Chapter 12 Section 3: Korea & It’s Traditions

Chapter 12 Section 3:
Korea & It’s Traditions

Korean Peninsula -Cultural Bridge connecting China and Japan

Pulguksa Temple, South Korea

Silla & Koryo Dynasty

• From 100 B.C. – A.D. 676 powerful
local rulers created 3 kingdoms
• Koguryo (North)
• Paekche (Southwest)
• Silla (southeast)
• Same culture but warred constantly
with each other and China
• China still influenced the kingdoms
• Korean Monks traveled to China
and India to learn Buddhism and
bring it back to Korea.

Silla Dynasty
Unites
Kingdoms

• Silla Dynasty
• Korea prospered; Arts flourished
• Most advanced in the world
• Buddhism became a powerful force -hundreds of temples built
• Trade with China influenced culture, written language, and political
institutions
• Trade focused on Silla capital, Kyongju
• “City of Gold”- where aristocrats pursued a life of high culture
and extravagance
• Medicine, astronomy, metal casting, sculpture, and textile
manufacturing reached especially high levels.
• Only aristocrats could take the “civil service exam” to become
politician
• Resulted in conflicts between peasants and aristocrats that
led to the Silla Dynasty overthrown.

Koryo Dynasty

• Korea derived from “Koryo”

• Replaced Silla Dynasty in 918

• Capital: Songak (present day Kaesong)

• Confucianism and Buddhism were very influential
during time period

• Used China’s woodblock printing for Buddhist
texts
• Later Korea improved printing by creating
movable metal type to print more books
• Improved on Chinese porcelain to create
celadon-porcelain with a blue-green glaze
• In 1200, Mongols overran Korea and the
secret of making celadon was lost forever.

Choson Dynasty
Rules for Over
500 Years

• Mongol invasion 1231-1250’s
• 1258 Made peace with Mongols
• But lack of taxes weakened kingdom
• 1932 Yi Song-gye (yee-sung-gyeh)
(Korean General)
• Overthrew Mongols
• Created Choson dynasty-last and longest
of Korean dynasties
• Reduced Buddhist influence
• Set up government on Confucian
principles

Choson Dynasty Rules for
over 500 Years

• 1443 Created Alphabet
• King Sejong “The language of this land is
different from China’s”
• Replaced complex Chinese system of
writing
• Experts developed hangul- Korean
phonetic alphabet that uses symbols to
represent the sounds of spoken Korean
• Rejected at first by Confucian scholars,
then quickly spread
• Easier than the thousands of characters of
written Chinese
• Led to extremely high literacy rate-
percentage of people who can read and
write

• 1590’s Japanese Invasion
• Ambitious Japanese ruler
• Invade China through Korea
• Looted and burned Korean
peninsula for years
• Korean admiral Yi Sun-shin
• Great hero who used “turtle
ships” (armored and shaped
like turtles) to sail into
Japanese fleet
• 6 years later Japan withdrew
• Took Korean artisans to
introduce their skills to Japan.

Choson Dynasty
Rules for over
500 Years