Cultural Exchanges between Korean and Chinese Literati in the 18th and 19th Centuries: The Fujitsuka Chikashi (1879-1948) Collection in the Harvard-Yenching Library

Min Jung
Professor of Korean Literature, Hanyang University; Visiting Scholar, Harvard-Yenching Institute

Chaired by Wai-Yee Li, Professor of Chinese Literature, Harvard University

Abstract
This talk proposes a new resource for studying cultural exchange between Korea and China during the 18th and 19th centuries by introducing the Hujitsuka Chikashi collection of the Harvard-Yenching Library. Fujitsuka Chikashi (藤塚隣 1879–1948) was a Japanese scholar who specialized in the Qianlong (乾隆) and Jiaqing (嘉慶) Schools of Qing China. Around 1926, when he was appointed as a professor of Chinese philosophy at Keijo Imperial University (Seoul National University), he collected a large number of books concerning the Qianlong and Jiaqing Schools in Korea and China. His collection included over 10,000 rare books and more than 1,000 calligraphy manuscripts and paintings, some of which were exchanged between Korean and Chinese literati. Unfortunately most of the books were lost in a fire caused by American air raids on Japan in 1945. The remaining books were sold or donated to South Korea and the United States. The Hujitsuka collection of the Harvard-Yenching Library will shed new light on the study of cross-cultural exchange between Korea and China during the 18th and 19th centuries.

Co-sponsored by the Korea Institute