2019 Korean History and Cultural Seminar for Educators - Handbook 2019 NKS Handbook-0617

. Material culture and technology: metallurgy, silk production, textile manufacture, paper-making, Buddhism . Commercial trade: Ch. and K. luxury goods, Japanese silver, copper, timber, steel swords Unified Silla (668 – 936) Cf. Later Three Kingdoms: . Later Goguryeo, founded in 901 by Gungye (“the ugly”) . Later Baekje, founded in 892 by Gyeonhwon (“the bad”) . WANG Geon took over Later Goguryeo in 918 (“the good”), then established Goryeo Goryeo (918-1392) . WANG Geon (King Taejo, r. 918-943) . Dynastic founder relied on support of local warlords with private armies . Sought to cement relations with supporters, former Silla royal family through marriage alliances (29 wives total) Buddhism and Confucianism . Civil service examinations (est. 968) on Chinese model . Role of Buddhism in lives of aristocrats and commoners - Comparisons to Catholic Church in medieval Europe - Aristocrats sent sons into the clergy - Aristocrats donated land, goods, slaves to temples which had tax-exempt status . Goryeo Tripitaka (1087, 1251) as example of woodblock printing (entirety of East Asian Buddhist canon at that time) Military Rule (1170 - 1270) and Feudalism . 1170 Military Coup: military officials revolted against civil officials’ abuses . Military monopoly over government . Military controlled the throne but did not usurp it for themselves . Military officials used power to gain more land and wealth . Rise of private armies . New power based not on lineage but on military power (Ex. CHOE House Rule) Peasant Rebellions and Slave Revolts . Peasant rebellions (1172-1217) - Uprisings in countryside as well as capital - Large-scale efforts to restructure social order, seize political power - Economic causes - Political discontent - Breakdown in local government . Slave revolts (1196-1232) - Perceived unfair elevation of some slaves’ status - About mistreatment rather than immorality of slavery Mongol Invasions . Genghis Khan (ca. 1162-1227) and grandson Khubilai Khan (1215-1294) . First invasion in 1231 (6 in 30-year period) . CHOE family moved capital to Ganghwa Island in 1232 till 1258 . Peasants, lowborn, slaves fought back without military leaders . Mongols burned fields, decimated food supplies, slaughtered many . 200,000 captives from 1254 invasion 25

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