한성과 경성의 불안한 공존: 식민지시대 서울의 도시 이미지 형성에 대한 연구

Abstract

This paper attempt to explore the coexistence of Hanseong and Gyeongseong in the urban image of Seoul during the colonial period. It examines the transition from the capital city of the Joseon dynasty (1392-1910) Hanseong to the modern city of Gyeongseong and the formation of the image of the city. There are two main focuses in this study. Firstly, it is the fact that elements representing Hanseong are found in the image of Gyeongseong, which seems to be disconnected from Hanseong. Secondly, the image of Gyeongseong is located at the intersection of Japanese politics. The period from the founding of the Great Korean Empire (Great Han Empire) to the 1910 Korea-Japan annexation treaty witnessed the birth of the modern city of Gyeongseong. Modernization projects on the Gyeong’un Palace (Gyeong’ungung) were carried out. At that time, there were a Legation Quarter around the Gyeong’un Palace and a Japanese town near the Catholic Cathedral. The political balance among the Korean Empire, the Western superpowers, and Japan collapsed during the Russo-Japanese War. After this event, Hanseong began to be called Gyeongseong. The Gyeongseong Fair was held near the Japanese settlement that extended to the whole of Namchon (South Village). In contrast, the walls near Namdaemun (the Great Southern Gate), a place symbolizing Hanseong, were demolished. In the Gyeong’un Palace, which was called Deoksu Palace (Deoksugung), the construction of Seokjojeon (Stone Hall), a Western-style building, was completed. The emergence of Gyeongseong and the decline of Hanseong appeared together simultaneously in the formation of the modern city of Seoul. During the period from 1910 to the mid-1920s, when Hanseong was replaced by Gyeongseong, the image of Seoul based on the construction of the colonial capital was created. During the time, Korean people attempted to remember the lost Hanseong. Their strong feelings of nostalgia for the lost capital city of the Joseon dynasty were found in numerous textual records. The places symbolizing Hanseong were gradually dismantled. This space was filled with buildings that symbolized colonial rule. The construction of the modern city of Gyeongseong was commemorated by various events and popular media. While Koreans enjoyed a new visual experience of witnessing the birth of a modern city, they worried that the Japanese would occupy Bukchon (North Village), the Korean territory in the city. In this process, they recognized and remembered the places symbolizing the old capital city of Hanseong that was disappearing and fading into oblivion. As a result, the urban image of the new capital city of Gyeongseong was filled with Korean people’s sorrowful memories of Hanseong. After the mid-1920s, Gyeongseong came to be called Dae-Gyeongseong (Great Gyeongseong). The image of Dae-Gyeongseong was created and constantly reproduced in popular media. The rise of modern consumer culture played a key role in the proliferation of the urban image of Dae- Gyeongseong. However, the image of Dae-Gyeongseong was nothing but an illusion. In the urban space of Dae-Gyeongseong, the difference between Namchon and Bukchon was extremely huge to the extent that they appeared to be two separate cities. In this situation, the city-dwellers of the time saw themselves as fragments in the city. The flâneur was one of them. The flâneur who did not belong to either Namchon or Bukchon strolled the streets of Daegyeongseong. The sense of alienation and uncanniness that the flâneur felt was inseparable from the fragmented urban landscape of Dae-Gyeongseong. The urban image of Dae-Gyeongseong can only be achieved by a synthesis of fragmented images rather than a single image.