Readings from Asia

Hyowon Lee (Sungkyunkwan University) and Cross-Currents co-editor Wen-hsin Yeh (University of California, Berkeley)—discuss, respectively, contemporary Japanese and Chinese commentaries on the Yŏnhaeng-nok (Ch. Yanxinglu, Journeys to Beijing), a collection of Chosŏn-era travelogues written by Korean envoys to China (specifically, Beijing). Lee examines the fresh method used by Fuma Susumu in Chōsen enkōshi to Chōsen tsūshinshi 朝鮮燕行使と朝鮮通信使 [Korean embassies to Beijing and Korean embassies to Japan], and Yeh reflects on Ge Zhaoguang’s Xiangxiang yiyu: Du Lichao Chaoxian hanwen Yanxing wenxian zhaji 葛兆光，想象异域：读李朝朝鲜韩文燕行文献札记 [Imagining a foreign place: Notes on Korean Yi-dynasty Beijing journals in classical Chinese].