Industry and Trade.—The industrial arts are but slightly developed, the peasant himself in most cases supplying by his own labour the greater part of his needs. The one manufacture in which the Corean ranks really high is that of paper, a material employed as in Japan in a great variety of ways. Trade is mainly carried on by means of markets or fairs, but transactions are hampered by the deficiency of the currency. Only one kind of coin, a small piece of copper known as a “sapeke,” is recognized, and even this is not in use in the northern provinces, where barter alone is in vogue. The roads of the country offer but few facilities for traffic; wheeled vehicles are unknown, and much of the transport of goods is effected by porterage. Except at the capital there is hardly, over any of the numerous streams, a structure worthy to be called a bridge. Foreign commerce there is none, unless the fair which is held annually for several days at Pien-men on the occasion of the passage of the ambassadors, or that which takes place every two years at Hung-chung, is to be counted an exception. The Chinese or Japanese ships are allowed to fish for trepang along the coast of Pieng-an and for herring on that of Hoang-hai; but they are prohibited, not only from landing, but from holding any communication with the Coreans at sea.
Dwellings and Dress.—The houses of the Coreans are of one story, flimsily constructed of wood, clay, and rice-straw, visually covered with thatch and badly provided with windows. Lamentable accounts are given of the general poverty of the common people. Their houses are only about ten or twelve feet square; the floor is the bare earth, covered in rare instances with mats of poor quality; no chairs are in use, people squatting on the floor; and there is nothing worthy of the name of a bed. The ordinary shoe or sandal is formed of straw, and leaves the great toe exposed; but stockings are worn by all. Wide pantaloons and a long vest are the principal articles of attire,—the well-to-do wearing also a large overcoat, which the peasant uses on gala occasions only. The national hat is composed of a framework of bamboos covered with an open kind of haircloth; it protects neither from rain, cold, nor sun, and is altogether very inconvenient. The principal material of the wearing apparel is cotton cloth, rough in texture, and of its natural colour; but a rude kind of silk fabric is not uncommon among the wealthier classes.
History.—Corea, or Chosen, as it is called by the natives, appears for the first time in Chinese history in 1122 B.C., as affording an asylum to the refugee viscount of Ke; and since that period it has been claimed as an integral part of the Chinese empire. Neither at that time, nor for centuries afterwards, does it seem to have formed a political unity,—various states, as Hwuy, Shin-han, Pih-tse, and Sin-lo being mentioned in the Chinese records. In the first century of our era three of these states stand out as important:—Kao-li in the north and north-east, Pih-tse in the west, and Sin-lo in the south. Out of the civil wars which fill the next ten hundred years Sin-lo emerges predominant; but in the 11th century the king of Kao-li in the north and north-east, Pih-tse, known as Wang-kian, or Wang the founder, united the whole peninsula under his sway, and established the dynasty which has given its name to the country. The fall of the Mongolian dynasty in China brought about a similar revolution in Corea; and in 1392 Tai-tso or Li-tan became the founder of the present dynasty of Tsi-tsien, and the author of the system of administration still in force. The Chinese at that time imposed on the Coreans the use of their chronology and calendar.
Under Siong-siong, who held the throne from 1506 to 1544, the Coreans carried on a war with Japan, but in 1597 the great Japanese monarch Taiko-sama retaliated by a remarkable invasion. According to the journal of O-o-gawutsi, a Japanese general who took part in the expedition, the force consisted of 163,000 horsemen; three-fourths of the country was occupied and several of the oldest cities destroyed, in spite of the fact that two Chinese kings appeared to assist the Coreans with a force of 100,000 horsemen. The death of Taiko-sama in 1598 led the Japanese to abandon their conquest; and in 1615 peace was definitively signed, but only on conditions of great hardship for the Coreans. A tribute was exacted and the fort of Fusan-kai was retained; and the Corean king till 1790 had to send an embassy to Japan to announce his accession. When the Manchu dynasty ascended the throne of China, the Coreans defended the Mings; but being defeated by the new power, they had in 1637 formally to recognize the Manchu sovereignty, and to pay henceforward a heavy annual tribute. Since 1636 there has been no war with China or with Japan; and the Coreans have maintained in regard to every other nation the most absolute isolation. The ambassadors sent annually to Peking have been the means of conveying some little knowledge of Western nations to their countrymen; but the result has rather been to make them more exclusive. It is recorded in a Corean work that Tsiang-tou-wen-i saw a European named Jean Niouk in the Chinese capital, and obtained from him books, pistols, telescopes, and other curiosities; and Ricci's Tien-tsou-sir-ei, or True principles about God, are mentioned by Ni-siou-sipong, a Corean author. In 1784 Ni-tek-tso having had his attention aroused by some Chinese work on the Christian religion thus introduced, requested his friend Seng-houng-i, soon after sent with the embassy, to make inquiry about the subject. The result was the formation of a Christian sect, which speedily attracted the attention of the Roman Catholic mission, whose agents succeeded, in spite of the jealous watch of the Corean authorities, in making their way into the country. Persecution soon broke out, and has continued at intervals ever since. In 1831 a vicar apostolic was appointed by the Pope, and repeated efforts were made to effect a firm footing; but in 1866 the last Europeans were expelled. To avenge the murder of the French missionaries, Admiral Roze undertook an expedition in the end of that year. He destroyed the city of Kang-hoa, with its important military establishments, but obtained no concessions from the Government. Several American vessels having been burned by the Coreans, the United States in 1867 despatched Commander Schufeldt to remonstrate with the native authorities, but he returned as he went. Nothing further was done till 1870, when a force under Admiral Rodgers proceeded up the river towards the capital, with the intention of communicating directly with the Government. It was met by a determined resistance on the part of the Coreans, and though the American vessels were secure against the native artillery, and American guns soon silenced the forts, the admiral was constrained by political difficulties to bring his expedition to a close. In 1875 a convention was arranged by the Coreans with Moriyama, the Japanese ambassador; but its terms were soon infringed and an attack was made on the gun-boat “Unyokan.” The Japanese Government accordingly despatched Karoda as high commissioner, who succeeded in concluding a treaty with important concessions to Japan. The Japanese are now entitled to send a permanent resident to the capital; three ports are opened to Japanese trade; Corean ports may be entered by Japanese vessels in distress; and Japanese mariners are free to survey the Corean coast.
Literature.—The European literature about Corea is comparatively scanty; of all the works that have yet been published, that which gives the completest account is M. Dallet's L'Église de la Corée (1874), based mainly on the reports of the members of the Roman Catholic mission. The earliest source of information is the narrative of H. Hamel, a Dutchman, who was shipwrecked on the coast of the Island of Quelpart in 1654, and spent thirteen years in captivity; it is contained in the collections of Astley, Pinkerton, &c. Brief notices will be found in B. Hall's Account of a Voyage to the West Coast of Corea, 1818; Macleod, Voyage of H. M. S. Alceste, 1819; A. Young, Remarks on Corea, 1865; A. Williamson, Journeys to North China, 1870, and Fortnightly Review, 1875. Professor Pfizmaier of Vienna, the Japanese scholar, has published a German translation of the Japanese account of the campaign of 1597, in the Denkschriften d. k. Akad. d. Wissenschaften, 1876, and promises Darlegungen aus der Geschichte und Geographie Corea's. A French translation of the journal of Kwei-lin, Chinese ambassador to Corea in 1866, appears in the Revue de Géog., 1877. For the language see A Translation of a Comparative Vocabulary of Chinese, Corean, and Japanese, by W. H. Medhurst, Batavia, 1835. A grammar and vocabulary by W. F. Meyers, secretary of the English Legation at Pekin, and a dictionary compiled by the French missionaries are to be published.
