L’Exposition Universelle, Paris 1900

The Paris Universal Exposition took place in the spring and summer of 1900, and brought together almost a hundred nations and then colonial possessions in a series of exhibitions highlighting national achievements in the realms of science, the arts, and, for the major powers, imperial richesse. It was Korea’s second participation in an international exhibition. Less than twenty-five years previous she had first opened her doors to foreign intercourse, no doubt with expectations of the radical changes to come but not anticipating the degree of that upheaval. Korea’s first participation in a World’s Fair was in the Chicago Columbian Exhibition of 1893, where its presence was hastily organized and hardly more than obscure. Its involvement goes all but unmentioned in the guidebooks and descriptions, official and otherwise, of the Chicago gathering. One period newspaper noted how "the king [Kojong] had hastily thrown together some Korean junk and sent it off to Chicago." Yun Ch'i-ho, a budding Korean nationalist and reformer, remarked to his diary of his embarassment and humiliation at seeing the paltriness of the Korean display. Indeed, compared to the other Asian countries, but particularly Japan, Korea seemed to have little to show, or inclination to show it. Things were a little better at Paris in 1900. Korea’s traditional style pavilion (actually built by a French architect under Korean supervision), though tucked away in a corner of the Champ de Mars isolated from the pavilions of her fellow nations, nevertheless garnered some curiosity and mention in the French press. Though the Korean pavilion was without doubt more impressive than her modest debut at Chicago seven years earlier, there were less than optimistic reasons for this. The Korean presense in Paris had in fact been bankrolled by a consortium of French financiers, who oversaw the design and construction of the traditional style Korean pavilion. It was a Frenchman in fact, Count Mimerel, who would serve as the "Korean Commissioner" at Paris. Most of the pavilion's Korean contents were in fact the personal property of Victor Collin de Plancy, then serving as French minister to Seoul, who donated an impressive array of Korean books (including a 17th century Samguk sagi) and porcelain. The latter pieces went on to form the nucleus of a Korean collection in the Musée de Sèvres. One prominent visitor to the Korean pavilion was Maurice Courant (1865-1935), well-known as the father of Korean studies in France (the influx of Korean books from the Collin de Plancy collection for the Korean exhibit actually impelled the writing of an extra volume for Maurice Courant's Bibliographie Coréenne). Courant remarks on the isolated location of the Korean pavilion, comparing it with Korea's traditional sobriquet of "Hermit Nation", a name that persisted even in 1900, almost a quarter century after Korea's opening. But this was to be Korea's last exhibition, at least as an independent nation. Plans to participate at St. Louis in 1904 were cancelled at the last minute by Emperor Kojong, as his nation was entering into a period of advanced crisis. The following year would see Korea’s reduction to protectorship of Japan.