백동자도 (百童子圖) 를 통해 본 조선 후기의 아동인식 = The Perception of Children in the Late Chosun Period as Depicted in Baekdongjado

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

This study explores the ways in which children were perceived in the late Chosun period by analyzing three sets of a special type of photograph series, the Baekdongjado, meaning a set of over 100 pictures. In these photos we find children depicted in the act of flying kites, playing the Korean game, Yut, spinning tops, frolicking in water, swinging, dressed as generals or nobles, conducting cockfights, engaged in archery and catching birds or dragonflies. These photos also contain items symbolic of parental hopes and desires for their children. A reading of these pictures, especially in comparing them to those of earlier times, tells us that children had come to be recognized as important members of family life by the late Chosun period, that the populace had come to regard play as the natural province of childhood, and that parents hoped their children would bring wealth and prosperity to their families. Parents of the period thus hoped for many children, preferably sons, to fulfill each family`s dream.