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Mon, January 30, 2023 | 11:03

Profits amid a famine

Profits amid a famine

The Japanese enclave of Fusan (now part of Busan) in the spring of 1877 was a vibrant and bustling commercial center. The 700 to 800 Japanese men there (there were only about 30 women) were mainly employed in one of the 200 Japanese firms represented at the port. Trade was good - in fact, in the beginning, it was fantastic and many of the companies reported huge profits.

2021-04-17 09:45

Walking in the Footsteps of the Past: Mount Gyeryong - “Chicken Dragon Mountain”

Walking in the Footsteps of the Past: Mount Gyeryong - “Chicken Dragon Mountain”

While traveling to Nonsan in the autumn of 1884, Foulk jotted down in his journal that the hills had ended and he was provided with a view of “Keryong san” (Mount Gyeryong). It is a shame he did not translate the name into English - Chicken Dragon Mountain - as his parents might have found it more interesting. Perhaps Foulk was unaware of its translation and how it came by it...

2021-04-11 11:15

Walking in the footsteps of the Past: Foulk's 1884 trek around Nonsan

Walking in the footsteps of the Past: Foulk's 1884 trek around Nonsan

Walking in the footsteps of the Past: Foulk's 1884 trek around Nonsan

In the fall of 1884, George C. Foulk, an American naval ensign assigned to the American legation in Seoul, undertook an extensive tour through the southern part of the Korean peninsula. His observations - carefully recorded in minute detail in his travel journals and letters home - provide some of the best and earliest English descriptions of the regions outside of Seoul. Of ...

2021-04-10 09:33

Walking in the Footsteps of the Past: Mount Gyeryong - “Chicken Dragon Mountain”

The Korean blacksmith

The Korean blacksmith

According to an old Korean saying, there are no good knives in a blacksmith's house, meaning the blacksmith sells all the knives he makes and keeps only the old worn-out ones for his own family's use. It is a matter of interpretation as to whether this implied the blacksmith was too poor to afford his own wares or that he was negligent to his own family's needs.

2021-04-04 10:08

Dr. Clarence E. Edwords' Excursion to Korea: Part 3

Dr. Clarence E. Edwords' Excursion to Korea: Part 3

As evidenced by his articles published in the United States, Dr. Clarence E. Edwords, a physician and travel writer from San Francisco, knew how to tell a great story. He exclaimed there were so many things to see in Korea and he could write a great deal about his adventures in Seoul, but because of the amount of material he would concentrate only on the most “interesting inc...

2021-04-03 09:21

Dr. Clarence E. Edwords' Excursion to Korean: Part 2

Dr. Clarence E. Edwords' Excursion to Korean: Part 2

Americans visiting or residing in Korea in the late 19th and early 20th centuries often entertained their families and - if they were journalists or authors - readers with descriptions of Korean customs, the vicious little Korean ponies, the lumbering oxen, kite flying, tigers and boats. But very few mentioned fishing. Strange considering the importance of fish in the Korean ...

2021-03-28 08:49

Dr. Clarence E. Edwords' Excursion to Korea: Part 1

Dr. Clarence E. Edwords' Excursion to Korea: Part 1

Dr. Clarence E. Edwords' Excursion to Korea: Part 1

It was very popular for American travelers in the late 19th and early 20th centuries to publish accounts of their overseas excursions in their hometown newspapers. Clarence E. Edwords, a physician and writer from San Francisco, was no exception, and, in fact, published accounts in several newspapers of his travels in the Far East from 1907 through 1909.

2021-03-27 09:42

Dr. Clarence E. Edwords' Excursion to Korean: Part 2

Robbery and fraud in the Land of Morning Calm

Robbery and fraud in the Land of Morning Calm

One of the first bank robberies in Korea took place in Jemulpo (modern Incheon) on June 25, 1892 - a dreadfully hot day. A young Japanese employee of the First National Bank of Japan went to the Korean Customs Office to collect the daily duties on goods being imported and exported through the port. It was a fairly substantial amount of money - nearly 700 dollars.

2021-03-21 09:05

Deadly dust storm covers a kindly act

Deadly dust storm covers a kindly act

On the morning of March 3, 1915, the residents of Jemulpo (modern Incheon) awoke to “a strange atmospheric phenomenon - the sky appeared as if filled with fog, and the sun seemed bluish-white in colour.” The nearby observatory patiently explained that it was the result of a severe storm in China and Mongolia. Over the next couple of days, residents throughout the Korean penin...

2021-03-20 10:30

Martin McMahon: The luck of the Irish in 1900s Korea

Martin McMahon: The luck of the Irish in 1900s Korea

Some of the most successful and famous silver and gold miners in the United States in the late 19th century were Irish or Irish Americans. Thus, it is not surprising that there were a large number of them in Korea in the early 20th century working for the American-owned gold mining companies. One of these early Irish American miners was Martin McMahon.

2021-03-14 10:06

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