2010년 6월 25일 금요일

VI. Conclusion

This study sought to investigate the nature and source of information on Korea available to modern Europe. For practical purposes, the study limited its purview to the first half of the 17th century and to records of Jesuit missionaries active in China at the time. Prior to the advent of Hendrick Hamel's famous account, reports published by Matteo Ricci and Nicolas Trigault, Alvaro Semedo, Martino Martini, and Juan de Palafox y Mendoza were the West's exclusive source of information on Korea. It is important to note that during their time and for a considerable span thereafter, these reports were widely disseminated and were very popular among Europeans. During the 17th century, these accounts were translated into Latin, Spanish, Portuguese, English, French, German, Italian, Dutch, Swedish, and Danish, in major cites like Rome, London, and Paris. All in all, no fewer than 48 different editions of the accounts are known to exist. Furthermore, as in the case of Athanasius Kircher, Voltaire and William Griffis, these accounts were valued as source materials for Western intellectuals interested in Korea and/or seeking to write about Korea.
For the Jesuit missionaries working in China during the first half of the 17th century, the primary window to Korea was the military confrontations waged in China and in the Korean Peninsula. Just as reports on the late 16th century Imjin War trickled into Europe via Jesuit missionaries in Japan at the time, China based missionaries were Europe's primary source of information on the Invasion of the Manchu into the Korean Peninsula, the so-called 'Humilitation at Samjeondo,' and Crown Prince Sohyeon's coerced sojournment in Beijing. For the Western missionaries, the Imjin War, albeit fought on Korean soil, was a military confrontation between the two main regional superpowers of China and Japan. Consequently, it was ultimately through the heroism of the Ming expeditionary forces that Korea was spared from the clutches of its mortal enemy.
This notion of Korea's subservience of Korea toward China is also evident in the Jesuit missionaries reports on the Korea situation during the late Ming/early Qing period. As the invading Manchu hordes marched toward the capitol, the desperate Ming Court requested military assistance from Korea, and the Korean Court had no recourse but to comply. However, no sooner had Manchu gained the upper hand, the seemingly opportunistic Korea cowed down to the Manchu. The image of Korea as the consummate subservient irrecoverably clouded the missionaries' assessment of Korea's political disposition.
The missionaries consistently described Korea as being not only politically but also economically and culturally subservient to China. In particular, Martini was the first westerner to introduce the theory of Gija Joseon to Europe at large. João Rodrigues, a Catholic missionary in Japan, had uncritically accepted the 'Imnailbonbu theory(任那日本府說)' and propagated the notion to other Europeans through his História da Igreja do Japã o, published in the 1620s. It is beyond the purview of this study to add to the debate concerning the validity of the 'Imnailbonbu theory.' It is, however, relevant to note that such theories have been made known to the West much earlier than had previously been thought. Suffice it to say that the Jesuit missionaries were directly responsible for the West's uncritical acceptance of agenda-ridden propositions that seem to justify the colonialization of Korea, such as those of 'Gija Joseon' and 'Japanese Mimana,' which succeeded in molding the biased perceptions of western books on Korea up to the first half of the 20th century.
Undoubtedly missionaries working in China during the first half of the 17th century were instrumental in introducing to the Europeans the history, culture, geographical characteristics, and local special products of Korea. However, as with their brethren in Japan, they were united in their view of Koreans as being secluded and exclusive. They were in fact reinforcing the negativism previously voiced by Guillaume de Rubrouck and Marco Polo in the 13th century.
The one determining factor that weighed heavily in the Jesuit missionaries' conception of Korea was sinocentricism. The missionaries readily accepted the Chinese world view, which placed them at the center of the world and all peripheral states as being politically, economically, and culturally subordinate to it. These satellite states were naturally thought to be haplessly barbaric, with little in the way of national identity. However, the 'Middle Kingdom' mentality of the Jesuit missionaries proved to be problematic in two respects: First, the Jesuits accommodated sinocentricism to facilitate their missionary work among the natives, yet later when addressing their European audience through their publications they had to justify their views by trying to convince their readers that the Chinese had the level of history and culture comparable to nothing less than the ancient Roman Empire. Secondly, since the missionaries assumed the infallibility of the Catholic doctrine, they had to reinterpret Chinese history and culture according to established Catholic norms. The ensuing 'Chinese Rites Controversy' was in fact a clash between sinocentricism and eurocentricism. The Jesuit missionaries inevitably saw the overrun of China by Manchu barbarians as a working out of the Divine Will of God, just as God had fulfilled His will by allowing the Ottoman Turks to bring about the downfall of the Roman Empire.
To be sure, not all Catholic missionaries in China at the time accommodated the 'Middle Kingdom' mentality. For instance, Juan de Palafox y Mendoza rejected the conventional hierarchy of China above Korea and basically regarded both as being equal under the grand Christian world view. However, Mendoza was certainly in the minority. Most Jesuit missionaries working in China during the first half of the 17th century regarded Korea on the basis of a unique multiple world view of sinocentricism and eurocentricism.

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