Bak Gyusu

Bak Gyusu (박규수, 朴珪壽, 1807–1877) was a scholar-bureaucrat, teacher, politician, and a diplomat of the Joseon Dynasty. He was known as a pioneer of the enlightenment group. Bak Gyusu was a grandson of Park Ji-won, the great Silhak scholar of the Joseon. His nickname was Hwanjae (환재, 瓛齋), Hwanjae (환재, 桓齋) en Heonjae (헌재, 獻齋), Hwanjaegeosa (환재거사 瓛齋居士).

This is a Korean name; the family name is Bak.
Bak Gyusu
Korean name
Hangul
Hanja
Revised RomanizationBak Gyusu
McCune–ReischauerPak Kyusu

Life

In 1827, Bak Gyusu met Crown Prince Hyomyeong, who quickly became a trusted friend. The Crown Prince would often ask Bak for his thoughts on the delicate political and social issues of the day. When the Crown Prince died three years later at the age of 20, Bak fell into a deep state of mourning. Due to this, Bak isolated himself from the outside world for twenty years.[1]

In 1848, he successfully passed the Gwageo civil service exam, a test required for government work. Doing well on this test allowed Bak Gyusu to acquire a well-paid job early on. Later in his life, Bak became a mentor for a Korean politician Pak Yung-hio during the mid-1870s. Bak decided to instruct Pak Yung-hio in his ways of enlightened thinking after he took the initiative and sought him out.[2] Bak's ideas influenced many people throughout Korea, the most notable being the Korean reformist Kim Okgyun, who went on to incorporate foreign sciences and technologies into Korea in order to help strengthen it against further encroachment and military advances by an increasingly imperialistic Japan.[3]

During the period of King Gojong's reign, the Queen actively supported him. Queen Sinjeong had been the wife of Crown Prince Hyomyeong, who was posthumously named King Munjo. Bak Gyusu was the governor of Pyongan province when the General Sherman incident occurred, an event commonly cited as an important catalyst to the ending of Korean isolationism in the 19th century. On the 9th of July, 1866, the General Sherman entered the Keupsa Gate without permission. Bak gave the General Sherman's crew a warning to depart from Joseon. The ship's crew ignored his warning and captured the messenger adjutant-general Yi Hyon-Ik, a subordinate of Bak Gyusu. Bak was present during the rescue of Yi and the destruction of the General Sherman on the 24th of July, 1866. In 1872, Bak Gyusu was made the Joseon Chief Envoy to the court of the Tongzhi Emperor.[4]


Works
  • Hwanjaejip(환재집 瓛齋集)
  • Hwanjaejikgye(환재직계 瓛齋織啓)
  • Hwanjaesyugye(환재수계 瓛齋繡啓)
  • Geogajapbokgo(거가잡복고 居家雜服攷)
  • Sanggodohoimunuirye(상고도회문의례 尙古圖會文儀例)
  • Jangammungo(장암문고 莊菴文稿)
  • Hwanjaeyugo(환재유고 瓛齋遺稿)

Notes
  1. 조선의 마지막 희망이었던 '효명세자' Archived 2011-07-23 at the Wayback Machine 오마이뉴스
  2. 반민족문제연구소,《친일파99인》(돌베개, 1993년) 119쪽(윤해동 집필 부분)
  3. Harrington, Fred Harvey. 1966. God, Mammon and the Japanese: dr. Horace N. Allen and Korean-American relations, 1884-1905. Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press. OCLC: 63470036
  4. Kang, Jae-eun, and Suzanne Lee. (2006). The Land of Scholars: Two Thousand Years of Korean Confucianism, p. 445
gollark: I DID NOT
gollark: MINE!
gollark: Ah.
gollark: Can it just be gitgetted okay?
gollark: Maybe I should add a vorbani option to potatOS.

References
  • Daehwan, Noh. "The Eclectic Development of Neo-Confucianism and Statecraft from the 18th to the 19th Century," Korea Journal (Winter 2003).
  • Kang, Jae-eun and Suzanne Lee. (2006). The Land of Scholars: Two Thousand Years of Korean Confucianism. Paramus, New Jersey: Homa & Sekey Books. ISBN 978-1-931-90737-8; OCLC 60931394
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