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Shisanshan, Halfway on the Envoys’Journey to Beijing

  • Journal of Korean Classical Chinese Literature
  • Abbr : 한문고전연구
  • 2019, 38(1), pp.253-291
  • DOI : 10.18213/jkccl.2019.38.1.010
  • Publisher : The Classical Chinese Literature Association of Korea
  • Research Area : Humanities > Korean Language and Literature
  • Received : May 20, 2019
  • Accepted : June 18, 2019
  • Published : June 30, 2019

KIM IL HWAN 1

1동국대학교

Accredited

ABSTRACT

Shisanshan(十三山) is about halfway between the Amnokgang River and Beijing, in present Shishan Zhen(石山鎭), Liaoning, China. Shisanshan is the name of the post station and indicates the 13 mountains in this area as well. From the time that Jin Hwa(陳澕) visited the Jin Dynasty as the envoy in the early 13th century and mentioned Shisanshan in his poem, ‘Shisanshan’ was continuously mentioned in writings and poems written by Korean envoys from the Ming dynasty to the Qing dynasty. The envoys recorded some curious interest in and reactions to the unique place name made of the number ‘13 (Shisan)’ and the geographical feature soaring high at the end of the Liaoning Plain. Some people discussed the accuracy of the name by counting the large and small mountains scattered in this area. Some pointed out that the number of mountains was not accurate and so ‘石山’ (shíshān), meaning the ‘stony mountain’, was misunderstood as the name ‘十三(shísān)’ because of a similar pronunciation (in Chinese). There was a family that traveled through ‘Shisanshan’ on the 13th every month for three generations. The descendants tried to remember the endeavors of their ancestors continuously visiting China for the envoys’ mission and the honor of the family. Those who experienced the Japanese invasion in 1594 interpreted the number ‘13’ as meaning the visit to the Ming Dynasty three times over 10 years. Before the late 17th century when the northward route from Liaoning to Shenyang was created, the envoys who had to follow the route from Haizhou through Ujiazhuang to Guangning recognized the peak of Shisanshan at the end of the long wetland called ‘Liaoze’ as the ‘Peak of Hope’. The envoys, completely exhausted both in body and mind, wrote poems longing for their hometowns and families which seemed to appear when they came to the peak of the mountain. Some talked about the romantic love with the ‘twelve peaks in Wushan’(巫山十二峯) with the king and the exorcist during the Chu period. Such description seems to unconsciously expose the sexual desire of sexual life suspended for a long time due to the diplomatic mission. A variety of reactions of Joseon envoys regarding the Shisanshan demonstrated the diplomatic mission as the journey of an envoy free from the historical awareness or the burden that the mission was the official duties.

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