Up to date, relatively large numbers of researches on Jeju Gyoan which occurred in 1901 have been conducted. This is highly desirable phenomenon. However, there still exist matters to be dealt. It is also related with historical records. Among these h...
Up to date, relatively large numbers of researches on Jeju Gyoan which occurred in 1901 have been conducted. This is highly desirable phenomenon. However, there still exist matters to be dealt. It is also related with historical records. Among these historical records, materials from the non-church side are relatively neglected unlike the materials from the church side.
For instance, 『Sokeumcheongsa』 written by Kim Yunsik, who is a Confucian Scholar of the moderate-enlightenment party, is extremely important primary source in understanding the Jeju Gyoan. He gave an account of the cause of the Jeju Gyoan. He showed that troubles caused by the Catholics were closely associated with tax-collection imposed on the Jeju. In addition, he described in detail, movements of the people who raised the riots. On the contrary, he took a critical stand toward the people’s immoderate reactions to the Catholic and the French priests. Through this, he focused on the change in the society of Chosun dynasty brought by the acceptance of Catholicism.
Furthermore, he did not comprehended the Jeju Gyoan as a problem confined in Jeju. Since many Catholics, whom exiled from Seoul due to political reasons, were actively participating, he saw that Jeju Gyoan could give a cause for the foreign powers to intervene in the Chosun dynasty. Thereupon, he put an intensive attention to the movements of US councilor, and the Japan that were in opposing side with the France which had close connections to Catholicism in Chosun dynasty. Thus, he was trying to grasp how Jeju Gyoan would affect the turbulent foreign diplomacy situations of East Asia of the time.