The Yangban Society of Joseon Korea

By-
Petunia Fernandes

The Korean peninsula was ruled by three major dynasties, over the course of its history, beginning from the Silla dynasty in the
7th century CE that unified the otherwise fragmented peninsula of Korea which at that point of time was being ruled by the three
kingdoms; this dynasty was followed by the Koryo or Goreyo dynasty, following which the Yi or the Joseon dynasty was
established in the fourteenth century. This dynasty went on till the twentieth century up until the occupation of Korea by Japan in
1910. The following paragraphs will look into the development of the Joseon dynasty and its relationship with China that then
went on to influence the development of the yangban society and how this society went on to become a characteristic feature of
the Joseon dynasty.

The Joseon or Yi dynasty was established by Yi Song-Gye, who was posthumously given the title of T’aejo. This dynasty
continued till 1910 until the Japanese occupation and was the longest lasting dynasty that ruled Korea and was characterized by
peace and prosperity.

The Joseon dynasty sought legitimisation from the Chinese court which led to the acceptance of China as the overlord of Korea.
This feeling of respect that Korea showed to China is called sadaechu which means respect for elders and seniors. With the
acceptance of China as the overlord of Korea, a lord-vassal relationship developed between the two kingdoms which included
sending annual tributes, seeking the blessings of the Chinese emperor before the coronation of a new king or the declaration of a
new crown prince amongst other things.

Amongst other things that came along with this tribute vassal relationship was the acceptance and imposition of the Confucian
value system that came to influence almost every aspect of life in Korea. However, the form of Confucianism that developed in
Korea can be well-defined as Neo-Confucianism which was much more conservative, orthodox and traditional in nature than the
Confucianism followed in China.

According to these Neo-Confucian ideals, Korean society was divided into yangmin (good people) and ch’onmin (base people).
However, this division was not as simple as it seems. This society was further divided into five more classes and eventually the
society came to be called the yangban society named after the highest class that is the yangban class, because of its pervading
influence over the whole of Korea. The following paragraphs shall look into these classes and their relationships with each other.

The first and the highest class was the yangmin or the yangban class. In order to be a part of this class, one had to have prominent
ancestors and had to own huge tracts of land and slaves. However, the formation of this class marked a break from the earlier
aristocratic classes in Korea. The pre-Joseon ruling elite was similar to the Japanese bushi or samurai because they were expected
to serve in the military as also hold administrative positions. However, the yangban class was different from this aristocracy
because it was classified as a scholarly class or sadebu which was different from the shenshi in China. Membership of the
yangban class was hereditary which was not the case with the shenshi wherein anyone who cleared the state civil service
examinations could become a part of this class. Even the ownership of slaves is another factor that was not prevalent amongst the
shenshi class, but was an important marker of difference for the yangban class.

The term yangban literally means two branches which signified the two branches of the bureaucracy, i.e. the civil and the
military branches, munban and muban respectively. Initially, both of them were regarded as equally important and privileged.
However, by the 16th century, there began to be a difference between the two where the civil bureaucracy gained prominence
because of the spread of Neo-Confucianism and soldiers were looked down upon.

Membership to this class was gained by clearing the civil service examinations. However, the ability and means for doing so was
only restricted to the yangban families. So much so that a law was passed banning other classes from taking these examinations
which then perpetuated the power of this class. The civil services examination was of three types. The civil examination for
which the Confucian texts were most important, those who cleared this test attained the top-most rank and helped in the working
of the court. The second type was that of the military and the third was the miscellaneous category which was conducted to get
candidates for the ministry of taxation, ministry of rites etc.

According to Confucian values and based on which the court was formed, the king was at the top of the hierarchy and was
expected to be a benevolent ruler. He was supposed to be assisted by his court which consisted of the Council of State which was
further divided into the eastern and western wings consisting of senior and junior members. The most important figures were the
Chief Minister, the Left Minister and the Right Minister and all of these ranks were filled with members of the yangban class.
Due to the influence of Confucianism, factions often arose in the court where one group professed one sort of ideology and the
other group professed a completely different ideology. Eventually, with the exposure to western learning, these factions were
then amongst those who professed Confucianism and therefore traditionalism and one that supported western learning.
Ultimately, it was these factions and the constant bickering that they had amongst themselves that led to the decline of the Joseon
dynasty. Another reason for this decline was the inherent corruption of the yangban classes in order to save their positions,
wealth and social standing.

The second class was the jungmin class. They served as petty and central functionaries and also included professionals involved
in science, medicine and specialization in foreign languages. They constituted a small percentage of the population but were
subservient to the yangban.

Farmers, craftsmen, fishermen and merchants constituted the next group clubbed together as the commoner class known as the
yangmin (or the good people) or sang-in (commoners). Though, theoretically, the farmers were to be treated with respect, the
truth was that a vast majority of them were landless and could not move to another place without the permission of the
government. Craftsmen were treated with some amount of respect but merchants were regarded as inferior, greedy, dishonest and
were even banned from using the language of the upper class. Only merchants who handled the financial affairs of the
government were given some amount of respect.

Below them were the ch’onmin or the low-born or inferior people. Members of this class engaged in degraded professions such
as butchery, grave digging, tanning and leather-work, carrier business, funeral business, basket making, bark peeling, sorcery
(Shaman practices) and public entertainment. Both public and private slaves were also included in this category. Slavery was an
institution that persisted in Korea for a long time so much so that even the government owned slaves. Needless to say, it was the
yangban who owned almost all of the shares of land and wealth.

Confucian moral and ethical principles and concepts regarding human relations transformed Korean society. This Confucian code
of conduct was related to the observation of three cardinal principles (samgang) and five ethical norms (oryun). These were
loyalty to the ruler (ch’ung), filial piety to parents (hyo) and yol- including qualities such as chastity, obedience, faithfulness and
filial piety in women. The use of honorifics, that was expected to be used by the lower classes for the upper classes, by younger
for the elder, by the wife for her husband, which still continues in Korea, finds it origins here.

Now, lastly we shall talk about the tradition and culture of the yangban society.

With the growth of Confucianism, Buddhism was severely persecuted by the rulers of the Joseon dynasty. However, one of them,
King Sejong unified Buddhism into two branches of Son (Zen in Japanese) as a school of mediation and Kyo for instructional
function.

This growth of Confucianism also led to an increase in the study of Chinese culture in general because of which Chinese culture
became stronger in Korea which is visible in not only the Sinification of the Korean language but also the traditions and culture.
Gradually, this Chinese culture became the culture of the yangban class in Korea. At the same time, a social structure and
behaviorism grew in Korea that was similar to that of China. This led to a distinct style of music, which was Chinese in nature
known as Tang-ak (music of Tang China), the aak (graceful music) and the chong- ak (authentic music) grew in prominence and
became the cultural property of the yangban class. This music was accompanied by dancers in colorful costumes in the court.

However, during the middle of the Joseon dynasty, a new trend began in Korea which brought in developments in new concepts,
arts and folk culture. Beginning with King Sejong who developed the Hangul script, to the introduction of new writers who
developed the system of Kuk’ak (National Learning), Korea was witnessing a new development that evolved without the
influence of the Chinese. This is also visible in a new genre of painting and the development of folk culture and folk literature as
also folk painting, which started introducing elements synonymous with the life of the common people. However, this is most
visible in folk music, dance and plays. Folk songs such as Arirang became very popular as also the p’ansori style of singing,
which is a way of singing epics. If the dances performed in the court were slow, then the folk dances were fast, full of life and
performed by acrobatic dancers, the most famous being the mask dance called talchum. The Shaman Sword Dance also became
prominent now. Puppet plays as well as Gwolhui i.e. plays based on the royal court also became famous.