뉴스레터

"Making friends with face rather than heart is acquaintance, and making friends with heart rather than face is fellowship. Given a friendship with a true heart, a place millions of miles away would feel like the yard of your own house, and times millions of years apart would feel like from morning to evening. So why obsessed with knowing faces and the interval between getting together and scattering?"

From Yeosuseokchon (輿帥石村) by Hong Gyeong-Mo

The above is a passage from the letter that civil official and scholar Hong Gyeong-mo (洪敬謀, 1774-1851) gave to the Chinese scholar Gi Suyu (紀樹蕤) during his trip to Yenjing. In this passage, attention is given to making friends with people from another country, which is China. During his trip to Yenjing, Chusa (秋史) Kim Jung-hee (金正喜, 1786-1856) also had such fellowship with leading Chinese scholars in arts and sciences, such as Weng Fang-gang (翁方綱, 1733-1818) and Ruan Yuan (阮元, 1765-1848). This 24-year-old fledgling scholar from Korea made friends with them despite the age difference, and saw for himself the essence of evidential research during the Qing Dynasty of China. Prior to the trip, Chusa already knew the trend of the Chinese academia better than anyone else because he had learned it from his teacher Park Je-ga (朴齊家). Chusa's competence in arts and sciences was fully demonstrated in the discussions with Weng Fang-gang and Ruan Yuan, and Weng Fang-gang extolled this young scholar from Korea as "one of Korea's best writers and scholars in Confucian classics ("經術文章海東第一)."

Weng Fang-gang went on to introduce Chusa to his work ("A Translation with Explanatory Notes of Su Zhai Biji (蘇齋筆記)"), collections of poems, and the latest academic achievements during the Qing Dynasty of China. Ruan Yuan also introduced Chusa to the results of extensive evidential research that he had edited, such as Commentaries and Notes on the Thirteen Classics (十三經注疏) and Qing Exegesis of the Classics. In particular, Qing Exegesis of the Classics, along with its sequel by Wang Zianqian (王先謙), was a masterpiece that captured the essence of evidential research during the Qing era. That Ruan Yuan sent Chusa a copy of this book as soon as the first edition came out is a typical example that illustrates fellowship across the border. Chusa could have such fellowship because he had liaisons, such as Lee Sang-jeok (李尙迪, 1804-1865), a pupil of a government interpreter, and many government interpreters around him. Unlike in their own country, theses pupils of government interpreters attracted special attention, more than Korean noble scholars did, from the arts and sciences community of Yenjing. For instance, Lee Sang-jeok, in his lifetime, published a collection of his works in China, which was unprecedented. Furthermore, Lee Sang-jeok's publication was instantly recognized by the arts and sciences community of Yenjing as 'a kind of book that was hard to find in China, even if one tried.' Not only that, it went on to be distributed across China, including Jiangsu (江蘇) and Zhejiang (浙江), home to the learning and culture of the Qing Dynasty. As such, the relationship between Chusa and the pupils of government interpreters was more than a general master-pupil relations; it was part of fellowship and a major contributor to the establishment of Chusa Studies.

Through such fellowship, Chusa understood the latest achievements in the learning of the Qing Dynasty faster than anyone else, and used them as the basis of establishing his own learning. Needless to say, Chusa's such fellowship and exchange contributed toward initiating the earnest exchange of learning and culture between the countries. Hong Han-ju (洪翰周, 1798-1868), one of the scholars during the 19th century who lived in Seoul and wanted to study China's learning and culture, made a comment on Chusa in Jisuyeompil (智水拈筆): "When he was young and before entering government service, Chusa accompanied his father to Yenjing, where he had a friendship with Weng Fang-gang. Appreciating his talent, Weng Fang-gang allowed him to keep close company. He also visited many scholars in Yenjing for discussion. As a result, Chusa's reputation spread wide, all the way to Xi Shu (西蜀) and Jiang Nan (江南)." Hong Han-ju noted that Chusa's fellowship, above all else, led to the two-way communication of new knowledge and information between the arts and sciences communities of the two countries.

"Sehando" by Chusa Kim Jung-hee, in the possession of the National Museum of Korea

A Leader of Arts and Sciences in 19th-Century Korea Speaks Toward East Asia

Chusa gave himself countless names, such as Wandang (阮堂), Yedang (禮堂), Siam (詩庵), Nogwa (老果), Nongjangin (農丈人), and Cheonchukgoseonsaeng (天竺古先生), to name a few. Once, Chusa put up a plaque that read '上下三千年縱橫十萬里之室,' which refers to the room where he stayed and expresses his pride in himself as the best scholar in the space of three thousand years and a hundred thousand li. The expression on this plaque is an allusion to the ode on the death of Huang Zongxi (黃宗羲), written by Yan Ruoqu (閻若璩) of Qing, where it said: "in the space of five hundred years and ten thousand li, there are three people who are as erudite as they are precise. One of them is Gu Yanwu (顧炎武), another is Qian Qianyi (錢謙益), and the other is him." As is well known, Qian Qianyi (1582-1664), Gu Yanwu (1613-1682), and Huang Zongxi (1610-1695) are figures who were all recognized as the best scholars from the late Ming to early Qing periods of China. Liang Qichao (梁啓超, 1873-1929), in his work Introduction to the Learning of the Qing Dynasty, praised Gu Yanwu as the founder of the scholarship in the Qing Dynasty and noted Huang Zongxi as an authority on "seeking truth from facts (實事求是)."

As such, through this plaque, Chusa expressed his wish to go beyond their achievements and leave his mark in the history of intellect in East Asia. In fact, in order to establish his own academic system and achieve accomplishments with the learning of East Asia kept in perspective, Chusa paid special attention to Japan's academic achievements as well, while grasping the trend of the arts and sciences community of Yenjing. This is why Chusa didn't uncritically accept the theory of Weng Fang-gang, whom he treated as his teacher, but sought "modeling of the old and creating of the new (法古創新)" that was beyond Weng, with a general outlook and the learning of East Asia kept in perspective. A case in point is that Chusa thought highly of the theory of Dai Zhen (戴震, 1723-1777) or Neung Jung-gam (凌庭堪), whom Weng Fang-gang didn't think much of.

Chusa also paid attention to Japan's publications and academic achievements. He wondered, "How strange it is that books that have already disappeared from China, like Lun Yu Yi Shu (論語義疏) by Huang Kan (皇侃) or Wuxing Dayi (五行大義) by Xiao Ji (蕭吉), are preserved in Japan." In a critical overview of the history of the learning of Japan, he said, "For about a hundred years ago, the learning of Nakae Toju (中江 藤樹, 1608-1648) and Ogyu Sorai (荻生徂徠, 1666-1728〕has flourished greatly. At the same time, in poetry, while Li Panlong (李攀龍) was revered, a secular literary style has evolved gradually." This is an accurate representation of the birth of the Kogaku school of Japan and its subsequent influences. In a review, Chusa praised the writing of Shinomoto Ren (篠本廉, 1743-1809) by saying, "The three pieces of his writing that I read are brilliant, completely clear of vulgar, pedantic, and superficial habits, and formal sentences characteristic of Li Panlong were not used. Not even Chinese writers could have written better than he did." This shows the width and depth of his critical mind. It was possible for Chusa to review the achievements of the learning of Japan as above because he understood correctly that such achievements didn't come from nothing but owed much to the continued publication and distribution of books and the flourishing publication culture in East Asia.

"Oh! The ships of Nagasaki often travel to and from China for communication, and the trade in silk or copper is even second in priority. The books of the world are also delivered over the mountains and across the seas. In the past, their request was directed to us, but finally there are things that they see before we do.....(omit)... Therefore, this one incident alone could allow us to see the general trend of the world. Who could say for sure that there would be nothing other than silk, copper, books that those people would get out of China? Oh!"

From The Complete Works of Wandang by Kim Jung-hee

He couldn't have said this unless he had the learning of East Asia in perspective. Dasan (茶山) Jeong Yak-yong (丁若鏞) in exile was aware of these circumstances and tried to examine his works on Chinese classics against the latest learning of the Qing Dynasty, probably because Chusa had recognized wide views and intelligence toward the learning of East Asia. In this regard, Chusa Kim Jung-hee is a man of intellect who left a remarkable trace in the arts and sciences community of 19th-century East Asia.