12.3.08 - Differences Between Korea and China

Differences Between Korea and China Do not ever say that Korea is simply an off-shoot or outpost of China. Acculturation: taken far enough to eliminate/erase all cultural differences. This did NOT happen to Korea 3 examples of Choson culture that continued to distinguish it from China: 1 ? the persistence on the peninsula of a rigid hierarchy based on heredity. Nothing remotely similar existed in China back then. 2 ? Civil service examination system in Choson was fundamentally different as it functioned in China 3 ? Invention of Hangul. It is true that Koreans wrote in classical Chinese Looking back on this period of 600 years, we see that Korea was indeed subject to considerable outside of influences. Some was benign; some was malicious. In some cases, the Koreans were amenable to outside influences ? for example, they enthusiastically embraced Ju Ja orthodoxy, the civil service examinations. In other cases, they firmly rejected the Japanese & their suggestions for equality. External agents/factors/influences ? change Try as they might, the Koreans could not withstand the Mongols; they were not masters of their own destiny. In these cases, when they were not masters of their own destiny, this was not because of some inherent, innate, indigenous disability; more often than not, it was due to their location.Internal forces/factors ? change That (?) stopped when the Silla drove out the Tong forces in the 670s. Having said all of this, where is Korea/Choson now? For a time, on an uncertain voyage.