Monday 14 October 2019, 5:00 – 6:30 pm SOAS | College Buildings | Russell Square. Room: Djam Lecture Theatre (DLT) This event is open to the public and free to attend, however registration is required Abstract ‘Engagement’ of a kind may have replaced ‘fire and fury’ on the Korean Peninsula after Kim Jong-un met with … [Read More]
Place: China
Selected publications
- Joseph Seeley: Border of Water and Ice: The Yalu River and Japan’s Empire in Korea and Manchuria, Cornell East Asia Series 2024
- Barbara Wall: The Dynamic Essence of Transmedia Storytelling: A Graphical Approach to the Journey to the West in Korea, Brill 2024
- Sixiang Wang: Boundless Winds of Empire: Rhetoric and Ritual in Early Chosŏn Diplomacy with Ming China, Columbia University Press 2023
- Nancy Shatzman Steinhardt: The Borders of Chinese Architecture, Harvard University Press 2022
- Hye Ok Park: Koreans in Transnational Diasporas of the Russian Far East and Manchuria, 1895–1920: Arirang People, Routledge 2021
- Odd Arne Westad: Empire and Righteous Nation: 600 Years of China-Korea Relations, Harvard University Press 2021
- Anthology: Decoding the Sino-North Korean Borderlands ed Adam Cathcart, Christopher Green, Steven Denney, Amsterdam University Press 2021
- Anthology: The Borderlands of China and Korea: Historical Changes in the Contact Zones of East Asia ed Yong-ku Cha, Lexington Books 2020
- Yafeng Xia, Zhihua Shen: A Misunderstood Friendship: Mao Zedong, Kim Il-sung, and Sino-North Korean Relations, 1949-1976: Revised Edition, Columbia University Press 2020
- Anthology: Koreatowns: Exploring the Economics, Politics, and Identities of Korean Spatial Formation ed Jinwon Kim, Soo Mee Kim, Stephen Cho Suh, Lexington Books 2020
- Alyssa M Park: Sovereignty Experiments: Korean Migrants and the Building of Borders in Northeast Asia, 1860–1945, Cornell East Asia Series 2019
- Yuanchong Wang: Remaking the Chinese Empire: Manchu-Korean Relations, 1616–1911, Cornell East Asia Series 2018
- Nianshen Song: Making Borders in Modern East Asia: The Tumen River Demarcation, 1881–1919, Cambridge University Press 2018
- Anthology: The Korean War in Asia: A Hidden History ed Tessa Morris-Suzuki, Rowman + Littlefield 2018
- Seonmin Kim: Ginseng and Borderland: Territorial Boundaries and Political Relations Between Qing China and Choson Korea, 1636-1912, University of California Press 2017
- Jo Jung-rae: The Human Jungle tr Bruce Fulton, Ju-chan Fulton, Chin Music Press 2016
- Jun Kimura: Archaeology of East Asian Shipbuilding, University Press of Florida 2016
- Vladimir Tikhonov: Modern Korea and Its Others: Perceptions of the Neighbouring Countries and Korean Modernity, Routledge 2015
- Xiaobing Li: China’s Battle for Korea: The 1951 Spring Offensive, Indiana University Press 2014
- Wayne Patterson: In the Service of His Korean Majesty: William Nelson Lovatt, the Pusan Customs, and Sino-Korean Relations, 1876–1888, Univ of California Berkeley Institute of East Asian Studies 2012
- Caren Freeman: Making and Faking Kinship: Marriage and Labor Migration between China and South Korea, Cornell East Asia Series 2011
- Tessa Morris-Suzuki: To the Diamond Mountains: A Hundred-Year Journey through China and Korea, Rowman + Littlefield 2010
- Charlotte von Verschuer: Across the Perilous Sea: Japanese Trade with China and Korea from the Seventh to the Sixteenth Centuries tr Kristen Lee Hunter, Cornell East Asia Series 2010
- Pak Chiwon: Jehol Diary tr Yang Hi Choe-Wall, Global Oriental 2010
- Kirk Larsen: Tradition, Treaties and Trade: Qing Imperialism and Choson Korea 1850 – 1910, Harvard University Press 2008
- Hyun Ok Park: Two Dreams in One Bed: Empire, Social Life, and the Origins of the North Korean Revolution in Manchuria, Duke University Press 2005
Looking back at 2015: DPRK and regional news
In our third review of 2015, we look at some of the North Korea related news, and stories which put the peninsula in a wider East Asian context. DPRK Human rights and defectors Shin Dong-hyuk, the most prominent campaigner among the defector community, admitted that some of his testimony (eg, in Escape from Camp 14) … [Read More]
Pak Chiwon’s Jehol Diary: An amiable bore abroad
The Jehol Diary is a contemporary account of one of the regular journeys from Joseon Korea to Qing China bearing tribute to the emperor. The journey described in this diary took place in 1780, and was ordered by King Jeongjo to greet the Qianlong emperor on his 70th birthday at his summer residence in Jehol, north-east … [Read More]
Looking back at 2014: DPRK and regional news
In our third review of 2014, we look at some of the North Korea related news, and stories which put the peninsula in a wider East Asian context. Domestic news Kim Jong Un’s disappearance from public view in the Autumn prompted speculation ranging from a case of gout to a “very specific kind of coup”. … [Read More]
Looking back at 2013: DPRK and regional news
In our fourth review of 2013, we look at some of the North Korea related news, and stories which put the peninsula in a wider East Asian context. DPRK Google chairman Eric Schmidt, together with a former governer of New Mexico, had a four day trip to North Korea in January. “I’m still spinning my … [Read More]
Looking back at 2012: DPRK and regional news
In the third of four round-ups of things that caught our eye in 2012, we look back at some of the stories from the DPRK and Seoul’s external relations. DPRK The leadership transition proceeded smoothly, contrary to many observers’ expectations. Kim Jong-un showed that he had inherited his father’s expensive tastes, with a story that … [Read More]
From Local Monsters to BEAST: 1500 years of Korean music and dance at SOAS
Last weekend’s free seminar at SOAS ranged from Silla dynasty lion dances to last month’s tour of Taiwan by BEAST, and from ancient Confucian ceremonial music to Samulnori and hip-hop via Trot. Juhae Gu introduced us to the dying musical form of Akkeuk (악극) – a form of stage musical using Trot music. It is … [Read More]
DPRK Navy dancing girls greet Chinese dignitaries
We knew about the North Korean People's Army troupe of dancing girls, but this is the first time I’ve seen them in navy outfits, as DPRK welcomes the Chinese navy to Wonsan: http://bit.ly/pm3Mk5 # [Read More]
2010 Travel Diary #16: A meeting with Hwang Byungki
Tuesday 4 May 2010. Hwang Byungki is probably Korea’s best known performer and composer for the kayageum. When I submitted my proposal to the Korean Culture and Information Service for the stories I wanted to investigate during my visit – of which the main one was the preservation and reinvention of Korean traditional culture – … [Read More]
North Koreans in Britain
Every now and then a visitor to this site asks whether there are any North Koreans in the UK, apart from at the DPRK embassy. Journalist Michael Rank keeps his eyes open for evidence, particularly on the parliamentary website, and shares his findings with the BAKS list – little snippets of information such as the … [Read More]
Korean 20th Century Art in context: a fascinating exhibition of Chinese art at Asia House
I shouldn’t really be publicising the artwork of another nation on this site, but the current exhibition of Khoan and Michael Sullivan’s collection of modern Chinese art at Asia House is well worth a visit. Chinese twentieth century art faced many of the same issues as that of Korea, both pre- and post-division: how to … [Read More]
Keith Howard (ed): Korean Pop Music – riding the wave
Keith Howard (ed): Korean Pop Music – riding the wave Global Oriental, 2006, 250 pp A very readable introduction to the history of Korean popular music. While the book is a collection of articles by different scholars, careful selection ensures that there’s no duplication and that the coverage is chronological. And for once in a … [Read More]
Saemaeul Movement Goes International
I’m in the middle of reading Mark Clifford’s book Troubled Tiger, a history of the Park Chung-hee and Chun Doo-hwan era focusing on the connectedness between businessmen, generals and politicians. A brief review will be coming soon (here). While much of the growth-driven development was geared towards heavy industry and the export market, there was … [Read More]
Exploring Korean Music Old and New – Tradition and creativity
SOAS, 24 February 2006 Many thanks to Dr Keith Howard of SOAS for putting together a fascinating half-day colloquium on Korean music. Presentations were as follows: Simon Mills’s (SOAS) subject was the rhythmic drum patterns (Changdan) used in shamanistic ritual on the East coast of Korea. He focused on the startling digressions (Tokkaebbi changdan) which … [Read More]