Joseon Dynasty

12 Key excerpts on "Joseon Dynasty"

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  East Asia

  A Cultural, Social, and Political History, Volume II: From 1600

  • Patricia Ebrey, Anne Walthall(Authors)
  • 2013(Publication Date)
  • Cengage Learning EMEA

    (Publisher)

  247 C H A P T E R F I F T E E N Joseon Korea (1392–1800) Yi Seonggye’s Rise to Power Kings and Yangban Confucian Officials Dynastic Decline and the Japanese Invasion Material Culture: Yangban Children’s Board Games Biography: Interpreter Jeong Myeongsu Relations with the Manchus Internal Politics in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries Economic Growth and the Decline of Slavery Documents: Lady Hyegyeong’s Memoirs Cultural Developments The Family and Women in the Confucian Age Making Comparisons: Women’s Situations T he Joseon Dynasty was founded in 1392 by Yi Seonggye (E SUNG-geh). The next four centuries were marked by extensive Confucianiza-tion. Chinese statecraft and the examination system were copied more closely. The hereditary yangban (YANG-bahn), who now had to devote themselves to education in order to gain office, could provide a powerful check on the power of kings, but factionalism divided them. Confucianiza-tion reached the level of the family; the family head became recognized as the owner of family property, and women’s rights to inherit were largely lost. The dynasty survived serious crises, including invasions by the Japanese and the Manchus. Yet, by the eighteenth century, there were increasing signs of economic growth, social change, and new cultural openness. Historians of the Joseon (JOE-son) period have looked closely at its elite and government. Did the founding of the dynasty bring social change? Why was factionalism so bitter and so bloody? Did the empha-sis on Confucian orthodoxy make factionalism worse? Would Joseon have been stronger if its kings had been able to control their yangban officials more effectively? Or did the power of the officials—imbued with Confucian ideas—save the country from tyranny? Given the flaws in the government system and the many crises, why did the dynasty last so long? Joseon’s international situation has also been a subject of close scrutiny.

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  The Rough Guide to Korea

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  • 0(Publication Date)
  • Rough Guides

    (Publisher)

  His young and unprepared successor, King U, was pushed into battle with the Chinese Ming dynasty; Joseon’s General Yi Seong-gye led the charge, but fearful of losing his soldiers he stopped at the border and returned to Seoul, forcing the abdication of the king, and putting U’s young son Chang on the throne. The General decided that he was not yet happy with the arrangement, and had both U and Chang executed (the latter just 8 years old at the time); after one more failed attempt at putting the right puppet king on the throne, he decided to take the mantle himself, and in 1392 declared himself King Taejo , the first leader of the Joseon Dynasty. The Joseon Dynasty The Joseon era ( 㑅⳵⺱ổ ) started off much the same as the Goryeo dynasty had almost five centuries beforehand, with a militaristic king named Taejo on the throne, a name that translates as “The Grand Ancestor”. Joseon was to last even longer, with a full 27 kings ruling from 1392 until the Japanese annexation in 1910. Taejo moved the capital from Kaesong to Seoul , and immediately set about entrenching his power with a series of mammoth projects; the first few years of his reign saw the erection of the wonderful palace of Gyeongbokgung, the ancestral shrines of Jongmyo and a gate-studded city wall of which were. His vision was quite astonishing – the chosen capital and its palace and shrine remain to this day, together with sections of the wall. More grand palaces would go up in due course, of which another four were at some point home to the royal throne. From the start of the dynasty, Buddhism declined in power, and Confucianism permeated society yet further in its stead. Joseon’s social system became even more hierarchical in nature, with the king and other royalty at the top, and the hereditary yangban class of scholars and aristocrats just beneath, followed by various levels of employment, with the servants and slaves at the bottom of the pile.

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  Rationalizing Korea

  The Rise of the Modern State, 1894–1945

  • Kyung Moon Hwang(Author)
  • 2015(Publication Date)
  • University of California Press

    (Publisher)

  In short, they have highlighted the continuities, 12 • I n t roduct ion perhaps unwittingly, from the late nineteenth century to the colonial period. Likewise, the present study favors connecting major shifts into an overarch-ing story of state development in the early modern era, including the ties to the Joseon dynastic state. Late Joseon Era to the Protectorate Period, 1800s–1910 As noted above, unlike many other preindustrial societies, Korea had been ruled by a centralized systematic state. Perhaps most influential in bestowing a modern legacy were the social prestige and economic privileges given to state offi cials, products of a Confucian ethos that channeled the most tal-ented (and socially eligible) men into the state bureaucracy. Even the train-ing, certification, and social standing of specialist occupations, such as those in the applied sciences, medicine, and law, were all integrated into the wide-ranging ambitions of the state. But ambition here is key, for the realization of these ideals was limited by the preindustrial means of transportation and communication, which in turn strengthened the relative hand of a wide-spread aristocracy. Even as an instrument offi cially of the monarchy, the late Joseon state’s autonomy and therefore its capacity—so critical to assessing its “power” 21 —were severely curtailed by extra-state resources and traditions from deep in Korean history that upheld the nobility’s social supremacy in much of the country. This domination extended to the state as well, as the aristocracy staffed the highest posts and determined the conditions for bureaucratic access, which in turn helped to maintain its privileged social standing. 22 For all its systematic complexity, in other words, the Joseon state ultimately reflected the dominant social group’s interests, and to a degree that Marx would have found familiar, except that the Korean aristocracy’s supremacy was based on something far more extensive than material resources.

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  The Rough Guide to Seoul

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  • 0(Publication Date)
  • Rough Guides

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  Taejo moved the capital from Kaesong to Seoul (the first time the city had used its present name), and immediately set about entrenching his power with a series of mammoth projects. The first few years of his reign saw the wonderful palace of Gyeongbokgung, the ancestral shrines of Jongmyo and a gate-studded city wall go up. His vision was quite astonishing – the chosen capital and its palace and shrine remain to this day, together with sections of the wall. More grand palaces would rise in due course, while another four would at various times house the royal throne. From the start of the dynasty, Buddhism declined in influence as Confucianism permeated society ever more in its stead. Joseon’s social system became more hierarchical in nature, with the king and other royalty at the top, and the hereditary yangban class of scholars and aristocrats just beneath, followed by various levels of employment, with the servants and slaves at the bottom of the pile. All of these social strata were governed by heredity, but the yangban became increasingly powerful as the dynasty progressed, gradually starting to undermine the power of the king. They were viewed as a world apart by the commoners, and they placed great emphasis on study and the arts. However, only the yangban had access to education and literacy, as Chinese characters were used. In the 1440s King Sejong (reigned 1418–50) devised hangeul , a new and simple local script that all classes could read and write (see box, p.180); the yangban were not fond of this, and it was banned at the beginning of the sixteenth century, lying largely dormant until it was resurrected by waves of nationalist sentiment that greeted the end of Japanese annexation in 1945. The “Hermit Kingdom” In 1592, under the command of feared warlord Hideyoshi , Japan set out to conquer the Ming dynasty, with China a stepping stone towards possible domination of the whole Asian continent.

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  Made in Korea

  Chung Ju Yung and the Rise of Hyundai

  • Richard M. Steers(Author)
  • 2013(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  koryo (“ko-ree-o”).

  CHOSON AND THE SEJONG RENAISSANCE

  As is typical of most dynastic shifts, a period of war and rebellion preceded the emergence of the new Yi dynasty. A Mongol invasion and accompanying civil unrest led to the emergence of General Yi Song-gye, who first reestablished order and then proceeded to overthrow the last remnants of the Koryo dynasty and establish his own. The new ruler promptly resumed diplomatic and tributary relations with Ming China and took the ancient Chinese name for Korea, Choson, meaning “Land of the Morning Calm.” Because of this, the Yi dynasty is also referred to as the Choson dynasty. To solidify control over his empire, Yi built a new walled capital city in the center of his kingdom in an area surrounded by high mountains that provided a natural defense against outside attacks. The new city was called Seoul.

  Despite its militaristic origins, the Yi dynasty was marked by further cultural and economic developments. A noteworthy period of this era was that of King Sejong in the first half of the fifteenth century. King Sejong was born in 1397 and ruled Korea from 1418 to 1450. During his reign, he oversaw the development of many progressive ideas in administration, linguistics, music, science, and humanistic studies. He established the Hall of Talented Scholars (Chiphyonjon) to promote research in institutional traditions, politics, and economics. In 1443, he developed a new Korean alphabet, known as hangul, as a way to reflect the Korean language accurately in writing. Heretofore, Korean sounds had been forced awkwardly into traditional Chinese characters, even though Chinese was based on an entirely different linguistic system. Sejong intended this new alphabet to be used to educate the populace to read and write. Indeed, the first manuscript describing the alphabet (in 1446) was called “Correct Sounds to Teach the People” (Hunmin Chong-um

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  The Koreas

  • Mary E. Connor(Author)
  • 2009(Publication Date)
  • ABC-CLIO

    (Publisher)

  This system selected officials based on academic achievement as opposed to social status, military success, or wealth, and made professional service the most certain route to acquisition of wealth. The exam Courtyard and pond at the Ch’angdokkung (Changdok Palace) in Seoul. In 1405 King T’aejong, the third ruler of the Choson dynasty built the palace to serve as a royal villa. After 1615 the seat of the government was moved to this location and kings ruled Korea from this palace for about 300 years. (Courtesy of Mary Connor) The Choson Dynasty (1392–1910) | 23 system initially produced an effective bureaucracy, but in time it deteriorated and finally ended with the overthrow of the Choson dynasty by the Japanese in 1910. Confucianism also had an impact on economic development. Its beliefs helped to perpetuate a static agrarian society and promoted contempt for the development of commerce, an activity seen as self-serving and socially divisive. A road system was maintained, but trade within the country and with the outside world (except for China and Japan) remained limited. In spite of the continuous flow of goods and ideas from China, Korea remained culturally distinct. In social structure, economic development, character traits, language, homes, dress, and food, it was in no danger of being cultur- ally absorbed. Items exported to Japan included rice, cotton, hemp, and porcelain ware. The Buddhist Tripitaka, Confucian writings, histories, temple bells, and Bud- dhist images were among the cultural exports to Japan. In exchange, the Japanese exported minerals not available in Korea and luxury items for the yangban class. Despite the conservative tendencies of Confucianism, there were significant techno- logical advances in early Choson. A rain gauge was invented in 1442, and accurate records were maintained some 200 years before Europe began such practices. Movable type was more prevalent in Korea in the 15th century than any other place in the world.

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  Sovereignty and Status in East Asian International Relations

  • Seo-Hyun Park(Author)
  • 2017(Publication Date)
  • Cambridge University Press

    (Publisher)

  5. 70 Han, Imjin oeran gwa Hanjung gwan-gye, p. 16. 71 Jae Ho Chung, Between Ally and Partner: Korea-China Relations and the United States (New York: Columbia University Press, 2007), p. 4. See also Geun-ho Yu, “Hanmal dae-oe-gwan ui teukjil” [The Characteristics of Late Joseon Korea’s Worldview], in Han-guk jeongchi oegyosa hakhoe (The Korean Diplomatic History Association), ed., Joseonjo jeongchi sasang yeongu [A Study of Political Thought in Joseon Korea] (Seoul: Pyeongminsa, 1987), pp. 204–205; Ledyard, “Han-guk-in ui sadaejueui.” 72 Investiture by the Chinese emperor “enhanced the prestige of the tribal ruler among his own and neighboring tribes.” Chinese support was useful to a new ruler, especially if he was opposed by his rivals domestically. Symbolic sanction from China was especially important in maintaining order in times of domestic unrest. Rossabi, “Introduction,” pp. 3–4; Chung, A Korean Confucian Encounter with the Modern World, p. 14. 73 As noted by Haboush, the founding of the Yi dynasty was also a Confucian revolution, a complete break from the old Buddhist Goryeo society. Haboush, A Heritage of Kings, pp. 12–13; see also Martina Deuchler, “Neo-Confucianism: The Impulse for Social Action in Early Yi Korea,” The Journal of Korean Studies 2 (1980): 71–111. Explaining the Durability of Sakoku and Sadae 71 political legitimacy by claiming to have attained regional and civi- lizational status as an integral part of the Sinocentric world, albeit from a peripheral and subservient position. 74 Joseon’s acceptance of Sinocentrism indicated socialization into a “global society.” 75 China was depicted as more than a militarily superior Great Power; it was the center of civilization and the only legitimate source of authority in the regional order. Reflected in elite attitudes and official state policy was a deep reverence for Chinese culture and civilization (junghwa), viewing China as more than a mere state (Jung-guk).

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  Religious Experience and Self-Psychology

  Korean Christianity and the 1907 Revival Movement

  • Jung Eun Jang(Author)
  • 2016(Publication Date)
  • Palgrave Macmillan

    (Publisher)

  Joseon Jujahak was a significant selfobject to the Korean group self, sustaining the image of its self-worth and a sense of self-cohesion in the early years of the Joseon Dynasty. However, it gradually began to fail to sustain and mirror its selfobject needs due to the disruption of the peasant economy and the political system that supported the Confucian society, and the changing international circumstances in the latter part of the Joseon Dynasty. Consequently, the Korean group self gradually began to be devaluated because of the loss of the selfobjects in the late Joseon period. However, the disruption in the sense of self reached its peak in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, when Joseon started to lose its sovereignty, and the country and its people were exploited by foreign forces and corrupt officials.

  1 The Selfobject Functions of the Political, Social, and Religious Systems of the Joseon Dynasty

  The section examines the selfobject functions of the political, social, and religious systems of the Joseon Dynasty as a first step to study the self-psychological implications of the 1907 Korean Revival Movement. Given that the Joseon Dynasty was founded essentially upon a hierarchical structure based on Confucianism, the task is closely connected to an examination of the selfobject functions of the Joseon Dynasty’s hierarchical society and Confucianism for the Korean group self.

  From its earliest era in the fourteenth century, the Joseon society was based on a hierarchical social system in which the dominating class, known as the yangban , strictly controlled the village societies. However, it is important to note that the hierarchical society was able to provide a system of moral ideals and mutual aid for people who performed idealizing and mirroring selfobject functions. In the early period of the Joseon Dynasty, the demographic composition of the social classes reflected a pyramid shape. The ruling group constituted a small fraction of the society. They possessed not only an ideal value system but also a sense of responsibility as the dominant group, which was derived from Confucianism.

  The main function of the Joseon village society was also to build up an organization that facilitated mutual cooperation. The ideal goal of the village society was to perform a mutual aid function of the organization, mobilizing and managing the resources for the relief of poor people in the villages, and not to merely create an efficient economic system to maximize profits. Joseon developed “a nonofficial, local, and autonomous social organization,” known as the Hyangyak , to educate the masses regarding the Confucian ways. The Hyangyak system emphasized on mutual relationships based upon Confucian teachings and facilitated a community-based spirit in the Korean villages where “the lives of the people depended upon the family, the clans, and communal mutual aids.”

  1

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  Confucianism in Context

  Classic Philosophy and Contemporary Issues, East Asia and Beyond

  • Wonsuk Chang, Leah Kalmanson, Wonsuk Chang, Leah Kalmanson(Authors)
  • 2010(Publication Date)
  • SUNY Press

    (Publisher)

  King T’aejo, who ruled Koguryŏ from 53 to 146, had already declared in his Hunyo sipcho (Ten Rules of Governing) that government should be guided by benevolence, the practice of the kingly way, and Confucianism, along with Buddhism, Daoism, and indigenous religions. By 958 the growing infuence of Confucianism led to the establishment of the civil service examination. The Samguk sagi (History of the Three Kingdoms), written and compiled by Kim Pusik in the 1100s, also shows the maturity of Confucianism in Korea. He based the book on Confucian rationalistic historiography and recorded Korean history coherently, modeling his account on the historiography of Sima Guang and Ouyang Xiu in China’s Northern Song period (960–1127). While Confucianism, Buddhism, and Daoism coexisted and developed during the Koryŏ, Confucianism functioned as a governing method, a political ideology, and an academic subject. Introduction of Neo-Confucianism in the Early Chosŏn Period The Introduction of Neo-Confucianism and the Criticism of Buddhism In the transitional period from the late Koryŏ to the early Chosŏn period, Confucianism played a critical role as a catalyst for social reform. Confucian literati, the new elites of the time, attempted to change medieval aristocratic society into a modern Confucian society by importing China’s advanced philosophy of neo-Confucianism. The literati were already familiar with Confucian philosophy, as seen in the case of historian Kim Pusik. New literati 37 The History of Confucianism in Korea offi cials, such as Lee Chae-hyŏn (1287–1367), An Hyang (1243–1306), Lee Saek (1328–1396), and Chŏng Mong-chu (1337–1392), employed neo-Confucianism in order to reform the Koryŏ effectively after military rule. They used neo-Confucianism in resolving the pending issues of Koryŏ.

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  State Formation through Emulation

  The East Asian Model

  • Chin-Hao Huang, David C. Kang(Authors)
  • 2022(Publication Date)
  • Cambridge University Press

    (Publisher)

  21 Lee, A New History of Korea, 176. 22 Deuchler, The Confucian Transformation of Korea, 123. 23 Key-Hiuk Kim, The Last Phase of the East Asian World Order (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1980), 16. 124 Korea and Japan over the Centuries the late seventh century. Those administrative divisions are essentially the same today. Legal and judicial systems were also centrally adminis- tered: The proper channels for lodging complaints in Chos ˘ on Korea would proceed from the district government, via the provincial gov- ernment and on to the central court, and only then to the king, while there were ways to appeal directly to the king “by beating a gong.” 24 James Palais notes that, in 1392, “central control over every local district was expanded by replacing all local magnates with members of the capital bureaucracy.” 25 6.2 Japan: Tokugawa Shogunate, 1600–1868 As we saw in Chapter 5, the initial period of Japanese state formation in the fifth to eighth centuries saw close emulation of Chinese ideas: It was foundational for Japanese state formation, society, and culture. China has always loomed large for Japan. Pollack observes that, “until modern times the Chinese rarely troubled themselves about Japan; the Japanese, however, were preoccupied with China from the beginning of their recorded history until the opening of the West in the last century.” 26 Donald Keene writes that “The central factor of Japanese literature – if not the entire traditional culture – was the love for and the rejection of Chinese influence.” 27 Pollack further notes that “for the Japanese, what was ‘Japanese’ had always to be considered in relation to what was thought to be ‘Chinese’.” 28 Indeed, China loomed large as myth and reality in Japanese history. Yet Chinese ideas never took as deep root in Japan as they did in Korea or Vietnam. They began to fail in the eleventh century in the smaller, more backward environment of Japan.

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  East Asia

  A Cultural, Social, and Political History

  • Patricia Ebrey, Anne Walthall(Authors)
  • 2013(Publication Date)
  • Cengage Learning EMEA

    (Publisher)

  The commercial economy declined, and an increasing portion of the population was unfree; slaves worked much of the agricultural land in the hands of aristocrats and local magnates, and the government compelled others to work for it in mines or factories. Buddhism, however, continued to flourish. Military strongmen dominated the gov-ernment, but the armies were no match for the much larger empires to their north and had to accede to often-onerous demands, especially during the period of Mongol domination. The Goryeo Dynasty lasted four and a half centu-ries. During the first several reigns, the kings made efforts to strengthen central control. The aristocracy remained strong, however, their economic power enhanced by a system of land grants (prebends). After 1020, Goryeo politics was dominated by an oligarchy of aristocratic clans who treated their land grants as private property and acquired large num-bers of serf-like slaves. Copyright 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it. 182 Through the nineteenth century, China, Japan, and Korea all had hereditary monarchies. Rul-ers were viewed as divinely sanctioned; ritual prescribed how others interacted with them; and powers behind the throne often controlled them, all features of premodern monarchies around the world. Beyond that, however, the monarchi-cal systems of China, Japan, and Korea were not especially alike. First, consider the number of royal houses. In historical times, Japan has claimed to have had a single royal family.

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  Everlasting Flower

  A History of Korea

  • Keith Pratt(Author)
  • 2007(Publication Date)
  • Reaktion Books

    (Publisher)

  A hundred years later, leading scholars had established a dozen independ-ent schools ( so ˘wo ˘n ) of their own that would rival it, creating a bifurca-tion into state and private sectors that is still a characteristic of Korean higher education. (More ominously for the interim, the foundations had been laid down for the growth of factions around the private academies that would bedevil politics in the Choso ˘n era.) The state system was sub-sequently given a responsive boost by King Injong (r.  –  ), who set up schools in rural areas ( hyanghak ) as well as in the capital ( kyo ˘nghak ). Their purpose was to train young men in a particular, Confucian, mind-set and to identify future officials. If we are minded to criticize the immediate objective, however, we miss the point: the Korean literati were well aware of the broader value of training minds, and those who pre-ferred a different ideological path could always follow the one leading to the monastery doorway.       A good deal of the credit for So ˘ngjong’s Confucianizing reforms goes to Ch’oe Su ˘ngno. He had known all five of the Koryo ˘ kings to date, and was critical of those who came after T’aejo for not living up to the founder’s expectations. He stressed the importance of the king behav-ing towards his subjects in accordance with the humane principles laid down in the Book of Changes and the Analects of Confucius. Urging the king to follow Chinese example more closely, but not slavishly, he made proposals for strengthening central government authority with a system modelled on the Song government in Kaifeng. The resultant structure, which tried to cover both civilian and military matters and to guard against excessive royal autocracy, was neither simple nor permanent. It included a Privy Council (Chaech’u), three Chancelleries, a Censorate and Six Boards, of Personnel, Revenue, Rites, War, Punishments and Works.

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