UNIT 2 September 25, 2012 - Early Chosôn (1392-1592 or so) - Chosôn (the Yi Dynasty ) as the image of tradition - The Koryô/Chosôn transition and the Yuan/Ming interface - Yi takes over - The Social Order - The Political Order - Images of the Chosôn system - Shares its name with Old Chosôn - Technically extends until 1910; about 500 years - Aren t that many dynasties that last that long in history - Korea, in many cases, has had very long dynasties - Until recently, Korea has had a certain measure of political stability - Also referred to as the Yi dynasty; the Yi were the ruling royal family - Korea has shifted away from calling the Yi dynasty because it s seen as a little derogatory for calling the entire state after only the ruling family - When people today in Korea think about traditional Korea, what they tend to think of is the Chosôn dynasty - The Koryô/Chosôn transition and the Yuan/Ming interface - Mongols and Yuan dynasty in China - Mongols in charge of China - People who can deal with the Mongols become more important; Mongolian interpreters become important - Mongolian interpreters in Koryô benefit, gain power - Neo-Confucianism as class ideology - Becomes more important - Becomes the ideology of aristocrats, those agaiant Mongol domination - Yuan:Ming::Mongolian interprets et al:sadaebu emergent N-C literati - As Mongol rule weakens in China, you have the Yuan (the Mongol empire in China) vs. the Ming (Han Chinese who are rising up against the Mongols) - Mongolian interpreters in Koryô side with Yuan, aristocrats side with Ming - Koryô King Kongmin s pro-ming stance (1368) - Emergent Neo-Confusion scholars are among his supporters - The Ming win in China and gain more power in Korea - Ming encroachment, Yi Sông-gye s turnabout - After the Ming win in China, the Ming also try to make encroachments upon Koryô s territory - Korean generals sent to oppose Chinese troops - Yi Sông-gye, having been sent to stop Chinese troops, turns around the army and marches it on the Korean capital and conquers it, settles with Ming - Becomes king (royal title: King T aejo) and founds Chosôn - King T aejo and the founding of Chosôn (1392)
- Same as Koryô founder - Means great founder - Yi (T aejo) takes over - Founds Seoul, makes it the capital - Cadastral survey (then and later) - An attempt to locate who owns and who controls what piece of land - After the survey happened, the land was redistributed so that the new Chosôn rulers and the people who supported Yi (T aejo) got more land - Having land was a way of control in agrarian societies - Chosôn as old/new name: legitimacy again - The Neo-Confucian literati try to remake society - Old tools reused: the examination system - Central goal in life: to pass the exam and get a government position - Broader remaking (preview) - The Social Order - The status hierarchy: - Yangban - The twin order of officials (civil and military); civil seen as higher than military - Becomes more than just a job title, becomes a social group - Try to live separately from the rest of society; marry only within the group, dress differently, etc. - Only the yangban takes the civil exams - Chungin - Also becomes a hereditary status group, like the yangban - Take specialized exams in astronomy (plays into when you plant things), medicine, etc. (these exams are seen as lower in status than the civil exams) and hold these jobs - Commoners - Farmers at top; seen as noble by producing things - Farmers are the great foundation under Heaven. - Artisans/manufacturers - Potters, carpenters, etc. - Merchants/commercial people - Paekchŏng - The hundred names - Becomes hereditary - Do jobs that other people tend to think of as unclean - Entertainers, kisaeng (women who were trained to play music and spend time with men to comfort them; not necessarily prostitutes, but sometimes were), iron workers, leather workers, butchers, shamans - Slaves (more later) - There were a lot - Lifestyles - Livin the yangban life
- Lived off of the agricultural products paid to them by other people, like taxes - Often had tenant farmers - Promising men spend much of their time studying for the exam; may be studying well into their 40s - Exempted from service in the military; won t get drafted - Exempted from being required to help the government build things, like bridges (corveé labor- labor, often unpaid, that is required of people of lower social standing and imposed upon them by the state or by a superior (such as an aristocrat or noble); a form of taxation) - Lived in nice houses - Yangban women mostly stay inside; kept hidden from view - The peasant contrast - Agricultural labor is subject to taxes; depending on your plot size, you had to deliver a certain number of bags of rice, for instance, to the government, the owner of the land (typically yangban) - Can be drafted - Have to do corveé labor - Hop ae: a wooden ID card that identifies who you are and where you re supposed to be; if you re found wandering around, you re sent back; people are linked to their land - The Political Order - Who is in politics? - The royals - The yangban who passed exams - The Philosopher-King - Confucian tradition - King and aristocrats - Rulers were supposed to be educated - Under the Ming dynasty in China, the king was supposed to give philosophical lectures three times a month - In Korea, in theory, the king was supposed to give lectures three times a day (didn t happen) - King has to perform as the philosopher king - If the king doesn t prove himself, people will stop listening to him - A centralized system? Royalty/aristocrats - In theory, the king is completely in charge, but in practice the king s authority is derived from his ability to manage relations between aristocratic families, advisors, etc. - The king has to convince people that his orders are worth following - Modern Korea is much more centralized than Chosôn was - Checks and balances at the center - Inspector and Censorate - One of the places where the yangban kids who passed the highest exams go - Inspector: people sent down from the center to basically spy on local governments; undercover, sometimes
- Censorate: comment on decisions made in court; get to decide if the king is acting morally in accordance with Confucianism; can call the king out! if they do, they might be killed, but it would still have a big effect - The role of historiography - Historians wrote memoirs about kings; could write whatever they wanted - The kings cared very much about what they said - Wanted to be seen positively by history - Set precedent for descendants rule - In the provinces: hyangban and hyangni vis-à-vis (in relation to) central appointees - Officials sent by the center to rule over a town, who would have to deal with the local yangban, called the hyangban, who would form a kind of council - Hyangni: like the local courts; know how to get taxes, how to manipulate the system; later on, get a strong reputation for corruption Seoul (Center) Central official Central official Central official Local functionary Local functionary Local functionary (Region) (Region) (Region) - Images of the Chosôn system - Why images? Compare America as a land of opportunity. Is it true? Is it a lie? Is it somewhere in between? - 1.) The ladder of success (Wagner article): the examination system and meritocracy - 2.) The tribute system: Chosôn s dependency in international relations? - Ladder of Success - To what degree could anybody climb the ladder of success? - Who took the exam, in theory and in practice? - Only men could take it - In theory, anybody could take it who was male and not a criminal, but in practice mostly yangban took it - Only yangban really had the time and resources to study for the exam - Which yangban monopolized success? Clan 1: An Elite Clan - Many exams passed over generations - Residents in Seoul (often) - Aspiration: Climbing Clan 2: A non-politically elite clan (still yangban) - Few exam passers over generations - Most likely resident outside of Seoul; those in Seoul often only there temporarily - Aspiration: Not falling - A few clans dominate the exams - Over time, the highest social offices were increasingly monopolized by a relatively small group of clans (extended families) - Their power becomes self-reproductive; an exam passer begets an exam passer
- Only people from elite clans really had a chance to use the ladder of success, according to Wagner - Some would argue that there is more movement among the lower level yangban and that the group actually expands over time, due to the exams (nobody argues against the highest yangban dominating politics) September 27, 2012 - The Ladder of Success (Continued) - Remember our old issue: hereditary status vs. meritocracy - It has a meritocratic image - Is the Chosôn examination system the triumph of meritocratic government? Is that what the ladder of successes metaphor in Wagner implies? - Remember: ladders go down as well as up and not always equally in each direction - The Tribute System - One for the other main images of Chosôn (along with the civil exams) - Chosôn was ritually subordinate to Chia (the Ming and Ch ing dynasties) - The ruler of Chosôn was a Wang (king), but the ruler of China was known as an emperor - Only the Chinese emperor could sacrifice to the heavens - On the eves of buildings in the Forbidden City in China, there are nine animals; the Korean buildings only have seven; - The Chinese emperor would wear yellow; the Korean kings would wear red - The Koreans would take gifts and cultural items to China on certain occasions, like birthdays, condolences when a member of the royal family died, etc. - Did this mean that Chosôn was politically/culturally subordinate to Ming/Ch ing? - Two ideas - The dominant (historicist) reading: No - Chosôn had much free reign, internally (especially) but also externally - A relation to a civilizational ideal (Korea looked at China as a civilizational ideal), rather than a relation between countries - Koreans could still feel superior; for example, after 1644, many in Chosôn saw themselves as more civilized than the new Ch ing rulers in China - Idealized the old China - Sadae ( serving the great ) as part of that ideal; a ritual service - The Chinese court did not mettle in Korean affairs - Like how the British queen would be greeted with a parade in Australia, even though she isn t the official ruler of Australia anymore - A ritual service with little to no practical effects - However, a 20 th century (presentist) image: Yes - Critical reevaluation of Confucianism in late 19 th and 20 th century Korea - Retrospective understanding of a tributary relation as servitude, expression of slave mentality, etc.
- Critique of sadaejuŭi (the tributary system; tributary-ism), especially in North Korea: flunkeyism - What North Koreans have in mind when they talk about this system, what they mean to do is relate it to how South Korea is to the U.S. - Confucianization - Why Confucianization and not just Confucianism? - The process of change due to (Neo-)Confucianism - Recall continuity vs. change - Types of social change - In this case, we are talking about top-down, elite-driven change - The aristocrats who supported the Mongols began the spread of Confucianism - Family Rituals by Chu Hsi as manual for changing society - Neo-Confucianism vs. Confucianism - Various philosophical differences - Neo-Confucianism associated with Chinese scholar Chu His - Practical effects: - Neo-Confucianism aimed to radically transform society to fit the image of an ideal society of yore; very broad and involved in all social aspects- social conduct, private conduct, government conduct, etc. - Neo-Confucianism is very exclusive; Neo-Confucianism becomes very hostile to Buddhism, tries to rule Buddhism as morally inappropriate - For example, by the end of the Chosôn dynasty, Buddhist temples had been pushed out of the cities - The long story of Confucianism in Korea - Silla- hwarang code, National Confucian Academy (7 th century)- both directed at aristocracy, rulers - Koryô: Mandate of Heaven (compare to Silla tales of the divinity of a specific royal line), but still not social; coexistence with Buddhism; exam system as technology of rule, but still little effect on the customs/practice of most people - Late Koryô: contact with Neo-Confucianism via the Yuan (the Mongols dynasty in China); Koreans go take Chinese Confucian exams in China; primarily a political ideology of the elite - Chosôn: yangban aristocrats have this as their ideology because Confucianism teaches that everyone and everything has a spot in the natural order (and their spot is at the top); they seek to transform the world to fit this image - Neo-Confucianization in Chosôn was: - Gradual and, in places, slow - Top-down - Pragmatic, ideologically radical, and ideology-driven - Family Ritual (Karye) by Chu His- It had a manual - Public to private; earlier Confucianism had been important only politically, but it began to move into the private sector