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Chapter II
Recent History of Korea.
It is generally believed that Korea at the end of the i8lh. Century was ^till a vassal state of China, but this is erroneous, as gradually the Chinese yoke was shaken off and the annual tributes were not paid and Korea became a free and independent state.
At the close of the i8th. Century, several Koreans attached to the embassy at Peking became converted to the Roman Catholic faith and by them Christianity was first introduced into Korea and led afterwards to the terrible persecutions of the Christian converts, hundreds of them dying as martyrs for their faith and many noble French Missionaries were ruthlessly slain by the fanatical Koreans.
In 1864, a Regency was appointed during the minority of the Successor, who was a child of 4 years of age and his father being an ambitious man got hold of the entire power of the Kingdom and he inaugurated a reign of despotism and terror heretofore unknown. In 1866 persecutions against the Catholic Missionaries began with the decapitation of nine French priests. Many thousands of converts were put to death and their number is put down at 20,000. He was hated and feared by the people. The French government sent several men-of-war to Korea, but the expedition which was mismanaged proved a complete fiasco and the murder of the French fathers was never vindicated; on the contrary the Koreans considered themselves invincible and came to the conclusion that the foreign powers were afraid of them.
The Regent, the father of the future King was Prince Heung-Sung known in history as Taiwunk. —
An American ship, the General Sherman sailed up the Tadong river, got wrecked and the Koreans set fire to it and massacred the whole crew. In 1871 an American expedition of live ships were sent to Korea and they stormed a small fort and took it, which was considered sufficient in vindication of the burning of the General Sherman and the fleet sailed away. While these events were happening in Korea, Japan was adopting western ideas and civilization and an envoye was sent to Korea who succeeded in getting a favorable hearing from the Queen mother, as her son was coming of age and the regent was loath to relinquish his power; but he was forced to abdicate in 1873. In 1876 a treaty was made with Japan, by which the independence of Korea was recognized and in 1879 Hanabusa was sent as Minister to Seoul and a Korean Minister was sent to Japan.
A party sprung up which can be called the Liberals, backed up by the Japanese. The Conservatives looked for support to China and the ruling faction belonged to this party and the King sided with them. In 1882 military riots broke out in Seoul, as the soldiers were ill fed and badly treated and the Queen had to flee from the palace. The Japanese were driven out of the country.
This was the propitious moment for China to take a hand in the conflict and Yuan-shi-kai with several thousand soldiers entered Korea and they got a firm footing and acted as a guard to the Queen. —
In 1884 Korea made treaties with several of the foreign powers. In the same year the Liberals attempted a “Coup d’etat” in the palace, supported by several hundred students just returned from Japan, but the attempted revolution was frustrated through the intervention of the Chinese troops after the students had massacred some of the Ministers, but they were driven out of the Palace grounds. The Japanese implicated in this affair withdrew to Chemulpo and returned to Japan. From that day Korea was in the hands of China until 1894, when the war broke out between Japan and China, which requires no explanation here.
The Queen mother still bore enmity towards the ex-regent Taiwunk and his sons, who occupied high stations at court. Meanwhile progressive measures were enacted, mining and other concessions were granted to foreigners, so as to develop the country. In September 1895 Viscount Miura came to Seoul as Minister for Japan and he got into contact with the ex-regent.
In the early morning of October 8, the Taiwunk, together with Koreans, Japanese soldiers and Japanese desperados, the famous Soshi, made their way from his country residence to Seoul, entered the palace grounds by the Kwang- wha gate and went to the royal apartments, situated about half a mile from the front gate and killed some of the palace guards on the way. The Soshi and the Korean assassins heavily armed rushed the royal quarters and although the King and his son were not molested, the Queen was butchered, probably by the Japanese. The body was wrapped in. blankets saturated with petroleum and burned in one of the near by groves.
Mr. Miura appeared then on the scene and the King was forced to appoint officials who were in sympathy with the Japanese, and although the Japanese authorities deny all responsibility for this dastardly deed, the evidence is too strong and proves that they must have known that the Taiwunk intended to have the Queen killed. The King was afraid that he also would be assassinated and to save his life he escaped dressed as a woman to the Russian Legation where he was kept in security and he had a new Palace built adjoining the Russian Legation and en its grounds stands a fine modern granite structure intended for the crown prince. From that time bitter feelings arose between Russia and Japan and led up to the final struggle.
The King was very friendly towards the Americans and they obtained gold mining concessions, they built the first railway from Seoul to Chemulpo, the electric tramways in Seoul, the waterworks and introduced the electric lighting system in Seoul.
Under Marquis Ito’s regime the Emperor was practically a prisoner in his own palace and no one was permitted to enter the grounds without a special permit and every effort was made to coerce him into submission and make him openly acknowledge a treaty whereby the independence of Korea is abolished, but he resisted this with great obstinacy. His ministers advised him to abandon the throne so as to save the country being swallowed up by the Japanese, and at last he consented to this.
The new Emperor was crowned in 1907 and from that time on the Japanese had absolute control of every thing in Korea and the Resident General is now the the ruler. The Korean Army was disbanded and to their credit it has to be -aid that they made a stout resistence in Seoul and many Japanese were killed and wounded but the Korean soldiers were overpowered and some of their officers committed suicide instead of surrendering. —
The fight in the Provinces against Japanese rule was kept up for nearly two years and long before the same was finished, the national existence of Korea was at an end. The story of the war for independence which those who were brave enough to carry on, would fill a separate volume and would record many deeds of valor of the hardy mountaineers who constituted the main fighting force. The Japanese in their reprisals wiped out many villages by fire and sword.
Not alone this, but in the wake of the Army came a lot of worthless camp followers from Japan, the desperate Soshi and a crowd of the worst class of low Japanese emigrants who under the slightest pretence evicted the poor Koreans from their houses and lands, taking possession of the same and naturally the Koreans have no love for the Japanese and they again look with contempt on the Koreans whom they consider as their inferiors. —
I am told that there are now 300,000 Japanese permanently settled in Korea, but the country, be it from a climatic point of view or for some other reason does not prove attractive to the Japanese settlers and it seems that the Japanese Government is disappointed, that after centuries of exertions to get possession of Korea it does not prove from a financial point of view the success they anticipated, but perhaps it is too early yet to pass a final opinion on the subject.
Any stranger visiting Seoul must be impressed when he passes the Gates of the Imperial Palaces with the sight of the Japanese soldiers standing guard there with fixed bayonets. No stranger is allowed to enter, as the Emperor is practically a prisoner and what food for reflexion when one thinks that the American Government made a treaty with Korea in which it was guaranteed to help Korea in case she is oppressed. Korea today must be considered a Province of Japan and the Emperor is only so by name and the ruler of the country is the Japanese Governor General.
On the other hand it has to be considered that when the Japanese took Korea, there was a royal figure head surrounded by a hierarchy of office holders who were drawing the life blood out of the working population. The exchequer was empty, the people impoverished and human vultures hanging around on the outskirts of the Palaces to pick up any of the carion which might accidently fall to their lot. It remains to be seen if Japan will succeed in introducing better conditions and to improve the existence of the poor people. In some of the following chapters will be shown how Korea was ruled under its Kings and Emperors and what their laws, customs and habits were and which have survived to this day.
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Chapter III
Buildings. Monuments, Architecture and Relics.
The peculiar Architecture which is noticed in China prevails in Korea where a few of the ancient buddhist monuments and temples are left. The majority of the dwelling houses in Korea are a ramshackle sort of huts, made of lumber, wicker work plastered over, whereas the corner posts and beams which support the heavy tile roofs are out of proportion to the weight they have to carry, as they are too light and the result is that all these houses look as if they were ready to fall to pieces and it is only surprising that they don’t, as most of them are out of plumb. They don’t seem to understand the principle of the tie beam to relieve the lateral thrust caused by a roof resting upon rafters.
The most important portion of the Korean house is the floor, underneath the floor are built, with rock or brick, a series of channels or flues which debouch into a lateral flue at the end of the room and when these are properly arranged they are covered with thin stone slabs fitting closely together, and the joints are carefully sealed up with good mortar so that no smoke can escape into the room. Over the stone slabs comes a thick layer of mortar or cement and when dry the floor is covered with a heavy oil paper and there is no better paper made anywhere for such purposes than in Korea.
The fire place is outside the building, the flame of which passes under the floor through these channels under one or even two rooms and the smoke discharges into a chimney or in its absence escapes on the floor level and one walks in the narrow lanes and alleyways of Seoul in an atmosphere of smoke and soot especially during the winter. This house heating arrangement is called a Kan and is a speciality of Korea and Northern China, and during the winter no doubt they prove a blessing, but as the fire place is also used for cooking purposes and the heat passes under the house in summer as well they become then veritable infernos.
In Northern China they have a similar arrangement called Kang, which differs from the Kan. It is an elevated brick structure containing the flues and occupies only a part of the room and on top of this platform are the beds. Some of the rich mens houses have dozens of Kans. These houses are cut up with numerous walls into a series of courtyards around which are the dwellings of the retainers forming a regular labyrynth. The buildings are only one story high, and are located in the most secluded and also dirtiest part of Seoul and they are usually reached by passing through numerous twisting and turning alleyways inhabited by the lowest type of Korean humanity, after wading through muddy cesspools where the nostrils are assailed with nauseous odors, the entrance Gate of the Yambans house is reached. Every Korean house is surrounded by a wall so that nobody should be able to look into the house or the yard. It is necessary that the women remain invisible. — When the Emperor moved into the new palace which is surrounded by high walls, some enterprising foreigners built not far from it a three story building from the upper portion of which they could look into the garden grounds of the Palace and the Emperor had to pay a big price to get this obnoxious building into his possession from, which he removed the upper story. —
Glass windows are rarely seen in Korean houses, they use oil paper for that purpose. —
On the roofs or eaves of gates and palaces they place stone figures of animals representing demons, to keep away the evil spirits.
There is so much written about the beauties of Seoul, that I can’t help mentioning that Seoul is a horrible place. The City is built in a basin, surrounded on all sides by high mountains, amphitheater like and would be as far as mountain scenery goes a very interesting sight, but there is no regularity in the streets, most of the houses are hovels built of mud and the impression one gets of these low, one storied, dirty and filthy agglomeration of huts is a very poor one and a ramble through the unpaved narrow streets creates a feeling of disgust. Since the coming of the foreigners a semblance of order has been introduced into the main Avenues which cut through the town to the four points of the compass, and substantial stone and brick structures have been erected and the Japanese have made many improvements in widening and cutting new streets through the populous quarters; but as soon as one wanders into the purlieus of them and leaves off the beaten path one sees sisfhts which are even rare in China.
It is a great pity that the palaces where the Empress was murdered are allowed to go to wreck and ruin, as they are monuments of oriental art. No attempt is made on the part of the Japanese to preserve them from decay and deterioration, as perhaps they feel that as soon as the mementos of the tragic events are obliterated which are connected with the conquest of Korea, the quicker the world will forget all about them. Seoul was made the Capital of Korea in the i6th century, after the destruction of the old Capital Sunto during the Japanese invasion — which town was 20 miles north of the Kang-kiang river. — Sunto was made the Capital in 930 A. D. and before Pien-yang was the royal residence. —
Quite a pleasing contrast form the Palaces of the Emperors and there are some beautiful structures in Chinese Architecture erected on the new Palace grounds.
Among the interesting remnants of old Korean Architecture must be mentioned the wall which surrounds Seoul, which is fourteen miles in circumference and twenty feet high, surmounted with battlements and embra-sures and pierced by eight massive gates. This wall clings to the edges of the mountains, going up and down the steepest declivities with symmetrical grandeur. Like all Chinese walls it has a core of mud faced with masonry and in some places it is built of solid stone.
The interesting sights in Seoul are these old walls and the surrounding mountain scenery, the gates, palaces and the imperial graves and the study of Korean manners of living and their primitive habitations.
The gates are very substantially built and are two to three stories high.
There are still the remnants of a once existing sewerage system visible, as through the centre of the town passes an open conduit, walled on the sides and must be 12 or more feet in depth but is silted up now and into this, the main sewer, smaller channels empty, and during the rainy season the drainage of the v/hole city is carried off and owing to the natural grade into the valley a good sewerage system could be provided for, which would drain into the Han River. On the south side of the city is the Nam Shan or South mountain, which is very precipitous and to the North is Pook Shan or North Mountain.
Seoul has 300,000 inhabitants and is 28 miles from its sea port Chemulpo, which it is connected by a railway.
The walls are over 500 years old and the gates are from 14 to 16 feet in width and are set in arches about 16 feet deep and made of large blocks of stone finely hewn and joined, furnishing perfect specimens of arch building. The towers are meant for the soldiers to defend the approaches and they form the principal attraction to the tourist.
There are three wide streets, one from East to West ending at the East gate and the others run off at right angles from this, one to the main gate of the palace and the other to the great South gate. Some very interesting remnants of old architecture are seen in the ancient Capitals of Korea, like Taidong gate in Phyong-Yang.
Towering above the surrounding buildings on a hill in the centre of Seoul is the fine Catholic Church, a fitting monument of the brave French fathers who have brought the Cross to Korea. Since the advent of the Missions of other denominations, schools and hospitals have been built by them and Severance Hospital in Seoul deserves a fitting place whenever the history of the Protestant church will be written, nor has the introduction of Protestantism been of the tragic character as are recorded here in relating the introduction of the Catholic faith.
The Protestant Evangelization of Korea is due to the efforts of Rev. John Moss who came from Mukden in 1873 and he was the first founder of Protestant Christianity in Korea and it is the duty of every foreigner who visits Seoul to make himself acquainted with the noble work our Missionaries are doing and they are certainly sowing there the seeds on fertile ground.
The old legation quarters with their compounds now converted into Consulates cover a large area and some of them have some imposing structures on them, a fairly good Hotel is in the Legation quarter, but the Railway Company is constructing a new hotel, which will be run on the same lines as the Manchurian Railway Company’s hotel at Dalny, Mukden, Chingwantao and etc., where the traveller is compelled to stop over a day or two, as the time tables are so ingeniously arranged that trains never make connections and the traveller has to patiently abide his time in these hotels and contribute to the exchequer of the Manchuria Railway Company. —
The foreign population in Korea is not large and is made up of those connected with the Consulates, merchants and the employes of the Mining Companies. —
In the interior of the country are to be seen the remnants of brick and stone enclosures around which high walls were built and in these enclosures thousands of people could seek a refuge in time of war.
There are numerous old monuments in existence in Korea, and the oldest is said to be the Altar of Tangun erected on a high peak on one of the Islands, whose authenticated age dates back 2000 years before the Christian Era and not very far distant from it are some Buddhist Monasteries. —
Near Pyeng-yang is a stone tablet which marks the site of Kijas grave. Many huge mounds near the town of Kyong-ju are supposed to be the sites of the graves of the Kings who ruled Silla.
The most remarkable relic is the Bell of Silla, as the same clearly proves that the Koreans 1700 years ago must have already attained a high degree of civilization, to mine and smelt copper ores, cast a bell and hang the same up so as to give a clear sound when struck.
Of the Golden Pagoda constructed by the buddhist priests, nothing remains but the two lower stories and these ruins are about 1600 years old.
There are many other Buddhistic remains in Korea and many decaying temples and monasteries are still in existence which are inhabited by some poor bonzes eaking out an existence by charity. These temples are located in the most beautiful spots in the country in the midst of pine and fir forests. The most renowned ones are in the Diamond mountains in the central eastern part of Korea.
Near Songdo are two figures one male and the other a female in stone. These are called Miryoks. One of those statues is 70 feet high and an oblong stone slab resting on its head measures 12 feet in length.
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