Isabella Lucy Bird Bishop

“ The following day the Official Gazette promulgated a decree, endorsed by the King, announcing that he had cut his hair short, and calling on all his subjects, officials and common people alike, to follow his example and identify themselves with the spirit of progress which had induced His Majesty to take this step, and thus place his country on a footing of equality with the other nations of the world! ”

“ Many men who prized the honor of entering the Palace gates at the New Year feigned illness, but were sent for and denuded of their hair. The click of the shears was heard at every gate in Seoul, at the Palace, and at the official residences ; even servants were not exempted, and some of the Foreign Representatives were unable to present themselves at the Palace on New Year's Day, because their chairmen were unwilling to meet the shears. A father poisoned himself from grief and humiliation because his two sons had submitted to the decree. ”

“ The Koreans, who had borne on the whole quietly the ascendency of a hated power, the murder of their Queen, and the practical imprisonment of their King, found the at- tack on their hair more than they could stand. The topknot is more to a Korean than the queue is to a Chinese. ”

“ The ceremonies at the "Investiture of the Top Knot" deserve a brief notice as among the most important of the singu- larities of the nation. When the father and family have de- cided that a boy shall be "invested," which in nearly all cases is on the verge of his marriage, men's clothes, the hat, mang-hifi, etc., are provided to the limits of the family purse, and the astrologers are consulted, who choose a propitious day and hour for the ceremony, as well as the point of the compass which the chief actor is to face during its progress. ”

“ The keeping on the hat is a mark of respect. Court officials appear in the sovereign's presence with their hats on, and the Korean only takes it off in the company of his most intimate friends. The mang-kun is a fixture. The Top Knot is often decorated with a bead of jade, amber, or turquoise, and some of the young swells wear expensive tortoise-shell combs as its ornaments. There is no other single article of male equip- ment that I am aware of which plays so important a part, or is regarded with such reverence, or is clung to so tenaciously, as the Korean Top Knot. ”

“ Among the reasons which rendered the Top Knot decree detestable to the people were, that priests and monks, who, in- stead of being held in esteem, are regarded generally as a nuisance to be tolerated, wear their hair closely cropped, and the Edict was believed to be an attempt instigated by Japan to compel Koreans to look like Japanese, and adopt Japanese customs. ”

“ As to the cutting of Top Knots, no one shall be forced as to dress and hats. Do as you please. The evils now afflicting the people shall be duly attended to by the Government. This is Our own word of honor. ”

“ Revelling in the cheerfulness and security of his surroundings, the King shortly built a Palace (to which he removed in the spring of 1897) , surrounding the tablet-house of the Queen, and actually in Chong-dong, the European quarter, its grounds adjoining those of the English and U. S. Legations. To the security of this tablet-house the remains of the Queen, supposed to consist only of the bones of one finger, were removed on a lucky day chosen by the astrologers with much pomp. ”

“ Countrymen, merchants, Christian catechists, and others, who had come to Seoul on business, and had been shorn, dared not risk their lives by returning to their homes. Wood and country produce did not come in, and the price of the necessaries of life rose seriously. ”

“ The foundations of social order were threatened when the Top Knot fell !
People who had had their hair cropped did not dare to ven- ture far from Seoul lest they should be exposed to the violence of the rural population. ”

“ The present cropping of the hair being a measure both advantageous to the preservation of heahh and convenient for the transaction of business, our sacred Lord the King, having in view both administrative reform and national aggrandizement, has, by taking the lead in his own person, set us an example. ”

“ If it gets wet it is ruined, so that he seldom ventures to stir abroad without a waterproof cover for it in his capacious sleeve, and it is so easily broken and crushed, that when not in use it must be kept or carried in a wooden box, usually much decorated, as obnoxious in transit as a lady's bandbox. ”

“ Of the last ten years, none has passed without troubles. Some were brought on by those We had trusted as the members of the body, while others, by those of Our own bone and flesh. Our dynasty of five centuries has thereby been often en- dangered, and milHons of Our subjects have thereby been gradually im- poverished. These facts make Us blush and sweat for shame. But these troubles have been brought about through Our partiality and self-will, giving rise to rascality and blunders leading to calamities. All have been Our own fault from the first to the last. ”

“ In a few cases a Korean, to escape from this stage of disre- spect, scrapes together enough to pay for the Top Knot cere- monies and the mang-kun^ hat, and long coat, which are their sequence, though he is too poor to support a family, but the Top Knot in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred is only as- sumed on marriage, without wdiich the wearer has the title of "a half man" bestowed on him ! ”

“ Fortunately, through loyal and faithful subjects rising up in righteous efforts to remove the wicked, there is a hope that the tribulations experi- enced may invigorate the State, and that calm may return after the storm. ”

“ This accords with the principle that human nature will have freedom after a long pressure, and that the ways of Heaven bring success after re- verses. We shall endeavor to be merciful. No pardon, however, shall be extended to the principal traitors concerned in the afiairs of July, 1894, and of October, 1895. Capital punishment should be their due, thus venting the indignation of men and gods alike. But to all the rest, offi- cials or soldiers, citizens or coolies, a general amnesty, free and full, is granted, irrespective of the degree of their offences. Reform your hearts ”