Korea in the Nineteenth Century

Decline of Chosŏn: Domestic Unrest and External Threats

• Political realm: weak monarch/ powerful clans– Sunjo (r. 1800-1834)

• Became a king at 11• Power in dowager queen => in-law government => Andong

Kim clan

– Hŏnjong (r. 1834-1849)• Became a king at 8 => power shift to P’ungyang Cho clan

(king’s mother)

– Ch’ŏljong (r. 1849-1864)• Royal relations living on a farm Kanghwa Island• Andong Kim clan => Cho clan made an alliance with Yi

Haŭng, relative of royal family

– Kojong (r. 1864-1907)• Yi Haŭng’s second son became a king at 12• Kojong married Queen Min• Yi Haŭng => Taewŏngun in power

• Social instability– Social mobility

• Fallen yangabn: sell and buy the yangban title• Improving position of chungin: amassing wealth• The roster of government slaves were ordered burned in

1801.• Fire-field people: famine-stricken people => abandon their

villages wandering place to place => some migrated to Kando region

– Popular Uprising• Hong Kyŏngnae Rebellion in 1811

– He was a fallen yangban– Followers: slaves, Confucian scholars, merchants, local clerks,

peasants and mine workers– Declaring that discrimination against the populace of

P’yŏngyang province must end => 5000 people joined– Seized Chŏngju (fortified town) and waited others to join but

failed in 1812.

• The Chinju Uprising in 1862– Populace armed themselves with bamboo spears and rose

under the leadership of a peasant of fallen yangban background => killed local government functionaries, set fire to government buildings => suppressed => tide of uprisings spread up and down the land => not national rising

– Eastern Learning (Tonghak)• Founder: Ch’oe Cheu (1824-1864) • Began to be propounded in 1860• Nurtured people in farming land• Doctrine included elements from Confucianism, Daoism,

Buddhism, Shamanism, Catholicism• Unity of man with heaven (the supreme being)

– Equality of for all human beings– Chanting of magical formulas– Worship of mountain deities

• Not only religious movement but a social movement– Called for reform of the corruption-ridden government

• Ch’oe Cheu was arrested in 1863 and executed in 1864.

• Western Learning (Catholicism)– introduced to Korea indirectly via written texts– Diplomats to China met with western missionaries in 17 th and 18th

century– Dismissive of Christianity => same as Buddhism– Yi Sŭnghun (1756-1801): baptized Korean in Beijing– Small number of yangban converted => Southerners (namin)– Spread by intellectuals, not by missionaries– The government banned books about Christian writings.– Hwang Sayŏng:

• Sent a letter to the French Catholic bishop in Beijing: the Pope to request that the Chinese emperor require the Korean king to grant the religious freedom

– The Catholic Persecution in 1801: 300 killed => mostly Southerners => purge the political opponents

• Western Learning (Catholicism)– introduced to Korea indirectly via written texts– Diplomats to China met with western missionaries in 17 th and 18th

century– Dismissive of Christianity => same as Buddhism– Yi Sŭnghun (1756-1801): baptized Korean in Beijing– Small number of yangban converted => Southerners (namin)– Spread by intellectuals, not by missionaries– The government banned books about Christian writings.– Hwang Sayŏng:

• Sent a letter to the French Catholic bishop in Beijing: the Pope to request that the Chinese emperor require the Korean king to grant the religious freedom

– The Catholic Persecution in 1801: 300 killed => mostly Southerners => purge the political opponents

– Andong Kim Clan: the persecution of Catholics eased => three foreign priests came to Korean in 1830s

– P’ungyang Cho Clan: three priests and 75 converts were executed– Kim Taegŏn: the first Korean priest– By 1864, 20,000 converted => the urban poor and women (in Seoul)

• Taewŏngun’s Reform Policy– From 1865 to 1873: served as King Kojong’s regent– Reform policy

• Strengthen the monarchy, weaken the factions and strong clans• Enhance the revenue of the state• Abolished most of sowŏn (private school)• Tax reform: grain loan system• Household tax => replaced the military cloth tax => yangban also paid the

tax• Reconstruction of Kyŏngbok Palace: symbol of power of the monarchy• Banned Christianity

• External Threats– French disturbance in 1866

• 7 warships and 1000 men to attack Kanghwa Island => defeated

– US attack on Kanghwa Island • 5 warships 1200 men => defeated

– resulted “Seclusion Policy”

– Treaty of Kanghwa in 1876• Unyo Incident in 1875: Japanese vessel Unyo was sent into the

waters off Kanghwa => provoked Korean defenders => Japanese charged the Korean government

• Result was the Treaty of Kanghwa• First modern treaty• Unequal treaty

• 12 articles: opening the ports, declaration of Korean independence (open the way for Japanese aggression without Chinese interference), establishment of Japanese settlements in the ports, Japanese residents would be subject to Japanese law

• Japanese advancement in political, economic and military on Asian continent

• Korea open the country • Facing twofold task: modernization and preserving national

independence• Dispatched special envoys to Japan• Japanese legation in Seoul in 1880