Abstract
This article explores the Korean evolution of the Chinese verse form known as “bamboo branch lyrics” (Ch. zhuzhici 竹枝詞; K. chukchisa) and the cultural significance of the genre's growing popularity among late Chosŏn (1600s–1800s) Korean literati as a way to enhance their knowledge of the wider world and expand their geographical imagination. Focusing on prolific literati such as Cho Susam (1762–1849), I discuss the multifaceted role that the bamboo branch lyrics genre played in enriching Korea's intellectual life, literary practice, and society. In late Chosŏn Korea, bamboo branch lyrics traditions evolved to embody Korean literati's strong aspirations to build new knowledge about people and places near and far and their ardent efforts to become and remain up to date. This verse form encompassed information and wisdom that complicated Korean perspectives of self and others, thus becoming the literati's passport to broader social and political discourses, and also affirming their authority as social and cultural leaders.
