A Korean Scholar's Rude Awakening in Qing China : Pak Chega's Discourse on Northern Learning

Pak Chega

ISBN 10: 0824877934 / ISBN 13: 9780824877934

Editore: University Of Hawaii Press Jul 2019, 2019

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Neuware - Two years after Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations was published in 1776, Pak Chega's (1750 1805) Discourse on Northern Learning appeared on the opposite corner of the globe. Both books presented notions of wealth and the economy for critical review: the former caused a stir across Europe, the latter influenced only a modest group of Choson (1392 1897) Korea scholars and other intellectuals. Nevertheless, the ideas of both thinkers closely reflected the spirit of their times and helped define certain schools of thought in the case of Pak, Northern Learning (Pukhak), which disparaged the Choson Neo-Confucian state ideology as inert and ineffective.Years of humiliation and resentment against the conquering Manchus blinded many Korean elites to the scientific and technological advances made in Qing China (1644 1911). They despised its rulers as barbarians and begrudged Qing China's status as their suzerain state. But Pak saw Korea's northern neighbor as a model of economic and social reform. He and like-minded progressives discussed and corroborated views about the superiority of China's civilization. After traveling to Beijing in 1776, Pak wrote Discourse on Northern Learning, in which he favorably introduced many aspects of China's economy and culture. By comparison, he argued, Korea's economy was depressed, the result of inadequate government policies and the selfishness of a privileged upper class. He called for drastic reforms in agriculture and industry and for opening the country to international trade. In a series of short essays, Pak gives us rare insights into life on the ground in late eighteenth-century Korea, and in the many details he supplies on Chinese farming, trade, and other commercial activities, his work provides a window onto everyday life in Qing China.Students and specialists of Korean history, particularly social reform movements, and Choson-Qing relations will welcome this new translation.

Codice articolo 9780824877934

Dati bibliografici

• Titolo: A Korean Scholar's Rude Awakening in Qing China : Pak Chega's Discourse on Northern Learning
• Editore: University Of Hawaii Press Jul 2019
• Data di pubblicazione: 2019
• Lingua: Inglese
• ISBN 10: 0824877934
• ISBN 13: 9780824877934
• Rilegatura: Buch
• Condizione: Neu
• Dimensioni: 230 L x 160 A x 27 P (millimetri) 230 millimetri di larghezza per 160 millimetri di altezza per 27 millimetri di profondità
• Peso: 504 grammi

Descrizione articolo

Riassunto

Two years after Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations was published in 1776, Pak Chega’s (1750–1805) Discourse on Northern Learning appeared on the opposite corner of the globe. Both books presented notions of wealth and the economy for critical review: the former caused a stir across Europe, the latter influenced only a modest group of Choson (1392–1897) Korea scholars and other intellectuals. Nevertheless, the ideas of both thinkers closely reflected the spirit of their times and helped define certain schools of thought—in the case of Pak, Northern Learning (Pukhak), which disparaged the Choson Neo-Confucian state ideology as inert and ineffective.

Years of humiliation and resentment against the conquering Manchus blinded many Korean elites to the scientific and technological advances made in Qing China (1644–1911). They despised its rulers as barbarians and begrudged Qing China’s status as their suzerain state. But Pak saw Korea’s northern neighbor as a model of economic and social reform. He and like-minded progressives discussed and corroborated views about the superiority of China’s civilization. After traveling to Beijing in 1776, Pak wrote Discourse on Northern Learning, in which he favorably introduced many aspects of China’s economy and culture. By comparison, he argued, Korea’s economy was depressed, the result of inadequate government policies and the selfishness of a privileged upper class. He called for drastic reforms in agriculture and industry and for opening the country to international trade. In a series of short essays, Pak gives us rare insights into life on the ground in late eighteenth-century Korea, and in the many details he supplies on Chinese farming, trade, and other commercial activities, his work provides a window onto everyday life in Qing China.

Students and specialists of Korean history, particularly social reform movements, and Choson-Qing relations will welcome this new translation.

Informazioni sull'autore

Byonghyon Choi (Translator)
Byonghyon Choi is director of the Center for the Globalization of Korean Classics.

Seung B. Kye (Translator)
Seung B. Kye is professor of history at Sogang University.

Timothy V. Atkinson (Translator)
Timothy V. Atkinson is a translator and professor at Seoul University of Foreign Studies.