Korea and Its Neighbors

EXCHANGE in EAST ASIA and THE INDIAN OCEAN HIST 1301 | History Korea and Its Neighbors Regarding their ties with the Ming dynasty, Koreans were split following the fall of the Mongols in China. Yi Seong-gye and his companion general Choe Yeong became well-known in the 1380s after driving out Japanese pirates who were pillaging Korea. Choe Yeong expressed his resistance to the Ming dynasty and suggested an attack of China's Liaodong Peninsula as the Ming tried to conquer Korean land. Though Yi Seong-gye was supposed to command the troops, he seized the chance to take over the capital of Korea and the government in 1388. Following four years in power under puppet kings, Yi Seong-gye crowned himself emperor of the Joseon, a new Korean dynasty that was modelled after a previous one, in 1392. Asking the title of King Taejo, he formally acknowledged himself as a subordinate of the far stronger Ming kingdom and forged cordial ties with China. Taejo adopted Confucian values, which, in contrast to Buddhism, place more emphasis on upholding social hierarchies and the family than they do on the welfare of the individual. In Korean society, classes were clearly defined and separated. The yangban, a governing elite made up of military officers and civil administrators, dominated the nation with the monarch. Becoming a member of this class was contingent upon passing the imperial examinations, which, like Chinese exams, relied on knowledge of the Confucian classics. Similar to China, affluent households and the nobles from the previous dynasty dominated the examinations as only the males in these households had the resources to get the education required for success. A yangban family's membership also granted them the authority to lead local governing councils and manage their affairs. When only the sons of these households were permitted to sit for the imperial exams, membership in the yangban eventually became inherited. The sangmin, who worked the land as bonded servants, provided support for the yangban. The seonbi, in contrast to the yangban, were highly educated, erudite individuals who dedicated their lives to study and selfless public service. They felt that their duty was to provide an example of morality for the rest of society, therefore they avoided pursuing material wealth and instead focused on their studies. Above all, they stood up for the ordinary people and were willing to face the king's wrath in order to uphold honesty. They belonged to the same class as the yangban, but what distinguished them was their disinterest in acquiring money and power. During the time of monarch Sejong, the fourth monarch of Korea, the seonbi's passion for learning and research blossomed. Scholars from Korea created a tool in 1442 that could precisely measure rainfall. Researchers also devised a way to gauge the wind's direction and speed. A number of sundials and water clocks were created in order to measure time, and an astronomical observatory was built. Land elevation was measured using surveying rods and triangulation instruments. Sejong gathered academics from the research institute he had established, called the Hall of Worthies, to assist him in creating hangul, an alphabet that could represent the sounds of Korean speech. Sejong established Hangul in 1446 with the intention of regular people using it instead of the Chinese characters used by the elite yangban. Following the Sejong era, the Joseon dynasty faced several challenges. Japan attacked Korea in 1592 and again in 1597. The Manchus assaulted Korea many times in the century that followed, from 1627 to 1636. Battles amongst yangban class factions led to significant divisiveness in addition to those brought on by outside attacks. The terrible fight between the Easterners and the Westerners lasted from generation to generation. The conflict among the yangban elites began to disgust scholars, officials, and common people in the late seventeenth century. This led many to support the Silhak movement, which encouraged the study of technology and the physical sciences in order to solve practical problems rather than concentrating solely on the Confucian classics (the term "practical learning" refers to this approach). Proponents of the Silhak movement also pushed for a number of social changes, such as the modification of Korea's strict social structure and land reform. These reformers maintained that education ought to advance the general well-being of society. They emphasised the value of Korean culture and social equality. The fact that Korea was surrounded by nations surely had an impact on concerns for the preservation of Korean culture. Chinese immigrants brought Buddhism and Confucianism, the philosophical foundation of the Joseon kingdom. China also had an impact on Korean architecture, ceramics, painting, and writing. Chinese characters were used by Korean intellectuals to write for centuries. Throughout history, China, the Khitans, the Mongols, the Japanese, and the Manchus have all invaded Korea. However, the steady inflow of foreign ideas and commodities served to strengthen the feeling of independent Korean identity among Koreans. Korean reformers such as the Silhak group highlighted the significance of preserving a Korean identity rooted in Korean history and culture, attempting to set themselves apart from Chinese, Mongols, and Japanese immigrants.