feudalism and modernization
2021-07-01
Category:The Joseon dynasty I'm participating in the ranking.Please click and cheer for me.
The Industrial Revolution cannot succeed in the Joseon Dynasty.The existence of proletariat is indispensable for the Industrial Revolution.The goal of defeating the Edo Shogunate, which was a closed-door policy, was not only to open the country, but also to break away from the feudal system and destroy the shogunate system.In other words, as long as people are in feudalism and are bound by land, they cannot secure a fluid labor force.Even in new industrial development, necessary human resources cannot be gathered where they are needed.
In this sense, if you look at the Korean Peninsula at that time, it is not feudalism but servitude, which is from the Middle Ages.In fact, it is said that things that developed in the Middle Ages did not develop and were in a pre-medieval state.Thus the servant was bound not only by the land, but also by his master, and had no freedom.Was it possible to get workers for Industlial Revolusion?
In order to modernize, it is essential to destroy the traditional feudal social system.The Meiji Restoration was the same, and the １９１１ Revolution aimed to break away from the Qing dynasty.For this reason, Kim Ok-kyun's way of thinking is correct.Only when the Joseon dynasty is overthrown can social reform be carried out, and the road to modernization begins there.
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The concept of national boundaries became clear after the Sino - Japanese War, an area where the Korean people spread across northeastern China.
Korean people distributed over a wide area
Liaodong Peninsula is subject to triple intervention
The north was not suitable for agriculture
Koreans who wanted a Japanese name
Manchukuo aimed at five-family harmony
Agreed between the Japanese and Korean governments
The Korean people (Korean language group) are scattered in China's Jilin, Heilongjiang, and Liaoning provinces. The reason is simple: Historically, Koreans lived in this area. It was an area outside the Great Wall of China, and there was no concept of strict borders at the time. It is still fresh in my memory that Koreans, an ethnic minority in China, performed at the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics wearing chimajeogori.
During the Goguryeo period, the Korean ethnic group lived as far as the Liaodong Peninsula. At the time of the Sino-Japanese War, Japan claimed possession of the Liaodong Peninsula. This idea was based on the idea that the Liaodong Peninsula was Korean territory and had strategic implications for China, but this was abolished due to trilateral intervention by France, Germany, and Russia, who felt threatened by the fact that it was too close to Beijing. I decided to abandon it.
It can be said that this was the first time that the concept of Korean territory and borders was created. During the Japanese colonial period, northern Korea was unsuitable for agriculture and was developed mainly for industry. Southern Korea is mainly agricultural.
Farmers from the north migrated to Manchuria in search of farmland. Manchuria received plenty of rain and was better suited for agriculture than northern Korea. The Manchurians were the landowners in this area, and many troubles occurred frequently.
Therefore, Koreans in the north wanted Japanese names very much. This is because if you use your Japanese name, you won't be bullied by Manchurians.
After that, the state of Manchukuo was established after the Liuzhou Lake Incident. The founding principle of Manchukuo was the harmony of the five ethnic groups: Japanese, Han, Korean, Manchurian, and Mongolian.
As a result, Koreans were safe from persecution and their agricultural land was greatly expanded. If you compare the residential areas of Manchukuo and the Korean people, you will find that they are roughly the same.
The Korean Peninsula seen from Charles Darré's ``The Korean Situation'' The Joseon Dynasty of the Yi Dynasty, when culture was undeveloped.
This is an excerpt from Charles Darré's ``Korean Affairs,'' a compilation of the correspondence of French missionaries.
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Roads and transportation are severely lacking in this mountainous country, which prevents large-scale cultivation. People only cultivate what is nearby, such as around their homes. Furthermore, there are almost no large villages, and the people in the countryside are scattered in three or four, or at most twelve or three, clusters. The annual harvest barely meets the needs of the population, and famine is common in Korea.
Although the treaty concluded in 1637 did not increase the actual conditions of Korea's servitude to the Qing, it formally made it a more humiliating relationship than before. The king of Korea had to not only recognize the right of investiture to the Emperor of Qing, but also the direct authority of his status, that is, the relationship of master and servant.
Seoul is a populous metropolis surrounded by mountains, along the banks of the Han River, and surrounded by tall, thick walls, but there is nothing of note in its architecture. With the exception of a few fairly wide roads, there are only winding alleys in which there is no airflow and the only thing that gets on your feet is garbage. Houses are usually covered with tiles, but are low and narrow.
Offices are openly bought and sold, and those who buy them naturally seek to recoup their costs, without even bothering to appear in order to do so. From the provincial governor to the lowest petty official, each official uses tax collection, litigation, and all other opportunities to raise money. Even the king's messengers abuse their privileges with extreme shame.
Academics in Korea are not ethnic at all. The books they read are Chinese, the language they learn is Chinese rather than Korean, and when it comes to history, they study Chinese history rather than Korean history, and the philosophical systems espoused by academics are Chinese. Since manuscripts are always inferior to originals, it is a natural consequence that Korean scholars are considerably inferior to Chinese scholars.
Setting aside the past, it is certain that today's public examinations are extremely corrupt. Today, degrees and licenses are not awarded to the most learned and most capable people, but to those with the most money or the most powerful guardians. .
The Korean aristocracy is the most powerful and most arrogant in the world. In other countries, monarchs, judicial officials, and various organizations keep the aristocracy within their proper limits and maintain a balance of power, but in Korea, there is a large population of yangban, and there are internal conflicts between them. Nevertheless, they know how to band together to preserve and extend their class privileges, and no citizen, government official, or even the king can challenge their power.
In Korea, as in other Asian countries, the customs are extremely corrupt, and the inevitable result is that the general status of women is unpleasantly wretched and low. Women are not seen as companions for men, but merely as slaves, playthings, or labor.
Koreans are generally stubborn, difficult, angry, and vindictive. This is due to uncivilization. There is no moral education among pagans, and even among Christians it takes time for education to bear fruit. Children grow up with little punishment, and when they grow up, both men and women are capable of endless outbursts of unparalleled anger.
Strangely enough, however, the armies are generally very weak, and if they see any serious danger, they will only give up their weapons and flee to the four directions. Perhaps it is due to lack of training or organizational deficiencies. The missionaries are convinced that if only they had competent generals, the Koreans would make a great army.
Koreans have an eye for making money. Use any means to make money. They know little about the moral laws that protect property and prevent theft, much less obey them. They are generally greedy and wasteful, and when they have money they spend it to the fullest.
Koreans are gluttons. In this respect, there is no difference between the rich, the poor, the yangban, and the ordinary people. It is an honor to eat a lot, and the value of the food served to the diners is measured not in its quality but in its quantity. Therefore, we hardly talk during meals. For if you say a word or two, you will lose a mouthful or two of food. They are raised with care from an early age to ensure their bellies have firm elasticity. Mothers hold their young children in their laps and feed them rice and other nutrients, occasionally tapping their bellies with the handle of a spoon to see if their bellies have swelled enough. Stop feeding when it becomes physiologically impossible for the baby to expand further.
Clothes are supposed to be white, but it takes a lot of effort to keep them clean, so they are often discolored due to the thick grime. Dirtyness is a major flaw among Koreans, and even the wealthy often wear clothes that are moth-stained and torn.
Koreans have made little progress in the field of scientific research, but they are still far behind in industrial knowledge. No useful technology has advanced in this country for centuries.
One of the major obstacles to the development of commerce is the imperfect monetary system. There are no gold or silver coins. Selling these metals in bulk is prohibited by many detailed regulations. For example, Chinese silver cannot be minted into the same bars as Korean silver and sold. He would definitely be found out, the silver bars would be confiscated, and the merchant would be heavily fined and possibly caned. The only legal currency in circulation is copper coins.
Another obstacle to commercial transactions is the deplorable condition of transportation routes. There are very few navigable rivers, and only a few allow ships to pass through, and even then, navigation is allowed only in very restricted areas. Although this country has many mountains and canyons, there is little known technology for building roads. Therefore, almost all transportation is done on the backs of oxen, horses, or people.
But the Government scrupulously adheres to this isolationism, which it believes to be necessary for its preservation, and is unwilling to abandon it on any interest or humanitarian consideration. In 1871 and 1872, a shocking famine struck Korea, and the country was devastated. It was so bad that some people on the West Coast sold their daughters to Chinese smugglers for one sho of rice each.
Some Koreans who crossed the forests of the northern border and reached Liaodong drew a diagram of the country's brutal state and showed it to the missionaries, complaining that ``bodies were lying on every road.'' But even then, the Korean government chose to let half of its population die rather than allow food purchases from China and Japan.
This hurdle will eventually be overcome by the Russians, who are increasingly invading the northeastern parts of Asia. From 1860 onwards, their territory bordered Russia, and various difficult problems arose between these two countries regarding border and trade issues. These problems will undoubtedly continue to occur, and one day Korea will be annexed to Russia.
One of the books written by a foreigner about the Joseon Dynasty is Isabella Bird's ``Travel to Joseon'', but the content is very similar.
The history of China and the peninsula was continuously invaded by northern peoples. The peninsula ultimately failed to maintain its independence.
Due to its geographic characteristics as a peninsula, the Korean Peninsula has a topography that is completely covered by mainland China. For this reason, it has a history that cannot be separated from China. What exactly is this victim mentality and hostility toward Japan that many Koreans have? The historical differences between China and Japan seen from South Korea appear to be largely due to geopolitical reasons when viewed from a map, but there are probably other reasons as well.
Let's think about this in terms of the historical dominant and ruled ethnic groups on the continent. Legend has it that there was a country called Dangun Joseon and Minojo Joseon on the Korean Peninsula. Archaeologically, it is said to have existed since the later Ei Dynasty. The legendary Mino Korea is said to have been founded by Mino of the Shang Dynasty in China. The Wei clan Joseon is said to have been founded by the Wei clan of the Yan state in China. Both countries were established as vassal states of China. The point is that, despite the legend, it is already a vassal state of China.
Even after that, Korea continued to be invaded by China. After that, Goguryeo, Baekje, and Silla flourished on the Korean peninsula, and after Goguryeo was victorious, Goguryeo was invaded by Sui and later by Tang. After that, Goryeo established a unified dynasty on the peninsula, but shortly after its founding, it was placed under the control of the Tang Dynasty in mainland China. During the Yuan era, China was invaded by the Mongol Empire and became a vassal state.
As Mongol invaders, the combined forces of Mongolia and Goryeo invaded Japan twice, but failed. Lee Seong-gye, who founded the Joseon Dynasty, is also said to be a Jurchen, and the Jurchen were an ethnic group that lived in the Manchuria region, and later Hong Taiji founded the Qing Dynasty in China.
From the perspective of China, the Korean people are positioned as a different ethnic group living outside the Great Wall of China. Many of the northern peoples lived primarily as nomadic peoples, but the Korean people are thought to have settled down due to their geographical location on the peninsula. Northern ethnic groups such as the Xiongnu, Xianbei, Khitan, Jurchen, Manchu, and Mongolians were a threat not only to the Han Chinese, but also to the Koreans.
Looking at the history of China, there are only a handful of unified dynasties founded by the Han Chinese, who make up the majority of the population. For most of history, other ethnic groups other than the Han Chinese dominated mainland China. When you look at world history, you don't often see explanations that focus on northern peoples, but if you look at it from that perspective, both mainland China and the Korean Peninsula have a history of being continuously invaded by northern peoples. This appears to be a common feature.
The Sui, Tang, and Yuan dynasties that invaded the Korean peninsula are different ethnic states in China if you consider the Han people as the center, and they are also different ethnic states if you look at the Korean peninsula as the center. In addition to direct invasions of the Korean peninsula by foreign ethnic groups, the majority of the history is that dynasties from mainland China, which were dominated by mainland China, invaded the Korean peninsula. It is said that the Korean peninsula has been invaded by neighboring ethnic groups as many as 960 times, both large and small.
If we look at the annexation of Japan and Korea in this sense, the Korean peninsula was the same for China, but it was ruled by a neighboring foreign ethnic nation called Japan. For the Korean Peninsula, they see themselves as being connected to the Chinese mainland, calling themselves Little China, and Japan is a country outside of that, and their sense of superiority centered on China has been historically fixed. doing. In other words, they have never had the concept of nation-building by their own people or an independent nation since the beginning of recorded history. It looks like they had neither the opportunity nor the will.
Even after Japan made the Korean peninsula an independent state after the Sino-Japanese War, Japan did not realize this and continued to sell its interests to Russia one after another, unable to operate the country on its own. In 1910, Japan annexed Korea and Japan, giving up on supporting the independence of the Korean peninsula. South Korea says that Japan stole the independence of the Korean Peninsula, but the Korean peninsula became an independent nation because of the Treaty of Shimonoseki during the Sino-Japanese War, which was ruled by Japan. If they had developed a strong sense of independence after that, there would have been no need for annexation. That is the true opinion of Japan.
Joseon Dynasty, where slaves accounted for 40% of the population.The annexation of Korea and Japan abolished the slave system that had lasted for 2,000 years.
Slavery system that lasted for 2,000 years
Rangban called for mass production of slaves
Ryoban opposed the policy of reducing slaves
The slavery system was abolished through the Kogo Reform and the annexation of Japan and Korea
Who on earth held a grudge against Japanese rule
In Korean academic circles, it is estimated that when the population during the Joseon Dynasty was around 10 million people, around 4 million people, or about 40%, were slaves.
In 695, during the Unified Silla period, a document from a survey of four villages in Nishiwongyeong (near present-day Cheongju) records that 28 people out of a population of 460 were taken as slaves. The ratio is just over 6%.
Similar records can be found in the fiefdom that Lee Seong-gye received in 1391, just before the opening of Korea. Of the 162 people living there, only 7 people, or about 4.3%, were slaves. This will increase to 40% of the population in 100 years.
During the Goryeo period, if one of the parents was a slave, the child was also a slave, and marriage between a slave and a yangban adopted child was illegal. Since it was only inherited by slaves, it did not increase significantly.
In Japan, the slave system was abolished with the end of the Ritsuryo system. The period is the beginning of the 10th century.
With the advent of the Joseon Dynasty, the system of the Goryeo Dynasty was gradually loosened, and the Yangban began actively promoting marriages, believing that it would be better to increase the number of slaves by marrying slaves and adopted children instead of marrying slaves to each other. He recommended marriages between adopted children and slaves. This is because the yangban were able to increase their wealth by using slaves who were almost unpaid.
Since slaves are not required to serve in the military or pay taxes, the increase in the number of slaves is not a positive phenomenon for the nation. For this reason, some Korean kings implemented policies to reduce the number of slaves.
Taizong established that any child born to a male slave (a class other than slaves) and a female slave would qualify as a good person. At that time, yangban often kept female slaves as concubines, so this measure reduced the number of slaves and played a major role in adoption.
When the number of slaves decreased, yangban bureaucrats began to rebel against it, and they demanded its abolition, using the pretext that ``female slaves are disturbing human morals by marrying good men without permission.''
In 1485, during the reign of King Sejong, the ``Geongoku Daten'' made it clear in the law that if one parent was a slave, the child would also be a slave. The number of slaves in Korea increased rapidly again.
In some areas, such as Ulsan and Danseong, the percentage of slaves was close to 50-60% of the population, and in 1663, it was recorded as 73% in the Hanseong family register.
The yangban mass-produced slaves to enrich their own pockets, and the country engaged in a tug-of-war over and over again, as if the number of slaves increased any further, tax revenue would decrease as a national benefit. The power of the Yangban was strong within Korea, and even the king could not ignore it.
As a result, the slave system was nominally abolished by the Kogo Reform of 1885. The Kobo Reforms are the reforms that Japan demanded after the Korean Peninsula became an independent country after the Sino-Japanese War.
Ultimately, after the annexation of Japan and South Korea in 1910, the establishment of the family register system and the change of names to the So family led to the abolishment of status records on family registers, and the systematic slave system came to an end.
With modernization under Japanese rule, the slave system that had lasted 2,000 years since recorded history on the Korean peninsula ended, and as many as 40% of slaves were freed.
A big question arises here. Nearly half of the population was liberated from slavery, gained rights as ordinary people, and began to live a civilized life. Do these people hold a grudge against Japanese rule? "I will not forgive Japan for liberating me, my family, and my future descendants from a life of slavery"...?
The yangban were indeed deprived of the right to abuse slaves and enrich their own pockets. Then, perhaps one day, they suddenly became the same class as the people who had previously been slaves. There is no doubt that the anti-Japanese movement was led by people who were dissatisfied with having their rights taken away from Japan.
South Korea says that Japan colonized the Korean Peninsula, but Japan liberated as many as 40% of its slaves. The Korean peninsula was colonized by the Yangban, a privileged class of Korea.
The Hague Emissary Incident was tell - all diplomacy - Why was the emissary ignored? Evidence that the world did not recognize Korea, which had given up its sovereignty.
The Korean Empire was founded before the Russo-Japanese War
Japan helped Korea gain independence and eventually stripped Korea of diplomatic rights
The Hague emissary incident is a pathetic diplomatic failure
Main emissary activities
Already surrendered sovereignty before the Hague emissary incident
The southward movement of Russian interests was the cause of the Russo-Japanese War
Kojong made the mistake of causing the head of state to flee and seek asylum in the Russian legation, and the first Russo-Japanese Protocol (Komura-Weber Agreement) and the second Russo-Japanese Protocol (Yamagata-Lobanov Agreement) were concluded, and the premise was He returned to Gyeongun Palace and changed the country's name to the Korean Empire in 1897. Adding the name of an empire to a country's name meant that it was on the same level as Japan and China, and Japan approved of this.
Later, during the Russo-Japanese War that began in 1904, the First Japan-Korea Treaty was concluded, giving Japan the upper hand in the Russo-Japanese War. Under the Second Japan-Korea Treaty concluded in 1905 after the end of the Russo-Japanese War, the Korean Peninsula was stripped of its diplomatic rights.
Although Japan helped establish the Korean Empire on a par with Japan through the Japan-Russia Protocol, Gojong continued to draw in Russian interests. The eventual outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War led to Japan stripping Korea of its diplomatic rights.
The Hague Emissary Incident occurred when Gojong dispatched an emissary to the Hague International Conference in 1907 to appeal for the restoration of diplomatic rights. They were doing the same kind of tell-all diplomacy that is practiced today.
However, Russia, who was supposed to have invited them, betrayed them and was rejected by all the participating countries, and the emissary sent by Gojong was not even able to enter the conference hall. Conversely, Japan's jurisdiction over the Korean Peninsula became internationally recognized.
[Main emissary activities]
He visits Count Nelidov, the chief representative of the Russian Empire, who is the chairman of the conference, but he is refused a meeting.
He visits representatives from the United States, England, France, and Germany, but is refused assistance.
We request a meeting with the Dutch Foreign Minister of the country hosting the conference, but he is refused.
The conference in The Hague, Netherlands recognized Japan's jurisdiction over the Korean Peninsula.
In the first place, in 1896, after the assassination of Queen Min and the Chunshengmun Incident, Go Song, the head of state, fled to the Russian Legation and went into exile (Roguan Transfer). At this point, Korea was no longer recognized by the world as an independent and independent nation.
With the Treaty of Shimonoseki in 1895, Korea renounced its sovereignty less than a year after gaining independence from Qing thanks to Japan.
Even if they attempted to exercise remote control from their exile, they were already under Russian house arrest, and Russia gradually gained control over the Korean Peninsula. Even after Gojong returned to Korea and founded the Korean Empire, Russia continued to gain interests in the Korean Peninsula, which led to the Russo-Japanese War.
The Joseon Dynasty cried out to the Qing Dynasty and triggered the Sino-Japanese War, and was invaded by Russian interests due to the transfer of Rokan, leading to the Russo-Japanese War. The Hague Emissary Incident was a case in which a courier was sent to express his dissatisfaction with having been stripped of his diplomatic rights. Japan then gave up on the independence of the Korean Peninsula.
