The Western Learning Shown in the Records of Envoys Traveling to Beijing in the First Half of the Nineteenth Century Focusing on Visits to the Russian Diplomatic Office

This paper reviews the Western learning the Joseon envoys encountered in Beijing on the basis of their travel records from the first half of the nineteenth century. Contact with Western civilization decreased in the nineteenth century, and the limited contact was caused by the difficult political situation at home and abroad. First, the suppression against Catholicism was severe and the West was considered the supporting force of Catholicism. Second, Western ships frequently anchored off Joseon, arousing a sense of crisis. Third, the declining Qing dynasty prohibited Western religion, which caused many trade conflicts with the West. With such conditions, the only place Joseon envoys could make contact with Western civilization in the first half of the nineteenth century was at the Russian Diplomatic Office in Beijing. This is in contrast with the major route of contact, the Catholic Church, in the eighteenth century. The envoys had a keen interest in the portrait of Jesus Christ on the cross, Russian mirrors, and the camera at the Russian Diplomatic Office. Most of the envoys recorded their shock at the portrait of Jesus Christ on the cross, and Russian mirrors that had been imported to Joseon at that time also attracted interest. In 1863, the Joseon envoys had their pictures taken for the first time at the Russian Diplomatic Office. Lee Hang-eok left a precise record on the process of taking and printing pictures, which was typical merchandise of Western imperialism in the nineteenth century

Beijing · China · Economic history · Media studies · Political science · Sociology · Chinese history and philosophy · History · Japanese History and Culture · Law · Philippine History and Culture

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