Son Cheon-min

Son Cheon-min (孫天民, 1857 – 29 August 1900) was a Donghak leader from Cheongju, Chungcheong Province, whose art name (dohо) was Songam (松菴).¹

Life

He was born in 1857 in Cheongju, Chungcheong Province, into the household of a clerk (aejeon) at the Cheongju county office. (Present-day Namil-myeon, Sangdang-gu, Cheongju-si, Sinsong-ri, lot 202.) He succeeded his father as iban (chief clerk) of the Cheongju county office.

It is known that he joined Donghak in 1882. Because Donghak taught that there was no distinction between legitimate and illegitimate birth, he brought his uncle Son Byeong-hui into the faith. He was in charge of preparing the various documents of Donghak. In particular, he served at the side of Haewol (Choe Si-hyeong) and played a major role in organizing into writing the teachings that Haewol passed on to his disciples, preserving them as the Beopseol (Teachings). In 1883, together with Son Byeong-hui and others, he visited Choe Si-hyeong, the second leader of Donghak, and engaged him in questions and answers on cultivation while propagating the faith. At this time, Son Cheon-min was said to have converted more than 10,000 people to Donghak, and he grew into a leading figure in the Donghak organization.

In 1892, when Choe Si-hyeong fell and was injured on his way to the Samnye rally for the vindication of the Teacher (gyojo sinwon), an uisong-so (petition office) was set up at Son Cheon-min's house. Haewol Choe Si-hyeong, working with the dochaju (chief deputy) Gang Si-won as the central figure, together with Seo In-ju, Seo Byeong-hak, Kim Yeon-guk, Son Byeong-hui and others, deliberated and pushed the matter forward. There, he was in charge of drafting the petitions sent to Governor Jo Byeong-sik of Chungcheong Province and Governor Yi Gyeong-jik of Jeolla Province. Through this uisong petition (the "petition document"), he demanded an end to the suppression of Donghak believers, but received only a lukewarm response. Nevertheless, because the uisong petition was the first document that Donghak followers sent to the government, it prompted the government to newly recognize Donghak not as an ignorant and benighted mob but as an organization with learning and a historical consciousness.

In 1893, during the Gwanghwamun joint memorial movement in Seoul for the vindication of the Teacher, he wrote the memorial, and he quelled the hardline argument by Seo Byeong-hak that the group should respond to the court by force. Afterwards, at the Boeun assembly that followed, he participated as the Cheongui daejeobju (great leader of Cheongui).

In September 1894, during the Second Donghak Uprising, he followed Choe Si-hyeong's instructions and organized the po (local units) around Cheongan, assembling more than 10,000 people in northern Cheongju. They fought with government troops but were defeated badly and withdrew into the market town. Son Cheon-min went to Goesan and joined the Chungui-p'o, which was active centered on Chungju. Afterwards, he was defeated in battles fought at Yeongdong, Yongsan, Bonggeo-buk-sil in Boeun and other places; he then disbanded the Donghak army and, together with Son Byeong-hui and others, escorted Choe Si-hyeong and fled to the Gangwon Province area.

In 1896, Choe Si-hyeong gave Son Cheon-min, Son Byeong-hui and Kim Yeon-guk the art names Songam, Uiam and Guam respectively, hoping that the three men would work together to lead Donghak. From this time on, the form "○菴" began to be widely used in the art names of Donghak/Cheondogyo. However, on 24 December 1897, Haewol transmitted the Dotong (succession of the Way) to Son Byeong-hui, saying that among the three men there should be one who takes the lead.

On 5 April 1898, Choe Si-hyeong was arrested at Songgol in Wonju, and on 2 June he died a martyr's death. Son Cheon-min and Kim Yeon-guk insisted that they should follow Haewol in death and die with him (sunsa). However, Son Byeong-hui argued that they should survive and carry on the will of their teacher. After the Son Byeong-hui system was established, Son Cheon-min was appointed seongdoju (chief leader of sincerity), Kim Yeon-guk sindoju (chief leader of faith), and Park In-ho gyeongdoju (chief leader of reverence), making them elders of the organization. This derived from Seong-gyeong-sin (sincerity, reverence, and faith), the basic principles of Donghak practice. Son Cheon-min, together with Seo U-sun, devoted himself to propagation at the home of Seo Jang-ok in Sanoe-myeon, Cheongju.

On 13 August 1900, he was arrested together with Seo Jang-ok by the soldiers of Chungju and was escorted to Seoul. Although he had received word that the soldiers were coming, Son Cheon-min, who had insisted on martyrdom (sunjang), did not flee and was arrested. After being transferred to Seoul, on 24 August Son Cheon-min was examined by the chief prosecutor Yun Seong-bo and sentenced to death. Five days later, on 29 August at 1 p.m., he was hanged at the Gyeongseong Prison, and his body was buried at Seonhyang in Cheongju.

His son Son Jae-geun founded the Cheondo Myeongni-gyo, which split from Cheondogyo, but it dissolved three years later, in 1930. Afterwards, Son Jae-geun was active in Sicheon-gyo, and in Sicheon-gyo Son Cheon-min was raised to the rank of seongsa (sage) and called by that title.

Notes

Footnotes

1. “손천민(孫天民) - 한국민족문화대백과사전”. 《한국학중앙연구원》. 2021년 11월 23일에 확인함. ↩