During the Goryeo period of a thousand years before, the unique grey-green celadon ware (ceong-ja) had been the main type of ceramics produced on the Korean peninsula but under Japanese rule, artware pottery had all but disappeared from the country.

The Literature Translation Institute of Korea summarizes this part of his career: Devotion to Korean national identity remained the dominant theme of both Park Jonghwa’s fiction and life.

During the colonial period, Park published several works of historical fiction, including Blood on a Silk Sleeve (Geumsamui pi, 1936), Long Awaited Spring (Daechunbu, 1939), The Eve (Jeonya, 1942), and Compassion (Dajeongbulsim, 1942).

The Japanese Invasion of 1592 (Imjinwaeran 임진왜란, 1955), Hong Gyeongrae 홍경래 (1958), and The World in Women’s Hands (Yeoin cheonha 여인천하, 1959) all manifest his desire to unearth the vigorous spirit of national pride from the pages of Korean history.

By virtue of meticulous research and awareness of history’s grand scope, Park Jonghwa managed to preserve in these historical novels a great variety of Korean habits of thought and folk customs.