Corea, perspectivas desde América Latina: IV encuentro de estudios coreanos en América Latina

Corea y sudamérica en ws inicios del s. XIX in China. It was at once quite evident that they were much ruder people. Their colour was a dark Cooper, and the expression of their countenan– ces, though certainly rather forbidding, was not as some of our party described savage: 1 think this epithet much too strong, yet there was undoubtedly something wild about them, though not amounting of fe– rocity. En el relato de Hall se describe, la vestimenta tradicional coreana, denomi– nada hanbok (Ef~): "They were dressed mostly in a loose White frock, barely reaching to the knees, made of an extremely coarse material, apparently grass work" así como también los sombreros coreanos, cuyo nombre es gat (~): "Two or three oftheir number, who seemedprincipal persons, wore vast hats, the brims ofwhich extended a foot and a half in all directions, so as completely to shade the body ofthe wearer {. ..] This strange covering, which looked more like an um– brella placed over them tan a hat, appeared to be made ofhorse-hair, varníshed over" (Hall, 1824a: 58-59). Todo intento de comunicación con los nativos se frustró tras comprender que ni siquiera el intérprete del idioma chino podía entender la lengua que hablaban (lamentablemente tampoco sabía escribir caracteres chinos, lo que hubises posibilitado una forma de comunicación). Esto, lejos de amedren– tarlos, ponía de manifiesto la importancia de su presencia en estas descono– cidas tierras: lt was like being transported to the moon, or to some other pla– ner, where nothing existed in common with our previous knowledge. Everything we saw was strange to our eyes, and we felt certain that each fresh step we took in the voyage was to prove equally fertile in unknown scenes and novel incidents; it was impossible, in short, to go wrong; a new world was all befare us where to choose, and if we failed to derive instruction and pleasure form what we saw, the fault was our own; the materials for both lay thickly around uso (Hall, 1824a: 59). Tras alcanzar la cima del monte y divisar la tierra continental, que los ma– pas jesuitas denominaban Corea 29J , los navegantes decidieron a retornar a su 291 El padre Gregario de Céspedes, en 1594, escribió dos cartas desde Corea, siendo el pri– mer testimonio de un europeo en este país. Sobre estos informes, el jesuita Luis de Guz– mán esbozó, en 1601, la primera descripción de Corea. (Gardini, 1984) 276 Corea, perspectivas desde América Latina