Misconceptions about Joseon.

 1. Joseon is poor? According to data on the eating habits of Koreans seen by Western missionaries, Joseon is by no means impossible to live.Agricultural productivity was good and meat intake was very good.It is often because farmland was destroyed and exploited by Sedo politics, Japanese raiders, the Korean War, and the so-called "I couldn't eat and live in the past," not simply because I couldn't live in the past.In other words, it can be said that the old people's words "we used to be cold and hungry" came from ignorance of the previous era.To be exact, "We were cold and hungry in our time." Of course, some of the haters say that Joseon became poorer than Goryeo and Silla due to Joseon's commercial and industrial values, but that can be said without knowing the contradictions between capitalism and commercial society and the life of the Joseon Dynasty.A commercial society is basically in favor of capitalists.Their power and wealth make it harder for the common people to live, and the government has reduced tax revenues and fallen into various corruption and collusion between politics and business.Representative examples include Song, the primitive period, and the Industrial Revolution period in England.On the other hand, agriculture and livestock, which are primary industries, are less biased toward wealth and can satisfy basic needs, although their own economic efficiency is low. Let's take an example.Starbucks sells a cup of coffee for about three dollars.But in fact, less than 40 cents a pound goes to coffee tenants.For example, in the earlier era, Parthia, Persia, Saracen, Osman, etc. made huge profits by relaying spices and silk, and in Europe, they had to come up with breakthrough measures such as producing their own silk or pioneering new routes.As such, the contradictions between capitalism and commercial society were already fully experienced in the Goryeo Dynasty, and the countermeasure was to refrain from commerce and cultivate industries necessary for life, such as agriculture. As a result, the legislation regulated luxury and luxury such as building size, and emphasized frugality and simplicity rather than luxury in terms of thought.In order to rescue the common people, they also worked hard to improve the lives of the common people by lending grain (although it was later ruined) and operating Hyeminwon. In this way, these policies became successful in the early Joseon Dynasty.Due to securing agricultural land and the development of agricultural technology, agricultural production per unit and total agricultural area increased, which had a profound effect on improving the quality of life of farmers.In short, Joseon was faithful to meeting the basic needs, which can be said to be the basis of the national economy and the common people's economy, and it was agriculture. 

2. Is Joseon an unequal society? It's one of the things that many people are mistaken about.Obviously, there was a status system in Joseon, and there was a gender classification.But if you look closely at this, it can be called formal equality.Joseon's status system and gender distinction are justifiable in terms of justification, but they do not mean direct disadvantagesAs mentioned above, the gender-discriminatory thinking and the importance of the elderly are not really related to the ideals of Joseon. Looking at the status system of Joseon, this status system was divided into heaven and sheep, and the rest of the status system had legal equal rights except for heaven.In addition, he was interested in butcher lanterns, which are equivalent to the people of heaven, and gave the butcher a name called Pyeongryanggat, which guarantees that the butcher is a human being and has the same rights as other people.Of course, later on, this Pyeongyanggat becomes a tool for reverse discrimination, but the initial intention was to help butts.In addition, with legal protection, whether natural or benign, no matter how high a person is, he or she could not do anything to bully the people below him, and in that case, he or she could be attacked by public opinion and subject to impeachment. To add one more thing here, unlike in movies and dramas, Joseon was strong in checks on kingship, so there were three companies to check kingship, and if the three companies opposed, even kings could not do anything recklessly.Due to these checks and strong legislation, Joseon has a kind of constitutional monarchy.Of course, it cannot be said that it is the same as it is now, but there are only a few countries that show such advanced political systems throughout the Middle Ages.The officials also worked diligently for a small salary.From then on, until the evils of Sedo politics appeared. The gender distinction was also more about protecting women and respecting each other than discriminating against women.In the case of noblemen, men and women used honorifics to each other.In Japan, men are treated poorly and women are treated respectfully.In addition, property inheritance was also not discriminated against men and women in the previous life, and women's private property was guaranteed.In other words, the significance of gender distinction was that it was intended to prevent some kind of disturbance of sexual life (although it's not necessarily bad), to respect each other, to protect the weak, etc., and certainly went back without difficulty in the early Joseon Dynasty. However, the problem is that the above-mentioned "formal discrimination" has been deteriorated due to confusion in values and fluctuations in the status system since the Imjin War and the collapse of the title.As the upper and lower levels gradually diminished, the establishment felt a kind of loss and dissatisfaction as formal discrimination and distinction, which were a means of self-satisfaction and reward, led to the strengthening of the justification theory.While emphasizing the justification aspect, they put more emphasis on discrimination and distinction than on the biography, which is particularly noticeable in relationships between men and women. In summary, Joseon's gender division, upper and lower divisions, and status were formal and belonged to the most equal axis compared to other countries.It can be said that it was the most equal of civilized countries.Of course, due to the Japanese Invasion of Korea in 1592, the collapse of the name, and the agitation of the Shinbunje system, Joseon lost its grasp and flowed into the justification theory, but it was not to the extent that it was serious.On the contrary, it was during the Japanese colonial period that had the greatest negative impact. 

3.Is Joseon Weak in Military Power? One of the reasons for disparaging Joseon's military power is that the only major war Joseon fought was defeat.The Japanese Invasion of Korea in 1592, the Manchu Invasion of Korea, and there were no major wars.But this has to be looked at in two ways.It is the relationship and ideological aspect with neighboring countries. The first is neighboring countries.It is a geographical feature of China to the west, nomadic people to the north, and Japan to the south.Of course, this is not a disadvantage.They were far from China, and nomads were interested in China, and why they were not considered enemies.However, this is at a disadvantage.Why, over the past few hundred years, has shown a much lower standard of living and civilization, and even my part of it has happened.The nomads were small, and even if they were united, it was clear that they would attack China if it was not particularly enemy-like, and although China was the biggest problem, the Ming Dynasty established at that time was busy fighting Bukwon, and had to be moderately coaxed. As a result, China will naturally help in the event of a war, and nomads need to be moderately coaxed so that they don't get together and don't be a big enemy, and Japan just needs to stop pirates in moderation.However, Japan, trained by civil war, invaded peace-soaked Joseon, suffered a heavy blow in the early stages by shoveling such as small-scale Won Gyun, and later failed to coax Qing and suffered a heavy blow.In other words, as the situation of neighboring countries changed rapidly, Joseon also had to change the system quickly, but unfortunately, it failed to do so, which eventually leads to the collapse of the system and ideas. The second theory is the ideological aspect.War was basically a waste of a lot of goods and lives, which might be advantageous for the ruling class, but was not happy for the common people.Typically, in the case of Rome, after the Punic War, the viscounts collapsed and wealth was concentrated on the aristocracy, resulting in a serious gap between the rich and the poor, which is a major social problem.Rather, the conquest war is damaging to their own people.Therefore, rather than establishing a large-scale force for the conquest war and a subsequent system, Joseon focuses on the diplomatic aspect of defending the enemy forces and receiving help from China (although of course, self-defense is of paramount importance).In other words, Joseon thought that the optimal form of military power was to the extent that it was optimal for defense but did not hurt the finances of the common people, and that Mozzar's military power could be solved with the help of China. In conclusion, the weak military power of Joseon was only in the consequential aspect, and the purpose and policy itself were very good.However, bad luck and lack of flexibility resulted in Joseon's policy being failed and foolish. 

4. Most of the complaints about Joseon come from the perception of misinformation - powerless, unequal, and poor.Of course, depending on the view of the above contents, it can be said that - after the middle of the year, it became pathetic, but at least this is what I want you to know, Joseon aimed for an ideal society and adjusted it to reality, but eventually failed due to internal/external factors. That's what I mean.Whether you look at it as a result or objectively, I hope it will be an opportunity for you to change if you have misunderstood or misunderstood anything.

Nevertheless, the Joseon Dynasty was a failed dynasty, and King Gojong helped sell the country to Japan. Wouldn't it be possible to assume a "constitutional monarchy" when the Republic of Korea was founded? From the beginning, it became a democratic state as if it were not a royal state.