A Study On The Ib-Yun-Gi(《入燕记》) By Lee Duk-mu(李德懋)

In recent years,observing East Asian society,history and culture through "exotic eyes" has become a new approach taken by many researchers.A large number of topics about it are also coming into view.Precious foreign Han collections like“Yeonhaengrok(a Korean travelogue in Qing China)” have received more attention from academia because of their significant historical value.Lee Duk-mu’s Ib-Yun-Gi is such a work.As one of the representatives of “Yeonhaengrok”,the entire Ib-Yun-Gi(Travel to Qing China)was written in Chinese,but the author,Lee Duk-mu,was a Korean.He was confined by his native language.Since the book was handed down in manuscripts and there are many copies of it,a lot of “unconventional Chinese” can be found in the text,which makes it difficult for people to read today.Moreover,although Lee Duk-mu is a member of the North Learning Group and Ib-Yun-Gi is also about “travel to China”,Lee Duk-mu himself,or the form and content of his book,are much different from other members.Based on the two reasons mentioned above,this paper is trying to sort out and study Lee Duk-mu’s Ib-Yun-Gi,via the methods of historical linguistics and philology.Also,the author records the whole book,collects the Yitizi(Characters sharing the same meaning but composed of different strokes)in it,and uses the ways of writing to determine the clerically transcribed and correct pronunciations of its characters.By analyzing its vocabulary and language,an all-around interpretation of the book is gained.In order to arrange a readable modern text,the author uses the methods of the history of cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries,discovering the special features of Ib-Yun-Gi in the cultural history,and further exploring Lee Dukmu’s understanding of the Qing Dynasty.After doing comprehensive research into his text,it can be found that the variant characters in Ib-Yun-Gi were influenced by many factors,including the personal writing habits of the transcribers,the Chinese character system itself,the inherent differences between the Korean and Chinese languages,and the eastern transmission of Chinese books.Also,the changes of strokes are the most common,followed by radicals and the whole characters.Besides,the main words of Ib-Yun-Gi are Chinesederived Chinese characters,Chinese characters created by using Chinese morphemes,and Chinese characters created by using Korean morphemes,because of the strong influence of Chinese culture and the differences between the Korean and Chinese languages.The verbal communication and Korean phenomena recorded in this paper can help off-springs to not only know about the Korean literati’s understanding and use of Chinese but also detect the mode of language contact between China and Korea.Lee Duk-mu recorded what he saw and heard on the way of his travel to China from the perspective of others.His book includes various descriptions,such as mountains and rivers,places of interest,historical relics,cultural relics,customs,and folklore.It is of great importance in providing historical materials and presenting customs and culture at that time,which serves as a useful supplement for future generations to further understand the history of the country and important documents for further research on cultural exchanges between China and Korea.In addition,compared with other “Yeonhaengrok”,Ib-Yun-Gi also contains the records of Lee Duk-mu’s 11-day journey alone after leaving the envoy,which gives out valuable information for understanding the social style of Korea at that time.Due to the influence of the traditional view of Hua-yi Theory(A Chinaorientated outlook)and his identity as a royal family,Lee Duk-mu is more aware of“respecting the Ming and arranging for the Qing” than other members of the North Learning Group.His hobby of reading and his pursuit of a natural and authentic writing style are also the reasons why Ib-Yun-Gi is different from other members’ “Yeonhaengrok” in this group.Judging Lee Duk-mu’s North Learning feature only by Ib-Yun-Gi is biased and not comprehensible,for Lee Duk-mu was deeply influenced by his friend,the pioneer of the North Learning Theory,Hong Daey-oung’s “travel to China”.When Lee Duk-mu was in travel and even after returning to Korea,he was still actively making friends with Qing scholars and exchanging academic information,thus building a knowledge network between the two countries and bringing a profound impact on future scholars.In addition,from the perspective of his care about the South Learning,Lee Duk-mu is unique and irreplaceable in the North Learning nature.