Chosn Kingdom in the Korean History - Essay Example

Korean history Question 2 The Chosŏn kingdom had a navy that was formed for the main purpose of making sure that maritime trade was safe from the Wokou pirates. In the history, the country had been frequently been attacked by pirates on both sea and land. At the time that the Japanese attacked the Chosŏn kingdom was unprepared for a number of reasons. The reasons are that: the factional court at Chosŏn kingdom was divided; they were unable to assess the extent of the abilities of the Japanese army; and failure of diplomacy attempts. Chosŏn’s first reaction to the attack by Japan was to create a Border Defense Council that was known as Pibyonsa, which comprised of both military and civil officers. Admiral Yi Sun-shin successfully destroyed the Japanese invasion fleet the invasion thus slowing down the invasion. The kingdom also formed guerrilla armies that were effective in reducing the effect of the Japanese invasion. Admiral Yi Sun-shin’s success made sure that the kingdom still had control over sea routes. This enabled them to hamper the supply lines of the Japanese troops. In 1593, the troops that were sent by Ming China, were led by General Yi Sun-Shin and were effective in pushing back the Japanese troops. During this period, the kingdom was able to produce the Geobukseon ships and powerful firearms that were helped in their resistance against the Japanese invasion. Ching emperor led an expedition of 120,000 men in the year 1636.When King Injo heard about the invasion he panicked and fled to Ganghwa Island. Due to Huang Taiji’s fear for his own territory they offered the Chosŏn kingdom a peace deal which the readily accepted. However, even after the peace deal Chosŏn continued to defy Manchu. This time round they blocked the king’s escape route though the king still fled to the Namhansan fortress. The Korean army was unable to respond to the invasion due to the scarcity of food and immunizations. The kingdom attempted severally to break the siege for other regions but was unsuccessful. The charges made from within the fortress were also unsuccessful. The state of desperation eventually led to the submission of the kingdom with Kwanghaegun opting for developing a good relationship between them and the Manchu. The submission marked by the king handing over three of his pro-war official to the invaders and agreeing to their terms of peace deal. By the time the western encroachment was coming through there are a number of things that were different in terms of Korean defense forces. Taewon’gun had repaired the country’s fortification with more gun emplacements and cannons being built. One of the ways through which they were able to deal with the foreign warships is launching counter attacks even before they attempted landing. This strategy was effective in driving away many warships. After this breakthrough over American and French troops Taewon’gun resolved to more exclusion with the introduction of policies that eliminated all the ties that the country had with western nations. Unlike the attacks by Japan and the Manchu, the kingdom seemed to be much prepared for the western encroachment which made it easier for them to drive away the attackers even before they launched their attack. Question 3 Chosŏn Kingdom’s taxation problems revolved around the issue of land ownership. Lands were initially supposed to be owned by the government. However, influential clans and individuals were able to large proportions of farmlands. However, peasants were not pleased by the fact that the so called landlords were demanding for a very large proportion of their harvests in the name of rent. The influential clans and individuals were also able to illegal remove their farms from tax rolls. This was very strenuous to the government since they had to do with less revenue. Looking at these facts it will be easily notable that the main thing that led to the need for continuous tax reforms was the fact that the kingdom had corrupt official who could collude with influential clans and individuals to exclude their farms from the tax rolls. There was also the introduction of two bolts and cloths per year as a result of the new Five Army Garrisons. At some point there was an increase in subordinate agents of tax collection who demanded for excessively high taxes. The peasant farmers were the most affected. This led to the introduction of Uniform Land Tax Law (daedongpop) which was helpful to the peasants and the government because tax rates were standardized, and all males even monks were expected to pay taxes. Another reform that brought change to the kingdom’s tax system is the creation of Hojo, which was the Board of Taxation. This board was given the responsibility of making sure that every land owner within the territories paid taxes to the government and amending all the loopholes that led to tax evasion in the system. He reforms also made sure that even the powerful influential clans and individuals paid taxes for their vast land ownership. The reforms also ensured that any government official that was discovered to have been involved in tax evasion in any way would be relieved of their official duties. This was aimed at making sure that the government would reduce the number of corrupt officials within the tax system and thus reduce the possibility of there being loss of revenue as a result of collusion with corrupt officials. The tax reforms can be said to have been good because they were effective in reducing the rate at which the government was losing revenue. Tax reforms part of efforts to ease peasants burden. This is backed by the fact that there was a 100% increase in revenue collected as a result of the introduction of these reforms. It should not also be taken for granted that the reforms were helpful in reducing corrupt deeds, not only within the tax system by in the whole government structure. The reforms also proved to be important in making taxation and economy more efficient thus encouraging commercial activities. All these developments are believed to have contributed to the stability of the kingdom and strength of the government during the period that followed the introduction of the reforms. Question 4 Northern learning is the term that was used in reference to the introduction of moth western and Chinese methods in the Korean education system. This is a system that was aimed at making sure that the education system in Korea adopted a much practical approach through involving technologies and techniques that were used in both China and the Western countries. This system also encouraged sending of some students to china. The system also advocated for keeping of Chinese and western ship wrecks with the main aim of learning technologic aspects used in these places. Apart from adaptation of the foreign the system also proposed that missionaries from the west be invited to Korea with the main aim of teaching western technologies to the local scholars. The most ironical thing about the invitation of missionaries is that they were to be prohibited from being involved in evangelistic activities. It also proposed for agriculture based utopia. The main reason as to why most scholars advocated for northern education is the fact that they had seen the kind of development and stability that the kind of education used in China had brought in the country. Pak chiwon believed that by adopting techniques and technologies they will be able to make their education system become more practical thus enhancing industrialization. This meant that Korea would be able to have an education system that will be beneficial in improving their technological and technical abilities. This system was also advocated for in order to take the country’s education level to that of their neighbors especially China. Some of the supporters such as Yu Hyongwon believed that it was the only way through which official Confucian ideology could be revised to accommodate science for socioeconomic advancements. The main objection of northern learning was because it would lead to unnecessary loyalty with Ming China. One of the issues that were highly criticized was the practicability of bringing missionaries into territories then not allowing them to involve themselves in any kind of evangelistic activities. Other people also said that if northern education was adopted then the Korean education system will lose its identity with most of their characteristics being replaced with the foreign ones. Unlike the traditional education system that prepared students to be of service to the government, the northern education system aimed at producing people who could be of service to the kingdom in many ways apart from serving the government. This implies that under the northern education students did not have to put their entire focus on passing the national examinations which were also known as gwageo. Through northern education students could be able to focus of the various fields that would be of benefit to the social, technical, and economic advancement of the kingdom. Learning from other countries whose education had proved to be practically influential in enhancing their social, technical, and economic status was one way through which the kingdom could make sure that they make their education about more than just being of service to the government. Question 5 The Hong Kyongnae uprising refers to an uprising by peasant farmers in the northern part of Korea in 1812. The rebellion was led by Hong Gyeong-nae who had previously been acourt official. The rebellion was able to gain complete control of the northwest part of the country. They were also able to seize the castle of Jeongju which was at that time highly fortified. The rebels began by capturing and killing provincial officers that were hated by the local communities. They also participated in the disruption of stockpiled harvest grains. At some point the momentum got so high that forces from multiple districts had to join hands in order to counter the influence of the rebellion. The rebellion was even able to defeat multiple forces that were sent to the region from Seoul. At the peak of the rebellion they had taken complete control of the land that was in the northern side of Cheongcheon River. It took the intervention of a large force coming from Joseon army to bring an end to the rebellion. Having seen that they could not defeatthe large force coming from Joseon the rebels killed themselves by blowing themselves up using gunpowder. Those who did not kill themselves were either executed or sold to slavery. Hong Gyeong-nae is believed to have been A fallen yangban from Pyongan province, whose main motivation of leading the rebellion was the frustration after being unable to pass the civil examinations .The rebels were responding to high rate of taxation which they found to be oppressive to them. The high taxation was a result of a tax regime that was perpetuated by bureaucrats who were appointed by the government at Seoul. The rebellion was also motivated by frustration that had brewed from Disarray in 3 administrations that led to increase in corruption within the kingdom. They were also opposed to forced labor, which was a common practice of that time. The leaders of the rebellion gained support of the local people by reminding them that the taxation and forced labor problem was basically brought by the fact that the leaders did not care about their woes. They mainly used the famine that was facing the region at that particular time as a reason as to why the government’s taxation regime should not have applied to their region. Given the fact that they were able to avail firearms, they were able to convince the local communities that they will be able to force the government into revising the taxation regime. At that time everyone was desperate for a solution as they knew that whatever they were getting from the farms could not be enough for them if they kept giving the large amounts of grains as tax. Work cited Yi, Ki-baek. A New History of Korea. Cambridge, Mass: Published for the Harvard-Yenching Institute by Harvard University Press, 1984. Print. Read More