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Early Korea and Vietnam Choson (“Land of Morning Calm”) – the Earliest Korean Kingdom

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Early Korea and Vietnam Choson (“Land of Morning Calm”) – the Earliest Korean Kingdom Early Korea and Vietnam Choson (“Land of Morning Calm”) – the earliest Korean kingdom - The Korean people descended from the hunting, gathering, and fishing peoples of Siberia and Manchuria during the Neolithic Age - Choson (Old Joseon) was the first major kingdom -Choson was conquered by the Han Chinese under the Emperor Wudi in 109 B.C.E. The Three Kingdoms Period (37 B.C.E. – 676 C.E.) • Emerged especially after the decline of the Han in the 3rd century C.E. • The three kingdoms = Koguryo (aka Goguryeo), Silla, and Paekche (aka Baekje) • Kaya was a confederation of city- states Koguryo (aka Goguryeo) -Tribal people of northern Korea and southern Manchuria established an independent kingdom no later than 37 B.C.E. -Area was mountainous, with little arable land -Original tribes may have relied on raids for food and other necessities -Rulers early on adopted cultural Sinification -Sinification = extensive adaptation of Chinese culture in non-Chinese regions -This kingdom eventually battled the Southern states of Paekche (SW) and Silla (SE); the Korguryo ruler failed to form a Chinese-style state United Silla Period (668-936 C.E.) • Silla eventually formed an alliance with Tang China to defeat and conquer Koguryo • While largely autonomous, Silla became a vassal of Tang China and paid tribute to it • Silla’s capital, Kumsong, was modeled on Chinese cities • Buddhism became the state religion • Sinification only went so far; because of aristocratic opposition, Silla did not adopt the Tang civil service exam system nor did it redistribute manorial lands to the poor Koryo Dynasty (918-1392 C.E.) -Chinese influence continued -Founder of dynasty: Taejo Wang Kon (r.918-943) -Wang Kon was able to reunite all of Korea in 935 C.E. (the Balhae people originally controlled area north of the United Silla kingdom) -Buddhism, then Confucianism played a major rule in Korean culture -Tripitaka, the three baskets of the Buddhist canon, were first printed on wooden blocks in Korea in the 11th century C.E. -Unequal social structure; the chonmin, a class of people at the bottom of society, included slaves, artisans, and other specialized workers -Civil service exam was introduced in 958 C.E. Choson (Joseon) Dynasty, aka Yi Dynasty (1392-1910) • The Mongols took over the northern part of the Koryo kingdom in the 13th century • General Yi Song-gye later seized power, assumed the name Taejo (“Great Progenitor”) and started a new dynasty • Aristocratic dominance • Official support for Confucianism • Korean alphabet (Hangul or han’geul) invented in the 15th century under rule of King Sejong • One of the biggest challenges: the Imjin War (1592-1598), when Korea had to fight off Japanese invasions directed by Hideyosi Toyotomi Early Vietnam • According to legend, the first kings, the Hung kings, established a kingdom called Van Lang (“Land of the Tattooed Men”) in the Red River delta in northern Vietnam • This society was matriarchal and agricultural in nature • Some art (see e.g. bronze mushroom drums) Early Contacts with China • The early Vietnamese peoples were subject to occasional attacks from the north • The Qin dynasty, e.g., raided Vietnam in the 220s B.C.E. • The Han dynasty secured tribute from Vietnam; later, after 111 C.E., the Han conquered Vietnam and governed the country directly The Trung Sisters -Leaders of a peasant rebellion in 39 C.E. against Chinese rule -Widows of nobles executed by the Chinese, the Trung sisters were hostile to the male-dominated Confucian codes and family system -The rebellion ultimately failed -However, this rebellion inspired future Vietnamese nationalists -This rebellion also demonstrated the importance of women in Vietnamese society Chinese and Indian influence and assimilation • For almost a thousand years the Chinese ruled the Mekong Delta and the rest of Vietnam, a land they referred to as Annam (“the pacified South”) • By the early 10th century the Vietnamese forced the Tang Chinese to grant them control • Later, in 939 C.E., a new state was established in the north, eventually called Dai Viet (“Great Viet”); its main city was Hanoi; its first main dynasty was the Le dynasty (980-1009 C.E.); the Ly and Tran dynasties followed • In the north, a bureaucracy modeled on the Chinese system developed; however, the Vietnamese scholar-gentry never gained the power that that class held in China • In the south, the kingdom of Champa flourished; it was a trading society based on Indian religious, political and cultural traditions Buddhist, Daoist and Confucian ideas • Influence of Buddhist monasteries strong • Note also the “Temple of Literature” (Van Mieu) – a Confucian temple, it was Vietnam’s first university – founded in Hanoi in 1076 C.E., it lasted for over 700 years; aspiring bureaucrats studied and took a very difficult civil service exam there Political and military changes over the next few centuries • By the 15th century Champa had been defeated by Dai Viet; Vietnam expanded in the South • Then, from the 16th through the 18th centuries, two separate ruling families – the Trinh in the North and the Nguyen in the South, competed for power • In 1802 Nguyen Anh and the Nguyen family finally triumphed The Vietnamese language -By the 15th century (if not earlier), Chu Nom (“Southern Characters”) or simply Nom, is devised to provide a written system for spoken Vietnamese; it uses many Chinese characters but is mainly used by intellectuals; the peasantry remains mostly illiterate -Inasmuch as the Vietnamese spoken language was unrelated to Chinese, though, a new written language using a Latin script, Quoc Ngu, is created by the 17th century; eventually this syllabic script will replace Chu Nom (see examples of Chu Nom, Quoc Ngu, and English on this slide to the right) Social and Economic Life in Vietnam • Women continue to have more rights than elsewhere (see for instance the law code of 1460) • Bulk of population continues to engage in agriculture, esp. rice- growing • Some urban development occurs but community life is mostly centered on the village or hamlet.
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