I Became Park Jeong-ui’s Nephew - Chapter 278



Only Krnovel

He became Park Jeong-ui’s nephew. – (278)

“When you think of American culture, what comes to mind? The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York? In addition to that, there are five other museums in the United States that rank among the top ten in the world, but there is nothing American in them.”

This is America,

One critic continued his scathing criticism.

When you think of the United States, you probably think of it as a cultural powerhouse and a leader in global trends, but behind that, it has the stigma of being the world’s largest cultural pillager.

Evidence of this is provided by the discovery of about 30 artifacts at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York recently.

These were identified as items looted from a northern Colombian city.

Colombia has been embroiled in civil war since 1960, and during this time, grave robbers have been looting bronze artifacts and statues from the 12th century and smuggling them to the United States.

So is this case only in Colombia?

About 1,500 cultural assets plundered from Joseon by Japanese monks are now in the United States.

It is still unknown how this came to be on display in an American museum, and the museum is maintaining its position that it will be difficult to return it.

“There is also the issue of cost, and there is also the possibility that cultural properties may be damaged during transport.”

“At that time, the US military allowed Korean cultural assets to be moved to Busan out of concern for the invasion of communist forces. It is possible that cultural assets were taken out during the process, but it is difficult to see this as US plunder. As a result, didn’t they protect the cultural assets? At that time, the Korean government did not have the ability to manage the cultural assets. Therefore, it was best for the US to protect them.”

It is estimated that about 50,000 Korean cultural assets were exported to the United States in this way.

The Joseon Dynasty’s national seal, a wall painting cut into six pieces and reassembled, and Buddhist scriptures produced at various temples, etc.

According to a Korean government investigation, it is estimated that approximately 152,000 cultural heritage items were taken overseas to countries such as Japan, the United States, and France.

For reference, there are about 40,000 Korean artifacts managed by the Korean government, and more than three times that number of cultural heritages are floating around overseas.

So how do the Korean government and people feel about this reality?

Just looking at the Colombian cultural heritage removal incident, when a country falls into chaos, its relics are also looted. Colombia only had about 30 items looted, but Korea had as many as 150,000 items looted. What does this mean?

It means that we have suffered humiliation from foreign powers for a long time.

But if we think about it positively, it means that at one time, Korea had enough cultural heritage to fill several large American museums.

There are 150,000 artifacts that have been exported overseas.

How many countries in the world have achieved such a level of civilization?

It is important to be angry about the past when we were plundered, but it is more important to live in the present. The Korean government is now serious about managing cultural assets.

The proof of this is that they protected the Orochun people, an ethnic minority group that was annihilated by China, and preserved their culture in a museum.

Not long ago, Chinese cultural assets were also smuggled out to Korea.

So is this cultural plunder?

So, what are the cases in which the United States smuggled Korean cultural assets overseas?

To protect Korean cultural assets from a war that could break out at any moment? Korea is also only protecting cultural assets that were damaged during the Chinese civil war.

Most of China’s cultural assets were destroyed during the Cultural Revolution, and with the civil war now underway, even the few remaining cultural assets are on the verge of disappearing.

Shouldn’t someone guard that?

As the Korean government began purchasing Chinese cultural assets, grave robbers began to destroy tombs throughout China and loot cultural assets, and over the course of about three months, over 20,000 Chinese artifacts were smuggled to Korea.

The world was shocked by the incident, but they had nothing to say.

There are about 1.3 million artifacts in Germany, but are they all German?

In 1897, Germany plundered tens of thousands of artifacts from the Kingdom of Benin (an African kingdom) and sold 1,100 of them to Britain.

Even now, a significant number of the relics are preserved in the Berlin Museum in Germany. The independent Kingdom of Benin has demanded the return of the cultural properties, but Germany has turned a deaf ear.

What right do such people have to criticize Korea?

The United States, Japan, Germany and France were all leaders in cultural plunder and had no intention of returning it to the owners.

***

“Your Majesty, this way.”

This is the State Guest House in Pyongyang,

I entered the museum guided by the managers.

Yeongbingwan is the largest building in Korea since Dangun, boasting an area of ​​approximately 40,000 pyeong. It has seven large buildings, one of which is used as a museum.

So what kind of relics are there?

A statue of the Bodhisattva Bangasayu with its limbs cut off, a box decorated with gold and jade, and a cabbage-shaped sculpture called Giin Chwiokbaekchae (翠玉白菜).

These are all believed to have been housed in the Palace Museum in the Forbidden City of the Qing Dynasty.

In 1925, Chinese warlords drove the last Qing emperor, Puyi, out of the Forbidden City and plundered cultural relics.

At this time, many cultural assets had already been taken out, and the final blow was the Japanese invasion of Manchuria.

Would Japan, which plundered 80,000 cultural assets from Korea alone, just leave the Qing imperial relics alone?

The cultural assets were then taken back to Japan, and it is estimated that around 400 cultural assets were taken back to the United States by American businessmen during this process.

Isn’t it interesting that the Qing imperial relics came back here after circulating?

There are approximately 46,000 artifacts on display here, 4,000 paintings, and a whopping 500,000 books.

However, this is only a part of the Chinese relics managed by Korea. There are about 600,000 relics and 2 million books in Taiwan-Songho-Jinling.

Relics that prove that China was once a cultural powerhouse at the top of the world.

These are now Korean.

Do you think the Chinese warlords, who are in the midst of a civil war, would be capable of managing this?

Rather, while the relics were being handed over to Korea and military funds were being raised, a jade coffin believed to be from the Han Dynasty was discovered not long ago.

What’s interesting is that jade was not a beloved artifact among the Chinese.

Scholars also thought that this was a relic from the Han Dynasty of China, but research results have shown that this may not be the case.

“This could be a relic of Buyeo.”

“What is the basis for such an assumption?”

“If you look at the burial objects discovered with the jade coffin, there are copper ornaments such as gold bracelets, gold hairpins, and gold rings, as well as gilded iron ornaments. This is a burial custom of Buyeo.”

I tilted my head at the expert’s explanation.

Even I, who have some knowledge of history, don’t know these details.

If this is really a relic of the ancient Korean state of Buyeo, it is an incredible thing, but how should we interpret it?

A jade coffin is an object commonly used for funerals in Korea.

Because the cost of making a jade crown was so high, during the Han Dynasty it was considered a precious item that only the emperor or empress could use.

But was this type of coffin used for funerals in Buyeo?

This jade crown was clearly produced in Korea.

If so, this means that Buyeo received this as a gift from the Emperor of Han, which means that Buyeo was not a vassal state of Han or a barbarian.

Doesn’t giving the Chinese emperor and empress a jade crown that can only be worn mean that Buyeo was recognized as a nation equal to the Han Dynasty?

In fact, the Han Dynasty had the nearest county to Buyeo, Hyeon-do, manage the jade coffin, and when the king of Buyeo passed away, they immediately sent him the jade coffin (Dongyi Liejeons of the Later Han Dynasty, Buyeo Chapter).

There is also a record that when Sima Yi of Wei defeated Gongsun Yan of Yan and opened the warehouse of Xuantu County, there was a jade coffin left over that was supposed to be sent to the king of Buyeo (Records of the Three Kingdoms, Book of Wei, Five-Wan Xianbei Dongyi Chronicles, Buyeo Chapter).

Considering these historical facts, it becomes clear that Buyeo was not a part of China, but a kingdom that was building its own power.

This part also makes me understand why Han dynasty belittled Goguryeo so much while evaluating Buyeo positively.

From the Han Dynasty’s perspective, Buyeo was an important ally.

This jade crown is a precious cultural asset that shows that Korea and China had an equal relationship historically.

I decided to discuss with the Cultural Heritage Administration and make this jade armor public so that all Korean citizens can see it.

“Even in ancient times, Korea and China had an equal relationship. The idea that Korea was a part of China was wrong from the beginning.”

Historians from Geumneung also contributed.

It is estimated that the jade armor was made around 120 AD, and there is a record that around the same time, Buyeo invaded Nakrang Commandery and killed its officials and people.

Why would Buyeo, which was so active in military activities, make jade armor and pay tribute to Han?

Some scholars say that Buyeo made jade armor to pay tribute to Han, but this is absurd considering the relationship between the historical records and the relics.

Buyeo was clearly a country that stood shoulder to shoulder with Han.

I also included this fact in my textbook.

In this way, the ancient history of China and Korea was reorganized into a horizontal relationship rather than a vertical one, and I took advantage of this momentum to provide funding for research on East Asian history and culture.

Only by completing this can we completely subordinate Chinese history to Korea.

Will East Asian culture and history revolve around Korea simply by stealing cultural assets from China?

To become an authority on history, you have to fund and research it.

Korean historical academia began to integrate East Asian history by including Chinese history in its research subjects.

This is cultural invasion that is more frightening than guns and swords.

For the Chinese people, it is like having their roots uprooted that China’s proud 4,000-year history is being studied by Koreans.

In the future I flew to, China trampled on Korean history with the Northeast Project, but here, the opposite is happening.

Chinese relics numbering 600,000 were also distributed to museums in the Jinling-Songhu area.

“China’s roots are being uprooted!!”

“4,000 years of Chinese history being devoured by Korea!! This can’t be happening!! Our ancestors will shed tears of blood in heaven!!”

Scholars in Yan’an, China shed tears of blood over this reality.

Now that they are faced with the reality that they cannot even study their own country’s history without seeking Korea’s cooperation, Chinese scholars have accepted the humiliation and headed to Korea.

Not only scholars but also Chinese students come to study in Korea, but I did not open the books to them.

There are about 2 million Chinese books stored in Korea. If I show them all, won’t they ask for them back later?

To prevent such a possibility, only about 10,000 copies were released.

The rest is up to Korean scholars.

In this way, I completed my cultural invasion of China.

Having taken away their culture and spirit, China is now reduced to a mere shell, and the warlords in the Chinese interior are also watching Korea closely, so the conquest of the continent is practically over.

Each ethnic minority in China is also joining Korea one by one.

I used the eyes and ears of the tomb raiders and ethnic minorities roaming the interior of China to completely control the warlords.

He figured out which people harbored resentment toward Korea and which people harbored favoritism, and he put pressure on those who did stupid things by mobilizing the Central Intelligence Agency.

“It’s not that I can’t kill you guys so I’m just sitting here. Everyone, be on your guard.”

The warlords are now helpless,

They have been fighting each other for a long time to seize control of the inland, but now it is out of the question.

Those who start wars indiscriminately are considered enemies who threaten the peace of the continent.

Thanks to this, the Chinese people, who had suffered from a long civil war, were freed from the war.