Buch, Englisch, 400 Seiten, Hardback, Format (B × H): 155 mm x 226 mm, Gewicht: 680 g
Xu Jing's Illustrated Account of the Xuanhe Embassy to Koryŏ
Buch, Englisch, 400 Seiten, Hardback, Format (B × H): 155 mm x 226 mm, Gewicht: 680 g
Reihe: Korean Classics Library: Historical Materials
ISBN: 978-0-8248-5644-1
Verlag: Cornell University (Ceas)
So observed the Song envoy Xu Jing in the official report of his 1123 visit to Korea—a rare eyewitness account of Kory? (918–1392) society in its prime. Officially, the purpose of Xu Jing's visit was to condole the new king, Injong, on the death of his father and present him with a letter of investiture; unofficially, he was tasked with persuading Injong to align with Song China against the newly emergent Jin dynasty. Although famous for its celadon and Buddhist paintings, the Kory? period is still very much terra incognita in world history because of the lack of translated source materials. The present work, the first fully annotated, complete translation of a key source text on Kory?, fills this gap.
Xu Jing spent a little more than a month in the Kory? capital, Kaes?ng, but he was a meticulous chronicler, compiling a veritable handbook on Kory? that is full of fascinating details found nowhere else on daily life, history, customs and manners, buildings, the military, food, among others. However, Xu Jing was not unbiased in his observations and supplemented his work with unreliable information from earlier chronicles—a fact often ignored in previous studies of the Illustrated Account. In a substantial introduction to his translation, Sem Vermeersch not only places this important work in its historical context, but also reveals both the sources used by the author and the merits and limits of his observations, allowing historians of medieval Korea to make fuller use of this singular primary source.