This study was conducted in order to advance content analysis on the history of Korea?China relationship by enhancing accessibility to diplomatic documents called ‘Juhansagwandang(駐韓使館?:Documents of Chinese diplomatic offices in Korea)’ in a historical, academic or practical sense. Based on the contents reviewed in this study, we can summarize the characteristics and values of ‘Juhansagwandang’ in the history of Korea?China relationship as follows.
First, the documents include extensive general materials, which mean unofficial documents worthy to be preserved. Official documents exchanged between Korean and Chinese diplomatic agencies include few general materials worthy to be preserved. Although some are included as accompanying documents, the scope of such documents is very limited. In the sense that they are documents of Chinese diplomatic offices in Korea, such records contain administrative information such as documents prepared, executed or received for administration. As they contain extensive unofficial documents (=general materials) worthy to be preserved, they have historical values.
Second, ‘Juhansagwandang’ are in a mutually complementary relation with Korean diplomatic documents ‘Cheongan(淸案).’ It is presumed that even many of preserved documents might be lost due to instable political situations at home and overseas during the late Qing Dynasty and the late Yi Dynasty. In many cases, for example, there is jobok(照覆) but without johoi(照會) or vice versa, and this suggests that the continuity of documents could not be maintained due to various factors. Moreover, because diplomatic documents contained in Juhansagwandang and Cheongan were in a request?reply relation with each other, their contents are sometimes complementary to each other. Furthermore, by comparing two documents on the same issue, we may find clues to differences between the two countries’ positions.
Third, media carrying contents have the characteristics that they are the tangible original documents. Previous studies on the Korea China relationship in the late Qing Dynasty have relied on diplomatic documents as the records of objective facts in order to examine factual contents related to the relationship of the two countries. Juhansagwandang, which was published as digital materials, is tangible original documents and also contains historical information, and in this sense, it has two values. They have crucial meanings in exploring not only contents but also the actual form and generation process of diplomatic documents. How to interpret such original documents is still a problem to be solved.
Fourth, the documents were classified according to the principle of source classification. The classification system of Juhansagwandang followed ‘the principle of source,’ which gives priority to the organization handling documents over the contents of documents. This classification system is advantageous in that it shows structure, context, and activity processes involved in an organization’s production of records. That is, it is efficient for understanding association among records according to source, and the relation between records and their producers and the background of their production.
Fifth, documents during a specific period were completely scattered and lost. Juhansagwandang includes documents generated and accumulated by Chinese diplomatic offices for around 30 years from 1883 to 1913. However, documents for around 4 years from the end of 1894 to the end of 1898 are completely omitted. A very small number of documents in this period have survived, but they are quite exceptional. Some institutions preserve only a part of documents according to their value, but the loss of documents in this period seems to be accidental. It is not clear where the lost records are kept at present.