한국 관련 지식의 유럽적 기반과 내용 -17세기 전반기 예수회 중국 선교사들의 기록을 중심으로-

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to observe the 17th century European perception on Korea and the route westerns took to arrive at such perception. Historic records examined in this article were purposely limited to those written during the first half of the 17th century by Jesuit missionaries to China. As publications on Korea was extremely rare during at the time, works left by the Jesuit missionaries such as Matteo Ricci, Martino Martini, and Alvaro Semedo can be considered the only significant resources available on Korea prior to publication of the Hamel’s report. It is also interesting to note that these works by the Jesuit missionaries remained popular in Europe centuries after their publication. These publications were translated into various European languages in major European cities and resulted in at least 48 different editions. As can be observed from works of Voltaire of the 18th century and William Griffis of the 19th century, not only these publications served as a basis for understanding Korea during their own time, but they also continued to shape the Western perception on Korea up to the early 20th century. It was through wars in China and Korea that the 17th century Jesuit missionaries delivered their views on Korea and its people. As the Japanese invasion in 1592 became known to Europeans by the Jesuit missionaries, so was the case with other major affairs in Korean peninsula such as the Manchurian invasion and Prince Sohyun’s travel to Peking as a hostage. The Japanese invasion of Korea in 1592 as observed by the Jesuit missionaries at the time was a war between China and Japan, during which Korea was able to maintain its sovereignty only with the help of the Chinese. The Jesuit missionaries’ writings of the Chinese history also clearly reflected Korea as a model tributary state that was dependant on China for its economic stability as well as culture. For example, Martini took the controversial Gija Joseon theory and introduced it as a fact to the west. Similar case has been observed with the Jesuit missionaries in Japan as Rodriguez delivered the Imnailbonbu theory as a fact in the 1620’s. The purpose of this article is not to confirm or dispute such theories, but to illustrate that such theories that still light of controversy in modern days have been introduced to the Europeans for at least four hundred years as facts without any criticism or dispute, and had significant affect on shaping the west’s view and understanding of Korea. It is important to understand underlying sinocentricism the Jesuit missionaries placed when writing about Korea. They viewed and described Korea and its people as barbaric and barbarians who accepted China as center of the world. However, the sinocentricism the Jesuit missionaries based their view on China and Korea needed to be complemented by eurocentricism in order to justify their missionary campaigns. To do so, they portrayed China as an equally prosperous and culturally civilized nation as other countries in Europe. As devoted Christians, the missionaries needed to interpret Chinese culture and history through the divine Christian theory. Such interpretation ultimately resulted in contradiction of the sinocentricism and eurocentricism that cannot co-exist. Nevertheless, the Jesuit missionaries never tried to solve this intellectual dilemma. They interpreted Korea by these dual and hierarchical frameworks.