Sinchang Anti-Western Stele

A cheokhwabi (anti-foreign stele) is a stele that Heungseon Daewongun, who pursued a policy of national seclusion and whose resolve hardened further after the French Disturbance (1866) and the American Disturbance (1871), had erected along the main roads of Seoul and at important roadsides across the country, in order to reject Westerners and warn the people against their aggression. This stele, standing at the entrance to Sinchang Elementary School, consists of a stele body set on a tall square base. The inscription carries a strong warning: "When the Western barbarians invade, not to fight is to make peace, and to advocate peace is to sell the country." The cheokhwabi were erected simultaneously in 1871, the eighth year of King Gojong, in the same year as the American Disturbance. After the Imo Incident broke out in 1882, the nineteenth year of King Gojong, and the Daewongun was abducted to the Russian legation, most of these steles were removed or damaged by the Japanese. This stele is one of the few that survive today, and it conveys directly the powerful will toward national seclusion that existed at the time.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Asan, Chungnam

Designation

Cultural Heritage Material · 문화유산자료