swinging. The swing is said 
 to convey the idea of keeping cool in the approaching Summer. 
 It is one of the most popular feasts of the year. 
 
 On two days in the fifth and sixth moons, and twenty-two 
 days apart, called pok nal, dog-flesh soup is eaten. If it 
 rains on either of these days the jujube blossoms will fall, 
 and there will be little fruit that year. 
 
 On the seventh day of the seventh moon Korean children 
 drive away the magpies to make them go form in the skies 
 the bird bridge across the milky way on which the star 
 goddess and her lover raeet.^ 
 
 The fifteenth of the seventh moon is celebrated in Buddhist 
 temples as the birthday of the Buddha. 
 
 The eighth of the eighth moon is the children's great 
 feast, and is celebrated by all those who have any. Poles 
 are set up, and on them are fixed flags during the day and 
 lanterns at night. Lanterns are also hung about the houses 
 in which children have been born in the year, and paper 
 fish attached to the poles in the courtyards. On this day 
 the people eat the fish called tai (the bonita). They watch 
 at night candles burning. If they are entirely consumed 
 the life of the child born that year will be long ; if but 
 a portion only of them burns it will be proportionately 
 shorter. This feast is also kept in Japan. 
 
 The ninth of the ninth moon is Ka-il^ and is celebrated 
 as the autumnal equinox, when the swallows fly homeward 
 to their king in the south country {Rang nam hick). The 
 chrysanthemum flower opens this day, and is put in the 
 wine-cup to flavour the drink. This feast is, I believe, of 
 Japanese origin. 
 
 1 See Korean Repository, ii, pp. 62-67. The legend on which this custom is 
 founded is common also to China and Japan. The sixteenth of the seventh 
 month is a national feast, the anniversary of the founding of the present dynasty 
 by Tah-cho. The twenty-fourth of the same month is the present Emperor's 
 birthday ; it is also a national festival. 
 
60 china's intercourse with KOREA. 
 
 Buddhism was introduced into Korea in a.d. 372 ; 
 curiously enough, it is much less like the form of that 
 religion obtaining in China — at least in the church ceremonies, 
 if not in its dogmas — than is even the Japanese. It presents 
 many curious analogies with the Tibetan form of Buddhism, 
 and in the style of church architecture, painting, etc., it 
 has certainly been influenced by it. Several of the feasts 
 above noticed are probably of Buddhist origin ; others are 
 Chinese or Japanese ; but in most of them a certain 
 distinctive national element is perceptible which makes them 
 worthy of our notice. The prominence given to exorcising 
 in Korea is characteristic of Lamaism, but is nowise of 
 Chinese Buddhism, and although it may have been introduced 
 with the Buddhist religion, I am inclined to believe that it is 
 coeval with the earliest existence of this people. 
 
 As further showing the close connection between Korean 
 and Tibetan Buddhism, I note that in the Korean Buddhist 
 classic entitled Chyei syek, or "the Classic of the Rosary," 
 it is said : " When you begin chanting the Rosary repeat 
 Om Akcho Svaha twenty-one times. When you string the 
 beads, after each one repeat Om Mani Padmi Hum twenty- 
 one times, and after you have finished, repeat Om Vairochana 
 Svaha twenty-one times." ^ These three formulas are peculiar 
 to Tibetan Lamaism, and are not, I believe, known to Chinese 
 Buddhism. 
 
 * See Korean Repository, ii, 25. 
 
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