Confucianism introduction

This introduction contextualises the three chapters on Korean Confucianism that follow. Arguably, the belief system most closely associated with Korea is Confucianism. As a philosophy, Confucian thought aimed to harmonise society through education, respect for senior members of the family and state, and the correct observance of rituals that acknowledged these relationships. The founders of Chosŏn established Confucianism as its governing ideology, thereby initiating a top-down effort to restructure society in strictly Confucian terms. With the intrusion of Japanese colonialism, Confucianism began to be regarded by Korean nationalist thinkers as an ideological construct that bound Koreans to a past from which they should escape. As a philosophy, Confucianism has proven remarkably resilient to urbanisation, Japanese colonisation, the rise of nationalism, and suppression under authoritarian rule. Prominent vestiges of Confucian thought and practices still exist in the South and North today.