Stone Tablet of King Hyojong’s Memoirs of His Detention in Shenyang as a Hostage of Qing Dynasty China

The memoir on this stone tablet is King Hyojong’s writing about the hardships he suffered with his eight escorts when he was detained in Shenyang, China as a Prince of Joseon. This writing is imbued with an intimate brotherhood as stated in “We are all like brothers. We share joy and sorrow, life and death together.”During Joseon Dynasty, efforts were made to collect and preserve samples of the king’s handwriting, and they were often carved into stones for such purposes.