{"id":101,"date":"2017-06-02T06:39:28","date_gmt":"2017-06-02T06:39:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chosonhistory.org\/SixWang\/?p=101"},"modified":"2025-04-01T11:34:33","modified_gmt":"2025-04-01T18:34:33","slug":"the-story-of-the-eastern-chamber-dilemmas-of-vernacular-language-and-political-authority-in-eighteenth-century-choson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chosonhistory.org\/SixWang\/the-story-of-the-eastern-chamber-dilemmas-of-vernacular-language-and-political-authority-in-eighteenth-century-choson\/","title":{"rendered":"The Story of the Eastern Chamber: Dilemmas of Vernacular Language and Political Authority in Eighteenth-Century Chos\u014fn"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cThe Story of the Eastern Chamber: Dilemmas of Vernacular Language and Political Authority in Eighteenth-Century Chos\u014fn\u201d Journal of Korean Studies<\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/span> 24, no.1 (March)<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

When we think of writing in premodern Korea, we usually think of them as being in either literary Chinese (hanmun) or vernacular Korean (hang\u016dl), a linguistic situation often described as “diglossic.” But what do we with a text that is in neither? The late Chos\u014fn play script, titled the Story of the Eastern Chamber (Tongsanggi) is one such text. Written entirely in Chinese characters, its language hearkens back to the vernacular of late imperial Chinese fiction, employs song suites in the manner of Yuan drama (further reinforced by its titular allusion to the Chinese Story of the Western Chamber), and integrates colloquial Korean words and idioms. This combination defies our conventions of thinking of Chos\u014fn linguistic as diglossic. It was a linguistic experiment that sought to collapse the distance between Korean vernacular and contemporary Chinese vernacular. While this move seems counterintuitive, if we think of vernacular language in distinctly “national” terms, this essay shows it makes eminent sense when the text is placed in its Chos\u014fn period context. The Eastern Chamber spoke to a number of anxieties that occupied the Chos\u014fn elite and the Korean court, namely how cultural continuity with the past and compatibility with universal cultural aspirations could be reconciled with linguistic difference and change over time.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Image<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cThe Story of the Eastern Chamber: Dilemmas of Vernacular Language and Political Authority in Eighteenth-Century Chos\u014fn\u201d Journal of Korean Studies… Read more The Story of the Eastern Chamber: Dilemmas of Vernacular Language and Political Authority in Eighteenth-Century Chos\u014fn<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":466,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[9,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-101","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles","category-publications"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chosonhistory.org\/SixWang\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Story-of-Eastern-Chamber.png?fit=751%2C668&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8Nhqs-1D","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":88,"url":"https:\/\/chosonhistory.org\/SixWang\/the-sounds-of-our-country-interpreters-linguistic-knowledge-and-the-politics-of-language-in-early-choson-korea-1392-1592\/","url_meta":{"origin":101,"position":0},"title":"The Sounds of Our Country: Interpreters, Linguistic Knowledge and the Politics of Language in Early Chos\u014fn Korea (1392\u20131592)","author":"Sixiang Wang","date":"August 31, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"2014 \u201cThe Sounds of Our Country: Interpreters, Linguistic Knowledge and the Politics of Language in Early Chos\u014fn Korea (1392\u20131592).\u201d In Rethinking East Asian Languages, Vernaculars, and Literacies, 1000\u20131919. 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For more than two hundred years after its establishment in 1392, the Chos\u014fn dynasty of Korea enjoyed generally peaceful and stable relations with neighboring Ming China, which dwarfed it in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Monographs"","block_context":{"text":"Monographs","link":"https:\/\/chosonhistory.org\/SixWang\/category\/publications\/monographs\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Book Cover","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chosonhistory.org\/SixWang\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Boundless-Winds-Cover.png?fit=441%2C662&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":155,"url":"https:\/\/chosonhistory.org\/SixWang\/korean-eunuchs-as-imperial-envoys-relations-with-choson-through-the-zhengde-reign\/","url_meta":{"origin":101,"position":2},"title":"Korean Eunuchs as Imperial Envoys: Relations with Chos\u014fn through the Zhengde Reign","author":"Sixiang Wang","date":"December 14, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"2019 \"Korean Eunuchs as Imperial Envoys: Relations with Chos\u014fn through the Zhengde Reign.\" Chapter 23 in The Ming World, edited by Kenneth Swope Introduction excerpt: The usual way to describe Ming relations with Korea is through the notion of the \u201ctributary system.\u201d The Ming emperor, with the moral and cultural\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Book Chapters"","block_context":{"text":"Book Chapters","link":"https:\/\/chosonhistory.org\/SixWang\/category\/publications\/book-chapters\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":457,"url":"https:\/\/chosonhistory.org\/SixWang\/new-books-network-boundless-winds-of-empire-hosted-by-sarah-bramao-ramos-january-9-2025\/","url_meta":{"origin":101,"position":3},"title":"[New Books Network] Boundless Winds of Empire, hosted by Sarah Bramao-Ramos (January 9, 2025)","author":"Sixiang Wang","date":"January 9, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"https:\/\/newbooksnetwork.com\/boundless-winds-of-empire Summary The Chos\u014fn dynasty of Korea enjoyed generally peaceful and stable relations with Ming China, a relationship that was carefully cultivated and achieved only through the strategic deployment of cultural practices, values, and narratives by\u00a0Chos\u014fn political actors.\u00a0Boundless Winds of Empire: Rhetoric and Ritual in Early Chos\u014fn Diplomacy with Ming\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Lectures, Talks, and Interviews"","block_context":{"text":"Lectures, Talks, and Interviews","link":"https:\/\/chosonhistory.org\/SixWang\/category\/public-lectures\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":460,"url":"https:\/\/chosonhistory.org\/SixWang\/commemoration-in-early-choson-political-culture-how-kim-sisup-became-a-loyal-official\/","url_meta":{"origin":101,"position":4},"title":"Commemoration in Early Chos\u014fn Political Culture: How Kim Sis\u016dp Became a Loyal Official","author":"Sixiang Wang","date":"May 25, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"2023 \u201cCommemoration in Early Chos\u014fn Political Culture: How Kim Sis\u016dp Became a Loyal Official.\u201d In Lives and Legacy of Kim Sis\u016dp: Dissent and Creativity in Chos\u014fn Korea. 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