Marginality and Subversion in Korea: The Hong Kyongnae Rebellion of 1812
In the history of Korea, the nineteenth century is often considered an age of popular rebellions. Scholarly approaches have typically pointed to these rebellions as evidence of the progressive direction of the period, often using the theory of class struggle as an analytical framework. In Marginality and Subversion in Korea, Sun Joo Kim argues that a close reading of the actors and circumstances involved in one of the century's major rebellions, the Hong Kyongnae Rebellion of 1812, leads instead to more complex conclusions.

Drawing from primary sources in Korean, Japanese, and classical Chinese, this book is the most extensive study in the English language of any of the major nineteenth-century rebellions in Korea. Whereas previous research has focused on economic and landlord-tenant tensions, suggesting that class animosity was the dominant feature in the political behavior of peasants, Sun Joo Kim explores the role of embittered local elites in providing vital support in the early stages to spur social change that would benefit these elites as much as the peasant class. Later, however, many of these same elites would rally to the side of the state, providing military and material contributions to help put down the rebellion. Kim explains why these opportunistic elites became discontented with the state in the scramble for power, prestige, and scarce resources, and why many ultimately worked to rescue and reinforce the Choson dynasty and the Confucian ideology that would prevail for another one hundred years.

This sophisticated, groundbreaking study will be essential reading for historians and scholars of Korean studies, as well as those interested in early modern East Asia, social transformation, rebellions, and revolutions.

1112479820
Marginality and Subversion in Korea: The Hong Kyongnae Rebellion of 1812
In the history of Korea, the nineteenth century is often considered an age of popular rebellions. Scholarly approaches have typically pointed to these rebellions as evidence of the progressive direction of the period, often using the theory of class struggle as an analytical framework. In Marginality and Subversion in Korea, Sun Joo Kim argues that a close reading of the actors and circumstances involved in one of the century's major rebellions, the Hong Kyongnae Rebellion of 1812, leads instead to more complex conclusions.

Drawing from primary sources in Korean, Japanese, and classical Chinese, this book is the most extensive study in the English language of any of the major nineteenth-century rebellions in Korea. Whereas previous research has focused on economic and landlord-tenant tensions, suggesting that class animosity was the dominant feature in the political behavior of peasants, Sun Joo Kim explores the role of embittered local elites in providing vital support in the early stages to spur social change that would benefit these elites as much as the peasant class. Later, however, many of these same elites would rally to the side of the state, providing military and material contributions to help put down the rebellion. Kim explains why these opportunistic elites became discontented with the state in the scramble for power, prestige, and scarce resources, and why many ultimately worked to rescue and reinforce the Choson dynasty and the Confucian ideology that would prevail for another one hundred years.

This sophisticated, groundbreaking study will be essential reading for historians and scholars of Korean studies, as well as those interested in early modern East Asia, social transformation, rebellions, and revolutions.

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Marginality and Subversion in Korea: The Hong Kyongnae Rebellion of 1812

Marginality and Subversion in Korea: The Hong Kyongnae Rebellion of 1812

by Sun Joo Kim
Marginality and Subversion in Korea: The Hong Kyongnae Rebellion of 1812

Marginality and Subversion in Korea: The Hong Kyongnae Rebellion of 1812

by Sun Joo Kim

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Overview

In the history of Korea, the nineteenth century is often considered an age of popular rebellions. Scholarly approaches have typically pointed to these rebellions as evidence of the progressive direction of the period, often using the theory of class struggle as an analytical framework. In Marginality and Subversion in Korea, Sun Joo Kim argues that a close reading of the actors and circumstances involved in one of the century's major rebellions, the Hong Kyongnae Rebellion of 1812, leads instead to more complex conclusions.

Drawing from primary sources in Korean, Japanese, and classical Chinese, this book is the most extensive study in the English language of any of the major nineteenth-century rebellions in Korea. Whereas previous research has focused on economic and landlord-tenant tensions, suggesting that class animosity was the dominant feature in the political behavior of peasants, Sun Joo Kim explores the role of embittered local elites in providing vital support in the early stages to spur social change that would benefit these elites as much as the peasant class. Later, however, many of these same elites would rally to the side of the state, providing military and material contributions to help put down the rebellion. Kim explains why these opportunistic elites became discontented with the state in the scramble for power, prestige, and scarce resources, and why many ultimately worked to rescue and reinforce the Choson dynasty and the Confucian ideology that would prevail for another one hundred years.

This sophisticated, groundbreaking study will be essential reading for historians and scholars of Korean studies, as well as those interested in early modern East Asia, social transformation, rebellions, and revolutions.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780295803388
Publisher: University of Washington Press
Publication date: 11/01/2013
Series: Korean Studies of the Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies
Sold by: Barnes & Noble
Format: eBook
Pages: 304
File size: 2 MB
Age Range: 18 Years

About the Author

Sun Joo Kim is professor of Korean history at Harvard University.

Table of Contents


Acknowledgments     ix
Author's Note     xii
Weights and Measures     xiii
Introduction     03
State, Region, Regional Elite, and Culture
Historical Development of the Ch'ongbuk Region and the Regional Elite     15
Regional Discrimination and the Hong Kyongnae Rebellion     35
The Economic Context of the Hong Kyongnae Rebellion     66
Prophecy and Popular Rebellion     89
The Hong Kyongnae Rebellion of 1812
Leadership and Preparation     107
Rebels and Counterrebels     127
Rebels on the Defense     153
Nation, Class, and Region in the Study of the Hong Kyongnae Rebellion     168
Appendixes
Primary Sources and Methodology     181
Paek Kyonghae's Career History     185
Fates of the Key Rebel Leaders     188
Kings of the Choson Dynasty     190
Notes     193
Glossary     243
Bibliography     255
Index     279

What People are Saying About This

John B. Duncan

Kim argues convincingly that it was neither desperate peasants nor ambitious new economic forces but rather traditional local elites, frustrated by their marginalization from the center and by government policies that threatened to undermine both their status and their financial well-being, who plotted and carried out the rebellion.

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