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| Data.No. | 688 |
Title
Annotation | Every-Day Life in KOREA ,A Collection of Studies and Stories.
hard coverr, 8 vo. 231 pages.First Edition. Illustrated with balck and white photographs. Every-Day Life in Korea is a collection of studies and stories by the American Presbyterian missionary Rev. Daniel L. Gifford who served in that country for eight years until 1893.
When East Asia was first exposed to the Western world in the late 19th century, many Western observers shared the view that Korea was basically a land of scholars, compared to the militaristic Japan and the commercial China. Steeped in orthodox Confucian principles, its people looked down upon swordsmanship and commerce, and regarded the mastering of Confucian classics for state exams as the only means of establishing one's name and climbing the social ladder. Gifford wrote about this ineffectual education system in this 1898 classic. He also has quite a bit to say about the drinking (excessive) habits of the Koreans.
An 1898 review of the book commented: ¡°This is one of the few books on Korea which is worth reading, and brings the everyday life of the common people in this strange land pleasantly before us. Mr. Gifford has studied the life of the Koreans to good purpose, and touches apparently almost every feature and characteristic of that people who are half way between China and Japan in their life and religion as well as in their geographical situation.¡±
Gifford and his wife apparently returned to Korea and died there in 1900. They are buried in a cemetery in Seoul
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| Author | D.L.Gifford |
| Publisher | Fleming H.Revell Company,Chicago |
| Pub.Year(s) | 1898 |
| Language | English |
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