19세기 연행록에 나타난 아편, 아편전쟁 = Opium, Opium Wars Appearing in Yeonhaengnok of 19th Century

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Opium was originally known as a remedy for diarrhea and abdominal pain, but its hallucinogenic and addictive properties have spread it around the world as an item of personal preference. Until the 19th century in Joseon, the substance called opium was only recognized as a medicine to treat diseases, and opium as a commodity had never been circulated and it is understood that they did not have any knowledge about it. However, after the 19th century, the Joseon delegation came into contact with the situation of China that suffers internal and external troubles by opium, then they started to obtain information on the origin of opium, tools and methods of smoking opium, the effects of opium and the effects of addiction, and the history of the opium war. In 1848, station officer Park Hee-young was caught bringing in opium smoking tools and the court imposed a ban on opium smoking, however, eventually, opium penetrated into Joseon and became a serious hazardous substance.
Records about opium are scattered in some materials such as poems and writings written in the 19th century. In particular, it is noteworthy because Yeonhaengnok actively captures the realities of the opium addiction, the conflict with the UK obtained through Tang-Bao(塘報) or messages, and the conflict and the political confrontation between Manchu and Han Chinese officials over opium policy which were experienced in China by Joseon delegation. In ApyeonyeonByeonJeungseol of I Gyu-gyeong, the situation in which opiumrelated information collected from the 1820s was shared in Joseon society is revealed. In addition, the handwritten conversations with Han Chinese intellectuals published in Yun Jeong’s Seohaengnok(1844) and Gwon Si-Hyeong’s Seokdan Yeongi(1850) do not stop at the level of being wary of opium's hazard and influx into Joseon, vividly reports the confidential circumstances such as the UK's strong military power, corruption in the Qing bureaucracy, financial exhaustion due to silver leakage, and confusion of opium bans. It can be seen that Yeonhaeng played an important role in the background in which Joseon intellectuals' curiosity about opium developed into a crisis awareness that they had to prepare for threats from Western powers.