ASNS 1150 Lecture Notes - Taejo Of Joseon, Yi Sun-Sin, Korea Under Japanese Rule
12 Mar 2014
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Lived a life of leisure - not enough jobs for everyone in the class. Government service = mark of prestige, road to fame and glory for the family. Benefits: exempt from any taxes, did not have to join the army. Hereditary - could pass on the status to the son (like the japanese) Kwago: civil service examination (similar to the ones in china) A restricted number of people were allowed to take the test. Did not make a large group of the populations. Undesirable jobs: work at the jails, convicts, slaves. Most were just koreans (possibly children of convicts and prostitutes) Didn"t do much work, owned and collected land and taxes. Yi song-gye (founder of the choson dynasty) attacked the buddhist monasteries. They were not needed to pay taxes but owned a lot of land. Yi song took a lot of their power. If they remarried their sons would not be allowed to take the kwago.
