Yun, Chi-Ho 尹致昊 윤치호 (1864-1945)

Yun Chi-Ho was born on December 26, 1864, in Dunpo-Myeon, a small village in Asan, Chungcheon Province. His father was Yun Ung-Nyeol, an official in the Joseon government. His position as a member of the Yangban aristocracy allowed Yun Chi-Ho to receive a proper education. Yun Chi-Ho completed his studies and applied for the civil service exams at the young age of 12. 

Yun Chi-Ho's family was one of the noblest and wealthiest families in the nation at the time, which allowed Yun Chi-Ho to prosper and focus on his studies. His family moved to Seoul, South Korea when he was nine and where he was sent to live in a neighbor's home to allow him to better focus on his studies. At age 12, Yun Chi-Ho attempted to take the civil service exam, but was turned away at the gate. After this event, Yun Chi-Ho continued to study increasingly difficult texts. At age 14, Yun Chi-Ho married a girl with the surname Kang. Almost nothing is known about his wife.

Due to Yun Chi-Ho's father's position in the military bureaucracy, Yun Chi-Ho was able to participate in a program that sent representatives to Japan to observe and report on the modernization of Japan. The program was called "The Gentemen's Observation Group". When the program ended, a number of student attendants were left behind, Yun Chi-Ho among them. Although Yun Chi-Ho was only 16 at the time, his sojourn in Japan proved to be monumental in his realization of how lacking Korea was in certain departments. In Japan, Yun Chi-Ho continued his studies in Japanese and English, which eventually enabled him to become a translator for General Lucius Foote, the first American Minister in Korea.

Yun Chi-Ho began his studies in America in 1888 at Vanderbilt University. It was here at Vanderbilt that he would have his first experiences with American culture. Yun Chi-Ho admired many aspects of American culture and believed that there were aspects that could be implemented in Korea. He studied theology, English, and speech at Vanderbilt and even began to write his diaries in English. Yun Chi-Ho kept a diary throughout his life, and, during his time in America, he often expressed his negative thoughts about Korea, his thoughts on what he had learned, and, especially, his thoughts on the racist encounters he faced. His diary also provides a look at how Yun Chi-Ho's ideals and personality were affected as he spent more time in the U.S. This is specifically seen in the way his writing and religious ideas transform into the ideals that could be seen in the American middle class at the time. This is most likely due to his experience of racism in the U.S., and it resulted in his further conformity with American culture

Racism was a big problem Yun Chi-Ho faced while living in the U.S., especially in the South. As one of the first people from Asia to come abroad to the U.S., Yun Chi-Ho was bound to face judgment. Many of these instances were recorded in his diary. One example of this was when Yun Chi-Ho attempted to enter Glendale Park, but was denied entry because colored people were prohibited from entering the park. Yun Chi-Ho was also heavily involved in religion and attempted to attend church in the U.S. However, here, too, he was barred from entry. At the church, a young man told him that he could not allow colored people into this church. This is where Yun Chi-Ho found contradiction and confusion between Christianity’s ideals and the ideals of white supremacists in America. Although Yun Chi-Ho eventually transferred to Emory University without graduating from Vanderbilt, it is undoubtedly his first few years at Vanderbilt that were the ones that deeply affected his ideals and motivations. 

During the years of his college education, Yun Chi-Ho expressed constant interest in Joseon issues. He was strongly critical of the oppression of the Joseon by the Qing Dynasty. At the same time, he conceived modernization as modeled on that of European countries. Furthermore, he thought that it was better to be under the rule of another civilized country than to be under the external pressure of the Qing Dynasty.

In 1893, Yun Chi-Ho graduated from Emory University. He was one of the leading Korean college graduates in the United States at the time. The Southern Methodist Church in the United States offered him full scholarship support if he went to graduate school, but he asked for understanding and returned home by boat, saying he had something to do for his country.

While studying in the United States, Yun Chi-ho witnessed Christianity, democracy, and scientific civilization, and experienced a rationalistic society based on Christian ideology, democracy, and scientific civilization. From that point on, Yun Chi-Ho's ideological foundation was transformed into a social evolutionary worldview of 'justice of power', and in social reform, he embraced the ideal of forming a modern society through national enlightenment and the reform of the people of an uncivilized traditional society through missions and education. At the same time, he also harbored contempt for Joseon society. 

After returning to Korea in February, he was appointed to the Uijeongbu Chamui in the Kim Hong-jip cabinet, and then served as a counselor for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. However, Park Young-hyo's cabinet continued to monitor him, and he asked Kim Hong-jip and others to protect him and began bringing bodyguards with him. After that, he served as secretary instead of prime minister and became a member of the Faculty Council on May 10, 1895 (32nd year of King Gojong), but was imprisoned due to the Chunsaengmun incident. Later, he organized an independent association to work with Lee Sang-jae, Seo Jae-pil, and Lee Seung-man. Around 1898, when the Independence Association movement reached its peak, he energetically guided the civil rights, suffrage and reform movements as the president of the Independent Association, the editor of the Independence Newspaper, and the supreme leader of the Commonwealth of Peoples Association, and he devoted himself to the training of skills. In 1895, Yun Chi-Ho focused only on promoting reform policies while maintaining an appropriate distance between the factions of Kim Hong-jip, and Yu Gil-jun and Park Yeong-hyo in the Enlightenment Party government. In addition, through lectures, he made the common people aware of the existence of the United States and Europe and informed them about the Western world and the advanced civilizations that existed. Also, believing in the capabilities of young people, he had strong ideas on the abolishment of the caste system, discrimination against men and women, and he engaged in persuasion and publicity work to help the people gain suffrage.

Bibliography

[1]Clark, D. N. (1975). Yun Ch’i-ho (1864-1945): Portrait of a Korean Intellectual in an Era of Transition. Occasional Papers on Korea, 4, 36–76. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41490136

[2]CONTENTdm. (n.d.). https://digital.library.nashville.org/digital/collection/nr/id/1945/

[3]Diary of Yun Ch’i-ho - December 7, 1889 to August 4, 1890 - Emory Digital Collections. (n.d.). https://digital.library.emory.edu/catalog/419s1rn9xh-cor435$5544454EWSAsq21

[4]Nate. (2021, September 4). Real Estate in Early Modern Korea (1884-1910). Colonial Korea. https://colonialkorea.com/2019/09/08/real-estate-in-early-modern-korea-1884-1910/

[5]Yun, Tchi-Ho [Chi’-ho] (1865-1945) | History of Missiology. (n.d.). © 2023 Boston University. https://www.bu.edu/missiology/yun-tchi-ho/