Details

Description

1 online resource

text txt rdacontent

computer c rdamedia

online resource cr rdacarrier

Series

Korean classics library: historical materials

Korean classics library. Historical materials.

JSTOR EBA.

Bibliography

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Note

Print version record.

Contents

Intro; Contents; Acknowledgments; Note on the Translation; I. Translators' Introduction; Translators' Introduction; II. Translation; A Discourse on Northern Learning; Author's Preface; Preface by Pak Chiwŏn; Preface by Sŏ Myŏngŭng; Inner Chapters; Outer Chapters; Memorial of 1786; A Discourse on Northern Learning Presented to His Majesty in Response to a Royal Decree (1798); Appendix; The Life of Pak Chega: A Chronology; Notes; Glossary; Bibliography; Index; About the Translators; Blank Page

Summary

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 Chosŏn (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 Chosŏn 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 Chosŏn-Qing relations will welcome this new translation.

Local Note

JSTOR

Subject

China -- Description and travel -- Early works to 1800.

China -- Social life and customs -- 18th century -- Early works to 1800.

China -- Social conditions -- 18th century -- Early works to 1800.

Korea -- Social conditions -- 1392-1910 -- Early works to 1800.

HISTORY -- Asia -- China.

HISTORY -- Asia -- Korea.

Manners and customs. (OCoLC)fst01007815

Social conditions. (OCoLC)fst01919811

Travel. (OCoLC)fst01155558

China. (OCoLC)fst01206073

Korea. (OCoLC)fst01206434

Chronological Term

1392-1910

Genre/Form

Electronic books.

Early works. (OCoLC)fst01411636

Added Author

Choi, Byonghyon, 1950- translator, writer of added commentary.

Kye, Seung B., translator, writer of added commentary.

Atkinson, Timothy V., translator, writer of added commentary.

Other Form:

Print version: Pak, Che-ga, 1750-1815. Pukhagŭi. English. Korean scholar's rude awakening in Qing China. Honolulu : University of Hawaiʻi Press, [2019] 9780824877934 (DLC) 2018058223 (OCoLC)1079411732

ISBN

9780824879808 (electronic bk.)

0824879805 (electronic bk.)

9780824877934

0824877934