Taiwanese photographer retells Korean history through rare photo collection

Hsu Chung-mao, a Taiwanese photo journalist and head of Hsu Chung Mao Studio, holds up his three-volume photo collection “Korea in Rare Photographs” (2023). [PARK SANG-MOON]

 
Thick and heavy hardcover photo books can be pricey, and some can even cost hundreds of dollars, rarely being seen on the shelves of regular households. This is often the reason that publishing houses, especially in Korea where the industry emphasizes churning out educational content, are reluctant to release something that is so burdensome.  
 
But last July, a chunky three-volume photo collection went on sale at major Korean bookstores like Kyobo and Yes24, and it went on to make the bestseller list — an unprecedented feat — according to its publishing company Seohaemunjip.
 

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“Korea in Rare Photographs” is comprised of three volumes, starting with “Hanyang,” “Tradition and People” and “Destruction and Liberation.” Each volume is 30 centimeters (11.8 inches) by 30 centimeters in size — perhaps one of the most difficult sizes to fit into a bookshelf. Each book also weighs 2 kilograms (4.4 pounds).  
 
Inside, each page is filled with photographs documenting Korea’s painful history, mostly during the Japanese colonial era (1910-45), as well as now-vanished historical sites, scenery around Seoul, formerly known as Hanyang, and the Korean people during the final years of the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910), known as the Korean Empire.  
 
Some photos are heart-wrenching, such as the first photograph in the third volume. The photograph, taken in 1904, features three independence activists, Kim Seong-san, Lee Chun-gwon and Ahn Sun-rui, tied to a wooden cross as they are about to be publicly executed by the Japanese military.  
 

A colorized photograph of Kim Ku (also referred to as Kim Koo) (1876-1949) with a mustache taken in September 1945 [HSU CHUNG MAO STUDIO]

 
“There are photographs that I’ve seen in school textbooks as a child and some that I have never seen,” reads one review on Kyobo’s online page. “Despite the high price, I purchased the photo books to slowly turn page by page with my children and talk to them about Korean history.”  
 
“I purchased several sets and donated them to the Buk Suwon Library and Gwangju Central Library,” wrote a different reviewer. “Since it’s a meaningful book, I hope that it becomes widely known and more people own it.”
 
The man who used his fortune to collect these photographs and publish the books, however, is not Korean, but a Taiwanese photojournalist named Hsu Chung-mao. Hsu used to work as a journalist for 20 years, mostly as a diplomatic reporter and also as a war journalist for five years. He worked on the front lines covering the Israel-Palestine conflict, the United States’ bombing of Libya and the civil wars in El Salvador and Nicaragua. But in 1989, while covering the Tiananmen Square incident, a bullet went through his neck, and he had a near-death experience. That is when Hsu decided to turn his hobby into a new career and kick off the “second part of his new life.”
 

An archery competition among women from affluent families during the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910) [HSU CHUNG MAO STUDIO]

 

A scene of Seoul in the 1930s when it was infused with many aspects of Japanese colonialism [HSU CHUNG MAO STUDIO]

 
Hsu established a small firm, Hsu Chung Mao Studio, and that is where the collection of all his vintage photographs was restored, colorized and edited for publication. He also continues to write for different publications and historical books.
 
To mark the 80th anniversary of Korean independence from Japanese colonial rule, Hsu is busy getting ready to hold a photo exhibition in Seoul this year using more rare photographs from his collection. He also plans to publish a five-volume photo book, also this year, using more vintage photographs from Korea that he has in his collection.  
 
“Many are surprised as to why a Taiwanese man has published photo books and is working hard to organize an exhibition,” Hsu told the Korea JoongAng Daily during his recent visit to Seoul. “But I not only collect photographs of Korea. I have more of Taiwan and China. I’m a real aficionado of vintage photos. But as to why I suddenly decided to make books about Korean history is a mystery. I even don’t know the reason myself. I want to say it was like fate.”
 
Hsu said photo books on Korea’s Joseon Dynasty, especially during the time when it was colonized by Japan aren’t that rare in the market. However, many, especially those written in English, “are written by Westerners and published in the West.” The captions and introductions in Hsu’s books are written in English, Chinese, Korean and Japanese.  
 
What sets Hsu’s photo books on Korean history apart from others is that he has edited the books and written an introduction that “touches Koreans’ sentiments.”  
 
“It’s not difficult for me to sympathize with Koreans and feel their emotions as I look at their faces in each of the photographs,” he said. “Taiwan was also colonized by Japan even before Korea. I feel a strong sense of duty to shed more light on the atrocities committed by Japan in the past throughout East Asia.”
 

A view of Seoul, which was then called Hanyang, featuring old traditional Korean houses [HSU CHUNG MAO STUDIO]

 
All the photographs in “Korea in Rare Photographs” are in color, though the original photographs would’ve been taken in black and white. Hsu strongly insists on a “restoration process” to help the photos tell their story.
 
“Color turns history into the present,” he said. “Of course, I respect the history of photography. So, original photographs should be left and kept in black and white. However, colorizing is necessary when I want to talk about the real history. The photographs were taken in black and white only because human technology couldn’t reach that point yet at that time. But what people really saw was in color. So, my team at the studio colorizes them to make them real.”
 
Hsu said as long as his wife continues to allow him to use their credit card, he won’t stop rummaging through stores looking for rare vintage photos.  
 
“I think history is inherently boring,” Hsu said.” “But when it’s presented through such beautiful photographs, history is anything but dull.”

BY YIM SEUNG-HYE [yim.seunghye@joongang.co.kr]