This is the first translation into English of the eighteenth-century Korean masterpiece entitled Yŏrha ilgi ('The Jehol Diary') by Pak Chiwŏn (1737-1805). The original text was written in classical Chinese and is a notoriously difficult work to translate. Pak Chiwŏn diarises the experiences of his remarkable overland journey on horseback from the northern border region of Korea to China's imperial summer residence in Jehol. Having been commanded by King Chongjo, the Korean monarch, to undertake the journey, Pak accompanied the royal envoys in 1780 on their tributary...