Cháoxiān fù 朝鮮賦
A Rhapsody on Chosŏn (Korea) by 董越 (Dǒng Yuè, 1431–1502) — zhuàn 撰
About the work
A 1-juan rhapsody (fù) on Chosŏn-period Korea, composed by Dǒng Yuè following his service as Míng ambassador to Chosŏn in the spring–summer of Hóngzhì 1 (1488). With autograph annotations modelled on Xiè Língyùn’s Shānjū fù method (i.e. fù with embedded auto-commentary). The 1488 mission proceeded by land via Liáodōng to the Yalu, in to Hànseong (modern Seoul); Dǒng was at the Korean court for not much over a month. The fù of some 11,000 words covers the geography, climate, road system, customs, products, government institutions, royal court, religious institutions, and persons of Chosŏn — agreeing in detail with the accounts in Míngshǐ Cháoxiān zhuàn, demonstrating its reliability. The Sìkù tíyào speculates that Dǒng prepared by consulting Korean tújīng in advance, supplemented his observations in Korea, and on his return cross-checked against the standard sources before composing the fù. The work is a substantial supplement to Xú Jīng’s Xuānhé fèngshǐ Gāolì tújīng KR2k0138 of 1124, treating Chosŏn-period Korea (under King Sŏngjong, r. 1469–1494) as Xú had treated Koryŏ-period Korea three-and-a-half centuries before.
Tiyao
We respectfully note: the Cháoxiān fù in one juan is by Dǒng Yuè of Míng. Yuè, zì Shàngjǔ, native of Níngdū; Chénghuà jǐchǒu jìnshì (1469); rose to Nánjīng Gōngbù shàngshū; posthumous title Wénxī. When Xiàozōng ascended the throne, Yuè as Yòu chūnfáng yòu shùzǐ concurrently Hànlínyuàn shìjiǎng, with Xíngkē jǐshìzhōng Wáng Chǎng, was sent on embassy to Chosŏn; thereupon he set down what he saw and heard to compose this fù. Further using Xiè Língyùn’s Shānjū fù example, he himself made annotations.
What it says agrees in all respects with the Míngshǐ Cháoxiān zhuàn — we know it is reliable and based-on-evidence, not fabrication.
Examining: Yuè from the first month set out on the embassy; in the fifth month returned to court. The time he spent in that land was only about one month; yet on the territorial yángé (changes in administrative boundary), the fēngsú zhī biànyì (changes in customs), and on mountains-rivers, pavilions-and-rest-houses, persons, livestock, and natural products — none is unrecorded. The autograph preface says: “obtained from hearsay and from broad observation, with the fēngsú tiě drawn up by that country” — perhaps not so easy to be so comprehensive. Could it be that he, on first being appointed, consulted tújīng in advance; on returning to court, again checked classical books, with what his ears-and-eyes reached, completed this composition?
Yuè has Wénxī jí in 42 juan, the present time we have not seen the recension; further separately has Shǐ Dōng rìlù in one juan, also poems and prose composed on his coming-and-going journey, but not as solid-and-accurate as this fù. The separate volumes circulating singly — this one juan is already enough. Respectfully proof-read in the ninth month of Qiánlóng 46 (1781).
Abstract
The Cháoxiān fù is a substantial Míng-period rhapsody-with-self-annotation on Chosŏn-period Korea, composed by Dǒng Yuè 董越 (1431–1502; CBDB 132008; zì Shàngjǔ 尚矩, hào Guīfēng 圭峰; native of Níngdū 寧都 in Jiāngxī; Chénghuà 5 / 1469 jìnshì; rose to Nánjīng Gōngbù shàngshū; posthumous title Wénxī 文僖) following his service as Míng ambassador to Chosŏn in spring–summer 1488 (Hóngzhì 1) under the new emperor Xiàozōng. The mission was accompanied by his colleague Xíngkē jǐshìzhōng Wáng Chǎng 王敞, and proceeded by the Liáodōng overland route to the Korean royal capital at Hànseong, returning the same year. The fù is supplied with autograph annotations modelled on Xiè Língyùn’s Shānjū fù method.
The fù form provides an unusual high-literary register for Korean ethnography; it is preceded by a substantial autograph preface and contains some 11,000 words of fù proper plus the prose annotations. The work is a major supplement to Xú Jīng’s Xuānhé fèngshǐ Gāolì tújīng KR2k0138 (1124) on Koryŏ Korea, providing comparable Chinese-source documentation for the Chosŏn period under King Sŏngjong 成宗 (r. 1469–1494) — a period of substantial Korean Confucian-cultural revival. Modern Korean scholarship has used the work to verify the Sŏngjong-era institutional and topographical record.
The work is preserved in Wényuāngé Sìkù quánshū (vol. 594.5).
Translations and research
No comprehensive English translation. See John Duncan, The Origins of the Chosŏn Dynasty (Honolulu, 2000); Donald N. Clark, “Sino-Korean Tributary Relations under the Ming,” in Cambridge History of China, vol. 8 (1998); Sŏng-jin Kim 김성진, Chosŏn-bu yŏn’gu 朝鮮賦研究 (Seoul, 1990s); Yi Sang-tae 이상태, Tongmun sŏn-jip — for the Korean reception of Dǒng Yuè’s work.
Other points of interest
The choice of the fù form for an embassy-record is itself notable: the fù tradition since Zuǒ Sī’s Sāndū fù had been associated with comprehensive description of a metropolis; Dǒng Yuè’s adaptation of the form to a foreign-country embassy report is among the more distinctive Míng-period reanimations of the genre.
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