Korea and her Neighbours
A Narrative of Travel, with an Account of the Recent Vicissitudes and Present Position of the Country

Indefatigable traveller Isabella Bird visited Korea at a time of increasing foreign influence, and published her observations in 1898.

Isabella Bird (Author)

9781108045766, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 8 March 2012

362 pages, 26 b/w illus. 1 map
21.6 x 14 x 2.1 cm, 0.46 kg

Isabella Bird (Mrs Bishop, 1831–1904) was recommended an open-air life from an early age as a cure for her physical and nervous difficulties. Her accounts of travel in America, Hawaii, Japan and Persia were best-sellers. This two-volume work, first published in 1898, was one of the books arising from Bird's visit to Korea and China between 1894 and 1897, the other being The Yangtse Valley and Beyond (1899), also available in this series. Korea was a battleground during the Sino-Japanese War of 1894–5, and subsequently became increasingly dominated by Japan, being annexed fully in 1910. Bird provides vivid descriptions of the Korean people, their way of life and customs at a time when the country had only recently opened up to the West. In Volume 2 she visits the Russian frontier, where many Koreans had settled, and discusses the effectiveness of Christian missionaries.

19. The Korean frontier
20. A new empire
21. The King's oath. The King and Queen
22. A transition stage. 'Great Fifteenth Day'
23. A dark chapter of Korean history
24. Mr. Yi Hak In. Korean burial customs
25. From Pa Ju to Song-Do
26. From Song-Do to Phyong-Yang
27. Northward ho!
28. From Tok Chhön to Phyöng-Yang
29. The position of Korean woman
30. Christian missions
31. The 'top-knot'. The Korean hegira
32. The reorganised Korean government
33. Education. Trade. Finance
34. Korean demonism or shamanism
35. Notes on demonism in Korea, concluded
36. Seoul in 1897
37. Last words on Korea
Appendix A. Mission statistics for Korea, 1896
Appendix B. Direct foreign trade of Korea, 1894–6
Appendix C. Return of principal articles of export for the years 1895–96
Appendix D. Population statistics
Appendix E. Treaty between Japan and Russia, with reply of H. E. the Korean Minister for Foreign Affairs
Index.

Subject Areas: Asian history [HBJF]