Jeong Duwon (.1581), also known as Chong Tuwon,. was a Korean Yangban and diplomat. His chance encounter with a generous member of the

Jesuit China missions The history of the missions of the Jesuits in China is part of the history of Foreign relations of China, relations between China and the Western world. The missionary efforts and other work of the Society of Jesus, or Jesuits, between the 16th a ...

greatly expanded Korean knowledge of western science,

technology Technology is the application of Conceptual model, conceptual knowledge to achieve practical goals, especially in a reproducible way. The word ''technology'' can also mean the products resulting from such efforts, including both tangible too ...

, geographical knowledge, and

culture Culture ( ) is a concept that encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and Social norm, norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, Social norm, customs, capabilities, Attitude (psychology), attitudes ...

centuries before it opened its borders to actual visitors from abroad.

Life

During a diplomatic mission to the Ming in

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

in early 1631, Jeong stopped at Dengzhou (now Penglai) on the northern coast of

Shandong Shandong is a coastal Provinces of China, province in East China. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history since the beginning of Chinese civilization along the lower reaches of the Yellow River. It has served as a pivotal cultural ...

. The normal route was overland, but the Koreans were obliged to travel directly across the Yellow Sea owing to the northern war zones created by the initial phases of the

Manchu conquest of China The transition from Ming to Qing (or simply the Ming-Qing transition) or the Manchu conquest of China from 1618 to 1683 saw the transition between two major Dynasties in Chinese history, dynasties in Chinese history. It was a decades-long conf ...

. There, he met with the province's Christian governor under the Ming Ignatius Sun, who introduced him to the

Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

interpreter João Rodrigues. Rodrigues was working with Gonçalo Teixeira-Correa to train Sun's forces in the use of European-style cannon. He made a personal gift of his

telescope A telescope is a device used to observe distant objects by their emission, Absorption (electromagnetic radiation), absorption, or Reflection (physics), reflection of electromagnetic radiation. Originally, it was an optical instrument using len ...

to Jeong, which became the first such device known in Korea. He also laded Jeong down with Jesuit texts on

astronomy Astronomy is a natural science that studies celestial objects and the phenomena that occur in the cosmos. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and their overall evolution. Objects of interest includ ...

and other sciences including Alenio's '' Record of Foreign Lands'' (, ''Chikpang Oegi''); a treatise on artillery and its use; and a guide to European customs and manners, as well as works on

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...

. Despite also receiving some European firearm, Jeong praised the telescope most highly, as he understood its importance for warfare. He also had his assistants Yi Yeonghu (, ) and Colonel Jeong Hyogil (, ) speak with Rodrigues in greater detail, Yi about geography and Col. Jeong about Western firearms and cannon. A record survives of Yi's conversation. He was most curious about whether or not China—whose native name '' Zhōngguó'' () literally means "The Central Realm"—did in fact occupy the middle of the Earth. Rodrigues replied that, since the Earth was a sphere, every country could truthfully claim their land as its center.

Legacy

Yi Sugwang had accumulated enough material from the Jesuits during his own diplomatic visits in the 1590s that he was able to compile the encyclopedic '' Jibong Yuseol''. Another diplomat returned with a copy of Ricci's

world map A world map is a map of most or all of the surface of Earth. World maps, because of their scale, must deal with the problem of projection. Maps rendered in two dimensions by necessity distort the display of the three-dimensional surface of t ...

in 1603. Nonetheless, the additional material provided to Jeong has still been credited with the full-scale introduction of Western astronomical methods and jurisprudence to Korea. Jeong's mission is still taught to Korean schoolchildren as the country's introduction to Western science, religion, and culture.

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