@article{ART003275246},
author={Jung, Jomg-won},
title={The Reception of the Western Political Thought and Taeseosinsaramyo (The 19th Century: A History) in the Late 19th Century},
journal={Journal of Humanities, Seoul National University},
issn={1598-3021},
year={2025},
volume={82},
number={4},
pages={77-125},
doi={10.17326/jhsnu.82.4.202511.77}
TY - JOUR
AU - Jung, Jomg-won
TI - The Reception of the Western Political Thought and Taeseosinsaramyo (The 19th Century: A History) in the Late 19th Century
JO - Journal of Humanities, Seoul National University
PY - 2025
VL - 82
IS - 4
PB - Institute of Humanities, Seoul National University
SP - 77
EP - 125
SN - 1598-3021
AB - In the late nineteenth century, a group of translators composed of Western missionaries and Chinese intellectuals produced Taesosinsaramyo, a translation of The 19th Century: A History, originally published in Britain.
This translation project required them to bridge the deep conceptual gap between Western political thought and Confucian political philosophy.
The translators had to identify resources within the Confucian tradition that could accommodate Western ideas and reorganize them in a coherent manner.
Most elements of Western liberalism were omitted, as liberalism shared few meaningful points of contact with Confucian political thought.
By contrast, the translators identified affinities between Western democracy and the Confucian idea of minbon (people-oriented governance). Universal suffrage—central to Western democracy—was reframed in minbon terms as a mechanism for reflecting public sentiment and enabling bottom-up communication. Conversely, the minbon concept itself was transformed by incorporating concrete institutional mechanisms and historical practices drawn from democratic systems. The translators also recast the liberalism― absolutism conflict in The 19th Century as a struggle between minbon and anti-minbon forces, and they labeled political systems that realized minbon principles as “democratic.” Their work intertwined democracy with minbon, altering the meaning of democracy as it was received by Confucian intellectuals, while minbon underwent a parallel transformation through its association with specific democratic institutions (such as elections) and political forms (“democracy”).
KW - Liberalism;Democracy;Minbon ideology;The 19th Century: A;History;Taeseosinsaramyo
DO - 10.17326/jhsnu.82.4.202511.77
ER -
Jung, Jomg-won. (2025). The Reception of the Western Political Thought and Taeseosinsaramyo (The 19th Century: A History) in the Late 19th Century. Journal of Humanities, Seoul National University, 82(4), 77-125.
Jung, Jomg-won. 2025, "The Reception of the Western Political Thought and Taeseosinsaramyo (The 19th Century: A History) in the Late 19th Century", Journal of Humanities, Seoul National University, vol.82, no.4 pp.77-125. Available from: doi:10.17326/jhsnu.82.4.202511.77
Jung, Jomg-won "The Reception of the Western Political Thought and Taeseosinsaramyo (The 19th Century: A History) in the Late 19th Century" Journal of Humanities, Seoul National University 82.4 pp.77-125 (2025) : 77.
Jung, Jomg-won. The Reception of the Western Political Thought and Taeseosinsaramyo (The 19th Century: A History) in the Late 19th Century. 2025; 82(4), 77-125. Available from: doi:10.17326/jhsnu.82.4.202511.77
Jung, Jomg-won. "The Reception of the Western Political Thought and Taeseosinsaramyo (The 19th Century: A History) in the Late 19th Century" Journal of Humanities, Seoul National University 82, no.4 (2025) : 77-125.doi: 10.17326/jhsnu.82.4.202511.77
Jung, Jomg-won. The Reception of the Western Political Thought and Taeseosinsaramyo (The 19th Century: A History) in the Late 19th Century. Journal of Humanities, Seoul National University, 82(4), 77-125. doi: 10.17326/jhsnu.82.4.202511.77
Jung, Jomg-won. The Reception of the Western Political Thought and Taeseosinsaramyo (The 19th Century: A History) in the Late 19th Century. Journal of Humanities, Seoul National University. 2025; 82(4) 77-125. doi: 10.17326/jhsnu.82.4.202511.77
Jung, Jomg-won. The Reception of the Western Political Thought and Taeseosinsaramyo (The 19th Century: A History) in the Late 19th Century. 2025; 82(4), 77-125. Available from: doi:10.17326/jhsnu.82.4.202511.77
Jung, Jomg-won. "The Reception of the Western Political Thought and Taeseosinsaramyo (The 19th Century: A History) in the Late 19th Century" Journal of Humanities, Seoul National University 82, no.4 (2025) : 77-125.doi: 10.17326/jhsnu.82.4.202511.77
