Reflections on the Encounter between Korean and the …sjeas.skku.edu/upload/200605/8.pdf · Reflections on the Encounter between Korean and the Third Civilization (Russian) in China

Reflections on the Encounter between Korean and the Third Civilization (Russian) in China

Park Ta e - k e u n *

I n t r o d u c t i o n

Under the political regime of East Asia called c h a e k b o n g冊封,under which China invested neighboring countries with fiefs,

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Sungkyun Journal of East Asian Studies, Vol. 3, No. 1, 2003, pp. 176-208.

© 2003 by the Sungkyunkwan University, The Academy of East Asian Studies

* He is a Standing Researcher at The Institute of Korean Studies, Myongji Edu-cational Foundation.

A b s t r a c t : Joseon dispatched to Ming and Qing China embassies everyyear according to the ‘Chinese world order,’ which dominated thediplomatic relations between the 14th and the 19th century before theinternational law was invented. Beside diplomatic duties, thoseembassies were involved in cultural and economic activities. In Beijingthey encountered with the western civilization as well as the Chinesecivilization. Third was the Russian civilization, successor of the Catholicand the Byzantine civilizations. In this article, I reconstructed the detailsof the encounter between Joseon and the Byzantine (Russia), based onthe Korean accounts of the travel to Beijing燕行錄 and primary sourceson the encounter written by Russians.

Joseon dispatched numerous embassies to Ming明 and Qing淸 C h i n aa c c o rding to the s a d a e事大 (serving the great) diplomacy. Their essen-tial mission was diplomatic, but they also served as the medium fortrade—both official and private—and exchange of personnel, whichthen created an encounter between the two civilizations. The contactbetween diff e rent civilizations is usually accompanied by tensionsand conflicts. For Joseon and China, this was not the case as theyhad common medium of communication—Chinese characters漢字—and similar foundation of thoughts—Confucianism. Rather thanc reating a conflict, the two civilizations, accepted, adapted, and thusassimilated with one another. To maintain its identity, Joseon sepa-rated idea理念 and re a l i t y實事: while they accepted Chinese civiliza-tion, they were very cautious in dealing with the Chinese govern-ment. This duality of idea and reality was the fundamental nature ofthe Joseon-China re l a t i o n s h i p .

Yet the cultural homogeneity began to collapse with the founda-tion of the Qing Empire. The rulers of the late Joseon era, still adher-ing to the civilized-barbarian華夷 h i e r a rc h y, did not acknowledgeQing Empire as the legitimate successor of Chinese中華 c i v i l i z a t i o n ,which inevitably led to cultural tension between Joseon and China.A movement, however, to reevaluate Qing occurred among somepolitical outsiders, due to the rapid adaptation of Qing Empire toC h i n a漢化 and the birth of new trends such as bibliographical study考證學, market economy, and social resilience. It was b u k h a k北學

(northern science) or S i l h a k實學 (practical science) which brought areform of Joseon’s feudal culture by means of the new culture ofQing. While we call the East Asian civilization including Joseon andChina the ‘first civilization’ 第一文明 (including S i l h a k), the westerncivilization symbolized by Catholicism is considered the ‘secondc i v i l i z a t i o n ’第二文明. The second civilization, characterized by uni-versality and strong permeability, was the first ‘counter- c i v i l i z a t i o n ’反文明 that our ‘first civilization’ encountered with. We underwentthrough a volatile cultural interaction in coping with the ‘secondcivilization.’ Catholicism, the ultimate ‘antithesis’ in our intellectual

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h i s t o r y, was also imported from y e o n h a e n g燕行 (embassy travel).Other than the second civilization that the Korean embassiese n c o u n t e red during their y e o n h a e n g, there was additionally the ‘thirdc i v i l i z a t i o n ’第三文明—the Russian civilization.

The initial contact between China and Russia was not friendly.By the treaties of Nerchinsk (1689) and Kyakhta (1727), their re l a-tionship developed into a peaceful coexistence. Although both civi-lizations deny that any other civilization could equal them, theya g reed on a balance of power. Here is an example of their hubris. Aso-called ‘esteemed title’ 尊號 is attached to the name of Chinesee m p e ro r. It usually admires the dignity and virtue of empero r, andcan be as long as 24 characters each of which signifies the highestadmiration of the empero r. On the other hand, Russian empero rAleckesei Mikhailovich wrote a letter to Kangxi emperor of Qing in1675. In this letter, he put before his title the names of 29 pro v i n c e sunder his rule, and called himself the emperor of the east, the westand the north. As for the title of himself, he used 4 diff e rent designa-tions: tsar (emperor), g o s u d a r ( s o v e reign), s a m o d e r z h e s t s ( a u t o c r a t )and k n i a z (grand duke).

The encounter between Koreans and Russians took place at theRussian House (Eluosiguan俄羅斯館). By article Five of the KyakhtaTre a t y, the house was assigned to the Russian Ecclesiastical Missionin Beijing. There were 14 missions altogether and the last one (the14th) stayed there from 1858 to 1864. Since the Beijing Treaty in 1860,the mission moved out, and the house became the residence of theRussian minister. Before the coming of Russians, the house was theresidence of Korean embassies for 320 years since 1408. Its of wasconsiderable size—387 k a n, and was officially called Huitongguan會同四譯館. Koreans suddenly lost the house to Russians by the despo-tism of Qing, and was forced to move to a 72 k a n house near thesouthern city wall. In the travel accounts to Beijing燕行錄, old Kore a nresidence was called Okhagwan王河館 (south of Jungokhagyo中玉河

橋), and the new residence Namsogwan南小館 (west of Namokhagyo南玉河橋) .

1 7 8 Reflections on the Encounter between Korean and the Third (Russian) …

K o reans frequently visited the Russian House俄羅斯館, and cameinto contact with the Russian Orthodox Church, thus introducing ofthe third civilization. The third civilization was inferior to the secondcivilization in terms of universality and permeability, but nonethe-less historical contribution and significance could not be undere s t i-mated. Traces of the contact between Joseon and the third civiliza-tion were re c o rded in the accounts of y e o n h a e n g燕行錄, but have yetto be excavated. By uncovering these traces I hope to re c o n s t ruct thehistory of encounter and exchange for one and a half centuries ofcontact between the civilizations of Joseon and Russia. The contactbetween the two countries in the early eighteenth century wasrather simple, but later in the nineteenth century, this re l a t i o n s h i pg rew in importance. More Russian missionaries of higher rank suchas Bichurin and Kamensky, who were priests, but at the same timeexperts in oriental studies, got involved, and it were these peoplewho eventually gave birth to the study of Joseon. I will focus on thecontacts between the 9th and the 10th missionaries, of which theyw e re the members, and the Korean embassies, and try to re c o n s t ru c tit based on the scanty available primary sourc e s .

1. Korean Embassy and the 9th Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Beijing

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Members of the 9th Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Beijing (1807-1821)

1. head團長 (Nachal’nik) N. Y. Bichurin (1777-1853)

2. priest司祭 ( I e r o m o n a k h i ) A r k a d y

S e r a f i m

N e k t a r y

3. supervisor敎會堂役 ( P r i c h e t n i k i )

Vasily Yafitsky

Konstantin Pal’movsky

☞10 in total.1

N. Y. Bichurin (Christian name, Yakinf, 1777-1853) graduatedf rom the Kazan Seminary in 1799, held various church positions,and got appointed in 1802 to a rh i m a n d r i t修士大司祭 under the post ofa rc h b i s h o p .

Appointed in 1807 to the head of the 9th Russian EcclesiasticalMission, he stayed in Beijing for fourteen years, 1808-1821. Utilizinghis fluency in languages of China, Mongolia, Manchuria and Xizang(西藏), and extensive knowledge of scientific methodologies, he pio-n e e red the studies of China and neighboring countries and wascalled the father of eastern studies in Russia. From the early eigh-teenth century, there were many contacts between Russian mission-aries in Beijing and the members of embassy from Joseon, but it wasnot until Bichurin that academic studies were produced. He thus,was the fore runner of the study of Joseon. Russian sources re c o rd e dthat he contacted Koreans, although the sources of Joseon left nosuch re c o rd s .

The first two studies of Joseon by Bichurin are :

1. A Statistical Survey of Chinese Empire, 2 volumes, Cankt-Peterburg, 1842. (Statisticheskoe opisanie kitaiskoy impery, ch.1-2,Cankt-Peterburg, 1842)

This book surveys land, nature, humanity, politics, economy,society and military system, and also introduces neighboringcountries. Description of Joseon is found in volume 2, chapter 12:1) A Brief History from Ancient Times to Mid-Seventeenth Cen-


1 . SKACHKOV, P., Ochrki istory Russokogo Kitaevedeniya (M, 1977), p. 360.

4. student留學生 ( S t u d e n t y )

Markel Pavrovsky (died in Beijing)

Lev Jimailov

Mikhail Sipakov

Yevgraf Gromov (died in Beijing)

t u r y , and 2) Geographical Information on Joseon’s eight provinces八道. (Only 14 pages, but this was the first academic description ofJoseon by a Russian.

2. Sources of Peoples in Ancient Central Asia, 3 volumes, Cankt-Peterburg, 1851. (Sobranie svedeny o narodah obitavshih v cred-ney Azy v drevnie vremena, ch.1-3, Cankt-Peterburg, 1851)

Joseon is mentioned in the chapter “Joseon and Japan” in thesecond volume. Unable to access primary sources from Joseon, hequoted and translated mostly Chinese sources: official s o u r c e s正史

such as S h i j i史記, Q i a n h o u h a n s h u前·後漢書, X i n j i u t a n g s h u新·舊唐書,and also sources published by Qing China such as D a q i n g y i t o n g z h i大淸一統誌.

The embassy of d o n g j i冬至兼謝恩使 in 1815 (Sunjo 15) left Seoul onOctober 24, and reported back on March 16 of the following year.Members of the embassy were the chief envoy正使 Hong Ui-ho洪義浩

(判中樞府事), the deputy envoy副使 Jo Jong-yeong趙鐘永 (禮曹判書), ands e c re t a r y書狀官兼掌令 Jo Seok-jeong曹錫正. Jo In-yeong趙寅永 ( 1 7 8 2 -1850) also participated in the embassy as a retinue of his older sec-ond cousin, the deputy envoy Jo Jong-yeong. Jo In-yeong was thenonly 34 years old. Although he had yet to pass the g w a g e o科擧 ( s t a t eexamination), he was already in government service and laterwould become the prime minister領議政. He then founded the powerof the Jo klan of Pungyang豊壤趙氏, who overpowered the Gim klanof Andong安東金氏. The chief envoy Hong Ui-ho and Jo In-yeong leftanthologies but it is re g rettable that the official re c o rd of thee m b a s s y燕行錄 is lost and there f o re we do not have a detailed infor-mation on their itineraries and activities.2

T h ree years after the travel to Beijing燕行, in 1819 (Sunjo 19), JoIn-yeong took first place壯元 at the regular examination of higherl e v e l式年文科 and began his brilliant public care e r. His close friend

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2 . We can presume that the embassy left Beijing on February 4 because HongEui-Ho wrote “departed Yenching on February 4”二月四日發燕京 in his poemin D a m n y e o n g b u r o k澹寧錄, volune 18.

Gim Jeong-hui金正喜 ( Wa n d a n g阮堂) also passed the exam but waswell behind Jo In-yeong. Jo as j a n g w o n壯元 was the best of the thre esuccessful candidates in the premier gro u p甲科 (g a p g w a) where a sGim was the eighth out of 29 in the third gro u p丙科.3 Until his publicc a reer ended at the age of 69, Jo’s embassy travels happen just oncef rom 1815 to 1816. It was during this once-in-a-lifetime travel toBeijing that he left a great mark on Korea’s cultural history.

Jo In-yeong donated dozens of rubbings of Joseon’s ancientstone tablets古碑 to Chinese epigrapher金石學者 Liu Xi-Hai劉喜海

(who later wrote a set of eight volumes H a i d o n g j i n s h i y u a n海東金石苑) .Gim Jeong-hui, on the other hand, found in 1816 at Mt. Bukhan KingJinheung’s Sunsubi (新羅眞興王巡狩碑, a stone tablet commemoratingthe royal tour of Silla’s King Jinheung) and on June 8, 1817, alongwith Jo, broke the 68 characters that were left undeciphered from thep revious year. In 1817, Jo made a list of 97 rubbings including that ofKing Jinheung’s Sunsubi, titled it H a i d o n g j i n s h i c u n k a o海東金石存攷,and sent it again to Yu Hui-hae. Yu then published H a e d o n g g e u m -s e o k j o n g o海東金石存攷, which was based on Jo’s book. The discoveryand deciphering of King Jinheung’s Sunsubi was an importantachievement of Gim and Jo who pioneered Korean epigraphy. Theexchanges between Jo and Yu turned into a crucial opportunity toi n t roduce the stone tablet culture of Joseon to China and east Asia.In this sense, Jo’s visit to Beijing was not so much a travel as a histori-c a l event. Japanese scholar Fujitsuka Akira藤塚 stated that Yu Hui-hae’s H a e d o n g g e u m s e o k j o n g o should be renamed “H a e d o n g g e u m s e o k -w o n g o海東金石苑攷 written by Jo Un-seok趙雲石, supplemented by YuYe o n - j e o n g劉燕庭. ”4

Encounter between Jo In-Su and a Russian

In 1959, Soviet scholar Chuguyevsky wrote an article, “N. Y.


3 . 國朝榜目卷9, 〈純祖己卯年〉.4 . 藤塚隣, 淸朝文化東傳の硏究(東京, 1975), p. 370.

Bichurin’s Biographical Materials in the Institute for Oriental Stud-ies, USSR.” In this article, he introduced for the first time the unpub-lished manuscripts of Bichurin at the Leningrad Branch of the Insti-tute for Oriental Studies, USSR Academy of Sciences.5

In this paper, he wrote: “There is a five-page manuscript by JoIn-Su dated January 1817. ‘I met a Russian, Mr. Khe, at Yu i k h e g u a n王河館. The day before I parted from him, I presented him a poem toe x p ress my good feelings about foreign culture.’ Then follows apoem written in classical Chinese漢文. Khe probably indicates N.Bichurin, because the first syllable of his Christian name in Gre e k ,Hyakinthos, would have been pronounced as such.”6

In this brief quote, we can find proof of the encounter betweenJoseon and Russia. In Joseon, however, no document exists aro u n d1817 re g a rding this incident. More than 30 years after the paper waspublished, I finally received a copy of the crucial document that Ihave long been eager to see. Surprisingly, the poem of Jo In-su men-tioned above was in fact Jo In-yeong’s.

A quatrain with five syllables in each line五言絶句

“Although parted far far away 相去數萬里

we still are under the same heaven. 同在一天下

When I miss you later on 他日相思際

I will ride on Pegasus. 只應御風馬”

In the introduction of the poem, Jo wrote: “In the year ofB y e o n g j a丙子, on the third of January, Jo In-yeong of Joseon writes toM r. Hwa和. I present the following poem to Mr. Hwa from Russia tocommemorate our meeting at Yuikheguan. (丙子元月下澣朝鮮趙寅永書

奉和先生下. 余與鄂羅斯和先生會晤於玉河館中其將別也爲贈一詩以證異域

之交) . ”7

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5 . CHUGUYEVSKY, L., “Bichurinsky fond v arkhive instituta Vostokove-deniya” Problemy Vostokovedenie, 5, (M, 1959), pp. 137-147.

6 . Ibid., p. 141.

The poem was in other words given to Bichurin (Christianname, Iakinf), the head of missionaries, at the Russian House俄羅斯館

b e f o re his return to Joseon in late January 1816. It is said that whenBichurin returned to Russia, he carried 14,000 pounds of documentson 15 camels, which included 12 boxes of books written inManchurian and Chinese and six tubes containing maps.

Jo In-yeong’s poem was in one of those boxes, and traveledt h rough the desert of Mongolia, the wilderness of Siberia and all theway to Peterburg, before it returned home. While words are simple,the spirit is high and honest to show a young man’s passion tran-scending barriers of culture and territory.

Since the Sinyu persecution of Catholics辛酉迫害 in 1801 (Sunjo1st year), Catholicism was considered a dangerous anti-regime idea.The Russian Orthodox Church like the Catholic Church is a branchof Christianity. Nonetheless, Jo In-yeong with an open-mindednessand curiosity met a high priest like Bichurin, admired the coexis-tence with Russian Orthodox civilization, and promised to keep inmind ‘the civilization of the other’異.

This attitude seems surprising when we compare it with hisbehavior and changes to occur later on. In 1839 (Heonjong 5), Jo In-yeong as a defender of the regime led the second oppression againstCatholicism known as the Gihae Persecution己亥邪獄, and wro t eC h e o k s a y u n e u m斥邪綸音 to attack Catholicism. A man of open-mind-edness in his youth, through continuous social promotions, he finallyturned to the ideology of Sung Confucianism性理學. Although Jo’sreputation so far has been nothing but negative due to his notoriousrole in persecution, his pioneering studies in epigraphy andexchanges with Russians could give him an indulgence.

The poem mentioned above is not included in Jo’s anthology,U n s e o g y u g o雲石遺稿, 20 volumes. It seems that he intentionally omit-ted the revolutionary poem of his youth. The style of the poem, too,does not suit those in the anthology. The poem then illustrates


7 . Arkhiv LO IVAN SSSR (f.7, ed. khr.31-g, 1. 1.-5).

another side of history which Jo intended to erase. Chuguyevsky,h o w e v e r, who first introduced the poem made two simple mistakes.First, the year Byeongja丙子 Jo wrote the poem was not written in1817 but 1816년이다. Chuguyevsky mistook Ye o n g永, the last charac-ter of Jo In-yeong, for Su水. He overlooked a point in the Chinesec h a r a c t e r.

Encounter between Li Yui-hu and a Russian

In 1821 Bichurin returned after his 14 years stay in China. Hissuccessors (the 10th Russian Ecclesiastical Mission headed byKamensky) had already arrived a year earlier. The officer supervis-ing the transfer of duties at the Russian Ministry of Foreign Aff a i r smet a guest from Joseon at the Russian House where he was stayingin 1821. On April 3 (Russian calendar, March 14 of the lunar calen-dar), a retinue and a translator of Joseon’s generals, who came overto attend Chinese emperor Renzong仁宗’s funeral, paid a visit. Hisname was Bang方, and Timkovsky gave him a mirror as a gift.

The following day, Bang visited again with the chief translatorC h o e崔. Their talk was made in Chinese translated by a studentcalled Zimailov. They asked about the geography, cities and housesin Russia. The chief translator Choe had basic knowledge on Russia,and was already aware of the Russians’ arrival in Japan and theKyakhta trade, a trade at the border between Russia and China.

※ Translators from Joseon seem to have such informationbecause their job allowed it. The Russians’ arrival in Japan seems toindicate the fact that the Rezanov embassy sent by Russia stayed inNagasaki, Japan for half a year (from September 26, 1804 to April 6,1805) in order to negotiate the opening of the port.

On the evening of April 6, three officers from Joseon visited andw e re welcomed by Ti m k o v s k y. They were curious about the postureand costume of Russians, and especially interested in their arms like

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sabers and pistols. Timkovsky gave them, as a gift, some Russianspecialties such as a dagger, a nest of boxes, teacups made in a ro y a lfactory at Cankt-Peterburg, and paper made in Petergof (pre s e n t -day Petro d v o re t s ) .

Timkovsky met guests from Joseon three days in a ro w, and col-lected information on Joseon, while in Beijing. As an officer of theMinistry of Foreign Affairs (he later became the director of the AsianB u reau), Timkovsky’s re c o rd was extremely detailed and precise. Heobserved that Joseon and China shared Chinese characters but thelanguages were diff e rent, and spoke very highly of Koreans’ mas-tery of Chinese characters as well as their cultural level. As wascommon in encounters between foreigners, Timkovsky paid specialattention to describe the appearance and the fashion: “Their robe islong, sleeves are long and very wide, and the outer garment is madeof d a b a. Their hat with a pointed tip is weaved out of bamboo. Thebrim is very wide. People are not quite gentle.”

The three officers from Joseon mentioned the political instabilityof their country, which must have been conceived as a leakage ofnational secrets. Timkovsky wrote: “The officers I met confessed thattheir people often rise against the ruling dynasty. The king nevergoes out without escort of the cavalry guards.” This remark pro b a-bly indicates the most threatening popular rise of 1811-1812, the riseof Hong Kyeonglae洪景來亂.

Timkovsky also mentioned the c h a e k b o n g冊封制度, and tributaryre l a t i o n s h i p朝貢體制. Describing the unequal trade between the twocountries, he wrote “while presents were exchanged between theking of Joseon and the emperor of China, those sent to the formera re worth much less.” He also commented on the haughtiness ofChina toward Joseon: “because Joseon has less population and theyp refer peace, Chinese government treat them very harshly. Sucha r rogant attitude gave a sense of humilation to officials of Joseonwho visited Beijing.” These remarks sound the most convincingbecause Timkovsky was a contemporary as well as an outsiderwatching the scene.8


On the other hand, to misunderstanding of the ‘good-neighbord i p l o m a c y ’交隣外交 between Joseon and Japan as a tributary re l a-tionship was a common mistake committed by comtemporary west-erners. He probably considered the Joseon-Japan relationship assimilar to that of Joseon-China, or his confusion resulted fro mJapan’s military invasion like the one in 1592—I m j i n w a e r a n壬辰倭亂.

He also observed that Koreans were friendly to Russians, wella w a re of their situation, and had much information through Chinesem e rchants on the items of Kyakhta trade. Frequent personalexchanges at the Russian House must have contributed to the mutualunderstanding of these two countries.

While Timkovsky stayed in Beijing, three Korean legationsvisite d—headed by Yi Hui-gap李羲甲, Han Chi-eung韓致應 and Yi Jo-w o n李肇源. While Han left Beijing on February 3, 18219 and Yi Hui-gap left the following day1 0, they reported their mission on the samed a y — M a rch 16.1 1 As only Yi Jo-won stayed in Beijing, it must be hisg roup who visited the Russian House since April 3 (March 14 of thelunar calendar).

The highlight of the contact between Timkovsky and Koreans atthe Russian House was his meeting with Li Yui-Hu on April 8. Allothers with whom Timkovsky met were lower-rank officials such astranslators or military officers. Without appointment or even clearp u r p o s e s , they visited the Russian House simply out of curiosity,which could have been embarrassing to Russians.

The Russian House was definitely a place of interest in Beijingfor the Korean embassies. Only 200-300 steps from their re s i d e n c e ,they could see a foreign culture from west, which was clearly distinctf rom the Chinese.

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8 . TIMKOVSKY, E., Puteshestvie v Kitai cherez Mongoliiu v 1820 i 1821 godakh,t.1-3 (Cankt-Peterburg, 1824). t.2, pp.251-261 (※I also referred to the Eng-lish (1827) and French (1827) editions.)

9 . 日省錄, 純祖2 1년 (辛巳) 2月 2 1日.1 0 . 日省錄, 純祖2 1년 (辛巳) 2月 2 3日.1 1 . 日省錄, 純祖2 1년 (辛巳) 3月 1 6日.

Although those Koreans were self-invited guests and visitedwithout even advance notice, Russians who stayed for 10 years andw e re in a sense confined in the Russian House might have beguiledtedious hours with them. Besides, Joseon was a lot more unfamiliarthan China. For Russians studying China and the east, visitors fro mJoseon were guests and teachers at the same time.

As mentioned, Li Yui-Hu unlike other visitors was a high rank-ing member of the embassy. He was a general and a guest of thehost and the head of missionary, Yakinf (Bichurin). Yakinf hadTi m k o v s k y, as an officer of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, attendthis meeting with a high ranking officer of Joseon. This is how thehistorical encounter between Yi and Timkovsky happened. It is iro n-ic that Ti m k o v s k y, an attendant, left a detailed re c o rd of the meetingw h e reas Iakinf, who wrote a number of books, did not write a singleline re g a rding this encounter.

Timkovsky wrote that Li Yui-Hu was noble and humble.Although the description was concise, we could imagine Yi ’ sp e r s o n a l i t y. The phrase he added, “comparing to the people ofQing” makes us believe that his admiration of Yi was not born out off l a t t e r y.

Ya k i n f’s successor Pavel, the head of the 10th mission, also tre a t e dLi Yui-Hu with utmost courtesy. Timkovsky left a brief re c o rd of themeeting and their conversation. Although, it is re g rettable that hisobservation was sketchy. Still, it is a precious source. The off i c i a lre c o rds of the embassy燕行錄 covers a time span of one and a halfcenturies. Among the documents on the contact between Joseon andRussia written during this time period, Timkovsky’s is the mostdetailed one, and it deals with the contact between high rankingo fficials of the two nations. Ultimately, Timkovsky’s document waspublished in Russian (1824), in French (1827), in English (1827), inGermany (1826), in Dutch (1826), and in Polish (1827-28) making itaccessible and well read throughout Euro p e .

Timkovsky described Li Yui Hu as sensitive and naive for his 64years of age. There could be some truth in Timkovsky’s observation.


Li, who had just realized how huge the world was, must have beendazzled by the big distance between Joseon and Russia, and betweenBeijing and Cankt-Peterburg. Seeing the appearance of the Cossacks,various arms and especially pistol, Li must also have been shockedby the cultural diff e rences. Li, an open-minded man, would havebeen pleased by all these surprises. Timkovsky wrote for his Russianand European readers a lively re c o rd of Joseon known as the HermitKingdom and its geography.

He wrote, “Joseon is divided by eight provinces, under whichw e re 360 smaller divisions.” According to D a e j e o n h o e t o n g大典會通

published in 1865, the total number of m o k牧, b u府, g u n郡, h y e o n縣 a re3 2 5 .

The Russian House is facing south. The eastern side houses theresidents of Timkovsky and others, and the western side was thec l o i s t e r. At the cloister, Li Yui-Hu first met two priests, Yakinf andPavel, conversed with Ti m k o v s k y, and looked around the churc h ,the library and the garden. He then was guided to the other side,and looked around the main building including the residence ofTi m k o v s k y.

Li, in short, saw every corner of the Russian House except forthe students’ dormitory behind Timkovsky’s residence. It shows thehospitality of the Russians. Timkovsky seemed to be very pleasedwith their meeting. When Li left, Timkovsky surprised him with anunusual gift. Timkovsky took the saber he was wearing, and gave itto Li. The saber was made in Zlatoust, a place near the Urals famousfor its production of high-quality steel. The saber symbolizes thespirit of the warrior. It is very suggestive that a soldier giving hissaber to a stranger like Li was a grand gesture .

Timkovsky’s words are even more impressive. “I will be sohappy if this shabby sword could remind you of your memories onRussia when you returned to your country. ”

At this time, Li was 64 and Timkovsky was 33. Their friendshipseemed to have overcome the diff e rences of nationality and age.After he returned home, Timkovsky submitted to the Ministry of

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F o reign Affairs a report in which he proposed trade with Korea. Thereport is possessed by the Russian Imperial Archive of DiplomaticDocuments, and is neither translated nor cited thus far.

“A Special Report After the Return from China” by Egor Timkovsky1 2

“Koreans are also known as Kauli and they belonged to China.Like Japanese, they are the same race as Han漢. This is confirmedby their appearance, the characters, costumes, lifestyle and finallytheir respect for Confucianism. What seems interesting linguisti-cally is that peoples of China and Joseon cannot understand eachother, but with the characters they can communicate. (In writing,Koreans are superior to the Chinese.) They use the same charac-ters. The only difference is in their pronunciation. The situation isthe same within China. Each hieroglyphic character has only onemeaning but is pronounced differently depending on region.Those born in northern China cannot understand the words of thes o u t h . ”

Timkovksy’s understanding of Joseon can be summarized as thehomogeneity of east Asian culture based on Chinese characters andConfucianism. All people share the character for communication,and only the pronunciations are diff e rent. His incorrect knowledgeled him to confuse the diff e rent languages of Joseon and China. Heonly recognizes the cultural superiority of Joseon in their knowledgeof Chinese characters. In terms of physical characteristics such ascomplexion and posture they belonged to the same race. This is thetypical perception of east Asian people by We s t e r n e r s .

“As is widely known, the Joseon peninsula lies northeast ofChina. Joseon is surrounded by Japan in the east and by the ChinaS e a中國海 in the south. To the west of Joseon is the Yellow Sea黃海,and in the north it borders on Liaodong遼東 and Manchuria.”


1 2 . Arkhiv vneshnei politiki Rossiickoi impery. fond “Biblioteka Aziatskogodepartamenta.” D e l o 49. List 128-300.

He had a precise knowledge of Joseon’s geographical location.

“While in Beijing, I had a chance to meet with one of the generalssent by the Joseon king to participate in the Emperor’s funeral.The general whose name was Li Yui-Hu paid his respects by visit-ing me. At this brief encounter with a foreign officer, I askedthrough a Chinese interpreter several questions on Joseon withdue courtesy. Like other foreigners visiting Beijing, they stayedunder the surveillance of the Chinese government. Based on theconversation with the general and other officers from Joseon whovisited our church, I report on this country as follows.”

Timkovsky wrote that he met with Li Yui-Hu and he was ageneral. In Beijing at that time, stayed three Korean legations. Theo fficial embassy for the old Empero r’s funeral was headed by HanChi-eung, who had already left China. The embassy that Ti m k o v s k ymet with was headed by Yi Jo-won李肇源, who participated in thee n t h ronement ceremony of new empire .

“Joseon is divided into eight provinces called d a o道, a Chineseletter meaning ‘way.’ (p. 128) Their land, especially the northernarea, is sterile and mountainous whereas the southern area is suit-able for agriculture. Their major product is cotten and cottoncloth. Korean merchants also trade paper, silk fabric (althoughvery coarse), tobacco and horses. With the support of the king,they organize small caravans and come to Beijing. Among all theproducts, their durable cotton cloth, paper, and especially shortbut sturdy horses are considered valuable. They exchange thesegoods with high-quality silk, various metalwares, porcelain, andso on.”

Timkovsky seems to make these remarks on the future tradebetween Russia and Joseon in mind.

“Their trade is very limited. They cannot trade with people otherthan the Chinese and the Japanese. Japan is closer in distance and

Park Tae-keun 1 9 1

thus have more influence on Joseon. The contact between thispeninsula and Europeans is prohibited by penalty of death.Besides, according to the seamen’s testimonies, rapids and reefs inthe sea keep ships from approaching the coast. Among Koreansthere were several thousand Christians, but all were ruthlesslymassacred in the beginning of the century (around 1802).

Timkovsky comments on Joseon’s seclusion, which he thoughtwas the result of pre s s u re by China and Japan. He misunderstoodthat Japan was more influential on Joseon’s foreign relations. Whilethe information he gathered in Beijing on Joseon-China re l a t i o n s h i pwas very realistic, that on Joseon-Japan relationship was not quitec o r rect. Although Russians’ religion was the Orthodox, Ti m k o v s k ystill showed interests on the situation of Christians and mentionedthe persecution of Catholics, Sinyubakhae辛酉迫害, in 1801 (Sunjo 1).

“Joseon is a tyrannical and hereditary monarchy. Its head isprotected by the power of the Chinese emperor. At the time ofenthronement, Beijing sends an official to supervise the proce-dure, and also sends a certificate to authenticate the new king.Each year Joseon’s king sends tribute to the Chinese emperor, andfrom him receives gifts, which are far inferior to those given bythe tsar to Mongolian princes in terms of both quality and quanti-ty. The population is not huge and their temper is gentle, whichresulted in the indifference and the disdain of Chinese officials atthe border.” (p. 129)

Timkovsky was exactly aware of the c h a e k b o n g system. Whenthe new king accedes to the throne, Joseon sends an embassy calledj i n c h e o n g s a奏請使 to attain approval from China. The Li-bu禮部, theB o a rd of Rites, obtains the empero r’s sanction and sends a c h a e k b o n ge m b a s s y. The embassy carries 1) an imperial edict to Joseon’s peo-ple, 2) an imperial letter to Joseon’s king, and 3) an appointmentl e t t e r. Timkovsky also pointed out the unfair situation in the tradebetween Joseon and China, and stressed the fairness of the Russiant s a r.


“Japan collects gold as a tax from Joseon. I could not figure outwhat were the origins of this subordiate relationship, which was agreat burden for Joseon. For the Japanese government strictly pro-hibits Koreans from having contact with any foreigners other thanthe Chinese.”

This is an obvious misunderstanding. Further investigation ofthe origins of this belief would be valuable.

“During their stay in Beijing, some Koreans are already acquaint-ed with Russians and very satisfied with our friendliness. Thegeographical closeness between the two countries and the great-ness of our empire must have influenced them. Some of themseem to be aware of the volume and items of the Kyakhta trade. Ifour Severo-Amerikanskaya Kompaniya北美會社 could open a portat the coast of east Asia, I think we could start trade with Joseonunder very favorable conditions.” (p. 130)

This is the main point and conclusion of Timkovsky’s report. Ifwe take the Kyakhta trade of 1805 as an example, China exported toRussia 5,742,328 rubles, and imported the same amount. In total, itaccounted for 11,484,657 rubles in trade—a considerable volume byany means. As for major items, China imported fur, leathers, Russ-ian cloth, foreign cloth, mirrors, glass and glassworks, writing paper,glue, watches, and so on. Export items were cottons, silks, tea, tobac-co, enamelware, porcelains, ivory, iron ladles, horn, paper lanternss c rolls, incense, rouge, fans, smoling pipe, tobacco pouches, andother items.1 3

Based on his positive impressions about Koreans, the friendlyrelationship between the two countries which had been built for ac e n t u r y, and the unfair relationship between Joseon and China,Timkovsky proposed trade with Joseon for the first time in Russian

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1 3 . FOUST, Clifford, Muscovite and Mandarin : Russia’s trade with China and itssetting 1727-1805 (Chapell Hill, 1969), p. 333, pp. 344-360.

diplomatic history. No doubt he also considered Russia’s advance tothe south in the Far East. Although his proposal was not realized, itshistorical significance should not be overlooked.

Li Yui-Hu was a member of the embassy led by Yi Jo-won asthat was the only one in Beijing able to visit the Russian House. Hisname does not appear in the list of the embassy. First of all, thre ehigh ranking deputies were Yi Jo-won, Song Myeon-jae宋冕載 a n dHong Ik-mun洪益聞. There were military officers and translators,although we do not have their names because the official re c o rd ofthe embassy燕行錄 does not exist. While Timkovsky re m e m b e red Lias a general, the three deputies were all civil officials. There was amilitary off i c i e r軍官, but his rank was not high. Russians would nothave received a retinue with such hospitality as they showed to LiYui-Hu. The head of the embassy Yi Jo-won李肇源 (1758, 英祖 3 4 - 1 8 3 2 ,純祖) was a high ranking official of the Korean government and ac e l e b r i t y. His courtesy name字 was Gyeonggon景混, and literaryn a m e雅號 was Okho玉壺. His family originated in Ye o n a n延安, andhis fourth great-grandfather Yi Jeong-gu (Wo l s a月沙) is considere dby many as one of the greatest scholars of his time. In 1792 (Jeongjo16), at the age of 35, he passed the state examination科擧 as j a n g w o n壯元. He he was appointed to various positions in governmentincluding ministries in six departments. He led embassies to Chinatwice, and met Timkovsky on his second trip. He was good at writ-ing, calligraphy, and engraving.

T h e re were some similarities between Yi Jo-won and Li Yu i - h u .1) Timkovsky wrote that Li Yui-Hu was 64. Yi Jo-won, accord i n g

to his necro l o g y行狀, was born in 1758 (英祖 34), and there f o re was 64in 1821.1 4

2) Timkovsky said Li was a general. In Russian, English andF rench, general means a military off i c e r. In Russian, however, it alsopoints to a high ranking civil official appointed by the empero r


1 4 . 李肇源, 王壺集卷13, 〈墓碣名〉自碣名

王壺集卷14, 〈附錄〉行狀, 長子李龍秀撰

諡狀申錫禧撰

during the Tsarist era. Li Yui-Hu there f o re could either be a generalor a high ranking civil off i c i a l .

3) Timkovsky also wrote, “priest Yakinf and the son of Li Yu i -Hu had been very close for more than five years in Beijing.” Kore a n sat that time were not allowed to reside in Beijing permanently, but arelationship for five years seems possible. In 1816, exactly five yearsb e f o re the encounter between Timkovsky and Li, Yi Jo-won led hisfirst embassy to Beijing. His second son Yi In-su李麟秀 ( c o u r t e s yname, Jayu子 ) participated as a retinue in the second embassy. Thisis confirmed by a letter written in 1816 by Hong Jik-pil洪直弼 to Yi In-Su who was about to travel to Beijing.1 5

It is quite possible that Yi In-su came to Beijing in 1816, gotacquainted with priest Yakinf, and five years later Yi Jo-won had achance to visit the Russian House through the good offices of hisson, Yi In-su. This possibility leads us to suspect that Li Yui-hu andYi Jo-won were the same person.

4) In fact, there is crucial evidence to prove this hypothesis. Theliterary name of Yi Jo-won is Okho玉壺, which is pronounced as ‘Yu -H u ’ in Chinese. There f o re Yi Jo-won was Li Yui-hu, and Ti m k o v s k yknew him by his literary name.

Later at Heuksan Island黑山島 to which Yi Jo-won was exciled,he recalled the meeting with Timkovsky in Beijing. He put his mem-ories in a poem.1 6

A Song at a Silent Night 靜裏雜吟

A traveler from Russia, a country faraway 鄂羅三萬里

Long time ago, I met him at a guest house in Beijing. 昔遇燕酒店

We talked with one another through translators. 言語重重譯

He was wearing tight clothes. 衣口窄窄斂

He was so happy with our meeting, 自謂大奇遇

He presented me with a saber. 遣我一長劒

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1 5 . 洪直弼, 送李隨其大人判中樞公使燕序丙子, 山集卷27, 〈序〉.1 6 . 李肇源, 王壺集卷9〈黑海吟 (中) 靜裏雜吟〉.

Since I had been eager to be both a good scholar and a good warrior in my whole life, 平生書劒志

I was so happy to get a precious sword. 得此覺滿厭

The scabbard is as light as a feather, 鐵墅毛羽輕

Decorations of gold on the hilt are dazzling. 金柄花繡閃

The blade is well sharpened,Also as clear and cold as water in autumn.

I hang it on the wall to expel sundry evil spirits, 掛應酸鬼魅

I brandish it to cut the heads of rogues. 揮足誅亂僭

Its auspicious anima reaches the sky. 紫氣在斗牛

Never be tainted by the dirts of life. 莫使汚塵染

2. Korean Embassy and the 10th Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Beijing

☞10 in total.1 7


Members of the 10th Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Beijing (1821-1830)

1. head團長 (Nachal’nik) P. I. Kamensky (1765-1845)

2. priest司祭 ( I e r o m o n a k h i ) Veniamin Morachevich

Daniil Sivillov (1798-1871)

3. assistant-priest輔祭 ( I e r o d i a k o n ) I z r a i l ’

4. supervisor敎會堂役 ( P r i c h e t n i k i ) Nikolai Voznesensky

Aleksei Sosnitsky (died in 1843.)

5. student留學生 ( S t u d e n t y ) Kondrat Krymsky (18??-1861)

Zakhar Leont’evsky (1799-1874)

Vasily Abramov

6. doctor醫師 ( B r a c h ) Osip Pavlovich Voitsekhovsky

( 1 7 9 3 - 1 8 5 0 )

1 7 . SKACHKOV, P., p. 360.

The head of the mission, P. I. Kamensky (Christian name, Peter,1765-1845), was born into a minister’s family, graduated from as e m i n a r y, Nizhny Novgorod, in 1787, and studied at the Universityof Moskva. He volunteered as a student to participate in the 8thRussian Ecclesiastical Mission in Beijing (1794-1807). During his stay,he learned Chinese, Manchurian, and Mongolian. After he re t u r n e din 1807, he served as a middle ranking (8th grade) official at theB u reau of Asia in the Department of Foreign Aff a i r s .

Thanks to his extensive knowledge on China, he was appointedin 1820 as the head of the 10th Russian Ecclesiastical Mission inBeijing. At the same time, he was ordained and became Arh i m a n d r i t修士大司祭. He returned home in 1830, then quit the priesthood, andstarted a new career as a scholar. He left numerous and valuablestudies on east Asia. His major interests were in the studies ofChina, Mongolia, and Xizang. He also left considerable mark onh i s t o r y, linguistics, and natural sciences such as botany and medi-cine: focusing on linguistics. He worked on a multilingual dictionarywhich put Russian, Asian languages including Chinese, and Euro-pean languages together. His most famous work is a multilinguald i c t i o n a r y對譯辭典, in which Mongolian, Manchurian, and Latinw o rds were listed side by side.1 8 A d d i t i o n a l l y, he met with Kore a n smany times. As mentioned earlier, he met Yi Jo-won, the head of theK o rean embassy with an introduction from Iakinf on April 8, 1821.In addition, Korean sources re c o rd several encounters betweenK o reans and Kamensky.

Encounter between Hong Seok-mo洪錫謨 and the Russians

In 1826 (Sunjo 26), Hong Seok-mo accompanied his father, wholed the winter solstice embassy冬至兼謝恩使, to Beijing and visited theRussian House on January 23 of the following year. He re c o rded hisconversation with a member of the 10th Russian Ecclesiastical

Park Tae-keun 1 9 7

1 8 . Ibid., pp. 123-132.

M i s s i o n .

“In the room, there was a white-haired old man wearing ablack hat and black robe. He was 63, and looked notable withdignity. His name was Mr. Pa把. There also were Mr. Ke克 a n dMr. Le樂 and both were around 30. Mr. Lak’s first name wasS a h a e r薩哈爾. He had a white face, deep eyes and high nose, whichwas obviously different from those of Chinese. He had a youngman serve violet-colored wine. He treated his guests with cour-tesy. Books on the table were all written in western language.

By writing, I asked about the territory, the landscape, products,castles, the court, sovereign and subjects, bureaucracy, etc. Mr. Keanswered with Chinese characters, but he seemed to barely knowhow to write.

“Our country should be called Raseoa羅西亞 whereas Chinesecall it Olosu俄羅斯. This is wrong. Our land is more than 50 thou-sand l i里 from Baltiiskoe (把勒提斯野海) in the west to the Great Sea大海, and more than 10 thousand l i from the North Sea to thesouthern border. Our eastern border is not far from Joseon: proba-bly 2-3,000 l i. You could come to us by sea.

Do you know the Heukryong River黑龍江? This river origi-nates in the south-east of our country and runs abroad. We havemany famous mountains including the Urals吾喇勒山, the Kavkaz喀福喀斯克亞山 and the Shiveluch西比勒山. We also have great riverslike the Volga窩勒喝江, the Dnepr德也坡爾江, the Dunau多納江, Yeni-s e i野尼歇義江, the Lena勒納江, the Obi俄比江, the Severnaya Dvina北第魏納河, the Zapadnaya Dvina西第魏納河 and the Neva也窩河. Ourproducts are not too different from those of China except for teaand ginseng. Since our people are gentle, we do not build a castle.Government officials are divided by 14 ranks. The name of ouremperor is Romanov羅瑪諾福, and he has been sitting on thethrone for two years.”

This is a quote from The Dialogue with a Russian對話錄 in theaccounts of y e o n h a e n g燕行錄. It describes the encounter betweenHong Seok-mo, the best almanac writer and the author of Dongguk


A l m a n a c東國歲時記 , and Russians including Pavel Kamensky( P e t e r ) .1 9

Hong’s observation is very accurate and realistic to that of aS i l h a k實學 s c h o l a r. Pa˜Í is the first syllable of Kamensky’s first name,Pavel. His age was exactly 63 in 1827. Ke克 was the first syllable of astudent, Kondrat Krymsky, and Le樂 S a - h a - e r薩哈爾 was a Chinesep ronunciation of another student, Zakhal Leont’evsky. In short,Russian names of person and place were transcribed into Chinesecharacters without any erro r. The 14 ranks points to the table of 14o fficial ranks (官等表, Tàbel’ o Ràngakh) introduced by tsar Piotr in1722 in order to reform aristocracy by bure a u c r a c y. In the case ofJoseon or China, there were nine rankings品 in the senior正 g r a d eand nine rankings in the junior從 grade—18 rankings in total. ‘羅瑪諾

福’ was the Romanov dynasty, the tsar being on the throne for twoyears means that he was Nikolai 1 (1825-1855), the 14th Romanove m p e ro r.

What is interesting in The Dialogue is the spelling of Russia inChinese. In Chinese, Russia traditionally had been spelled as Olosu俄羅斯. Korean spelling once followed that of the Chinese, but waslater influenced by the Japanese spelling into Roseoa露西亞. Asshown in the quote above, Krymsky requested that Koreans spellRussia not Olosu but Raseoa. Raseoa is the closest spelling to theoriginal pronunciation, Rossiya. Later on, Russia indeed used this inmany diplomatic documents. Here is an example. After the Russo-Japanese Treaty in 1855, Russian ambassador plenipotentiary andvice-admiral Putiatin boarded his flagship Pallada. From March 17to 22, 1854, he stopped at Geomun Island巨文島 of Joseon, and sentan official notice to the Korean government asking to open a port. Atthis time, Putiatin’s title was ‘Rossiya大羅西亞國general adi tant御前大

臣 vitse admiràl東海水師將軍.’ He re f e r red to himself in this way onApril 13 at Anbyeon安邊, Hamgyeong Pro v i n c e咸鏡道, and also onApril 16 at Ye o n g h e u n g永興. In any case, Russia was spelled R a s e o a .2 0

Park Tae-keun 1 9 9

1 9 . 洪錫謨, 遊燕藁中冊, 1月 2 3日.

K r y m s k y, on the other hand, pointed to the geographic closenessbetween Joseon and Russia and thereby stressed on neighborh o o di m p o r t a n c e .

Hong Seok-mo wrote: “Russia does not pay tribute to China,but sends people, who are regularly replaced, to study about China.China allows them to stay in the Russian House and provides teach-ers to help in their studies. There are currently six to seven Russiansand their residence is extremely splendid and luxurious like thew e s t . ”

Russian missionaries who were ten in numbers replaced every 10y e a r s .

“There is a sanctuary—three doors, a round ceiling decorated byglass and brick walls in a beautiful pattern. It looks like the placefor their god. There also is a wardrobe in which they put hats andc l o t h e s . ”

Describing the church, Hong recognized the similarities betweenthe Russian Orthodox and the Catholic civilizations.

K r y m s k y, a student, who had been in Beijing for six years, trans-lated the conversation between Koreans and Russians. Hong, how-e v e r, underrated Krymsky by saying he “barely knew how towrite.” (僅成字書) For Europeans, Chinese characters were not easy tolearn. Yet Russians persistently extended their knowledge of Chinaand Chinese. After he returned home in 1831, Krymsky taughtChinese at a Chinese language school in Kyakhta for 30 years. Helater became a 9th rank civil official. Between 1858 and 1860, Russiaand China concluded treaties of Aehon愛琿條約 and Beijing北京條約.Krymsky also made fruitful contribution as a translator for EastSiberian Governor Murav’ev.


2 0 . 金瀏, 海上奇聞

全羅監營啓錄哲宗5 (甲寅) 3月 2 7日, 4月 2日日省錄哲宗5 (甲寅) 4月 2 3日, 4月 2 6日.

Another student Leont’evsky had graduated from the FirstNormal School (mathematics major), and volunteered to join them i s s i o n a r y. In Beijing he studied Chinese, Manchurian, and Mongo-lian. In particular, he was very good at Chinese, and translatedduring his stay in Beijing (1820s) Karamzin’s Russian History (3 vol-umes, Istory gosda- rustva Russiiskogo) into Chinese. It was the firstRussian history compilation ever translated into Chinese. After hereturned home in 1831, he served 30 more years as a translator at theB u reau of Asia, Department of Foreign Affairs, and then re t i red in1866. He wrote more then 300 books and articles on China in his life-time. His works varied: from translations of Chinese novels orManchurian poems to compilations of dictionaries and other teach-ing materials. Especially renowned for his Dictionary of Idioms inChinese, Manchurian and Russian. His detailed journal during hisstay in Beijing, too, is a valuable primary sourc e .2 1

Hong Seok-mo, in Kamensky’s presence, conversed and drankwine together with Russian students of the same age. He describedthe encounter with the foreign students in a superb piece of poem.

I saw the famous Russian mirror in Joseon, 海東曾見俄羅鏡

And in Beijing met them from far away. 今見其人萬里來

Some came over even from outside Okmungwan, 禹貢豈論玉門外

But they were from beyond the desert where even Janggeon did not knew. 張騫不過流沙常

In their land, people worship the lord of heaven. 染濡洋浴尊天主

They sent elites to learn Chinese. 肄習華音遣秀才

Away from home, both of us chatted by letter. 寓館萍逢憑筆話

How lovely were the violet wine and the wine glass.

Park Tae-keun 2 0 1

2 1 . SKACHKOV, P., pp. 134-139.

Encounter between the anonymous author of Buyeonilgi赴燕日記

and Russians

On June 25, 1828 (Sunjo 28), a retinue of the embassy led byNamyeon Prince南延君 Yi Gu李球 (the father of Regent Heungseon興宣) wrote the accounts of y e o n h a e n g titled B u y e o n i l g i赴燕日記, inwhich he mentioned the visit to the Russian House.2 2

“We unlocked the door, ... and went through the curtain.There was a statue of a dead man. Putting a wooden cross on thewall, and a body was nailed to it. The head and the limbs werenailed, and although the person looked like being hacked intopieces, he did not lose his loftiness. His skin, flesh, fingernails, andhair were so real and the whole body was naked. He was bleed-ing from the wounds into which nails were hammered. Because itlooked like a real dead man’s body which was still warm, I couldnot look at it straight.

Looking around the compound, we went into a room. Therewas a foreigner胡人 sitting on a chair. He was growing a mustacheand holding a writing brush in his hand. His physique was hugeand he looked like questioning others. He called himself KangP a o l uo , had been in the House for eight years, and was 63years old. He said his country was 28,000 li away, and wouldreturn to home in two years. He handed me a book, which Irefused. He said, ‘the king, high ranking officials and learned menin our country read the book.’ He offered me fruits like apple, andin return I presented him with some c h e o n g s i m h w a n淸心丸 a n dtobacco, which he appreciated but did not taste. He treated guestswith courtesy and kindly guided us. They looked lonely andgloomy probably because they had been away from home for toolong. Although they did look neither mean nor vulgar, they hadstrange customs. I believe China could certainly enlighten them.They were too strange to get close to, and their church was weirdas well. When I return, I would advise people going to Beijing not


2 2 . 著者未詳, 赴燕日記〈往還日記 6月 2 5日〉.

to visit the Russian House. There also was another church andresidence of the Westerners near the Seonmu Gate宣武門. Peoplesay that those buildings look more magnificent and original thanthe Russian House. None of the Koreans, however, has visited theplace since the Sinyusaok辛酉邪獄 (1801). Arasa俄羅斯 is pro-nounced Eorasa於羅斯 in Chinese. I suspect that in Joseon we callmirror eoriswae於里衰 because it was one of the special productsfrom Arasa.”

The author of B u y e o n i l g i visited the Russian House on June 25,1828—a year later than Hong Seok-mo’s visit—and also met withPavel Kamensky. The author was fortunate enough to get inside thec h u rch, which was forbidden to foreigners. The church was locatedat the northwest side of the House, and there the author found thec rucifix of Christ. He seems to have been shocked. The vivid expre s-sion of the Western statue must have aroused unpleasant feelings forK o reans, who had been accustomed to a pastoral scene such asf l o w e r, bird, mountain and river.

Kang Paoluo康保 is the Chinese pronunciation of Pavel Kamen-s k y. He was 63, had been in the Russian House for eight years, andwould return in two years. He and his mission came to Beijing in1821 and left in 1830. The author, however, did not re c o rd theconversation by writing any further. For he was not a man of S i l h a k實學 and too conservative. He refused to take the Orthodox scriptureshown by Kamensky and even re g retted his visit.

He was, however, sensitive enough to read in Kamensky’s face ashade of loneliness. In any case, it is re g retful that he decided toleave his journal, one of the most precious sources, anonymous.

Encounter between Bak Se-ho朴世浩 and Russians

Bak Se-ho went to Beijing as a retinue of the embassy led byHong Gi-seop洪起燮 in 1828 (Sunjo 28), and visited the RussianHouse on January 3, 1829.

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“The Russian House is on Okhagyo玉河橋 Street. Once Ipassed through two gates, I found a many-storied building. In thebuilding, I saw a painting on which a naked man with disheveledhair was bleeding. He closed his eyes and was dying. ... I askedwho was this god they worshipped. One answered that a princeof Russia was murdered by a Chinese and they worship the spiritof the prince. Another answered that they worship Mateo Ricciwho had also been murdered. I was confused whom to believe.

The mirror is one of their special products, and very good inquality. The Russian House was very clean and the furniture wasstylish. A man came out. He was able to speak a little Korean, andwe barely exchanged greetings. On a table, there were manybooks written in Manchurian and Chinese. Some were translatedinto Russian. Their characters looked like those of Sanskrit梵語.There also was an alarm clock of exquisite workmanship.

I asked a Russian. ‘How far is your country from here?’ Heanswered more than 20,000 li. I asked, ‘how big is it?’ Heanswered that it was three times as big as China. It is located nearthe North Sea. Although Qing is at the center中原 of the world, it isonly one third of Russia.”2 3

Bak Se-Ho looked around the church in the Russian House. Healso saw the crucifix, and described its gruesomeness. He, however,was not so shocked as the author of B u y e o n i l g i. Although the twohad the same experience at similar times, Bak’s response was muchm o re positive. Nonetheless it is notable that he did not know that theicon was that of Christ. He seemed more intere s t e d in the furniture .His description of the stained glass, in particular, was extre m e l yvivid. The description of the fine alarm clock, too, was as detailed asa picture. The observation that “a Russian spoke Korean” is found inno other accounts of y e o n h a e n g. It indicates that some members ofthe 10th mission studied Kore a n .


2 3 . 朴世浩, 心田稿〈燕紀程, 己丑1月 3 0日〉

〈燕行雜著 (留館雜錄鄂羅斯館記)〉.

Encounter between Gang Si-yeong姜時永 and Russians

Gang Si-yeong (1788, Jeongjo 12 - ?) participated in the embassyled by Yi Gwang-mun李光文 as a secre t a r y書狀官兼掌令, and visitedthe Russian House on January 3, 1830. He turned out to be the lastmember of Korean embassy to meet the 10th Russian Mission. 1830was the year that the 10th mission was replaced by their the 11 t h .(Morachevich) Gang wro t e :

“... Since they came to China, they learned how to read Chinese. Isaw Buddhist scriptures translated into their language. They writewith a quill and ink. Their handwriting is as thin as a threat andruns from left to right. How interesting! … They hung a cross onthe wall, and the portrait of their king and queen. All these were,however, smoke-stained and thus are not so majestic. Russiansare so frivolous in taking care of them. … On the right, therew a s a tablet on which is written ‘Changsangmiaoshu’ 長桑妙術

[ C h a n g s a n g長桑 was a legendary doctor during the Age of Wars戰國時代.] I asked the meaning and they answered as follows: ‘therewas a Russian doctor and he cured scrofula of Paereuk貝勒, thenephew of the emperor, while Chinese doctors could not. He thuswas granted the tablet in appreciation of his services.”2 4

The king and queen in the portrait was the couple of Russiane m p e ror Nicolai I. The Russian doctor related to the tablet was Vo i t-s e k h o v s k y.

Later on, a Chinese visited the same place and left a re c o rd. In1858, Wang Xi-Eun王錫恩 visited Kornievsky, a doctor attached to the14th mission (1858-1864). Kornievsky’s room was the one in whichhis predecessor Voitsekhovsky stayed. Wang, 28 years after Gang’svisit, described the same room as follows: “There were portraits oftheir god and their empero r, both dressed in western style.”2 5 N o t

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2 4 . 姜時永, 軒續錄卷2 〈庚寅 1月 3日〉.2 5 . 郭嵩濤日記〈咸豊 8年 1 1月 7日〉. Cited from (中國) 蔡鴻生, 俄羅斯館醫生與淸朝宗室

的晋接 ‘中外關係史論叢第3輯’, p. 239.

quite diff e rent from the description of Gang. The only diff e rence wasthat the portrait of the emperor was now covered by glass. TheRussian House was frequently mentioned in Chinese writings, butWang was the only one who left a detailed description. In this sense,the vivid descriptions written by Korean embassies were importants o u rces to re c o n s t ruct the Russian House.

The death rate of the members of 14 Russian missions between1715 and 1864 was very high. Out of 157 members, 41 died in Bei-jing—35.4%, Under diff e rent surroundings in China, far away fro mhome, and the long term of their stays—(10 years)—caused bothmental loneliness and physical fatigue. Everyone fell into the habitof drinking, and their health deteriorated by an intemperate life.F rom the 10th mission, the Russian government added a doctor tothe mission. Since then, the death rate sharply decre a s e d .

Voitsekhovsky (1793-1850), the first Russian doctor appointed toBeijing, was born in Kiev, graduated from the Kiev Seminary, andgraduated from the Cankt-Peterburg Medical School in 1819. Hestudied both theology and medicine. He volunteered to join the 10thmission, and served in Beijing for 10 years. Although a doctor, hedevoted himself to the study about China and learned Chinese andManchurian. He returned in 1830, and served as a doctor attached tothe Bureau of Asia, Department of Foreign Affairs. In 1844, hebecame a professor at the Department of Chinese Language, Universi-ty of Kazan. He also became the first professor in Manchurian l a n-guage. He wrote The Grammer of Manchurian, Chinese-Russian D i c -t i o n a r y, and An Analysis of Confucian Philosophy.

His activities as a doctor in Beijing are quite interesting. He thenwas the only Western doctor in the capital of Qing. He cured someobstinate diseases that traditional Chinese medicine was unable toc o n t rol, and became famous. While performing western medicine inBeijing, he also introduced Chinese medicine to the west, and there-by contributed a lot to the medical knowledge exchanges betweenChina and Russia.

The rumor that a Western doctor arrived in Beijing spre a d


q u i c k l y, but Chinese people were not interested because they werestill biased against Western medicine. Yet things changed when O. P.Voitsekhovsky cured a Chinese who all doctors in Beijing had givenup on. He became even more famous when he treated Li Ts i n - Va n禮

親王, a member of ro y a l t y. High ranking officials and men of wealthcame to see him. Still, most of his patients were poor people. He puta lot of time and effort to cure them of cholera that was rife in Beijingbetween 1820-1821.

A c c o rding to Chinese custom, when patients recover from adisease, they present the doctor with a tablet as a token of gratitude.Ts i u a n - C h a n全昌, a brother of Ts i n - Van re c o v e red from an obstinatedisease thanks to Voitsekhovsky’s treatment. On November 14, 1829,he invited high rank officials and mobilized others to hold a m a g-nificent cere m o n y, in which he presented him with a tablet at theRussian House. It was 106.7cm wide and 231cm high. At the center,was inscribed in Chinese ‘Changsangmiaoshu’長桑妙術 meaning anart of medicine as excellent as that of Changsang長桑, the legendarydoctor during the Age of Wa r s戰國時代. On sides, were written thefollowing words: “Tsiuan-Chan, the brother of our venerable princeLi Ts i n - Van, made this tablet to express his gratitude for the re c o v e r yf rom tumor that no other Chinese doctors could cure. This humbletablet would be better than any other things to express the patient’sgratitude. This tablet is made in Daoguan道光 9 (1829).” On the topof the tablet the same words were written in Manchurian. WhenVoitsekhovsky left China, he received a tablet from Li Ts i n - Va n .2 6

Gang Si-yeong was a historical witness who saw the tablet twomonths after it was granted.

At the site of the Russian House, are now located the Ministry ofNational Security and the Supreme Court: the address of the formeris #25, the To n g j i a o m i n x i a n g東交民巷, and that of the latter is #27.The site of Namsogwan南小館 became the Beijing Post Off i c e ,

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2 6 . P. Skachkob, “Russkie vrachi pri Possiiskoi dukhovnoi missy v Pekine”Sovetskoe Kitaevedenie 4 (M, 1958), pp. 140-142.

Department of Special Delivery, and no trace of the past is left. Yu h e玉河 is now covered up and called the Zhengyilu正義路, which ru n sf rom the Beijing Hotel, east of Te n a n m i n天安門 to south. West of theZhengyilu is the Ministry of National Security. The MunicipalGovernment of Beijing, the Headquarters of the People’s Army ofBeijing and the Garrison Headquarters of Beijing are in the east. Thesite of the Russian House is at the intersection of the Zhengyilu andthe Tongjiaominxiang. Some people mistake the site for the CapitalH o t e l首都大飯店.

Years ago, across the site of the Russian House was an office ofthe Daewoo Company. When I returned in August 2002, the off i c ewas gone, and a new building was under construction at the site ofthe Russian House. The Supreme Court was no longer there. It hasbeen changing again in recent years. Is it a destiny of the civilizationsthat historical monuments disappear from the sites into memories,as the time passes by? (trans. by Dr. Paik Jong-yul)
