A 1636 winter, and a novel of the same name

The notes watch the film Namhansanseong and date it to Injo’s fourteenth year, 1636, in the Byeongja Horan: the king and his officials withdraw into the fortress. They stay with forty-seven days of winter there, when a hope that had not quite died in fear and gloom settles, they write, into despair.

The film, they say, is based on a novel of the same name, and follows the conflict and the anguish of a Joseon king and his ministers cut off from help. As they first tell that isolation, it comes of a “Mongol invasion”; later they name the Qing. Both wordings are kept as written.

Two ministers, and disputes that never quite stop

With Injo between them, Choi Myeong-gil, minister of personnel, argues that they must make peace with the Qing in order to protect the people and the country. Kim Sang-heon, minister of rites, argues that they must fight the Qing to the end in order to keep a great principle. The film, the notes write, sets those two claims almost parallel, and in that running argument shows a king who shakes and broods.

The same pattern, they say, fills the film. The store of grain is limited: should it be spared, or opened so that the soldiers eat their fill? Should sacks of rice be used to keep the soldiers warm, or given to the horses? The ministers go on arguing and trying to persuade one another. The picture is carried by speech against speech, and yet, they write, it does not let the tension drop.

A line for the king, and a greeting Qing Taizong does not stop

While that talk goes on, the people inside the walls live from day to day in cold and hunger. The king is drawn as powerless and unable to see the situation clearly. A line the notes record for him is “Feed them sparingly, but not too sparingly.” Commoners, even when a harsh cold has already come, dare not light a bonfire for fear the enemy will notice; the king, inside, warms himself at a brazier. The contrast, they write, draws a sigh from many who watch.

The heart of Namhansanseong, they conclude, is not a simple weighing of resistance against peace. It was a fight between what was real and what was held up as principle, and that principle was not the country or the people, but another name for a stubbornness shut inside serving a greater power. Even during the siege a New Year greeting is still made to the Ming emperor. Qing Taizong, watching, says “Leave them. They are doing their own work.”

The same Korean report, at fuller length, is on CampusDown.

Sources

1. The notes, a student viewing of the film Namhansanseong: Injo year 14, 1636, forty-seven winter days, Choi Myeong-gil and Kim Sang-heon, a line given to the king, and Qing Taizong on a New Year greeting still sent to Ming.

Last updated: 15 November 2026