Teaching East Asia: Korea Teaching East Asia: Korea | Page 64

RESOURCES
ESSAYS
Blacker, Carmen. The Japanese Enlightenment: A Study of the Writings of Fukuza-
wa Yukichi. Cambridge: The University Press, 1969.
Ch’oe, Mun-hyong. Chegukchuui Sidae Ui Yolgang Kwa Hanguk, Vol. 37 and 65.
Seoul: Minumsa Press, 1990.
Documents from Japanese History, “The Treaty of Portsmouth, New Hampshire,
September 5, 1905,” http://www.isop.ucla.edu/eas/japan/docs/portsmouth.htm
(cited June 26, 2002).
Drake, Frederick C. The Empire of the Seas: A Biography of Rear Admiral Robert
Wilson Shufeldt, USN. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1984.
Ferry, Jules. “Preface to Tonkin, 1890.” In Brian Tierney and Joan Scott, eds. West-
ern Societies: A Documentary History, Vol. II. New York: McGraw Hill, Inc., 1984.
Lee, Ki-baik. A New History of Korea. Seoul, Ilchokak Publishers, 1984.
Lee, Peter H. ed. Sourcebook of Korean Civilization, Vol. II. New York: Columbia
University Press, 1996.
USC-UCLA Joint East Asian Studies Center, “Treaty of Annexation,”
http://www.isop.ucla.edu/eas/documents/kore1910.htm (cited June 26, 2002).
EUROPEAN HISTORY AND WORLD HISTORY
Document-Based Essay Question
(Suggested writing time – 45 minutes)
Directions: The following question is based on the accompanying
Documents A-M.
(Most of the documents have been edited for the purpose of this
exercise.)
This question is designed to test your ability to work with and
understand historical documents. Write an essay that:
■ Has a relevant thesis supported by evidence from the
documents.
■ Uses a majority of the documents.
■ Analyzes the documents by grouping them in as many
appropriate ways as possible.
Does not simply summarize the documents individually.
■ Takes into account both the sources of the documents and
the authors’ points of view.
You may refer to relevant historical information not mentioned
in the documents.
Using specific examples from the documents below,
analyze the impact of European rivalry
and Japanese expansion in Korea.
Historical Background: Africa, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and
East Asia faced decisive challenges from Western powers in the
nineteenth century. In East Asia, in spite of internal unrest and
Western exploitation, China largely held to policies based on tradi-
tion and custom. Japan, however, responded to the Western
advance by embarking on a policy of reform that rapidly trans-
formed Japan into a modern industrial nation. Known in the West
as the “hermit kingdom,” Korea for centuries had rejected nearly
all outside contact. Due to cultural and intellectual ties, Korean
foreign relations were dominated by its affiliation with China,
manifested through an annual tribute to Peking, and limited
contact with Japan. Faced by what is now known as gunboat
diplomacy, the Korean government in 1876 was forced to sign the
Kanghwa Treaty with Japan, Korea’s first unequal treaty with a
foreign power.
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64 50
E DUCATION A BOUT ASIA
Document A
Source: Ch’oe Cheu, advocate of political, social, and economic
reforms and founder of the Tonghak or Eastern Learning Move-
ment: “On Spreading Virtue,” 1861.
I heard that the Westerners were building their churches and
spreading their religion, proclaiming the will of God and not
expecting wealth and honor, but conquering the world. I asked
myself how could it be and how could such things happen? Our
country is full of bad diseases, and the people have no peace. Suf-
fering is the lot of the people. It is said that the West wins and takes
whatever it fights for, and there is nothing in which it cannot suc-
ceed . . . . How can the plan of protecting the nation and securing
peace for the people be made?
Document B
Source: Fairbank, John K., Edwin O. Reischauer, and Albert Craig.
East Asia: Tradition and Transformation, Houghton Mifflin Co.,
Boston, 1989.
Document C
Source: Fukuzawa Yukichi, a Japanese intellectual and admirer of
the European Enlightenment, especially its emphasis on reason as
an instrument for achieving progress, 1881.
We {in Japan} cannot wait for our neighbour countries to
become so civilised that all may combine together to make Asia
progress. We must rather break out of formation and behave in the
same way as the civilised countries of the West are doing . . . . We
would do better to treat China and Korea in the same way as do the
western nations.
Document D
Source: Treaty of Seoul with Russia, 1884.
Article I. 1. There shall be perpetual peace and friendship
between His Majesty the Emperor of all the Russians and His
Majesty the King of Corea [Korea] and their subjects, who shall
enjoy full security and protection for their persons and property
within the dominion of the other.
Article II. 2. All charges and complaints by the Corean Author-
ities or by Corean subjects against Russian subjects in Corea shall
be heard and decided by the Russian courts and according to the
laws of Russia.
Article V. 1. At all the ports and places open to trade, Russian
subjects shall enjoy full liberty to trade in all kinds of merchan-
dise. . . . They may freely transact business with Corean or other
subjects without any intervention on the part of the Corean Author-
ities. . . .
Document E
Source: Jules Ferry, former Premier of France, explains his theory
of colonialism in the Preface to Tonkin, 1890.
Colonial policy is the child of the industrial revolution. For
wealthy countries where capital abounds and accumulates fast,
where industry is expanding steadily, where even agriculture must
become mechanized in order to survive, exports are essential
for public prosperity. The European consumer-goods market is
saturated. Colonial policy is an international manifestation of the
external laws of competition. Without either compromising
the security of the country or sacrificing any of its past traditions
Volume 8, Number 3
Winter 2003