Hong Chi-jung (1667–1732) was a scholar-official and Prime Minister of the Joseon Dynasty Korea in the 18th century from 1729 to 1732.[1]

Hong Chi-jung
홍치중
Chief State Councillor
In office
1 July 1729 – 13 August 1732
Preceded byYi Gwang-jwa
Succeeded bySim Su-hyeon
Left State Councillor
In office
16 July 1728 – 1 July 1729
Preceded byJo Tae-eok
Succeeded byYi Tae-jwa
In office
12 June 1726 – 17 August 1727
Preceded byYi Gwang-myeong
Succeeded byJo Tae-eok
Right State Councillor
In office
17 August 1727 – 1727
Preceded byYi Ui-hyeon
Succeeded bySim Su-hyeon
In office
18 February 1725 – 1725
Preceded byYi Gwang-myeong
Succeeded byJo Do-bin
Personal details
Born1667
Died1732 (aged 64–65)
Korean name
Hangul
홍치중
Hanja
洪致中
Revised RomanizationHong Chi-jung
McCune–ReischauerHong Ch'ijung

He was also diplomat and ambassador, representing Joseon interests in the 9th Edo period diplomatic mission to the Tokugawa shogunate in Japan.[2]

1719 mission to Japan edit

In 1719, King Sukjong dispatched a diplomatic mission to the shogunal court of Tokugawa Yoshimune.[3] This diplomatic mission functioned to the advantage of both the Japanese and the Koreans as a channel for developing a political foundation for trade.[4]

This delegation was explicitly identified by the Joseon court as a "Communication Envoy" (tongsinsa). The mission was understood to signify that relations were "normalized."[5]

The Joseon embassy arrived in Kyoto on the 10th month of the 4th year of Kyōhō, according to the Japanese calendar in use at that time.[6] Hong Chi-jung was the chief envoy.[3]

Recognition in the West edit

Pak Tong-chi's historical significance was confirmed when his mission and his name was specifically mentioned in a widely distributed history published by the Oriental Translation Fund in 1834.[6]

In the West, early published accounts of the Joseon kingdom are not extensive, but they are found in Sangoku Tsūran Zusetsu (published in Paris in 1832),[7] and in Nihon ōdai ichiran (published in Paris in 1834). Joseon foreign relations and diplomacy are explicitly referenced in the 1834 work.

See also edit

Notes edit

  1. ^ (in Korean) Hong Chi-jung, Naver encyclopedia
  2. ^ Walraven, Boudewijn et al. (2007). Korea in the middle: Korean studies and area studies, p. 361; Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). Annales des empereurs du japon, p. 417; n.b., the name Kô tsi tsiou is a pre-Hepburn Japanese transliteration and Hong tschi tchoung is a pre-McCune–Reischauer, Korean romanization devised by Julius Klaproth and Jean-Pierre Abel-Rémusat in 1834.
  3. ^ a b Walraven, p. 361.
  4. ^ Walker, Brett L. "Foreign Affairs and Frontiers in Early Modern Japan: A Historiographical Essay," Early Modern Japan. Fall, 2002, pp. 48.
  5. ^ Lewis, James Bryant. (2003). Frontier contact between Chosŏn Korea and Tokugawa Japan, pp. 21-24.
  6. ^ a b Titsingh, p. 417.
  7. ^ Vos, Ken. "Accidental acquisitions: The nineteenth-century Korean collections in the National Museum of Ethnology, Part 1," Archived 2012-06-22 at the Wayback Machine p. 6.

References edit

  • Daehwan, Noh. "The Eclectic Development of Neo-Confucianism and Statecraft from the 18th to the 19th Century," Korea Journal (Winter 2003).
  • Lewis, James Bryant. (2003). Frontier contact between chosŏn Korea and Tokugawa Japan. London: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-7007-1301-1
  • Titsingh, Isaac, ed. (1834). [Siyun-sai Rin-siyo/Hayashi Gahō, 1652], Nipon o daï itsi ran; ou, Annales des empereurs du Japon. Paris: Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland. OCLC 84067437
  • Walker, Brett L. "Foreign Affairs and Frontiers in Early Modern Japan: A Historiographical Essay," Early Modern Japan. Fall, 2002, pp. 44–62, 124-128.
  • Walraven, Boudewijn and Remco E. Breuker. (2007). Korea in the middle: Korean studies and area studies; Essays in Honour of Boudewijn Walraven. Leiden: CNWS Publications. ISBN 90-5789-153-0; OCLC 181625480

External links edit

Preceded by Joseon–Japanese
Edo period diplomacy
9th mission

1719
Succeeded by