The Paradox of Genealogy: Family Politics and the Publishing Surge of Chokpo in Colonial Korea

Abstract

The Paradox of Genealogy: Family Politics and the Publishing Surge of Chokpo in Colonial Korea Yang-Hee Hong In 1920s and 1930s colonial Korea, the practice of purchasing and publishing chokpo, the genealogical record of family lieange, became widespread. This trend was considered a strange phenomenon to reform-minded Korean intellectuals, since chokpo was seen as a symbol of past morality—a product of obsolete familism that contributed to Chosŏn Korea’s collapse. Korea’s familism, symbolized by chokpo, was hence recognized as an obstacle to the formation of nationhood necessary for rebuilding Korea: familism precluded the creation of a “one nation” identity. Despite the criticism, the Korean people’s desire for chokpo did not abate but was strengthened by publishing companies and their brokers. The most fundamental reason for the increase in the desire for chokpo was the family system implemented by the Japanese colonial authority. The patrilineal succession of the household and the surname system, universally enforced to all Koreans under the colonial family system, were similar to the traditional family culture of upper class yangban. The colonial family system thus gave rise to the spread and enjoyment of yangban culture, which, in turn, resulted in the chokpo publishing surge. Eventually, the family system established by the Japanese colonial authority led to the universal acceptance of the patrilineal system by all Koreans. This acceptance strengthened the cultural identity of Koreans based on patrilineage, which served as the foundation of Korea’s cultural nationalism Korean Studies © 2022 by University of Hawai‘i Press. All rights reserved. 1 Keywords: colonial Korea, chokpo, family law, familism, patrilineage, surname system, Japanese colonialism Introduction: The Publishing Surge of Chokpo in Colonial Korea A unique phenomenon in colonial Korea (1910–1945) was the popularization of chokpo. This category of books was at the top of the list of publication license applications that the Japanese GovernmentGeneral of Korea announced each year. The publication of chokpo began to increase in the 1920s and enjoyed its golden age in the 1930s.1 There were seven volumes of chokpo published in 1912, but by 1921, the total number of publication increased eleven fold. There were 243 volumes in 1925, 290 in 1926, and many more in the 1930s.2 According to the repository of chokpo stored in the National Library of Korea, 1,152 volumes of chokpo were published in the 1930s, which is 46% of all chokpo archived in the library.3 Chokpo is a genealogical record of a patrilineal lineage based on the same surname and the surname lineage seat (pon’gwan or pon)—the original place of the progenitor. Compiling chokpo was an exclusive practice among the yangban aristocracy in Chosŏn Korea. In colonial Korea, the social status system had ostensibly been abolished, but chokpo, the quintessential yangban publication, gained immense popularity. An article in Tong-A Ilbo in 1926 reported this phenomenon as “strange.”4 Zenshō Eisuke, a Japanese official of the Government-General of Korea, invented the term tongjok-purak (blood-relative village 同族部落) to characterize Korean society. Zenshō argued that same-surname villages were a unique feature of Korean society and that there was a close relationship between these vollages and the Korean people’s attachment to patrilineal ties. Zenshō thus explained the publication boom of chokpo in colonial Korea by using the notion of blood-relative group sharing the same patrilineal lineage. He argued that Koreans considered chokpo important, because Koreans had “a tendency to respect the genealogical clarification of their blood relations, as Asian people worship ancestors and follow the history or tradition of a family.”5 He went on to say: There are many downsides in the publishing of chokpo. In Korean society, in which the people worship their ancestors and value their own clans, where homogeneity of blood-relative group is strong, chokpo is being excessively esteemed at the moment. Of all the various annual publications in Korea, chokpo 2 Korean Studies 2022 is actually the number one publication. . . . Science does not advance and knowledge does not grow in Korea because of Korea’s inability to free its legs and escape the old muddy fields of chokpo and famous families. . . . . one should not take lightly...