[This is an edited version of the regular Saturday lecture on August 22, 2026.]

During the late Joseon Dynasty, folding screens known as "Chaekgado" (paintings of books and stationery) were popular among the literati and the royal palace; however, the vessels depicted on them were [entirely] made in China or Japan. There was a reason for this. Joseon pottery was of poor quality.

King Yeongjo issued a ban on alcohol throughout the eight provinces of Joseon and executed violators by beheading as a test case. Then, on a joyous occasion, he gathered his ministers to drink "Songjeolcha" (a type of tea) and "got drunk." What hypocrisy.

Around that time, at the Choryang Waegwan (Japanese trading post) in Dongnae, Joseon, Joseon potters produced teaware under the supervision of Japanese potters. They produced tea bowls, which Japanese samurai regarded as the finest, and took the entire stock to Japan.

As time passed and the colonial era arrived, a Japanese scholar lamented, "Where has all that Joseon pottery technology gone that awakened us?" A Russian Imperial survey team lamented along with him, "Joseon is the country that passed on its technology to Japan? Who would believe that?"

*This is an edited version of the August 22, 2026 Regular Saturday Lecture.* The history of the downfall of Joseon technology brought about by hypocritical justification.

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