A Korean scholar's rude awakening in Qing China : Pak Chega's discourse on northern learning
by
 
Pak, Che-ga, 1750-1815, author.

Title
A Korean scholar's rude awakening in Qing China : Pak Chega's discourse on northern learning
 
Pukhagŭi. English
 
Korean classics library: historical materials
 
Korean classics library. Historical materials.

Author
Pak, Che-ga, 1750-1815, author.

ISBN
9780824877934

Personal Author
Pak, Che-ga, 1750-1815, author.

Uniform Title
Pukhagŭi. English

Physical Description
ix, 229 pages ; 24 cm

Series
Korean classics library: historical materials
 
Korean classics library. Historical materials.

Contents
Acknowledgments -- Note on the translation. Part 1 Translators' introduction. Part 2 Translation : A discourse on northern learning : Author's preface -- Preface / Pak Chiwŏn -- Preface / 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.

Abstract
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.

Geographic Term
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.

Added Author
Choi, Byonghyon, 1950-
 
Kye, Sŭng-bŏm, 1960-
 
Atkinson, Timothy V.,

Bibliographical References
Includes bibliographical references (pages 213-215) and index.

Field 805
npmlib 10900700 DS708 P28213 ysh


LibraryShelf NumberItem BarcodeCopyMaterial TypeStatus
NPM LibraryDS708 P28213 2019109007001B*二館西文書一區