Chapter 9 Korea 359With their faith in Avalokiteshvara, Koryo continued to exist as a client
state of the Yuan, with extensive intermarriage between the royal houses. But
Koryo was profoundly weakened and fell to internal revolt that led to the estab-
lishment of Choson dynasty in 1392.Neo-Confucianism in Choson Dynasty (1392–1897)
The Choson era, lasting from the fall of Koryo in 1392 until the end of the
nineteenth century, brought Korea into the modern world. The period was dom-
inated by the Choson Confucian reaction against the dominance of Buddhism
that is arguably evident even to the present day. Conservative Neo-Confucianism
reshaped Korean social relations, enhancing Korean patriarchy, which strength-
ened the central government and created a new social class of scholar-officials.Neo-Confucianism and Scholar-Officials
As in China, the relationship between Confucianism and Buddhism was
historically a complex one, sometimes perceived as being irreconcilable. Dur-
ing the Choson era there was an attempt to limit or even eradicate the influence
of Buddhism in Korea. The reasons were partly based on ideological differ-
ences, including faith and ritual, but they were also based on power politics.
Remember that Buddhist institutions under the previous Koryo kingdom not
only had expanded the number of Buddhists in Korea but had also empowered
monks and monasteries. Some Confucian officials hoped for a clean break with
the Buddhist policies of the Koryo.
Structural changes had accumulated in Korean society that early Choson
kings desired to change. Not only had Buddhist monasteries become rich in
land, so had the aristocracy, many of whom became semi-independent regional
lords supported by taxes paid by peasants to them (not to the king), and hold-
ing government positions by hereditary rights and connections. The kings,
however, were weak. Early Choson kings fought against this decentralization
in two ways. First was land reform, by which they managed to strip many of
their provincial rivals, including Buddhist monasteries, of land. Second, they
attempted to build a new bureaucracy on a merit-based exam system, called
kwago. This was not a totally new thing; it had been known from Silla times.
But neo-Confucian scholars at court assisted in this plan. The kwago became
more systematic and rigorous than at any previous time.
There were three levels of exams for different kinds of specialists. The high-
est level was known as mungwa, the civil service exams, based on knowledge
and interpretation of the basic Confucian classics, such as the Great Learning,
the Doctrine of the Mean, the Analects of Confucius, Mencius, and Zhu Xi’s Fam-
ily Rituals. The candidate sat in a cell for three days and wrote his essays; his
answers were copied out by a copier so his writing could not be recognized.
Only 240 could sit for the highest exam each year, and only 33 were allowed to
pass. The final stage of the exam was face-to-face with the king himself, gaug-