Though Diary of Travelling China(中遊日記) of Sunghak Kong(孔聖學), as never been studied so far, this book is noteworthy in two respects. A korean literati’s writing about travelling around china of the Period in the early 20th century that one point, the other one is that Sunghak Kong(孔聖學), the author of this book is a merchant from Kaesung(開城) and a literati learned from Takyoung Kim(金澤榮) and that had served in school of Classics(經學院) at the same time.
The travel group consisting of six members(Sunghak Kong(孔聖學), Bongsang Son(孫鳳祥), Myengho Jo(趙明鎬), Bongjin Park(朴鳳鎭), Wonbae Kim(金元培), Yunosuke Amano(天野雄之輔)) looked around various locations including Shanghai, Hangzhou, Nanjing, Qufu, Mount Lu, Mount Tai, Beijing, Dalian, Shenyang, under the auspices of Mitsui Company from April to early May 1923. Most of the writers of Chosun Dynasty wanted to travel to China, he was no exception. But he looked at China removed the halo of the center of civilization, the book is separated from the previous china travel records at this point.
He saw resemblances of korea and china, on the other hand, had found new aspects of modern china. Qufu was the hometown of his surname, and his teacher had fled to Nantong in china. Therefore china was recognized as the home of the family and as the place where his teacher lives. He is connected with china in terms of family succession and academic relation, but it was a matter of very personal level. When you look at china with the exception of the connection point, china did not reign as a center of civilization any longer. Because of the traditional disciplines taught, he saw china's scenic landscapes and came up with landscapes imagined when he read every time. He constantly compared the actual appearance of visible with landscapes imagined and was disappointed. China was not the subject of admiration and adoration to him. Modern China is rated as a backward country from the perspective of western/japanese. His perception based on china has changed from the degree of civilization to “modern” standards.