More than Interpreting: Re-examining the Services of Chosŏn Interpreters in Qing -Chosŏn Trading and the Empowered Middleman Communities

When the Chosŏn court appointed scholar-officials as tributary envoys to Qing Beijing, the interpreters played a significant role in a range of services including interpreting, practicing rituals, and handling trading affairs arising from the mission. Previous studies on Chosŏn interpreters tend to focus on the criticism of their dishonest behavior in gaining monetary benefits in Qing China while making no substantial social and cultural contribution to Chosŏn society. In fact, the interpreters’ services in tributary missions and transnational trading not only shaped the formation of Qing-Chosŏn relations, but also empowered the communities of Chosŏn interpreters in both Qing China and Chosŏn Korea.

This paper argues that Chosŏn interpreters, in the course of acting as service providers, had worked on their identity construction as a rising class. By re-examining the services provided by Chosŏn official interpreters, this paper illustrates how the work and privileges of these interpreters in the trading activities with Qing China had allowed them to rise as a new class in late Chosŏn society. It is shown that the interpreters attempted to mobilize their communities to rise to the upper class and to challenge the ruling monopoly of Yangban scholar-officials.