How Did Korea Adopt Chinese Culture

Cultures around the world are divide by their distinctive characteristic of people, and how people interact within their society. Most cultures are driven by the way their environment has been set for them. Many of cultures have to adapt to the way their environment are due to the conditions that are set for them and the amount of resources that they are provided. The biggest drive for culture are the historical custom. Most countries continue to carry their ancestor custom so that the tradition may stay with them throughout their years, in which making other countries distinctive from one another. One of the particular country that will be discuss in this report is North Korea. In this report, I will be discussing the North Korean culture, with describing their living condition in the country, common issues that they face with on a daily bases, and common threat that they pose on other countries.

China was divided for almost four centuries. It became unified in 581 with the founding of the new dynasties, Sui, Tang, and Song dynasties. During the time of these dynasties, many changes took place. There were changes in the political, social, and economic structures. The first changes took place during the Sui dynasty in 581. Additional changes took place during the Tang dynasty in 618, and the Song dynasty in 960.

Today, Japanese and Korean civilizations are advanced, wealthy, and independent with their own system of government and religious beliefs due to the influences from China. The majority of Asia experienced changes in government and dealt with inter and intra state conflicts when the countries were most susceptible to influences from alliances made with other countries. The Tang Dynasty/ Silla alliance shaped the future of Korea’s religious and government movements. Art and literature from China also greatly impacted Korea’s and Japan’s society and provided new insight into literary expression through new forms of poetry and a new system of writing. Religion was also a major influence because of

New agricultural techniques, porcelain, metallurgy, printing, and naval technology were few of the technological elements that reinforced the established features of social order. New agricultural techniques helped in the expand of their agricultural potential, the dynasties gained reputation from porcelain technology which moderately diffused to other societies producing porcelain in large quantities, metallurgical techniques as well diffused to lands beyond China, printing produced texts quickly and popular works appeared in huge quantities, and naval technology included of the magnetic compass which soon became common for mariners to use. Population growth, patriarchal social structures, and gunpowder were technological elements reinforcing established features of political order. Population growth reflected the capacity of economy and distribution of food, patriarchal social structures included of concern to preserve family fortunes and foot binding, and gunpowder was an element used for military effectiveness. These aspects provided a fundamental change in traditions because they changed their whole concepts of how to use goods as in previous Chinese eras.

Ancient China was always able to flourish as a powerful economic and imperialistic country. Behind this great amount of early success were great dynasties that played great roles in China’s history. China has always been highly influenced by its great ancient dynasties. These dynasties were able to establish monetary systems, road and canal systems for trade, and also build great elaborate historic structures that still stand today. They also influenced different philosophies such as Taoism and Confucianism. In the long history of China, many great dynasties appear that have helped a lot to the development of the whole country. Among them, there are

The country of Korea was founded around the year of 2333 B.C with its first kingdom being gojoseon which stretched across the peninsula, by the third century B.C.E korea had fallen into many successor

Because their basis was so well thought out and organized, it didn’t need to be altered or changed much with each new ruler. While Chinese culture was open to some changes, it’s political system hadn’t the need to be changed. An intricate system of testing potential government officials, the civil service exam proved to be unique to chinese culture; a testament to the organization that went into their political system and future political candidates. The few changes made to the political structure is proof enough that the early Chinese civilization can be considered a resilient society that understood that a strong

Colonization is the action or process of a foreign culture “settling among and establishing control” over a native culture of a particular geographical location. This is a simplistic and perhaps innocuous description of the colonization process. In fact, all colonization has some aspect of physical coercion as part of its methodology, practice, and progression. The exertion of physical force by one culture upon another may be sufficient to establish initial or sporadic control by the colonizing entity. However, the constant use of physical force as a measure of control is arduous and maybe impossible to sustain long term. Therefore, a successful colonization must be achieved not just by the implementation of physical coercion, but by fundamentally changing aspects of the native culture. In other words, although brute force may be used at the inception or during the process of colonization, for it to be successful, colonizers must effect changes within the native culture that will lead its members to acquiesce, support and aid in their own colonization. A strong historical example of this was Japan’s colonization of Korea. Although aspects of Japan’s colonization of Korea was militaristic in nature, its eventual success was possible through psychological, educational and cultural means of control.

The Yuan and Choson dynasties were both great powers in China and Korea. First off, the Yuan and Choson dynasty both had buddhist beliefs. Much of the dynasties population celebrated the buddhist religion. Although, general Yi Song-gye of the Choson dynasty reduced buddhist influence it was still existent. Another similarity between the two dynasties, was that both had overthrown rulers. In order for the Yuan dynasty to rise to power Kublai Khan had to go to civil war. He was able to take control but still faced opposition. To settle the opposition he created a government with both mongol culture and chinese. Just as Kublai Khan went to civil war general Yi Song-gye overthrew the Koryo ruler and set up the Choson dynasty. Finally, both dynasties stressed the importance of writing. The Choson dynasty created the first Korean alphabet. Instead of using the complex system of chinese writing King Sejong had experts develop a phonetic alphabet. This led to increased rates of literacy and people who could read and write. During the Yuan reign the dynasty increased the use of writing through development of dramas and novels. Writing and Literacy benefited both dynasties. Seeing that, it is extremely obvious the variety of similarities both of these dynasties contained even though both were from different

Confucianism and Daoism were the major belief systems in classical China that shaped their society. These belief systems were not exactly religions;they were created to teach individuals how to live life. Confucianism was introduced by Confucius, also known as Kung Fuzi, around 570 BCE. It focused on reverence for elders, self-humility, and respect for rulers and the people being ruled. During the reign of Wu Ti, he emphasized values of Confucian philosophy and recorded the Confucian doctrine in a book called “The Analects.” “The problems Confucius set out to rectify, notably political disorder, were approached through an emphasis on individual virtuous behavior”(World Civilizations The Global Experience). When the Han Dynasty was first founded, it was heavily influenced by Shi Huangdi, a brutal and strict leader of the Qin Dynasty who ruled people under many rules and regulations. Confucius wanted to terminate that method of ruling and knock some sense into people on how to live life without brutality. Instead of living under hundreds of regulations/laws, Confucius developed a sense of shame that changed the society as a whole. People began to understand morals and values which formulated peace and prosperity. As a result, the “Mandate of Heaven” was passed which stated that the ruler is blessed by Gods and once the ruler becomes too corrupt, the dynasty would collapse. Contrary to Confucianism, legalism indicated that only rules and regulations would create order in a

The introduction of Buddhism to Korea impacted the culture and politics of the region immensely. It fundamentally changed the way in which people interacted and how political actions was carried out. Buddhism was often used as a political tool by the ruling elites and the royal families. Before the spread and integration of Buddhism, a very important religion for the Korea people was Shamanism. Buddhism absorbed the myths,

Because of its power and stability, China heavily influenced its neighboring countries: Vietnam, Korea, and Japan. Each of these different cultures interacted with China in different ways and, due to these interactions, these cultures developed different cultural patterns derived from China. Out of the three, Korea, a region northeast of China, was the most heavily influenced by China. Around 100 BCE, Korea’s oldest known kingdom was conquered by emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty which marked the beginning of the first wave of Sinification. Thus, Chinese culture flooded throughout Korea until Chinese control over Korea weakened, and the Koguryo established an independent kingdom.

One of the main similarities between the start of communism in North Korea and China is the influence of the Soviet Union under Lenin’s reign. In China, the ideas of

As part of the test, he gave them mugwort and garlic to eat, requiring them to live in darkness for 100 days. After only a few days, the tiger could no longer stand it and ran out into the mountain forests. The bear, however, stayed in the den, finally emerging as a beautiful woman. She repeatedly prayed beneath the Tan tree for a child, and Hwanung momentarily transformed himself to marry her. They produced a wonderful child they called Tangun. Tangun invented the basics of civilization and created a dynasty that lasted for 1,500 years. A period called Kija Choson that lasted 99 years followed this. On the 3rd of October, Foundation Day Tangun is celebrated as a great culture-hero. Depictions of Tangun often show him with a tiger, which is regarded as a mountain god. ( http://people.cohums.ohio-state.edu/bender4/eall131/EAHReadings/module02/m02korean.html ) The Korean peninsula has been ravaged by eight distinctive invasions that each left their mark; ancient Chinese kingdoms, Qidans, Mongols, Japanese, and Manchus. Through all of the wars and devastation, Korea was able to bring dynasties to power including the dynasty from which they would eventually derive their name. In 938 CE after a time of the three kingdoms of warring dynasty’s, a new power emerged from the north under a man named Emperor Taejo, creating the Goryeo or Koryo Dynasty that would later become the name we know today as Korea. The Goryeo Dynasty ruled for almost 400 years and was

Even though many South Koreans express no religious preference, there are two main religions in the country; the citizens of South Korea practice Christianity and Buddhism. Since South Korea is a homogeneous country, it has its own spoken language. The country also does not have many ethnicities residing in the nation, except for some migrant Chinese laborers.