Kim Kungye: Was he a Crazy Tyrant?

Kungye is a mysterious person. There are not many records about him, and most of existing records describe him as a crazy tyrant who killed his wife, executed his sons, punished his officials, and drove the peasants into dire distress. 

A "drama version" of Kungye

A famous broadcasting program in Korea called "History Special" recently revived Kungye as a "Great King." According to an inscription ordered by Wang Kon, Kung Ye was in command of "Najoo Battle” and conquered "Jungwon" and Southwestern part of Korean peninsula, thus, was called a "Great King" in the early Koryo. 

Inscription ordered by Wang Kon

If the records are true, Wang Kon becomes the rebellion who raised a coup against the Great King Kung Ye. He could have tried to distort the image of Kung Ye and the achievement made by Kung Ye in order to justify his rebellion. What an interesting scenario! I don’t know how much the inscription is a reliable record in speaking history. But I think the scenario is not totally impossible as it is quite common that many old history books tend to be written in terms of the "winner" (in this case is Wang Kon). I think this is why any relevant existing historical records including texts, inscription, icon, etc., should be interpreted all together even to describe just one history event in order to minimize distortions in history.

Source:

http://news.hankooki.com/lpage/culture/201111/h2011112321513386330.htm

Textbook

Han Bok

"Han bok" simply means traditional Korean dress. Traditional "Han bok" has straight lines with soft curve that matches. Women wears short top "ju go ri"' and elegant skirt which is rather generous than tight fit, so it gives elegant look, which was the most sought after characteristic of women in both Koryo and Choson era. For male, pants and 'jeo go ri' were worn as a basic and they used to stylish themselves with Korean-style jacket.

As Koreans, "Han min jok" are citizens of white, their basic Han bok's color was white, and depending on the season and traditional holidays, Koreans wear different colored Han bok.

However, in contemporary's fashion trend, which  looks for outfits that are comfortable, simple, and stylish, less and less people were wearing han bok on daily lives. Traditional Han boks feature many fancy ornaments and uncomfortable materials. So now days, most Koreans wear Han bok only twice a year on traditional holidays: "Seol nal" and "Chuseok".

Handful of Korean tradition-oriented clothes designers disliked the fact more and more Koreans ditching han bok, they came up with 'Gye ryang han bok' (Gye ryang means modified or improved) or ‘fusion han bok.'

 Gye ryang han boks or fusion han boks are more comfortable, easy to wear, and fit better to modern fashion trend. It is interesting to see that some fusion han bok eliminated "ju go ri" to meet the ‘sexy’ trend of modern fashion, which would never be accepted in Choson dynasty that emphasized chastity virtue of women, accordingly, concealment of their body. However, I personally believe that such trend isn't really bad all as it at least serves a purpose to maintain a valuable tradition. I also think it’s a very realistic way to let the world  know about the beauty of han bok.

Erhu vs. Haegeum

I would like to introduce a Chinese instrument I'm learning in this semester: Erhu

Picture of Erhu

Erhu is one kind of violin (fiddle) with two strings which, together with other instruments belongs to the "Huqin" family. The name "Huqin" literally means "barbarian instrument." This implies that the instrument were likely to be originated from regions to the north or west of China. It is said that its origin would be dated up to the Tang dynasty (618-907) from a Mongolian tribe Xi. During Song dynasty (960-1279), the instrument was introduced to China and was called "Ji Qin," and it started to played at the imperial banquets. During the Dynasties of Yuan (1206-1368), Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911), the Erhu underwent a great development at the time of the golden age of the local operas.

There is a reason why I'm introducing Erhu here.

Picture of Haegeum

Looks similar? Sounds similar? This instrument is not Erhu, but is "Haegeum," a traditional Korean string instrument. The Haegeum is one of the most widely used instruments in Korean music. It is not clear that how Haegeum introduced in Korea. According to the several references, Haegeum was found in "Hanlimbyulgok" (a Royal archivist unrhymed verse) produced during Koryo dynasty. During the Choson Dynasty, Haegeum was used in various Kinds of music: Royal ancestral rites music, parade music, Festival music, and Hyangak.

Before I started playing Erhu, I thought Haegeum was a traditional Korean instrument that was originated in the country. But Considering the similarity between two instruments and the dates that each instrument was introduced in China and Korea, I think Haegeum is originated from Erhu and is one of the great examples represents Chinese cultural influence to Korea. Also, it is interesting that ancient Chinese states, which were considered to be a great spreader of their culture (in perspective of Korea), was also influenced by their nearby neighbors like Mongolian tribe Xi. The further interesting fact is that Haegeum served as a "royal" instrument during Choson Period, which is traced back to its ultimate origin from Mongol whom they considered as a "Barbarian." Did they know this fact? This is something that only people of Choson could answer.

Source:

http://www.philmultic.com/home/instruments/erhu.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haegeum

Textbook

Standard of Beauty: Choson vs Contemporary Korea

            Frequent descriptions of women’s ideal beauty during the era of the Chosun Dynasty  were round and smooth face like a moon, wide and rigid forehead like a sky, eyebrow like a branch of a willow tree, horizontally long, slender eye, and small lips like a cherry. I think people during the time valued harmonizing themselves with the nature, and woman whose face that literally bears the likeness of nature were perceived beautiful as a woman’s facial beauty was often compared to natural elements, like the description above. Standing together with their value about nature, moreover, was the Korea’s Confucianism, a religious and philosophical system that focuses upon the relationships between individuals, between individuals and their families, and finally between individuals and general society. Under the system, people regarded one’s body as a gift from one’s parents and any alteration to it an act of disrespect. As a matter of fact, and making up one’s face too different from one’s natural look or even cutting one’s hair were considered acts of dishonor.

"A Portrait of a Beauty" by Shin Yoonbok

            This is obviously different from currently accepted ideal beauty in the Korea which include big eyes, a sharp and pointed nose, a small chin, and coke bottle body shape – so-called Western, or Caucasian look. A good example of is Lee Ha Nee of 2006, Miss Korea. There must be multiple causes that led such abrupt change in standard of beauty, but I thinks the main cause is rapid modernization, large import of western culture, and spread of mass media. 

Picture of Lee Ha-ni, 2006, Miss Korea

            Together with other Asian people like Japanese and Chinese, Koreans are said to be inherited some genetic characteristics that come from Mongolians, who gave typical Asian characteristics to them; “Relatively small eyes and noses, and wide-set cheekbones, and thick bodies…….” These traits are long-term natural selection of best suitable physical appearance for the Mongolian ancestors who lived in the extremely cold environment.  This, indeed, is beautiful, proud evidences of human survival, which still consists majority of Korean women's appearance. But there are a number of Korean women who conduct plastic surgery in order to fit the current, westernized standards of beauty.

            Comparing traditional and these days’ beauty standards in Korea to the typical appearance that had been built for a long time, the old standards highly correspond to it, but the current westernized standards don’t. And many Korean women conduct plastic surgery to fit this current, westernized beauty standards. But I think it is ridiculous to pursue unrealistic standards that are completely different from the looks brought by natural selection.

Source:

http://www.sisapress.com/news/quickViewArticleView.html?idxno=11591

http://weekly.cnbnews.com/category/read.html?bcode=3769&hcode=3

How was women's social status in Silla?

            Under the Koryo dynasty, women had relatively high social status. They enjoyed a great deal of social and economic freedom. Sharing ancestral patrimony equally with her brothers, a woman was a person of decision-making and action. Uxorilocal residence as well as divorce was common. This high social status of women, however, dramatically decreased under the succeeding Choson Dynasty as new social values based on Confusianism were implanted into the society.

            What about women's social status in Silla? I think Women's social status in Silla was highest among the dynasty. There were strong belief in early religions like shamanism during the Silla dynasty and the bone-rank system that made women occupy the highest position and enjoy elite status. This is well-shown in the "holy mother cult" as well as in the existence of three powerful queen monarchs in Silla. Queen Sondok, for example, was considered to possess unique spiritual powers that enabled her to predict the future.

A portrait of Queen Sondok

Source: textbook

Behind the rise of Hangul

            Hangul, the Korean alphabet, was created by King Sejong in 1443. Before the creation of Hangul, Korea had used Chinese graphs for transcription. Unlike Chinese graphs, the korean alphabet imitated the shapes of the old seal characters, and was wholly phonetic and capable of transcribing almost any sound. In spite of its practicality and convenience in usage, before it was formally proclaimed in 1446, there was some oppositions from a group of scholar officials like Choe Malli. They believed adoption of  Korean alphabet would make it impossible to identify Korean civilization with that of China which historically had been senior state of Korea. They believed adopting one's own writing system was a unworthy matter that involves barbarians. Although their argument sounds ridiculous in current perspectives, I think such argument must have been quite reasonable one considering the fact that the scholar officials in the dynasty tried to set a sociopolitical order rooted in Confucian moral principles which was transferred from China long time ago. They not only respected China as their senior state, but also tried to emulate the sages of ancient China state. Thus, having Chinese writing system was one of things that distinguished themselves from barbarian and something they were proud of.

            Then, how could king Sejong was able to win such oppositions? I think one of the biggest reasons has to do with the state's effort to propagate Confucian values to people of low social class. From the beginning, Choson tried to propagate Confucian values throughout the state. Not only some law and institution aided the propagation, but also large distribution of Chinese Confucian literatures that were translated in Korean did. A number of people of low social classes were illiterate, and it was the easy and practical Korean alphabet that could make the Confucian literature readable for them. Propagating Confucian value throughout the state was obviously one of the primary goal of the Choson dynasty, and I believe that the opponents like Choe Malli wasn't able to debate over the usefulness of Korean alphabet in the propagation.

Source: textbook