Jejungwon (TV series)

Jejungwon (Hangul: 제중원; hanja: 濟眾院) is a 2010 South Korean period medical drama television series about the establishment of Jejungwon in 1885, the first modern Western hospital in the Joseon Dynasty.^[1] Starring Park Yong-woo, Han Hye-jin and Yeon Jung-hoon, it aired on SBS from January 4 to May 4, 2010 on Mondays and Tuesdays at 21:55 for 36 episodes.^[2][3][4]

Plot

Jejungwon (originally known as Gwanghyewon, or "House of Extended Grace"; the name was later changed to Jejungwon and then Severance Hospital) was established in 1885 by Emperor Gojong at the suggestion of one of the newly arrived American medical missionaries, Horace Newton Allen. The first modern Western hospital in Joseon, historical records show that Jejungwon treated sick people regardless of their economic status despite the hierarchical society of the era.^[5]

With Allen as its first hospital director, Jejungwon accepted its first batch of 16 students.

Hwang Jung was born to a family of butchers. Considered the lowest social rank in Joseon along with gravediggers and executioners, butchers weren't allowed to have family names, thus Hwang Jung is initially called "Little Dog."^[6] Expected to become a butcher like his father before him, the remarkably intelligent and literate Hwang Jung dreams of becoming something more. The death of his mother, who was unable to get treatment because of her low social status, drives him to walk a different path and pursue Western medicine. He becomes first a groundskeeper then a student at Jejungwon, and works his way up to become Joseon's first surgeon and one of the country's premier doctors. He later joins the independence movement, while remaining a humane and caring physician. (Hwang Jung is based on real-life historical figure Park Seo-yang.^[7])

Baek Do-yang is a bright and ambitious nobleman, the only son of the Minister of Justice. His father is adamant that he enter the civil service, but despite being the top student at the royal academy, Do-yang is passionate about Western medicine and secretly reads all the medical books he can lay his hands on. He decides to give up his enviable social status and studies medicine at Jejungwon, where he enters into an intense rivalry with Hwang Jung.

Yoo Seok-ran is a modern woman in her era. Born to wealthy, loving parents (her father is a court interpreter and merchant), unlike most young women she was permitted to be educated, and thus is fluent in English and dresses in Western clothing. She first works at Jejungwon as Allen's interpreter and finds herself drawn to Hwang Jung, despite being engaged to Baek Do-yang whom she's known since childhood. Under Lilias Horton's mentorship, Seok-ran studies to become Joseon's first female doctor in Western medicine.

As modern medical science clashes with old practices in turn of the century Korea, the personal and professional challenges of Jejungwon's doctors are mirrored by the historical and social turbulence of the times.

Cast

References

External links

• Jejungwon official SBS website (Korean)
• Jejungwon at HanCinema
• Jejungwon at the Internet Movie Database