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Joseon ( ; ; also romanized as Chosun), officially Great Joseon (), was a dynastic kingdom of Korea that existed for 505 years. It was founded by Taejo of Joseon in July 1392 and replaced by the Korean Empire in October 1897. The kingdom was founded after the overthrow of Goryeo in what is today the city of Kaesong. Early on, Korea was retitled and the capital was moved to modern-day Seoul. The kingdom's northernmost borders were expanded to the natural boundaries at the rivers of Yalu River and Tumen River through the subjugation of the Jurchen people.
Over the centuries, Joseon encouraged the entrenchment of Confucian ideals and doctrines in Korean society. Neo-Confucianism was installed as the new state's ideology. Korean Buddhism was accordingly discouraged, and occasionally Buddhists faced persecution. Joseon consolidated its effective rule over the Korean peninsula and saw the height of classical Korean culture, trade, literature, and science and technology. The kingdom was severely weakened by failed Japanese invasions in 1592 and 1598, which were followed by invasions by the Later Jin dynasty in 1627 and the Qing dynasty in 1636–1637. The country pursued an increasingly harsh isolationist policy, becoming known as the "hermit kingdom" in Western literature. After the end of these invasions from Manchuria, Joseon experienced a nearly 200-year period of peace and prosperity, along with cultural and technological development. What power the kingdom recovered during its isolation waned as the 18th century came to a close. Faced with internal strife, power struggles, international pressure, and rebellions at home, the kingdom declined rapidly in the late 19th century.
The Joseon period left a substantial legacy. Modern Korean bureaucracy and administrative divisions were established during it. The modern Korean language and Korean dialects derive from the culture and traditions of Joseon, as does much of Korean culture, etiquette, norms, and societal attitudes.
General Yi Sŏnggye was chosen to lead the attack; he revolted, Wihwado Retreat Kaegyŏng (now Kaesong) and initiated a coup d'état, overthrowing King U of Goryeo in favor of his son, Chang of Goryeo (1388). Neo-Confucian scholars, who were a small and medium-sized power at the time, were able to use this incident as an opportunity to lay a political foundation, and in particular, Chŏng Tojŏn, a friend of Yi Sŏnggye, wanted to use this incident as an opportunity to reform the corrupt nobles and the Buddhist community. He later killed King U and his son after a failed restoration and forcibly placed a royal named Wang Yo on the throne (he became King Gongyang of Goryeo). In 1392, Yi eliminated Chŏng Mong-ju, a highly respected leader of a group loyal to the Goryeo dynasty, and dethroned King Gongyang, exiling him to Wonju, and he ascended the throne himself. The Goryeo kingdom had come to an end after 474 years of rule.
At the beginning of his reign, Yi Sŏnggye, now ruler of Korea, intended to continue to use the name Goryeo for the country he ruled and simply change the royal line of descent to his own, thus maintaining the façade of continuing the 500-year-old Goryeo tradition. After numerous threats of mutiny from the drastically weakened but still influential Gwonmun nobles, who continued to swear allegiance to the remnants of the Goryeo and to the now-demoted House of Wang, the consensus in the reformed court was that a new dynastic title was needed to signify the change. In naming the new kingdom, Taejo contemplated two possibilities – "Hwaryeong" (his place of birth) and "Joseon". After much internal deliberation, as well as endorsement by the neighboring Ming dynasty's emperor, Taejo declared the name of the kingdom to be Joseon, a tribute to the ancient Korean state of Gojoseon. "Yi Sŏng-gye issued a royal edict to proclaim the name of the new kingdom to "Joseon" and issued amnesty to all criminals who opposed the transition. The statement by Taizu about 'only the name of Joseon is beautiful and old' naturally refers to Gija Joseon." He also moved the capital to Hanseong (modern Seoul) from Kaegyŏng (modern Kaesong).
After the sudden death of Queen Sindeok, while King Taejo was still in mourning for his second wife, Yi Pangwŏn struck first by raiding the palace and killed Chŏng Tojŏn and his supporters as well as Queen Sindeok's two sons (his half-brothers) including the crown prince in 1398. This incident became known as the "First Strife of Princes".
Aghast at the fact that his sons were willing to kill each other for the crown, and psychologically exhausted from the death of his second wife, King Taejo abdicated and immediately crowned his second son Yi Bang-gwa as King Jeongjong. One of King Jeongjong's first acts as monarch was to revert the capital to Kaegyŏng, where he is believed to have been considerably more comfortable, away from the toxic power strife. Yet Yi Pangwŏn retained real power and was soon in conflict with his disgruntled older brother, Yi Panggan, who also yearned for power. In 1400, the tensions between Yi Pangwŏn's faction and Yi Panggan's camp escalated into an all-out conflict that came to be known as the "Second Strife of Princes". In the aftermath of the struggle, the defeated Yi Panggan was exiled to Tosan County while his supporters were executed. Thoroughly intimidated, King Jeongjong immediately invested Yi Pangwŏn as heir presumptive and voluntarily abdicated. That same year, Yi Pangwŏn assumed the throne of Joseon as King Taejong, third king of the dynasty.
In 1399, Taejong had played an influential role in scrapping the Dopyeong Assembly, a council of the old government administration that held a monopoly in court power during the waning years of Goryeo, in favor of the State Council of Joseon, a new branch of central administration that revolved around the king and his edicts. After passing the subject documentation and taxation legislation, he issued a new decree in which all decisions passed by the State Council could only come into effect with the approval of the king. This ended the custom of court ministers and advisors making decisions through debate and negotiations amongst themselves, and thus brought the royal power to new heights.
Shortly thereafter, Taejong installed an office, known as the Sinmun Office, to hear cases in which aggrieved subjects felt that they had been exploited or treated unjustly by government officials or Yangban. He kept Chŏng Tojŏn's reforms intact for the most part. In addition, Taejong executed or exiled many of his supporters who had helped him ascend the throne to strengthen his own royal authority. To limit the influence of in-laws, he killed all four of Queen Wongyeong's brothers and Sim On, the father-in-law of his son Sejong.
Taejong remains a controversial figure who killed many of his rivals and relatives to gain power and yet ruled effectively to improve the populace's lives, strengthen national defense, and lay down a solid foundation for his successor Sejong's rule.
In September 1419, the Daimyo of Tsushima, Sadamori, capitulated to the Joseon court. In 1443, The Treaty of Gyehae was signed in which the daimyō of Tsushima was granted rights to conduct trade with Korea using fifty ships per year in exchange for sending tribute to Korea and aiding to stop any Waegu coastal pirate raids on Korean ports. 계해약조 癸亥約條 Nate / Britannica 계해조약 癸亥約條 Nate / Encyclopedia of Korean Culture
On the northern border, Sejong established four forts and six posts to safeguard his people from the Jurchen people, who later became the Manchu people, living in Manchuria. In 1433, Sejong sent Kim Chongsŏ, a government official, north to fend off the Jurchens. Kim's military campaign captured several castles, pushed north, and expanded Korean territory, roughly the current border between North Korea and China.
During the rule of Sejong, Korea saw advances in natural science, agriculture, literature, traditional Chinese medicine, and engineering. Because of such success, Sejong was given the title "Sejong the Great". The most remembered contribution of King Sejong is the creation of Hangul, the Korean alphabet, in 1443. Rejected in its time by the scholarly elite, the everyday use of Hanja in writing was eventually surpassed by Hangul in the latter half of the 20th century.
King Sejo enabled the government to determine exact population numbers and to mobilize troops effectively. He also revised the land ordinance to improve the national economy and encouraged the publication of books. Most importantly, he compiled the Grand Code for State Administration, which became the cornerstone of dynastic administration and provided the first form of constitutional law in written form in Korea.
Sejo undermined much of the foundation of many existing systems, including the Jiphyeonjeon which his predecessors, Sejong and Munjong, had carefully laid down. He cut down on everything he deemed unworthy and caused countless complications in the long run. Many of these adjustments were made for his own power, not regarding the consequences and problems that would occur. The favoritism he showed toward the ministers who aided him in taking the throne led to increased corruption in the higher echelons of the political field.
He also sent several military campaigns against the Jurchens on the northern border in 1491, like many of his predecessors. The campaign, led by General Heo Jong, was successful, and the defeated Jurchens, led by the Udige clan (兀狄哈), retreated to the north of the Yalu River. King Seongjong was succeeded by his son, Yeonsangun, in 1494.
Yeonsangun also seized a thousand women from the provinces to serve as palace entertainers and appropriated the Sungkyunkwan as a personal pleasure ground. He abolished the Office of Censors, whose function was to criticize inappropriate actions and policies of the king, and Hongmungwan. He banned the use of hangul when the common people used it on posters to criticize the king. After twelve years of misrule, he was finally deposed in a coup which placed his half-brother Jungjong on the throne in 1506.
Jungjong was a fundamentally weak king because of the circumstances that placed him on the throne, but his reign also saw a period of significant reforms led by his minister Cho Kwangjo, the charismatic leader of sarim. He established a local self-government system called hyangyak to strengthen local autonomy and communal spirit among the people, sought to reduce the gap between the rich and poor with a land reform that would distribute land to farmers more equally and limit the amount of land and number of slaves that one could own, promulgated Confucian writings with vernacular translations widely among the populace, and sought to trim the size of government by reducing the number of bureaucrats. According to the Veritable Records of the Joseon Dynasty, it was said that no official dared to receive a bribe or exploit the populace during this time because as Inspector General, he applied the law strictly.
These radical reforms were very popular with the populace but were fiercely opposed by the conservative officials who had helped to put Jungjong on the throne. They plotted to cause Jungjong to doubt Cho's loyalty. Cho Kwangjo was executed, and most of his reform measures died with him in the resulting third literati purge. For nearly 50 years afterward, the court politics were marred by bloody and chaotic struggles between factions backing rival consorts and princes. In-laws of the royal family wielded great power and contributed to much corruption in that era.
One example is the 1589 rebellion of Chŏng Yŏrip, one of the bloodiest political purges of Joseon. Chŏng Yŏrip, an Easterner, had formed a society with a group of supporters that also received military training to fight against Wokou. There is still a dispute about the nature and purpose of his group, which reflected the desire for a classless society and spread throughout Honam. He was subsequently accused of conspiracy to start a rebellion. Chŏng Ch'ŏl, head of the Westerner faction, was in charge of investigating the case and used this event to affect the widespread purge of Easterners who had the slightest connection to Chŏng Yŏrip. Eventually 1000 Easterners were killed or exiled in the aftermath.
During the Japanese invasions in the 1590s, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, plotting the conquest of Ming dynasty with Portuguese guns, invaded Korea with his Daimyo and their troops, intending to use Korea as a stepping stone. Factional division in the Joseon court, inability to assess Japanese military capability, and failed attempts at diplomacy led to poor preparation on Joseon's part. The use of superior firearms by the Japanese left most of the southern part of the Korean Peninsula occupied within months, with both Seoul (present-day Seoul) and Pyongyang captured.
The invasion was slowed when Admiral Yi Sun-sin destroyed the Japanese invasion fleet. The guerrilla resistance that eventually formed also helped. Local resistance slowed down the Japanese advance and decisive naval victories by Admiral Yi left control over sea routes in Korean hands, severely hampering Japanese supply lines. Furthermore, Ming China intervened on the side of the Koreans, sending a large force in 1593 which pushed back the Japanese together with the Koreans.
During the war, Koreans developed powerful firearms and the . The Joseon and Ming forces defeated the Japanese at a deep price. Following the war, relations between Korea and Japan were completely suspended until 1609.
In 1623, Gwanghaegun was deposed and replaced by Injo of Joseon (r. 1623–1649), who banished Gwanghaegun's supporters. Reverting his predecessor's foreign policy, the new king decided to openly support the Ming, but a rebellion led by military commander Yi Kwal erupted in 1624 and wrecked Joseon's military defenses in the north. Even after the rebellion had been suppressed, King Injo had to devote military forces to ensure the stability of the capital, leaving fewer soldiers to defend the northern borders.
In 1627, a Jurchen army of 30,000 led by Nurhaci's nephew Amin overran Joseon's defenses. (leader of the expedition); (number of troops). After a quick campaign that was assisted by northern yangban who had supported Gwanghaegun, the Jurchens imposed a treaty that forced Joseon to accept "brotherly relations" with the Jurchen kingdom.. Because Injo persisted in his anti-Manchu policies, Qing dynasty emperor Hong Taiji sent a punitive expedition of 120,000 men to Joseon in 1636.. Defeated, King Injo was forced to end his relations with the Ming and recognize the Qing as suzerain instead.. Injo's successor Hyojong of Joseon (r. 1649–1659) tried to form an army to keep his enemies away and conquer the Qing for revenge, but could never act on his designs.; .
Despite reestablishing economic relations by officially entering the imperial Chinese tributary system, Joseon leaders and intellectuals remained resentful of the Manchus, whom they regarded as barbarians, and regarded the Ming dynasty as the center of the civilized world. Joseon intellectuals, who had political and cultural allegiances to the Ming dynasty, were forced to reexamine their state identity when the Qing overthrew the Ming, leading to an influx of Ming into Joseon. As a result, Joseon created the Little China ideology, known as sojunghwa. According to Youngmin Kim, "It held that the Joseon embodied Chineseness authentically while other neighboring countries failed to do so in the face of the barbarian domination of the center of the civilized world." A set of standardized rites and unifying symbols were developed in Late Joseon Korea to maintain that sense of cultural identity. Long after submitting to the Qing, the Joseon court and many Korean intellectuals kept using Ming reign periods, as when a scholar marked 1861 as "the 234th year of Chongzhen"..
In 1666, during Hyeonjong's reign, Dutchman Hendrick Hamel left Korea after more than thirteen years of captivity. From 1670 to 1671, Korea endured a devastating famine brought on by cold weather and poor harvests. While the death toll remains difficult to measure, hundreds of thousands of Koreans may have died. In total, scholars estimate that the Kyŏngsin Famine and the Eulbyeong famine in the years 1695–1696 may have killed 23–33% of Korea's population. The countryside remained scarred by these calamities and population growth would remain depressed for most of the 18th century.
The co-existence system between Southerners and Westerners which was established after the Injo coup started to fall. After the Yesong debate, factional conflict grew particularly intense under the reigns of the kings Sukjong and Gyeongjong, with major rapid reversals of the ruling faction, known as hwanguk (換局; literally change in the state of affairs), being commonplace. During the early reign of Sukjong, the southerners managed to become a ruling faction and made westerners lose power. But the southerners' rise to power was temporary. Sukjong, who believed that political factions would weaken the king's power started rapid reversals of the ruling faction, which resulted in bloody killings between factions. After the three bloody hwanguk, the Southerners lost their influence in the central government, and the ruling Westerners were divided into hard-line Noron who rejected the Southerners and moderate Soron who were friendly to the Southerners. This shift resulted in political radicalism which viewed other factions as the ones that should be eliminated. In response, the next kings, Yeongjo (r. 1724–1776) and Jeongjo (r. 1776–1800), generally pursued the Tangpyeongchaek – a policy of maintaining balance and equality between the factions.
The two kings led a second renaissance of the Joseon kingdom. Yeongjo's grandson, the enlightened King Jeongjo enacted various reforms throughout his reign, notably establishing Kyujanggak, a royal library to improve the cultural and political position of Joseon and to recruit gifted officers to run the nation. King Jeongjo also spearheaded bold social initiatives, opening government positions to those who would previously have been barred because of their social status. King Jeongjo had the support of many Silhak scholars. King Jeongjo's reign also saw the further growth and development of Joseon's popular culture. At that time, the group of Silhak scholars encouraged the individual to reflect on state traditions and lifestyle, initiating the studies of Korea that addressed its history, geography, epigraphy and language.
The young Sunjo succeeded his father, King Jeongjo, in 1800. With Jeongjo's death the Noron seized power with the regency of Queen Jeongsun, whose family had strong ties to the faction, and initiated a persecution of Catholics. However, after the retirement and death of the Queen Dowager, the Norons were gradually ousted, while the Andong Kim clan of Kim Jo-sun, the father of the Queen Sunwon, gained power. Gradually the Andong Kims came to dominate the court.
With the domination of the Andong Kims, the era of Sedo Politics began. The formidable in-law lineage monopolized the vital positions in government, holding sway over the political scene, and intervening in the succession of the throne. These kings had no monarchic authority and could not rule over the government. The other aristocratic families, overwhelmed by the power exercised by the royal in-laws, could not speak out. As the power was concentrated in the hands of the royal in-law lineage, there was disorder in the governing process, and corruption became rampant. Large sums were offered in bribes to the powerful lineages to obtain positions with nominally high rank. Even the low-ranking posts were bought and sold. This period, which spanned 60 years, saw the manifestation of both severe poverty among the Korean population and ceaseless rebellions in various parts of the country.
Externally, Joseon became increasingly Isolationism. Its rulers sought to limit contact with foreign countries.
During his reign, the power and authority of the in-law families such as the Andong Kims sharply declined. To get rid of the Andong Kim and Pungyang Jo clans, he promoted persons without making references to political party or family affiliations, and to reduce the burdens of the people and solidify the basis of the nation's economy, he reformed the tax system. In 1871, U.S. and Korean forces clashed in a U.S. attempt at gunboat diplomacy following on the General Sherman incident of 1866.
In 1873, King Gojong announced his assumption of royal rule. With the subsequent retirement of Heungseon Daewongun, Queen Min (later called Empress Myeongseong) became a power in the court, placing her family in high court positions.
Japan, after the Meiji Restoration, acquired Western military technology, and forced Joseon to sign the Treaty of Ganghwa in 1876, opening three ports to trade and granting the Japanese extraterritoriality. Port Hamilton was briefly occupied by the Royal Navy in 1885.
Many Koreans despised Japanese and foreign influences over their land and the corrupt oppressive rule of the Joseon dynasty. In 1881, the Byeolgigun, a modern elite military unit, was formed with Japanese trainers. The salaries of the other soldiers were held back, and in 1882 Imo Incident attacked the Japanese officers and even forced the queen to take refuge in the countryside. In 1894, the Donghak Peasant Revolution saw farmers rise up in a mass rebellion, with peasant leader Jeon Bongjun defeating the forces of local ruler Jo Byong-gap at the battle of Jeongeup on January 11, 1894; after the battle, Jo's properties were handed out to the peasants. By May, the peasant army had reached Jeonju, and the Joseon government asked the Qing dynasty government for assistance in ending the revolt. The Qing sent 3,000 troops, and the rebels negotiated a truce, but the Japanese considered the Qing presence a threat and sent in 8,000 troops of their own, seizing the Royal Palace in Seoul and installing a pro-Japanese government on June 8, 1894. This soon escalated into a war (1894–1895) between Japan and the Qing Empire, fought largely in Korea. (The king made a deal with Japan, partially out of a distrust of the queen's support for open trade policies toward Western civilizations and China. He ended up preempting a specific disadvantageous, exclusive negotiation with Japan previous to the Queen's decision, which was later used as a political premise for Japan to wage military action. Scholars, particularly during the Joseon era, were touted for expressing allegiance to the king.)
Empress Myeongseong (referred to as Queen Min) Characteristics of Queen of Corea The New York Times November 10, 1895 had attempted to counter Japanese interference in Korea and was considering turning to the Russian Empire and to China for support. In 1895, Empress Myeongseong was assassinated by Japanese agents. The Japanese minister to Korea, Lieutenant-General Viscount Miura, almost certainly orchestrated the plot against her. A group of Japanese agents entered the palace Gyeongbokgung in Seoul, which was under Japanese control, and Queen Min was killed and her body desecrated in the north wing of the palace.
The Qing acknowledged defeat in the Treaty of Shimonoseki (April 17, 1895), which officially guaranteed Korea's independence from China. It was a step toward Japan gaining regional hegemony in Korea.
In a complicated series of maneuvers and counter-maneuvers, Japan pushed back the Russian fleet at the Battle of Port Arthur in 1904. With the conclusion of the 1904–1905 Russo-Japanese War with the Treaty of Portsmouth, the way was open for Japan to take control of Korea. After the signing of the Protectorate Treaty in 1905, Korea became a protectorate of Japan. Prince Itō was the first Resident-General of Korea, although he was assassinated by Korean independence activist An Jung-geun in 1909 at the train station in Harbin. In 1910 the Japanese Empire finally annexed Korea.
The king had absolute authority, but his actual power varied with political circumstances. He was bound by tradition, precedents set by earlier kings, Kyŏngguk taejŏn, and Confucian teachings. The king commanded absolute loyalty from his officials and subjects, but the officials were also expected to persuade the king to the right path if the latter was thought to be mistaken. Natural disasters were thought to be due to the king's failings, and therefore, Joseon kings were very sensitive to their occurrences. When there was a severe drought or a series of disasters, the king often formally sought criticism from officials and the citizenry. On those occasions, critics were immune from prosecution, regardless of what they said or wrote (although there were a few exceptions).
Direct communication between the king and the common people was possible through the sangeon () written petition system and the gyeokjaeng () oral petition system. Through the gyeokjaeng oral petition system, commoners could strike a gong or drum in front of the palace or during the king's public processions to appeal their grievances or petition the king directly. This allowed even the illiterate members of Joseon society to make a petition to the king. More than 1,300 gyeokjaeng-related accounts are recorded in the Ilseongnok.
Here, "government official" means one who occupied an office which gave its holder yangban status – hereditary nobility for three generations. To become such an official, one had to pass a series of gwageo examinations. There were three kinds of gwageo exams – literary, military, and miscellaneous. The literary route was the most prestigious. Many key posts, including all Censorate posts, were open only to officials who advanced through literary exam. The literary route involved a series of four tests. To qualify, one had to pass them all. 33 candidates who were chosen in this manner would take the final exam, before the king. The candidate with the highest score was appointed to a position of 6th junior rank (a jump of six ranks). The two candidates with the next highest scores were appointed to a position of 7th junior rank. The seven candidates with next highest scores were assigned to 8th junior rank. The remaining 23 candidates were given 9th junior rank, the lowest of 18 ranks.
The officials of 1st senior rank, 1st junior rank, and 2nd senior rank were addressed with the honorific "daegam" () while those of 2nd junior rank and 3rd senior rank were addressed with the honorific "yeonggam" ().Kyujanggak Institute for Korean Studies, "About Rank of Joseon Officials" These red-robed officials, collectively called "dangsanggwan" (), took part in deciding government policies by attending cabinet meetings. The rest of the ranked officials were called "danghagwan" ().
The officials who served in these offices tended to be younger and of lower rank compared to other offices but had a strong academic reputation and enjoyed special privileges and great prestige (for instance, censors were permitted to drink during working hours because of their function of criticizing the king). To be appointed, they went through more thorough review of character and family background. Three Offices provided the fastest route of promotion to high posts and was almost a requirement to becoming a State Councillor.
During the 1400s, the connection between Ming and Joseon was mainly pragmatic and somewhat contractual. The concept of Sadae implied a commitment to serve Ming China, and depending on the international context, the dominant state could be substituted. However, by the early 1500s, the relationship between Ming and Joseon was reinforced through a father-son dynamic, as Joseon elites began to regard the Ming emperor not just as a suzerain but also as a ritual father figure. This transformation held significant weight because, unlike the changeable loyalty to a ruler, the Confucian principle of filial piety was considered immutable and irrevocable. The lasting effect of the Ming-Joseon relationship on the Joseon elites endured well beyond the collapse of the Ming dynasty in the mid-1600s, molding the prevailing political and intellectual developments within Joseon Korea. This influence is evident in the construction of the Taebodan, the Altar of Great Gratitude, and the Mandongmyo, an Eastern Shrine dedicated to Ming emperors, within Korea. These structures, erected in 1704 within a palace courtyard and a local private academy respectively, served as tributes to the memory of selected Ming emperors, to honor the memory of specific Ming emperors.
Joseon's perceptions of the Qing dynasty were significantly influenced by Sungmyeongbancheong, which means worship of the Ming and disdain for Qing, prior to the middle of the 18th century. The Joseon dynasty was characterized by strong anti-Qing sentiments and allegiance to the Ming dynasty. According to the Veritable Records of the Joseon Dynasty, Joseon regarded the Ming Empire as its ancestral homeland and considered the Qing dynasty barbaric, maintaining loyalty to the Ming even after its collapse. Due to their adherence to the China-centric perspective called Hwai-gwan, intellectuals in Joseon held profound disdain for the Qing dynasty.
Joseon wanted to dispatch envoys as often as possible for economic and cultural interests as well as diplomatic purposes.History net "조공횟수의 문제 (The problem of the frequency of tributes)", China demanded that Joseon pay tribute only once in a three-year cycle. However, Joseon strongly opposed this measure and demanded that Joseon pay tribute to China three times a year. In response, China put pressure on them by banning envoy delegates from entering the country or demanding unreasonable tributes, but in the end Joseon, which had a theoretical advantage, got the privilege of paying tribute at least one or two times a year. Joseon enjoyed the most opportunities for tribute trade with China, and the tribute trade with China was considered as a privilege not easily granted in Asia. China had to give a higher value than the tribute it received to maintain face, and Joseon abused it. Joseon experienced numerous economic and cultural benefits through gifts from imperial China. The purpose of the tribute varied depending on the circumstances, but it was usually for economic or diplomatic gain.
At the time of the 1882 Imo Incident, the Qing dynasty had a laissez-faire policy toward Joseon; despite being a tributary state of China, Joseon was independent in its internal and external affairs, and China did not manipulate or interfere in them. After the Imo Incident, China abandoned its laissez-faire policy, signed the China–Korea Treaty of 1882, and became directly involved in the affairs of Joseon.
In October 1882, the two countries signed the China–Korea Treaty of 1882, and Korea was reduced to a semi-colonial tributary state of China with King Gojong unable to appoint diplomats without Chinese approval, and with troops stationed in the country to protect Chinese interests. China's new policy toward Joseon was set by Li Hongzhang and implemented by Yuan Shikai. According to Ming-te Lin: "Li's control of Korea from 1885 to 1894 through Yuan Shikai as resident official represented an anachronistic policy of intervention toward Korea."
Reciprocal missions were construed as a means of communication between Korean kings and Japanese shōguns of almost equal ranking. The emperors of Japan at the time were figureheads with no actual political or military power, and the actual political and military rulers of Japan that Joseon communicated with were the shoguns who were represented as Tycoon of Japan in many foreign communications to avoid the conflict with the Sinocentrism in which the emperor of China was the highest authority, and all rulers of tributary states were known as "kings".Kang, Diplomacy and Ideology, p. 206.
Joseon Korea installed a centralised administrative system controlled by civil and military officers who were collectively called yangban. By the end of the 18th century, the yangban had acquired most of the traits of a hereditary nobility except that the status was based on a unique mixture of family position, gwageo examinations for Confucian learning, and a civil service system. The family of a yangban who did not succeed in becoming a government official for the third generation lost their yangban status and became commoners. For most part, the only way to become a government official was to pass a series of gwageo exams (one had to pass the "lesser gwageo" exam () in both of two stages to qualify for the greater gwageo exam, which again one had to pass in both of two stages to become a government official). The yangban and the king, in an uneasy balance, controlled the central government and military institutions. The proportion of yangban may have reached as high as 30% by 1800, due to the later practices of transaction of yangban status to peasants, although there was considerable local variation.Oh SC (2006), Economic growth in P'yongan Province and the development of Pyongyang in the Late Choson Period. Korean Studies. 30: 3–22 As the government was small, a great many yangban were local gentry of high social status, but not always of high income.Haboush JHK (1988), A Heritage of Kings: One Man's Monarchy in the Confucian World. Columbia University Press, pp. 88–89.
Another portion of the population was slaves or Serfdom ( nobi), "low-borns" ( cheonmin) or untouchability outcastes ( baekjeong). Slavery in Korea was hereditary, as well as a form of legal punishment. The nobi were socially indistinct from freemen other than the ruling yangban class, and some possessed property rights, legal entities and civil rights. Hence, some scholars argue that it is inappropriate to call them "slaves", while some scholars describe them as Serfdom. There were both government- and privately owned nobi, and the government occasionally gave them to yangban. Privately owned nobi could be inherited as personal property. During poor harvests, many sangmin people would voluntarily become nobi to survive. The nobi population could fluctuate up to about one-third of the population, but on average the nobi made up about 10% of the total population. Joseon slaves could, and often did, own property.Haboush (1988: 88); Ch'oe et al. (2000: 158) Private slaves could buy their freedom.
Many of the remaining 40–50% of the population were surely farmers,Haboush, 1988: 89 but recent work has raised important issues about the size of other groups: merchants and traders, local government or quasi-governmental clerks ( Jungin), craftsmen and laborers, textile workers, etc.Jun SH & JB Lewis (2004), On double-entry bookkeeping in Eighteenth-century Korea: A consideration of the account books from two clan associations and a private academy. International Institute of Social History, Amsterdam, Netherlands (080626) Given the size of the population, it may be that a typical person had more than one role. Most farming was, at any rate, commercial, not subsistence.Jun et al. (2008). In addition to generating additional income, a certain amount of occupational dexterity may have been required to avoid the worst effects of an often heavy and corrupt tax system.Ch'oe et al. (2000: 73).
Gender roles tightened during the Joseon period compared to the Goryeo era. The influence of Neo-Confucianism contributed to the increasingly male-dominated society of the time. Women were expected to be silent and not socialize with men who were not their relatives. They were required to be chaste to their husbands, and widows were not allowed to remarry. Any doubt of a woman's chastity would bring dishonor to the family. To protect the family's honor, young girls would carry a small knife ( paedo), and with this they were expected to take their own lives if they were raped or even rumored to be caught in an affair. Laws were also enacted to prohibit women from riding horses or playing sports. During the Late Joseon, the Confucian ideals of propriety and "filial piety" gradually came to be equated with a strict observance of a complex social hierarchy, with many fine gradations. By the early 18th century, the social critic Yi Chung-hwan (1690–1756) sarcastically complained that "With so many different ranks and grades separating people from one another, people tend not to have a very large circle of friends."이중환, "총론" in 택리지, p. 355, quoted in translation in Choe et al. (2000: 162). But, even as Yi wrote, the informal social distinctions of the Early Joseon were being reinforced by legal discrimination, such as Sumptuary lawHaboush (1988: 78) regulation of the dress of different social groups, and laws restricting inheritance and property ownership by women.Haboush JHK (2003), Versions and subversions: Patriarchy and polygamy in Korean narratives, in D Ko, JHK Haboush & JR Piggott (eds.), Women and Confucian Cultures in Premodern China, Korea and Japan. University of California Press, pp. 279–304. Precisely because of the tenets of the Confucian Classic of Filial Piety, the adult male practice of Joseon prescribed to keep both hair and beard, in contrast to the Japanese Tokugawa period. Yet, these laws may have been announced precisely because social mobility was increasing, particularly during the prosperous century beginning about 1710.Haboush (1988: 88–89); Oh (2006) The original social hierarchy of the Joseon era was developed based on the social hierarchy of the Goryeo era. In the 14th–16th centuries, this hierarchy was strict and stable. Since economic opportunities to change status were limited, no law was needed.
In the late 17th to 19th centuries, new commercial groups emerged, and the old class system was extremely weakened. The situation was most marked in the Daegu region's Yangban class, where they were expected to reach nearly 70% in 1858.
In 1801, government-owned slaves were all emancipated, and the institution gradually died out over the next century.Ch'oe et al., 2000:7. By 1858 the nobi population stood at about 1.5 percent of the total population of Korea. The institution was completely abolished as part of a social plan in the Kabo Reform of 1894.
Seonbis lived under strict, standardized Confucianist guidelines. Although they were encouraged to participate in politics and act as advisors to the King, many seonbis lived quiet lives in secluded regions, unaffiliated with any government office. These seonbis often organized scholarly communities which often imposed a huge influence over local regions. Those who became office-holders acted as aristocrats, boasting influence over Joseon politics.
Seonbis consistently used debate as a major decision-making method. Seonbis expressed their views on problems to be solved in front of the king and discussed the wrongdoings of the other faction's argument. These political clashes often led to violence, such as the Korean literati purges.
Seonbis also participated in righteous armies during times of war, as archery was taught as a liberal arts subject for seonbis. Seonbis such as Kwak Chaeu, Ko Kyŏngmyŏng, and Cho Hŏn led armies in battle. As seonbis also acted as village leaders, they often united local peasants and led armies into war.
Noble Korean women during this time were suppressed, along with shamans, in the 15th century because of Neo-Confucianist social norms when they previously led some of the least restricted lives out of anyone in Asia.
Chima was full-skirted and jeogori was short and tight in the late Joseon period. Fullness in the skirt was emphasized round the hips. Many undergarments were worn underneath chima such as darisokgot, soksokgot, dansokgot, and gojengi to achieve a desired silhouette. Because jeogori was so short it became natural to expose heoritti or heorimari which functioned like a corset. The white linen cloth exposed under the jeogori in the picture is heoritti. The upper classes wore hanbok of closely woven ramie cloth or other high-grade lightweight materials in warm weather and of plain and patterned silks the rest of the year. Commoners were restricted by law as well as resources to cotton at best. The upper classes wore a variety of colors, though bright colors were generally worn by children and girls and subdued colors by middle-aged men and women. Commoners were restricted by law to everyday clothes of white, but for special occasions they wore dull shades of pale pink, light green, gray, and charcoal. Formally, when Korean men went outdoors, they were required to wear overcoats known as durumagi which reach the knees.
Ceramic art are a form of popular art during the Joseon period. Examples of ceramics include white porcelain or white porcelain decorated with cobalt, copper red underglaze, blue underglaze and iron underglaze. Ceramics from the Joseon period differ from other periods because artists felt that each piece of art deserved its own uniquely cultivated personality.
Beginning in the 10th century, white porcelain has been crafted in Korea. Historically overshadowed by the popularity of celadon, it was not until the 15th and 16th centuries that white porcelain, also known as baekje, was recognized for its artistic value. Among the most prized of Korean ceramics are large white jars. Their shape is symbolic of the moon and their color is associated with the ideals of purity and modesty of Confucianism. During this period, the bureau that oversaw the meals and court banquets of the royal family strictly controlled the production of white porcelain.
Blue and white porcelain artifacts decorating white porcelain with paintings and designs in underglaze by using natural cobalt pigment are another example of popular wares of the Joseon period. Many of these items were created by court painters employed by the royal family. During this period, the popular style of landscape paintings is mirrored in the decoration of ceramics. Initially developed by the Chinese at the Jingdezhen kilns in the mid-14th century, Joseon began to produce this type of porcelain from the 15th century under Chinese influence. The first cobalt imported from China was used by Korean artists. In 1463 when sources of cobalt were discovered in Korea, artists and their buyers found the material was inferior in quality and preferred the more expensive imported cobalt. Korean porcelain with imported cobalt decoration contradict the emphasis of an orderly, frugal and moderate life in Neo-Confucianism.
Strikingly different from cobalt, porcelain items with a copper-red underglaze are the most difficult to successfully craft. During production, these items require great skill and attention or will turn gray during the process of firing. While the birthplace of ceramics with copper red underglaze is widely disputed, these items originated during 12th century in Korea and became increasingly popular during the second half of the Joseon period. Some experts have pointed to the kilns of Bunwon-ri in Gwangju, a city that played a significant role in the production of ceramics during the Joseon period, as a possible birthplace.
Porcelain was also decorated with iron. These items commonly consisted of jars or other utilitarian pieces.
The middle and upper classes of Joseon society were proficient in Classical Chinese. The Joseon official records (such as the Veritable Records of the Joseon Dynasty and Seungjeongwon ilgi) and the written works of the Yangban literati were written in Classical Chinese.
Newspapers like the Hwangsŏng sinmun toward the end of the period were written in the Korean language using the Korean mixed script.
One example of this is a famous Joseon scholar official Park Se-dang (박세당, 朴世堂, 1629–1703). He argues against Buddhism with the following, "People say that Han Yu and Ouyang Xiu have harshly criticized Buddhism and therefore have only discussed what is aberrant and have not fully investigated what is profound. People say, their understanding is lacking and they have not fully examined it its. I, myself, don't think that is the case… The heresies under heaven, they are also rather foul. Among them, Buddhism is the worst. If a person is inclined to Buddhism, then he is of the kind that pursues what is foul. Is it not clear that there is nothing further to discuss? It is like Mencius who also criticized Yang Zhu and Mozi. Surely, he did not argue further than to say Yang Zhu and Mozi did not respect their fathers and their emperors." He wrote a poem:
| 久離塵俗萬緣虛 | For long, I have left the mundane world whose innumerable conditions are empty; |
| 只愛游方不戀居 | I have but travelled here and there, finding no enjoyment in settled life. |
| 明日又浮滄海去 | Tomorrow once again I leave for Changhae; |
| 沃州寥落舊精廬 | The old, pure and simple hut of Okju province looks lonely. |
Buddhism was a part of the Joseon kingdom. While not supported publicly, privately it was very prevalent in Confucian-scholar officials. Many monarchs and members of the royal court also practiced or tolerated Buddhism among their family and court advisors and commissioned or were patrons of Buddhist art. issuu.com
Pope Gregory XVI established an Apostolic Vicariate for the Kingdom of Korea on September 8, 1831, to provide for the spiritual care of Catholic Church in the kingdom and separating Korea from the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Beijing.Pope Gregory XVI, Breve Ex debito pastoralis, in Italian, published on September 9, 1831, retrieved August 24, 2024.
| + | 어인
WhyCOP.ATTR | 벌리완대
insect-ceaselessly | 낙락장송(落落長松)
tall and full pine tree | 다 먹는고
all eatQ |
| 부리 긴
beak longATTR | 져고리는
woodpeckerTOP | 어느 곳에
which placeLOC | 가 있는고
go existQ | |
| 空山에
deserted mountainLOC | 落木聲 들릴제
sound of a tree falling audible FUT.ATTR | 내 안 들데
cause NEG actively AUX experienced | 업세라
not existEMP |
Where is the long-billed woodpecker? Why is he not here?
When I hear the sound of falling trees, I cannot contain myself for sorrow.
Here, like other Korean musical forms, each foot can stand on its own. As sijo were sung in Korean, the pioneering of Hangul created the possibility for sijo to be written down without the use of substitutions such as Idu script. The first copy of sijo is of the 'Twelve Songs of Dosan
Kim Cheontaek
Pansori () is another musical form that combines singing and prose to portray a story. Its development likely originates from shaman rituals and the songs within the Jeolla Province. It became a full-fledged musical form by the middle of the eighteenth century, and not long thereafter the yangban aristocracy also became interested in it. Originally there was a set of twelve stories that were sung, but only five were written down, and hence those five are the only ones sung today. Having been developed by commoners, p'ansori usually reflected their attitudes and aspirations, but by becoming popular with the yangban, p'ansori shifted somewhat toward yangban sensibilities and restrictions. P'ansori had a strong influence of the writing of the time, both because of the p'ansori novel (each based on one of the twelve stories) and by increasing the realism of the classical novel.
Some of his inventions were an automated (self-striking) water clock (the Jagyeokru) which worked by activating motions of wooden figures to indicate time visually (invented in 1434 by Chang), a subsequent more complicated water-clock with additional astronomical devices, and an improved model of the previous metal movable printing type created in the Goryeo period. The new model was of even higher quality and was twice as fast. Other inventions were the sight glass, and the Rain gauge.
The highpoint of Korean astronomy was during the Joseon period, where men such as Chang created devices such as celestial globes which indicated the positions of the sun, moon, and the stars. Later celestial globes (Kyup'yo, 규표) were attuned to the seasonal variations.
The apex of astronomical and calendarial advances under King Sejong was the Chiljeongsan, which compiled computations of the courses of the seven heavenly objects (five visible planets, the sun, and moon), developed in 1442. This work made it possible for scientists to calculate and accurately predict all the major heavenly phenomena, such as solar eclipses and other stellar movements. Honcheonsigye is an astronomical clock created by Song I-yeong in 1669. The clock has an armillary sphere with a diameter of 40 cm. The sphere is activated by a working clock mechanism, showing the position of celestial objects at any given time.
Gangnido, a Korean-made map of the world was created in 1402 by , , and . The map was created in the second year of the reign of Taejong of Joseon. The map was made by combining Chinese, Korean and Japanese maps.
16th-century court physician, Heo Jun wrote a number of medical texts, his most significant achievement being Dongui Bogam, which is often noted as the defining text of Traditional Korean medicine. The work spread to China and Japan, where it is still regarded as one of the classics of Oriental medicine today.
The first soft Bulletproof vest, Myunjebaegab, was invented in Joseon Korea in the 1860s shortly after the French campaign against Korea. Heungseon Daewongun ordered development of bulletproof armor because of increasing threats from Western armies. Kim Gi-du and Gang Yun found that cotton could protect against bullets if thick enough, and devised bullet-proof vests made of 30 layers of cotton. The vests were used in battle during the United States expedition to Korea (1871), when the US Navy attacked Ganghwa Island in 1871. The US Army captured one of the vests and took it to the US, where it was stored at the Smithsonian Museum until 2007. The vest has since been sent back to Korea and is currently on display to the public.
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