18-19世紀朝鮮人的意外之旅： 以漂流到臺灣的見聞記錄為中心

Abstract

This paper employs the examples of Korean shipwrecks in Taiwan during the Qing dynasty to examine the history of Korean-Taiwan interaction during the pre-modern period. Due to the fact that Taiwan was under the jurisdiction of Fujian province before it was established as a separate province, the Korean government restricted private trade, and Korean official diplomats to China all took the land route, the Korean direct contact with and observation on China was restricted to the north, and thus there was not direct Korean-Taiwan interaction. Thus, Korean knowledge on Taiwan was gained mainly through collecting information by Korean envoys in Beijing and through relevant books and documents. As a result, this knowledge was inevitably scattered and full of mistakes. The direct Korean-Taiwan contact in pre-modern times was only through Korean shipwrecks in Taiwan. From the extant shipwreck accounts we not only can learn about the ways the government in the two countries dealt with foreign shipwrecks, but also learn some information about Taiwan where Korean shipwrecks occurred. These sources can supplement the existing records and provide precious sources for researchers. From the beginning of the Qing dynasty through the end of the 19th century (1644-, including the Zheng regime during the Southern Ming), there were about 200 cases of Korean shipwrecks in China (including shipwrecks took place in Ryukyu and Southeast Asian countries, but were sent back via China). Among them there were 15 occurrences in Taiwan, with the earliest being in 1729, and the latest 1877. Those Korean castaways to Taiwan were mostly on fishing boats or coastal trading ships. Under the China-centered tributary and trading framework during the Qing dynasty, after the castaways were rescued, they would be first sent to the site of Taiwan prefecture (in modern Tainan), and then the government would dispatch officials to transfer them to Fujian provincial capital Fuzhou across the Taiwan Straight. Afterward, Fuzhou would dispatch commissioners to escort these Koreans to Beijing, settle them at the Huitong Guesthouse, and deliver them to Korean envoys for their return to Korea. After these Korean castaways returned, they would always be cross-examined and investigated in order to find out if they illegally went to the sea or committed other crimes. These official records and the accounts of what the castaways saw and heard (records of shipwrecks) also became one of the important channels of Korean understanding of foreign countries. Regarding the historical research on pre-19th century Taiwan- Korean interaction, except some articles on Korean shipwrecks to Taiwan and the Zheng regime’s handling of the trading ships, there is no other discussion yet. Especially, the accounts of Korean castaways and their experience in a foreign culture, and the ways Taiwan local officials rescued and helped these castaways, merit much more research and discussion. Hence, this paper aims at sorting out Qing and Korean historical sources on Korean shipwrecks in Taiwan in order to reconstruct the history Korean- Taiwan interaction and Korean knowledge on Taiwan during the Qing times.