• Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
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• v.54 no.3
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• pp.192-203
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• 2021

This paper investigates the process of change in the meaning of the term gongye (工藝) (nowadays it means craft) during Korea's transition to the modern era. The Annals of the Joseon Dynasty (朝鮮王朝實錄) will serve as the basis for the examination of pre-modern usage, and the Korea-United States Treaty of 1882 for the changes that occurred between the translation from Chinese and from Japanese following the opening of the port . After the port opened, the meaning of gongye, which once broadly referred to the wide range of work of people from different fields, was narrowed down to singularly represent the manufacturing industry. Following the example of Japan, the first East Asian country to succeed in modernization, this new meaning of gongye was generally used in the context of embracing Western culture and creating industry. As industrialization emerged as a national mission, and new terminology was needed to express these new concepts, the Chinese characters used by the Japanese to translate Western concepts were directly imported and used without making any changes. Gongye was similar in meaning to gongeop (工業) (nowadays it means industry) at the time, and the two terms were used interchangeably. However, following the Japanese annexation of Korea, the cultural administration of the Governor-General imbued the term with artistic concepts, and gongye was differentiated from gongeop, As such, examining the establishment of terminology and concepts can be helpful for understanding the contradictions and problems of the Korean crafts scene, which were derived from a period in the past called the modern era.