| Yangban |
This picture shows the two gentlemen of yangban class playing baduk in 1904.
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| Korean name |
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The yangban were a well educated scholarly class of male Confucian intellectuals who were part of the ruling elite within Korea prior to 1910 and the republics period of Korean history. The name yangban, literally "both classes," refers to two kinds of classes it consists of: munban (문반;文班), the literary class, and muban (무반;武班), the martial class. Despite the technical meaning of yangban, the term included both extended family members of literary/martial officials and scholars. Sajok (사족;士族) is a term which roughly overlaps yangban but with emphasis on the lineage factor. Women were, of course, included. The yangban or sajok tradition of close links by education, teachers, family background, city of origin, has been perpetuated within the Korean ruling class of the partitioned Koreas, with the south forming a new yangban class of leaders who share many of the values of earlier times; and the north forming a new yangban class based on military and educational fellowships and alliances. Throughout Joseon history, the yangban have been assisted by the small middle class of chungin.
History
Yangban were the Joseon Dynasty equivalent of the former Goryeo nobles who had been educated in both Buddhist and Confucian studies. With the succession of the Yi generals within the Joseon dynasty, prior feuds and factionalism were replaced by a decisive attempt to instill administrative organization throughout Korea, and create a new scholarly class from new educational foundations. The yangban were in fact modelled on the Ming dynasty Chinese bureaucrats which helped Korea proceed towards their golden age of scholarship and civilization.
One could become a yangban by taking the civil service exams, the results of which determined placement into high ranking civil positions. In practice, however, often only the wealthy and the connected had the measures to sustain themselves while they studied for the exams. In the late Joseon Dynasty, tests were rigged to favor those from wealthy families and the sons of yangban. The yangban dominated the Royal Court and Military of pre-Modern Korea and often were exempt from various laws including those relating to taxes.
The yangban system was relatively free of corruption in the earlier part of the dynasty. After the Seven-Year War, however, the system collapsed along with the economy. In addition to stipends granted to them from civil service duties, the yangban often received bribes and other illegal forms of payment in exchange for positions in the Royal Courts and the Military. Often, corrupt yangban also confiscated land from the peasants by imposing ridiculously large taxes on the land and then seizing the land under the pretense of unpaid taxes.
In modern day Korea, the yangban no longer possess an advantage but many often boast of having a yangban ancestor. Yangban ancestry can be traced through the Jokbo or the Korean equivalent of a family tree which is passed down in each family through the eldest son.
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