Confucian Influence to Korean Society: Social Structures and Women's Status in Yi Dynasty - Coursework Example

[Name of writer appears here] [Course name appears here] [Professor’s name appears here] [Date appears here] Confucian Influence to Korean Society: Social Structures and Women's Status in Yi Dynasty Introduction The beginning of Confucian notion as part of the cultural exchange from China is one of the most significant influences in Korean intellectual history. Thus the ideology that undergirded Korea's relations with Ming China was Neo-Confucianism, which arose in Sung China during the eleventh and twelfth centuries. It started as a result of attempts to cause the ideological unification of China in the face of "barbarian" assaults on Chinese civilization. In response to the metaphysical challenges posed by Buddhism and Taoism, Neo-Confucian thinkers borrowed heavily from ch'an, T'ien-t'ai, and Hua-yen Buddhism. They were indebted also to Taoism for such elements as Tao, T'a-chi, and wu. Supported by an ontology and a cosmogony that drew on the rival systems of thought, the new Confucianism reconfirmed traditional Confucian emphasis on human beings, society, and the world as an interrelated whole. Having become the governors of China, except Southern Sung, the Mongols proclaimed the Yüan dynasty in 1271. Thus it was that Neo-Confucianism became the established teaching in Mongol China during the thirteenth century. The Mongols did not limit their conquests to North China but continued to advance upon Korea. In 1270 the Koryŏ dynasty (918-1392) capitulated to the Mongols. Thenceforth, steady stream of Korean scholars who visited Beijing, the hub of the Yüan Empire and of civilized life, contacted Neo-Confucianism. The Neo-Confucianism thus introduced to Korea contained refreshingly new teachings concerning human beings and society. The early development of Confucianism in Korea remains obscure. We know, however, that Korean literati had met the Confucian classics as early as the period between the third and fourth centuries, when they adopted writing. Yet until the middle of the thirteenth century, Confucianism was no match for Buddhism, Taoism, and popular shamanistic beliefs. Thus the inheritance of Confucianism remains an essential part of Korean society, shaping the ethical system, the lifestyle, social relations between old and young, high culture, as well as is the foundation for much of the lawful system. Confucianism in Korea is sometimes measured a realistic way of holding a nation together without the civil wars and internal rebel that was innate from the Goryeo dynasty, and before. 1 Confucian Influence to Korean Society Many observers of the Korean scene have commented on the persistence of Confucian attitudes in the Republic of Korea. Indeed, it has become something of a convention to attribute salient features of contemporary Korean society such as the rapid industrial development of recent decades to the enduring values of Confucianism. These observers typically cite as an example the Korean zeal for education. To be sure, in premodern Korea mastery of the Confucian classics constituted, at least for the sons of yangban families, the path to prestige and power and in twentieth-century Korea college education has been widely regarded as the avenue to success. The Confucian heritage is undoubtedly a main contributor to the modern Korean enthusiasm for education, but we must keep in mind that the importance attached to education is one area where the traditions of Confucianism and the needs of a modernizing society coincide. It was not only natural but perhaps even inevitable that Koreans would transfer their traditional respect for learning to the task of mastering new technologies from the West. The continuing respect for education notwithstanding, we must not forget that many traditional Korean Confucian ideas and attitudes that do not suit the needs of modernization have been overwhelmingly rejected by modern Koreans, including such concepts as monarchical government, subservience to China, anticommercialism, and antiChristianity. The personal virtues of sincerity sŏngŭi, humility ( kyŏmson ), frugality ( kŏmso ), and self-restrad younger, trust ( sin ) between friends, and even righteousness ( ŭi ) between a ruler and his ministers, still inform the basic human relationships of Korean society. Political Use of Confucian Social Ethics Korea has a long tradition of official inculcation of Confucian values for political purposes. Such efforts can be seen at least as far back as the early Koryŏ dynasty, when a weak throne strove to ensure loyalty among its officials by stressing the virtues of loyalty and filiality. Widespread Korean enthusiasm for Confucian social values, however, did not begin to build until after the introduction of NeoConfucianism in the late thirteenth century. There is considerable evidence to suggest that the late Koryŏ-early Chosŏn yangban enthusiasm for Neo-Confacianism was due in large measure to the way in which the three bonds and five relations model of family and social relations justified an emerging patriarchal system and the way in which the Confucian emphasis on lineage helped to perpetuate the yangban as an aristocracy. It seems very likely that the Chosŏn-dynasty yangban used the Confucian model of social relations as much for its practical utility in ensuring their domination of society as they prized it for its innate beauty. The history of Confucian social values in modern Korea shows similar tendencies. The inculcation of Confucian social ethics for the purpose of strengthening political control over the Korean people has been a feature of both the Park and Chun regimes as well as of the Japanese government-general of pre-1945 Korea. Confucian Social Values and the Establishment One goal that has clearly been in the Korean government's mind has been the promotion of the national, or public, interest. Loyalty, according to Park Keun-hae, "is an attitude of mind which places society and the nation above the self." Nonetheless, there is, as noted by Park Yong-sin, a strong tendency in the traditional Korean system of values to place particularistic, familial interests ahead of the interest of community or society as a whole. This tendency is not, however, the reflection of something uniquely Korean. There is an enduring tension in Confucianism between the public ( kong ) good and private ( sa ) interest. Whereas such values as loyalty promote the public good, such values as filial piety and the general Confucian emphasis on the family lead to a mind-set that places the family above all else, including the state. In Korea, the trend has been for Confucian thinkers to resolve this conflict in favor of the family, as in the case of Yi Kok, who argued in the fourteenth century that ultimately filial piety takes precedence over loyalty to the ruler. Thus, with regard to promoting the interests of the nation as a whole, the inculcation of Confucian social ethics must be seen as a two-edged sword. 2 Another goal of the Korean government has been the promotion of amicable labor-management relations. Park Keun-hae noted that the concept of employer and employee forming one family was a key theme of the New Village Movement and went on to say, "This is just an application of ch'ung (loyalty). If an industrialist goes about his duties with sincerity, he is bound to treat his employees with love and consideration, just as if they were members of his family. The conscientious employee regards the factory as his home and devotes himself heart and soul to his work. This, then, is the ideal relation between employers and employee." The failure of this effort to create harmonious patriarchal relations in industry has become painfully obvious since 1987. There has been a high degree of labor unrest in Korea, marked by strong labor hostility toward management. Not only have workers gone on wildcat strikes and taken managers hostage, they have even expressed their hatred for ownership by painting on the walls of business owners' residences graffiti saying such things as "evil enterprise owner" (aktŏk kiŏpchu ). There have also been, as a consequence of Korea's rapid economic development, some significant changes occurring in the status of women. As few as fifteen years ago, Korean society enforced strict rules against work outside the home for married women. The exception was women of the lowest socioeconomic strata, who engaged in economic activities in spheres outside the control of the establishment. Today many married women hold jobs outside the home, often rising to positions of some prestige and authority in some of the less tradition-bound industries. This mixing of women and men in the workplace is a clear contradiction of the Confucian value of separation. A recent study of working women in Japan found that a surprisingly high sixty percent of married women between the ages of thirty-five and fifty-four now work outside the home, but that they are still expected to fulfill all the traditional roles of wife and mother. This study noted that Japanese women have been socialized to accept this burden without rebelling against the inequities. It seems possible that working wives in Korea may, given the similar Confucian base family ethics of Korea and Japan, follow the example of their Japanese counterparts. 3 On the other hand, whereas lower-class Korean women have long labored under the dual burdens of contributing to the family income while fulfilling the duties of wife and mother, it is only in recent years that educated, articulate women of middle-class backgrounds have to shoulder the dual burden of wage earner and homemaker. It may be only a matter of time before these middle-class women begin to question the costs of honoring the Confucian value of separation, both as it is applied to duties in the home and as it may be used to limit their advancement in the workplace. Whether it is a consequence of women's unhappiness with the inequality of family life or of a growing self-confidence and a greater ability to support them economically is not clear, but it is certain that the divorce rate is up in Korea. According to the 1983 Korean Statistical Annual (Hanguk t'onggye yŏnbo), the divorce rate in Seoul increased nearly forty percent between 1976 and 1981 and this occurred despite continuing officially sponsored inculcation of Confucian family values during those years. It is clear that Confucian social values have limits to their applicability in contemporary Korean society. Those persons in the government who see in Confucian ethics a way to promote national unity and to avoid the social problems experienced by other industrialized societies must ask themselves if Confucian social values will really prove effective in achieving those goals. Members of the establishment who wish to emphasize traditional Confucian social and family ethics as part of the Korean national identity must ask themselves if the burdens and sacrifices Confucian ethics impose on working-class people and women are worth the benefits Korea as a nation will derive from maintaining a Chosŏn-dynasty tradition that is as much Chinese as Korean.4 Reference: 1. Wm. Theodore de Bary and JaHyun Kim Haboush, 1985. The Rise of Neo-Confucianism in Korea. New York, NY, Columbia University Press 2. Liu Shu-Hsien, 2003. Confucianism as World Philosophy: A Response to Neville's Boston Confucianism from a Neo-Confucian Perspective Journal article; Journal of Ecumenical Studies, Vol. 40 3. Carsun Chang, 1957. The Development of Neo-Confucian Thought; Bookman Associates 4. James Welsh McMullen, 1999. Idealism, Protest, and the Tale of Genji: The Confucianism of Kumazawa Banzan (1619-91); Oxford University 5. Kai-Wing Chow, 1994. The Rise of Confucian Ritualism in Late Imperial China: Ethics, Classics, and Lineage Discourse; Stanford University 6. Daniel L. Overmyer, 2000. THE PHILOSOPHY OF WU CH'ENG: A Neo-Confucian of the Yuan Dynasty Journal article; Pacific Affairs, Vol. 73 7. Jonathan Frerichs, 1998. Behind the Curtain: The North Korean Famine Magazine article; The Christian Century, Vol. 115, February 25 Read More