Tong Haks and the Independence Club

A speculative question - what would have happened if Philip Jaisohn had utilized the remnants of the Tong Haks for his 1896-1898 reform movement in Korea?

As Gregory Henderson and Chung-sik Lee pointed out, the Tong Haks' grassroots strength, coupled with Jaisohn's intelligence and capability, would have made the combination between the Tong Haks and Jaisohn's Independence Club a potent one.

The Tong Hak, or "Eastern Learning" movement originated in the 1860s by an individual dissatisfied with government corruption and oppression. Choi Jae-u organized the Tong Haks by teaching a Korean variety of shamanism combined with facets of Buddhism, Christianity, Confucianism and Taoism. It later grew into a rebellion with wide support from oppressed citizens. In desperation, the Korean court requested for Chinese troops to help fight the Tong Haks.

But since the Tong Haks had been badly defeated by 1896 and was still very much hated and persecuted by the government, an alliance between the Independence Club and the outlawed group might have hindered Jaisohn's chances for reform, as well as limited the possibility of attracting a large membership to the club.

Furthermore, Jaisohn's keen memory of the failed 1884 coup and his Americanized belief in open rather than secret and illicit organizations could not have permitted him to seriously consider an alliance with the Tong Haks.

But isn't history full of all these "what ifs"? If this had turned out this way or that way, history could have been totally and irreversibly re-written.