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Sat, July 2, 2022 | 07:30

Travelling down the Han River in 1903: 'Glad to be alive'

In May 1903, Charles Allen Clark, an American missionary, made his first trip outside of the comforts of Seoul. Clark was still relatively new to Korea and his language ability and familiarity with Korean culture were still somewhat lacking. He did, however, provide an interesting view of what it was like to travel down the Han River to the Yellow Sea at the beginning of the ...

2021-07-10 08:52

Naval chow in Korean waters in 1900s

“An army marches on its stomach,” is an old saying that has been attributed to Napoleon - or, depending on your source, Frederick the Great - emphasizing how important food is to the military. Anyone who has served in the military is more than aware of the impact the quality of food has on morale and discipline. For the American sailors and marines serving in the Far East in ...

2021-07-04 11:19

Fans, detractors of legation guards

At the beginning of 1904, Seoul was a city filled with soldiers. Lillias Underwood, an American missionary, described the capital as having “many long rows of barracks all over the city, for the Emperor had nearly ten thousand troops” and the streets nearby Deoksu Palace were constantly filled with Korean soldiers and their officers guarding the Korean monarch. War between Ru...

2021-07-03 09:56

Han River bridges, then and now

Up until the early part of the 20th century, the only way to cross the unfrozen Han River was by one of the many small ferries that operated on both banks. They carried everything - people, goods, chickens, pigs and even oxen and horses. When Horace N. Allen, an American missionary doctor, arrived in Seoul in 1884, rather than dismount and lead his pony onto the ferry, he ele...

2021-06-27 08:06

Bridging the Han River in 1900

At the start of the 20th century, the Hangang Railroad Bridge was the first great engineering project to be completed in Korea, and it may have also been one of the most important. Prior to the construction of this bridge, the only way for the average person to cross the river was to walk across the ice during the winter or, when the river was free of ice, to take a boat or s...

2021-06-26 09:15

Blind faith

In the latter part of the 1890s, the authorities in Seoul began a campaign to curtail or even eliminate the activities of mudangs (shamans) within the city and its vicinity. Shamanism was viewed by many Korean progressives (and, of course, Christians) as a relic from the past and a means for some to exploit the superstitious beliefs of the common people to fill their own pock...

2021-06-20 09:12

Curfew allows nighttime to belong to the blind

At night, in the 1880s, the streets of Seoul belonged to women. Men, with very few exceptions, were confined indoors by a curfew which allowed women to roam the streets relatively safe from the view of their male counterparts. (Relatively safe, because, if we are to believe the accounts, the true monarchs of the night - tigers and leopards - sometimes prowled the streets.)

2021-06-19 09:39

Seoul & Jemulpo Railroad: The First Railroad of Korea

In the 19th century, railroads and their steam locomotives were viewed as a sign of modernization - vehicles of the industrial revolution. Japan built its first railroad in 1872 and by 1893 was manufacturing its own steam engines. In China, the first railroad was built in 1876, but was promptly dismantled the following year due to the company's failure to secure government ap...

2021-06-13 08:22

Smith F. Philips, the topknot shooter

Working on the railroad can be extremely hard and dangerous work; accidents are frequent and often fatal. While the railroad from Seoul to Jemulpo (modern-day Incheon) was being built in the late 1890s, there were several accidents - including explosions - that cost the unwary and clumsy their lives. However, not all dangers the Korean railway construction workers faced were ...

2021-06-12 09:59

Muggings in the Land of Morning Calm

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, foreigners traveling about Korean streets, even in darkness, were fairly safe from crime. There were occasional scuffles and murders, but these were generally incidents in which both the perpetrators and victims were foreigners. However, there were some exceptions - especially when it came to lesser crimes like muggings.

2021-06-07 22:55

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