Corea

COREA (ante), native name CHO-SEN (Morning Calm). The name Corea comes from that of the ancient province Koria or Kokorai. The French call it Cork. It was first colonized by Kishi (Chinese, Ki Tsze), a Chinese courtier and reputed author of part of the Shu-King, the classic edited later by Confucius. Kishi introduced the elements of the civilization of ancient China into the peninsula, which he named Chosen. The early history of Corea is known through the Chinese and Japanese annals, the latter being very full, while many works on Corea exist in .Japan. The ancient boundaries of Corea far exceeded their present limits. From a little before the Christian era, until the 10th e., the peninsula was divided into the three kingdoms of Shinn' (or Shiraki), Korai (or Koma), and Hiaksai (or Kudara); or in Chinese, Sink), Knoll, and Petsi. Though civil war was almost constant between the three states. with occasional wars with or inva sions from China, and much help or conquest from Japan, yet in spite of war, the arts flourished, and it was through Corea, and not from China directly, that Japan received those elements of her civilization which are of Chinese origin. Corea sent to Japan ninny scholars, artists, and men of skill in every trade and profession, and the basis of nearly every order of arts or handicrafts in Japan is Corean. The most noted ancient invasion of the Japanese is that of the empress, Jingu Kogu, in the 3d century. Fusan on the e. coast, has been held by the Japanese from very ancient times. In the 10th c., Shinn' obtained supremacy in the penisula, and united Corea was then named Kori (Jap. Korai). In 1231 A.D., the Mongols invaded Corea, and in 1256, reduced it to vassal age, after a bloody resistance, the Corean king going in person to the court of the con queror of continents to do homage. Anxious to humble Japan, Khublai Khan made Corea his base of operations for Ins expedition in 1273 which failed, and in 1281 for his mighty armada of 3,500 war junks, and 180,000 Tartars, Coreans, and Chinese. Of his vast fleet and host, few escaped the storm and the arrows of the Japanese. The Korai dynasty came to an end in the 14th c., the Corean king refusing or neglecting to pay tribute to the Ming emperors of China. A Chinese army was sent against Corea, and the Corea gen. Seikei dethroned the king, and, being made sovereign by the army, made offers of homage to the Chinese emperor, and received investiture as Cho-sen-o (king of Cho-sen), the ancient name of the country having been restored. This was in 1392. The dynasty thus established, rules Corea to-day. In 1582, Dideyoshi (Taiko Santa) having unified all Japan, resolved on the invasion of China through Corea, and sent word to the latter to resume in full form her ancient relation as tributary vassal. Corea having insultingly refused, Hideyoshi dispatched an army of 160,000 Japanese veterans, under command of his generals Konishi and Kato, to invade Corea. So well organized and equipped was the advance detachment, that within three weeks after their landing at Fusan, they had reduced the castles along the line of march and were in the Seoul, or capital (see SEour.). Pushing northward to Ping Yang, this city was occupied, and the army of Konishi was reinforced by the other corps which had overrun the seven other provinces of the peninsula. A Chinese army of 40,000 men now entered Corea, the first battle between the allies and invaders being fought at Ping Yang (q.v.). Falling back on Seoul, the Japanese fortified it, but massing their forces, left their intrenchments and gave battle to the allies. In the hard-fought battle which ensued, ten thousand men were said to have fallen. Diplomacy at Pekin and Kioto, and in Corea, checked hos tilities for a time; but the war was renewed with fresh vigor. Several severe naval battles on a large scale were fought; on land the castle of Nang.an, one of the strongest fortresses in the kingdom, was taken by the Japanese, the Chinese commander slain, and 3,726 heads of Chinamen and Coreans were cut off and made into a trophy. The final pivot of the war was at Urusan castle, a few miles n. of Pusan. During the siege, which lasted one year, the large Japanese garrison was reduced by the straits of hunger to eat human flesh. Being relieved, a great pitched battle fought near the castle resulted in bloody defeat of the Chinese and Comm& The death of Ilideyoshi occur ring soon after, the Japanese armies were withdrawn, and peace was made on the basis of Cnrea's tributary vassalage to Japan. In 1636, the Manchu Tartars invaded Corea, the king receiving investiture from the Manchu, who soon afterwards entered China, and established the present dynasty on the throne of China. Under every form of national government, and of foreign conquest, Corea has remained tributary to China, and until 1876 to Japan, her geographical position unfortunately rendering her vulnerable to every invasion from c. or w., and making her like grist between two great rival nations as millstones. No seeds of Christianity were left by the Japanese army, though Konisbi's division was largely composed of converts of the Jesuit missionaries in .Japan; nor by the crew of the Dutch ship Sparteeh• shipwrecked off Quelpaert island in 1653, and detained as prisoners in Corea until 1667, when they escaped, Hamel, the supercargo, writing an account of their adventures. Christianity began in 1777. Pick-i, a young Comm scholar in a coterie oflearned men, having found some books on Christian doctrines, composed in Chinese by the Jesuits at Pekin, brought into Corea by a member of the embassy, began the practice of the Christian life, and the propagation of the new Ideas. The native Christians increasing, ignorantly

formed a hierarchy among themselves, but abandoned-it as greater knowledge showed them their error. In 1794, the first Chinese priest, and in 1836, the first European mis sionary, M. Manbant, had penetrated Corea. Persecution marked the history of the church from the very first, but with intervals of quiet. Down to 1866, after twenty years of uninterrupted labor, and eighty years of Corean Christianity, four bishops and nineteen priests, all except four being Frenchmen, had entered Corea. Of these, fourteen suf fered death at the hands of the government, and four died of toil or disease. Nine having been put to death at once, in 1866, the French admiral, Roze, with seven ships and 1000 men, captured Hang Hoa city (q.v.), but suffered repulse while attacking a fortified monastery, and the badly-planned expedition failed. In Aug., 1866, the Ameri can schooner General Sherman, with a cargo of cotton goods, glass, tin plate, etc., and heavily armed, left Chifu, China, on a trading or semi-piratical expedition to Corea. She had on board 19 Malay and Chinese sailors, and five foreigners, viz.: Mr. Win, B. Preston, owner, and the captain and mate, Americans; Mr. Hogarth, supercargo, and the Rev. Mr. Thomas, Englishman. The latter, though warned of the character of the cruise, went on board as interpreter and to improve his knowledge of the Corean lan guage. Arriving in Ping Yang river, they made their way up to the city. What further befell them is not fully known, but the Coreans most probably mistaking the foreigners for their late enemies, Frenchmen, and being provoked into a quarrel, attacked and killed them all. To obtain redress, the U. S. S. IVaehuset, corn, R. W. Shufeldt, and the U. S. S. S. Shenandoah, corn. J. C. Febiger, were dispatched in 1867 to the w. coast of Corea, but no satisfaction being obtained, the United States government deter. mined on sending an expedition to the Corean capital. The American fleet under commo dore John Rodgers sailed from Nagasaki, Japan, May 16, 1870, reaching the French anchor age off Kling Hoa on the 23d. The fleet consisted of the Colorado, Alaska, Benecia, Monocaey, and Palos, the force numbering about 1000 men, and having on board F. F. Low, U. S. minister to China, who was, if possible, to make a treaty with Corea. Negotiations were soon opened; but with unseemly haste,'and without right or warrant, four armed steam launches acting as " surveying boats" were sent up the Hang river, together with the Monocaey and Palos. -The Coreans, resenting this armed invasion of their territory, fired on the Americans, who returned the fire with their heavy guns. June 10, a further expedition of 2 gunboats, the 4 steam-launches, and 759 men, were sent up the river to capture all the forts. Within 48 hours, the landing force and the gun boats co-operating, five forts were captured and dismantled, 50 flags and 481 pieces of artillery were taken, and probably 400 Coreans slain; the American loss being less than 15 wounded and 3 killed, among the latter the gallant lieut. Mcic.ee. The Corean gov, eminent refusing to open negotiations, the American commodore discharged his prison ers and returned to Shanghai, China. Though England, Russia, France, Germany, and the United States had failed to open Corea, the Japanese, after far greater prepara tions and equipments, resolved to succeed or go to war. The immediate cause of their action, was the firing by a Corean fort upon one of their gun-boats, the Unyo Kan, Sept. 19, 1875. The Japanese having landed for water, and being in uniform similar to that of American sailors, were probably mistaken by the Coreans for the latter, the place being the scene of the fight with the Americans in 1871. The mikado sent Arinori Mori (see Mont, A.) to Pekin to obtain from China a declaration of neutrality. Receiving from the Chinese a written disclaimer of all authority over Corea, the Japanese govern ment dispatched a fleet and force to Corea, under gen. Kuroda, entrusting the diplo matic action to Inouye (q.v.). Imitating, even to minutest details, the policy and example of the American commodore Perry in dealing with Japan in 1854, Kuroda and Inouye gained a like "brain-victory," and a treaty of amity and commerce was signed Feb. 27, 1876. Under the provisions of this treaty, a Corean embassy visited Tokio in 1877, and the port of Gensan (q.v.) with Fusan was opened to Japanese residence and trade. In addition to the few Coreans residing in Japan and China, 5,000 live in Russian Manchuria, chiefly in settlements along the Tumen river, where they are instructed by Russian teachers and missionaries. It is now proved by linguists that the Corean and Japanese languages have a very close affinity, the Corcan being probably the parent stock. See A Comparative Study of the Japanese and Korean Languages, by W. G. Aston, in journal of the royal Asiatic society of Great Britain, Aug., 1879. Education in Corea is based on the Chinese classics. For the best map of Corea see in Dallet, and that pub lished by the Japanese war department, size 5 ft. by 4. See Klaproth, San Kopf Thou Ran To Sets; Basil Hall's A Voyage to the West Coast of Corea; The Corean Martyrs; Grinnel's journey, American Geographical Society's journal, 1870-71; Dallct's Histoire di L'Elise de Coree, Conan Primer, and W. E. Griffis's Corea, soon to be issued.