2007 South Korean television series
Eight Days, Assassination Attempts against King Jeongjo (Korean: 정조암살미스터리 8일; Hanja: 正祖暗殺미스터리 8日; RR: Jeongjoamsalmiseuteori 8il; MR: Chŏngjoamsalmisŭt'ŏri 8il; lit. Jeongjo Assassination Mystery 8 Days) is a South Korean television miniseries starring Kim Sang-joong, Park Jung-chul, Jung Ae-ri, Lee Seon-ho, and Hee Won. The series ran for 10 episodes, and was aired by CGV from November 17, 2007 to December 16, 2007. This show is placed in the context of the eight days procession organized in 1795 by King Jeongjo of Joseon to visit the tomb of his father at Hwaseong Fortress. This historic event was a huge one, involving 5,661 people and 1,417 horses.[1]
Synopsis
The screenplay is based on the novel Journey (Korean: 원행; RR: wonhaeng; lit. "a round trip") written in 2006 by Oh Se-yeong. The background of the action is the 1795 procession organized by King Jeongjo of Joseon for the 60th birthday of his mother, Lady Hyegyeong that also commemorated the 60th birthday of his deceased father,[3] the Crown Prince Sado. During the eight days period when the Court left the palace for the ceremony, the show introduces several assassination attempts against the King. A first one comes from the Moon In-bang's group (a millenarist sect). But this plot is used by the Noron Faction to pursue its own agenda, attempting an armed suppression against the Sipa Faction and the King as well.
Apart from the fictional elements, a major focus is placed on two historical sources. The Memoirs of Lady Hyegyeong is extensively used during many flashback sequences relative to events that occurred before the death (1762) of Crown Prince Sado, while the official documents from the Joseon Royal Library are used for the current events: the "Wonhaeng Eulmyo Jeongni Uigwe" (Eulmyo=1795) for the procession itself, and the "Hwaseong Seongyeokuigwe" concerning the Hwaseong Fortress as a whole.
This series is often referred as Eight Days, Mystery of Jeong Jo Assassination, a misleading translation since King Jeongjo won the 1795 confrontation and only died in 1800.[7]
Documents about the real-life 1795 procession
The main document of the 1795 procession is an eight-panel screen, the Hwaseonghaenghaengdo Byeongpun. Nowadays, three copies of this screen exists: a sepia one,[8] a blue one and a colored one,[9] the King's copy. This last copy can be seen at Samsung Museum of Art Leeum and has been designated as Korean National Treasure 1430 in 2005-04-15.[10]
The Hwaseonghaenghaengdo Byeongpun
Map of the Hwaseong Fortress in the 1800 Uigwe.
Cast and characters
As described in the credits of the last episode, the drama involves the following characters:
- When provided, birth and death years are given according to the real life of the character.
Artistic license
- The Memoirs of Lady Hyegyeong are in fact a collection of four different documents, written at different times, for different audiences. The description of the controversial behavior of Crown Prince Sado occurs in the 1805 Memoir, ten years after the procession, and not in the 1795 Memoir.
- Mun Inbang 문인방 is described as linked to a peasant uprising in 1786 (byeongo 병오). In Jeongjo Sillok, the first mention of Mun Inbang is 1782-04-04 and his trial is 1782-11-20 under various charges, propagating Jeonggamnok among them. Thereafter, Mun Inbang's name is only used to imply guilt by association, not to describe a prison escapee.
- Hong Bonghan is described in the series as a Noron leader during both reigns of Yeongjo and Jeongjo, but he rather appears as a key Sipa in the Haboush's translation of the Memoirs.
- In the real Court, the red robe was for the highest ranks, the blue for the intermediate ranks, and green for the lowest ranks. In the series, the blue dress is the uniform of the villains, while the red dress is the uniform of the "good ones". This helps the viewer to identify who's who, but this can also be a POV-시파 joke from the screenwriter.[15]
References
- ^ "Performance Information". Suwon-City: Travel & Tourism. Archived from the original on 2010-05-29. Retrieved 2013-05-08.
- ^ Sagapyeon (사갑연): 60th birthday feast for the dead
- ^ Chung, Ah-young (9 February 2009). "Reformative King Jeongjo Was Not Fatally Poisoned". The Korea Times. Archived from the original on 2016-01-06. Retrieved 2013-05-30.
- ^ KCC (2013). "Hwaseong Haenghaeng" (in Korean). Korean Copyright Commission. Archived from the original on 2013-07-03.
- ^ KCC (2013). "Kim Deuksin Hwaseongneunghaengdo" (in Korean). Korean Copyright Commission.
- ^ "Royal Parade to Hwaseong Fortress". Cultural Heritage Administration. 2013. Retrieved 2013-05-08.
- ^ Chung, Ah-young (13 November 2007). "Renaissance of Joseon King Jeongjo". The Korea Times. Retrieved 2013-04-02.
Bibliography
- Oh, Seyeong (2006). Journey. 제목:원행; 저자:오세영; 출판사:예담. Yedam (Wisdom House). p. 315. ISBN 9788-9591-3167-9. (in Korean)
- Chevalier, Henri (1898). Cérémonial de l'achèvement des travaux de Hoa Syeng (Corée) 1800. Toung Pao (in French). Vol. 9. E. J. Brill. pp. 384–396.
- Doo Won Cho (2010). The Korean fortress City Suwon: History; Conservation Heritage; Documentation "Hwaseong Seongyeok Uigwe"; National and International Relations (in German). University of Bamberg, Inaugural Dissertation., 727 pages.
- Haboush, JaHyun Kim (1996). The Memoirs of Lady Hyegyong: The Autobiographical Writings of a Crown Princess of Eighteenth-Century Korea. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0520200555., 329 pages.
- 1782-04-04 Sillok "정조 6년 (1782) 04월 04일 계축 3:포청에서 인심을 선동한 백천식 등의 공초를 가지고 아뢰다" [About Baek Cheon-sik, who instigated the people at Pocheonge]. 정조실록 (Jeongjo Sillok). Annals of the Joseon Dynasty.
- 1782-11-20 Sillok "정조 6년 (1782) 11월 20일 계축 1:문인방 등의 죄인을 국문하여 역모사건에 대해 알아내다" [Mun In-bang and other sinners interrogated in a treason case]. 정조실록 (Jeongjo Sillok). Annals of the Joseon Dynasty.
- Official Web Site of the Hwaseong Fortress
- UNESCO Hwaseong Fortress Site
External links
- Eight Days, Assassination Attempts against King Jeongjo at Daum (in Korean)
