Korean Culture

Introduction Communities across the world boast of cultural heritages that are presumably rich. Each ethnic grouping tends to perceive its own culture as superior to other cultures. However, the important aspects to understand about culture entail what it covers together with the essence of its being.Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on Korean Culture specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The Oxford Advanced Learners’ Dictionary defines culture as â€Å"the customs and beliefs, art, way of life and social organization of a particular country or group† (Para. 1). The world is divided into a plethora of groupings in terms of races, nations, and ethnicities, which translate into a myriad of cultures for each of these groupings. The Korean culture is part of this vast diversity cultures. This paper examines the Korean culture via three Korean dramas, viz. The Princess Man, Painter of the Wind, and Sungk yunkwan Scandal, whose setting and plot depict ancient Korean Culture. The paper’s focus is on the education of women during the Choson or Joseon Dynasty. The Choson Dynasty This dynasty existed in what is now known as Korea and it lasted for five hundred years (Sung-jin Para. 2). The Choson â€Å"society was one in which the Yangban (aristocracy) wielded tremendous power† (Hee-sook 113). The literature that exists on this dynasty indicates that women were highly discriminated against. The ruling class of the Choson Dynasty applied Confucian philosophies to rule the dynasty (Hee-sook 113). The Choson culture demanded a lot from the womenfolk of the dynasty. The Yangban women were expected to behave in a particular manner slightly different from a commoner woman, but still be a woman. For instance, they were prohibited from visiting the temple monastery, hosting shaman rituals, and engaging in direct contact with men (Hee-sook 115).Advertising Looking for research paper on cultural studies? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The ordinary woman was expected to play a subservient role to the men in all circumstances. One the most dehumanizing restrictions of this dynasty was that women were never allowed to remarry after a husband’s death, a law that was enforced in the pretext of preserving the chastity of women on a national scale (Sung-jin Para.2). Clearly, this dynasty was bent on making women’s life unbearable, which has been depicted quite clearly in the three dramas that are used to manifest the day-to-day lives of women in this dynasty. The Education of Women in Choson Dynasty Different classes of people were allowed into varying categories of formal education, but only men benefitted from meaningful formal education. The aforementioned pieces, viz. The Princess Man, Painter of the Wind, and Sungkyunkwan Scandal paint a picture of the Korean way of life in ancient times. An analysis of each of them separately and comparing it with what the annals say about the education will confirm that indeed what the script writers placed in those plays reflects what took place. The Princess Man The princess Man is a Korean drama series that was broadcast on several TV stations and was touted as being very good. It is plotted on a famous Korean historical event, Gyeyu Jeongnan, in the Choson dynasty.Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on Korean Culture specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The fine details of the plot development are not of much importance to this paper, but may be highlighted at points where they are necessary to elaborate a concept on the education of women during the Choson dynasty. According the drama, Prince Suyang is a brother to the reigning king, King Munjong. He has a beautiful daughter named Lee Se-Ryung who has a cousin known as Princess Kyunghye. Prince Suyang covets t he throne and hatches a scheme that would propel him to the throne some day. He is a friend to the Prime Minister, Lee Se-Ryung, and since the premier has a son, Kim Seung-Yoo, Prince Suyang’s plan involves arranging a marriage between his daughter and the premier’s son. The daughter gets wind of this arrangement and decides to disguise herself as her cousin, Princess Kyunghye, to attend Kim Seung-Yoo’s class since he is a teacher to Princess Kyunghye. Right at this point, it is evident that Yangban women were entitled to some form of education. Education received by the Yangban women had an effect on commoner women (Hee-sook 114). By noting that the education of the Yangban women had an influence on the other women it implies that there was some education for these women as depicted in the drama. However, this form of education was just meant for women alone because in the class that Princess Kyunghye attended, they were only girls. In his first lesson, the tea cher, Kim Seung-Yoo, talks about the three forms of obedience expected of a woman at different stages of life.Advertising Looking for research paper on cultural studies? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More A daughter had to respect the father and a wife’s allegiance was to the husband, but since remarrying was out of question, in the event of a husband’s death, she was expected to respect her son unquestioningly. He further added that a woman is merely a shadow of a man. The kind of education to women was not aimed at teaching any professional skills, but keeping them at home. Jyoung seems to agree with this position when he notes, â€Å"women were a repressed and suppressed group within the Chinese and Korean society† (206). If the Yangban women received this kind of education, the common woman had no chance of education at all. Painter of the Wind This masterpiece is yet another Korean drama whose focus is to depict the restrictions that women faced in ancient Korea. Just like The Princess Man, this drama is also set in the Chosom Dynasty. It revolves around a talented female Korean painter, Shin Yoon Bok (Silkyjade Para.8). This talented young woman has to pret end to be a boy in a bid to gain entry into Dohwaseo, a Painting Academy in the palace. This aspect plainly shows that during her time, women were not allowed to join the Dohwaseo. Women were solely taught the basic life skills needed to run a household, which are the rules that governed their relations with the three most important people in their lives, viz. their fathers, husbands, and sons (Hee-sook 118). This assertion explains the dilemma that this young woman and many of her like were in at that time; the dilemma of having the knowledge of an inborn talent needs to be developed yet being restricted by culture from developing the endowment. Women, including those of the ruling class, were slaves in this dynasty. When at some point this extraordinary student paints the Queen Jung Soon by accident during Dohwaseo outdoor exercise, she almost gets into trouble, but the determined efforts of her foster father and brother rescue her from being discovered. One does not even want to think of the kind of punishment she would have received together with her foster family. Professional training for women was out of question in Choson as depicted in this drama. Sungkyunkwan Scandal Sungkyunkwan Scandal is a love drama like The Princess Man and it shares a common setting, the Chosom Dynasty. The Sungkyunkwan was a highly esteemed educational institution in the Korean society. The drama paints a picture of a society in which women are not allowed to acquire formal education (Silkyjade Para. 6). According to the drama, Kim Yun-Hee, who is forced to disguise herself as her brother, fends for her family after the father’s demise. She is intelligent and studies while doing odd jobs at a local bookstore among them helping Sungkyunkwan students to do homework. Hard economic times and life’s pressures force her to become a substitute test–taker for rich people to assist with the entry exams into the Sungkyunkwan. What the drama puts across quite clearly is that the education system in the Chosom Dynasty discriminated against women yet if given the opportunity, they were so much capable. This girl was a commoner and in the Choson Dynasty, such women would be expected to raise the silkworms until they made cocoons to yield the silk used for weaving among other domestic chores (Hee-sook 140). This aspect shows just how brave some of these women were yet they were not given the chance to nurture their talents in a formal education system. Some of them were capable of doing far much better than the boys could do. Conclusion Women education in Choson Dynasty was highly restricted as depicted by the three drama pieces discussed in this paper. However, the women somehow found ways of acquiring the education albeit in disguise. The dramas go to great depths to bring out a picture of how a woman’s life was in that dynasty. The Choson Dynasty was unfriendly to all women in numerous ways, but for the three dramas to all focus on educat ion, the implication given is that of all the restrictions that were imposed, by missing education the women of the Chosom Dynasty missed so much. Works Cited Hee-sook, Han. â€Å"Women’s Life during the ChosÃ… n Dynasty.† International Journal of Korean History 6.1 (2004): 113-160. Print. Jyoung, Hyun. â€Å"Sociocultural Change and Traditional Values: Confucian Values among Koreans and Korean Americans.† International Journal of Intercultural Relations 25.2 (2001): 206-7. Print. Silkyjade. Painter of the Wind vs. Sungkyunkwan Scandal, 2011. Web. Sung-jin, Yang. Choson Women Suffered Harsh Discrimination, 2011. Web. The Oxford Advanced Learners’ Dictionary. Culture, 2011. Web. This research paper on Korean Culture was written and submitted by user Muhammad S. to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

The Aztec Triple Alliance

The Aztec Triple Alliance The Triple Alliance (1428-1521) was a military and political pact among three city-states who shared lands in the Basin of Mexico (what is essentially Mexico City today): Tenochtitlan, settled by the Mexica/Aztec; Texcoco, home of the Acolhua; and Tlacopan, home of the Tepaneca. That accord formed the basis of what was to become the Aztec Empire that ruled Central Mexico and eventually most of Mesoamerica when the Spanish arrived at the very end of the Postclassic period. We know quite a bit about the Aztec Triple Alliance because histories were compiled at the time of the Spanish conquest in 1519. Many of the native historical traditions collected by the Spanish or preserved in the towns contain detailed information about the dynastic leaders of the Triple Alliance, and economic, demographic, and social information comes from the archaeological record. The Rise of the Triple Alliance During the late Postclassic or Aztec Period (AD 1350-1520) in the Basin of Mexico, there was a rapid centralization of political authority. By 1350, the basin was divided into several small city-states (called Altepetl in the Nahuatl language), each of which was ruled by a petty king (Tlatoani). Each altepetl included an urban administrative center and a surrounding territory of dependent villages and hamlets. Some of the city-state relationships were hostile and plagued by nearly constant wars. Others were friendlier but still competed with one another for local prominence. Alliances between them were built and sustained through a vital trade network and a commonly shared set of symbols and art styles. By the late 14th century, two dominant confederations emerged. One was led by the Tepaneca on the western side of the Basin  and the other by the Acolhua on the eastern side. In 1418, the Tepaneca based at Azcapotzalco came to control most of the Basin. Increased tribute demands and exploitation under the Azcapotzalco Tepaneca led to a revolt by the Mexica in 1428. Expansion and the Aztec Empire The 1428 revolt became a fierce battle for regional domination between Azcapotzalco and the combined forces from Tenochtitlan and Texcoco. After several victories, the ethnic Tepaneca city-state of Tlacopan joined them, and the combined forces overthrew Azcapotzalco. After that, the Triple Alliance moved quickly to subdue other city-states in the basin. The south was conquered by 1432, the west by 1435, and the east by 1440. Some longer holdouts in the basin include Chalco, conquered in 1465, and Tlatelolco in 1473. These expansionist battles were not ethnically-based: the bitterest were waged against the related polities in the Puebla Valley. In most cases, the  annexation of communities simply meant the establishment of an additional layer of leadership and a tribute system. However, in some cases such as the Otomi capital of Xaltocan, archaeological evidence indicates that the Triple Alliance replaced some of the population, perhaps because the elites and commoner people fled. An Unequal Alliance The three city-states sometimes operated independently and sometimes together. By 1431, each capital controlled certain city-states, with Tenochtitlan to the south, Texcoco to the northeast and Tlacopan to the northwest. Each of the partners was politically autonomous. Each ruler king acted as the head of a separate domain. But the three partners were not equals, a division that increased over the 90 years of the Aztec Empire. The Triple Alliance divided booty recovered from their wars separately. 2/5 went to Tenochtitlan, 2/5 to Texcoco, and 1/5 (as the latecomer) to Tlacopan. Each leader of the alliance divided his resources among the ruler himself, his relatives, allied and dependent rulers, nobles, meritorious warriors, and to local community governments. Although Texcoco and Tenochtitlan began on a relatively equal footing, Tenochtitlan became preeminent in the military sphere, while Texcoco retained prominence in law, engineering, and the arts. Records do not include reference to Tlacopans specialties. Benefits of the Triple Alliance The Triple Alliance partners were a formidable military force, but they were also an economic force. Their strategy was to build on pre-existing trade relations, expanding them to new heights with state support. They also focused on urban development, dividing the areas into quarters and neighborhoods and encouraging an influx of immigrants into their capitals. They established political legitimacy and fostered social and political interactions through alliances and elite marriages within the three partners and throughout their empire. Archaeologist Michael E. Smith argues that the economic system was taxation, and not tribute since there were regular, routinized payments to the Empire from the subject states. This guaranteed the three cities a consistent flow of products coming in from different environmental and cultural regions, increasing their power and prestige. They also provided a relatively stable political environment, where commerce and marketplaces could flourish. Domination and Disintegration The king of Tenochtitln soon emerged as the supreme military commander of the alliance  and made the final decision on all military actions. Eventually, Tenochtitln began to erode the independence of first Tlacopn, then that of Texcoco. Of the two, Texcoco remained fairly powerful, appointing its colonial city-states and able to fend off Tenochtitlns attempt to intervene in Texcocan dynastic succession right up until the Spanish conquest. Most scholars believe that Tenochtitln was dominant throughout most of the period, but the effective union of the alliance remained intact through political, social, and economic means. Each controlled their territorial domain as dependent city-states and their military forces. They shared the expansionist goals of the empire, and their highest-status individuals maintained individual sovereignty by inter-marriages, feasting, markets and tribute sharing across alliance borders. But hostilities among the Triple Alliance persisted, and it was with the help of Texcocos forces that Hernan Cortes was able to overthrow Tenochtitln in 1591.