Jibong yuseol
Jibong yuseol (original芝 峰 类 说, also Chibong yusŏl; lit., Parent explanations of Jibong ') is the first Korean encyclopedia. It was in 1614 during the reign of King Gwanghaegun by the scholar and officer Yi Su- gwang (李 睟 光, 1563-1628 ) published under the author's name Jibong.
After the collapse of the invasion of Korea ( 1592-98 ) by the Japanese generals Toyotomi Hideyoshi Yi Su- gwang served as an envoy of the Joseon Dynasty at the court of the Chinese Ming dynasty. At this time lived European Jesuits in Beijing, which had gained influential positions in many functions. Yi developed a strong interest in the West and earned some Chinese books that the Italian priest Matteo Ricci had written. These were the first works of European writers who came to Korea. Yi made several trips to China, where he (now the Japanese Okinawa Prefecture), among others, met envoys from Thailand, Vietnam and the Kingdom of Ryukyu.
After his return he took his information to a twenty -volume encyclopedia with 3435 keywords together. Much of the article refers to China and Korea. Yi but also provide information to Japan, Vietnam, Thailand, to a map of Europe ( Gurapaguk yeojido ) to western weapons and food. He also writes using the assets purchased by the Jesuits knowledge about solar and lunar eclipses, stars, wind, clouds, rain, snow, thunder, ebb and flow, and not least about the nature of Christianity. There were also articles about Chinese classics, animals, insects, plants and former Korean dynasties. This pioneering work marks the beginning of, practical learning ' ( Silhak / Sirhak ,实 学; well, Substantial learning ') with an emphasis on natural history and technical disciplines in response to the strong metaphysical trains of Neo-Confucianism, which does not keep pace with the rapid changes in the country step could. The text is written in the Chinese written language, which in East Asia played a role similar to Latin in Europe.