Publisher's Synopsis
It has long been recognized that legislation to change Korean society into a neo-Confucian state began with the founding of the Choson dynasty in 1392 and achieved its purposes by the mid-17th century. Nevertheless, the nature of Koryo society, the stresses induced by the new legislation, and society's resistance to the neo-Confucian changes imposed by the Choson elite have remained largely unexplored. In this important new study, Martina Duechler explains which aspects of life in Koryo came under attack and why. Deuchler draws in social anthropology to examine ancestor worship, mourning, inheritance, marriage, the relatively high position of women in Koryo, and the formation of descent groups. Eleven diagrams elucidate the complexities of Korean kinship, marriage, and mourning systems.;To examine how neo-Confucian ideology could become an effective instrument for altering basic aspects of Koryo life, the author traces shifts in political and social power as well as the cumulative effect of changes over time. What emerges is a subtler, more accurate analysis of Choson Korean history than may be possible without an understanding of its roots in Koryo culture. Deuchler demonstrates that the transformation of Korea into a neo-Confucian state not only took time but also required adapting Chinese neo-Confucianism to Korean realities.
