청대(淸代) 지방지(地方志)를 활용한 이방익(李邦翼) 『표해록』의 노정고증(路程考證)

Abstract

By cross-checking and verifying the geographical information from the Hangul-written prose P’yohaerok 표해록 (Record of Drifting at Sea) held by Sogang University Library through the local gazetteers of Qing China, this study aims to evaluate the reliability of P’yohaerok as a historical document and determine Yi Pang’Ik’s 李邦翼 actual routes from Fujian, Penghu to Suzhou, Jangsu. While some scholars have attempted to determine Yi’s routes of journey through examining Park Chiwŏn’s On Yi Bang’Ik Incident (Sŏ Yi Bang’Ik sa 書李邦翼事) and a field survey, the geographical information included in P’yohaerok is yet to be critically reviewed. A successful verification of the trail narrated in P’yohaerok would not only be itself a meaningful contribution to scholarship, which has failed to explore this question, but also offer a meaningful clue through which to assess the reliability of P’yohaerok, whose status as a manuscript copied later in the mid-twentieth century casts into doubt its value as historical evidence. This study demonstrates that the names of places and persons and the descriptions of Chinese customs in P’yohaerok match the records of local gazetteers of the Qing, which implies that there is a close affinity between P’yohaerok and Ŏnsŏ Ilgi 諺書日記, a report Yi held when he returned to Chosŏn Korea. This study also proves that Yi as a drifter (or, the copyist of the manuscript) partly embellished his narration of the journey to Dongting Lake 洞庭湖 by deploying his knowledge on Chinese places names one could learn from vernacular novels such as the Romance of the Three Kingdoms 三國演義. Despite this exceptional example of embellishment, P’yohaerok should be understood as an intriguing source that reflects the reality of the interstate repatriation of drifters in the late eighteenth century and reveals that Yi as a Korean journeyed through the renowned Jing-Hang Grand Canal and visited Dongting Lake. Rather than merely prioritizing the local gazetteers over P’yohaerok, I suggest we recognize their complementary nature and make the most of them in reconstructing Yi’s actual travel routes by cross-checking the sources.