KOREA FOCUS

 

Kim Hyeol-jo, professor at the Department of Archaic Sino-Korean Education, Yeungnam University, has published a complete new translation of Bak Ji-won`s “Jehol Diary” (Yeolha ilgi) regarded as one of the best literary works of the Joseon period (1392-1910). Professor Kim is a scholar of Sino-Korean literature who has devoted his time to studying prose works of Bak Ji-won, also known by his pen name Yeonam. His translation of “Jehol Diary” amounts to 1,500 pages. Proudly described by its publisher, Dolbegae, as “a new, complete and ultimate translation,” it is a masterpiece said to have thoroughly rectified errors in earlier translations. A 1932 edition edited by Bak Yeong-cheol was used as the source text for this latest translation. Writings missing from the source text have been included by referring to old hand-copied editions when necessary. Typos and missing words in the source text were corrected and added by comparing it with hand-copied editions. Even the errors in the original edition could be corrected in this process.

 

As is well known, “Jehol Diary” is a travelogue written by Bak Ji-won (1737-1805) on his journey to China that he started in May 1780 as an unofficial member of a Joseon diplomatic mission to China to congratulate the Qing emperor Qianlong on his birthday. The journey took about six months from Hanyang [present-day Seoul] to Rehe, also known as Jehol [the emperor`s summer resort], via Liaodong and Beijing. Returning home, Bak began to write and finished his travel diary in 1783. The diary reveals the intense desire of the scribe to introduce everything about the new civilization of Qing China that he had observed and to describe the shock he experienced. It is an extensive work concerning various topics ranging from China`s history to customs, geography, civil engineering, architecture, astronomy, ships, culture, and politics. This latest edition is neatly and properly illustrated with many plates, including photos taken by the translator on his trip tracing the author`s travel route during his stay in China for a year beginning in August 2007.

 

The first Korean version of “Jehol Diary” was translated by Kim Seong-chil, the author of “Standing Before History” (Yeoksa ap eseo), and published in 1948-1950. Unfortunately, Kim translated only one-third of the original text. An epochal edition in the history of translation of this monumental work and its first full translation into modern Korean is attributed to Ri Sang-ho and published in North Korea in the 1950s. Major South Korean editions included Lee Ga-won`s full translation, which was published in 1966-1973 and widely read by the general public as well as scholars, and another full version translated by Yun Jae-yeong and published as part of the Bagyeong Pocketbook Series in 1982-1984. Dozens of more editions, including abridged or edited ones, followed during the past couple of decades. Of these, over 10 versions are considered important.

 

In his preface, Professor Kim said, "Earlier editions are often found to contain many incorrect translations, besides omitting important references, and thereby distorting the original text. Some are ridden with wrong translation and plagiarism." In a treatise on "Problems in Translation of Jehol Diary," recently published in the Sino-Korean Studies Journal (Hanmun hakbo), he pointed out errors in earlier translated editions. He contended above all that most translated editions that came out after the editions of Kim Seong-chil and Ri Sang-ho copied them too much, repeating their mistakes not infrequently. For example, in a section about Tibetan Buddhism, titled "Questions and Answers on the Yellow Sect," Ri Sang-ho translated the names of the Chinese who visited Tibet during the Ming period as "many people including Buddhist monk Jigwang, Ohyang and guests." Most later editions, including that of Lee Ga-won, copied this or didn't convey the clear meaning of the word "ohyang" (吾鄕). Professor Kim, however, explains that it is not a person's name but means "our hometown" and therefore the phrase should be translated as "many people including Buddhist monk Jigwang and guests from our hometown." 

 

“Jehol Diary” contains the practical thought and encyclopedic knowledge of Yeonam, an intellectual who asserted 230 years ago that Joseon should open its eyes to China and the world and accept new civilization. While it was a “bestseller” which was so popular that its partially translated, hand-written copies appeared as early as the 18th century, the original Chinese text had been circulated in hand-copied versions like subversive literature before the first printed edition was published in the early 20th century. It was because of the author`s relentless criticism and satire of the Joseon society of his time and King Jeongjo`s disapproval of his writing style. The diary begins with the chapter “Crossing the River,” where the author begins his scathing criticism that people in Joseon still believed Ming was the true owner of China 130 years after its demise.

 

Bak wrote sarcastically, “The royal family of the Ming Dynasty continues to exist on the east side of the Amnok (Yalu) River.” As for the reason of his mentioning the Ming Chinese era name Chongzhen (Sungjeong in Korean), he said, “Although our country is too weak to beat the barbarians and clean up the Central Plain to restore tradition and cultural institutions, everyone is trying to preserve China at least by honoring its old reign title.” While crossing the Amnok River, he recalls the river marks the border between Korea and China and expounds that, as the border was either a hill or a river, the “way” (do, or dao in Chinese) should also lie on the border between a river and a hill. It means that the proper ethics and law of things for all people under heaven should resemble the middle line where the river and the hill meet. Passing through the Liaodong plains, he twits the historians who reduced the nation`s ancient territory to the Korean peninsula and Kim Bu-sik, the author of “History of the Three Kingdoms” (Samguk sagi). In Beijing and Rehe, he exchanged friendship and knowledge with Chinese intellectuals through writing, revealing his rigorous intellectual curiosity.

 

Yeonam`s critical view of the “rigid Neo-Confucian system of thought” is revealed in his story about elephants written in Rehe. About the Neo-Confucian classics which regard Heaven as the Creator and interpret everything through li (principle), he wrote: “They say Heaven makes everything, even the tips of hair… Speaking of its form, Heaven is the sky (cheon, or tian in Chinese); speaking of its role, Heaven is the supreme god (sangje, or shangdi), who governs every matter from the center; and speaking of its enigmatic working, it is divinity (sin, or shen)… All these names are too confusing… I don`t know. How the sky makes anything in such a dark and milky and foggy place.” In his introduction for “Jehol Diary,” Yu Deuk-gong, a scholar younger than Yeonam, wrote: “Even the records about Chinese songs and customs are all related with peace and war in the country. From descriptions of fortresses and royal chambers to agriculture and stock farming, and technologies for pottery making and iron handling, all matters discussed here are intended to show how to use the implements scientifically and conveniently to benefit the livelihood of people.”

 

Arriving in Shenyang across the Amnok River via Fengcheng and Baitabao, Yeonam sneaked out of his lodging place in the middle of nights to meet with Chinese young men and engage in debate in writing through the nights. The chapter “Conversation by Writing at Sokjae” has records about these discussions at a place named Yisuzhai (Yesokjae). Among the young Chinese with whom Yeonam engaged in overnight conversations, there was a man named Bigong, who was 35 years old and had eight children. Yeonam asked him, “Were all of your children born to one mother, who breastfed them all?” Bigong just smiled and then another man named Beiguan interjected, “There are two more ladies and they assisted her from both sides.” And he added, “吾不羨他八龍 慕渠一姦.” Then everyone in the room burst into laughter.

 

Ri Sang-ho`s translation of this sentence goes, “Rather than envying him for his eight sons, I just wish to borrow his concubine for a night.” Most of the South Korean editions published afterwards endorsed this translation. Professor Kim, however, thought the translation was strange and couldn`t accept it to the last moment. He said, “My common sense couldn`t accept it. Why should they all laugh when someone said he wanted to borrow another man`s concubine? I looked into the original text and, all of a sudden, the three same strokes forming the letter 姦 caught my eye. Aha, that`s it! The man had one wife and two concubines, so there were three women.” It was one of the greatest moments he experienced while translating the book. He felt like shouting “Yahoo!” like a little boy. “The original text should be interpreted with common sense. And Yeonam often applied the technique of decomposing letters. So, the letter 姦, generally meaning adultery, should mean three women here,” Professor Kim said. Thus the sentence goes: “Everyone in the room burst into laughter when he said, ‘I am not envious of his eight sons but of his three women.`”

 

Professor Kim said he made up his mind to translate the full text of “Jehol Diary” upon returning from a field trip to China in 2000. He has since devoted himself to translating the book whenever he had the time and particularly, during his one-year stay at Shandong University beginning in August 2007, he was fully dedicated to finishing the task. He believes the book has to be read today for the same reason why Yeonam wrote it. He said, “Studying China was not all about Bukhak, or Northern Learning. Qing was the center of the world at the time so the reform of Joseon was closely interrelated with China, which was changing. Yeonam believed it wasn`t enough to admire China. He was asserting what was vitally important was to learn its strategy and cope with it. While Yeonam agonized over China 230 years ago, America is now the center of the world.”

 

[ September 25, 2009 ]