Teaching East Asia: Korea Teaching East Asia: Korea | Page 51

RESOURCES TEACHING RESOURCES ESSAYS

Values Lesson Plan How Currency Reveals Cultural Values By Mary Connor

King Sejong , 1397 – 1450 : 10,000 won
Shin Saimdang ( Shin- Sa-im-dang ), 1504 – 1551 : 50,000 won

King Sejong is the most well-known and celebrated ruler in Korean history . Even though he lived more than 500 years ago , the Korean people continue to honor him for his relentless efforts to improve the lives of the common people . He governed with compassion and wisdom and led Korea into a golden age of cultural and scientific progress .

In his youth , Sejong became known as “ the reading prince ” and began his lifelong quest to learn everything he could about the world around him . At the age of twenty-two , he became king and established the foundation of a royal household that would last into the early twentieth century . He believed that good government was based on selecting and training intelligent men to administer the various branches of government . He selected twenty of his most able scholars and allowed them to essentially devote all of their time to advanced learning . He also sought out talent in the countryside by establishing a system to select the most qualified people to serve in government positions , according to their abilities . To protect his homeland from invaders , he selected technicians to develop improved forms of cannon and artillery .
One of King Sejong ’ s main goals , and the one for which he is most famous , was to make his people more educated by making it easier for them to learn to read . At this time , Koreans used the Chinese system , which involved the memorization of thousands of characters that were complicated and difficult to learn . Literacy was also restricted to the ruling class . Wanting the best for all of the people , the king came up with the revolutionary idea of inventing a new writing system that would be easily learned by the common people . By 1433 , he and his scholarly officials had created the hangul alphabet , a phonetic writing system that greatly increased the ability of the common people to become educated . In addition , he directed scholars to write books to improve farming techniques and increase production . Under his direction , a medical dictionary and an eighty-fivevolume encyclopedia were completed , which included medical treatments , acupuncture , and herbal prescriptions to treat nearly 1,000 diseases . King Sejong also promoted art , music , astronomy , science , and improved printing techniques ; and he is credited with inventing the rain gauge .

Shin Saimdang is considered the most respected and memorialized woman in Korean history . She is regarded as the ideal mother , exemplary wife , and dutiful daughter ; and she is known for her artistic talents in calligraphy , embroidery , painting , and poetry . Shin Saimdang was also a scholar well-versed in the Confucian classics and other great works of the literary tradition . She was also praised as the mother of Yulgok , one of Korea ’ s most famous philosophers . Considering the firmly held belief of female inferiority and oppressive customs to which women were subjected during the Chŏson dynasty , Saimdang must have been a woman of great inner strength and determination .

Shin Saimdang came from an aristocratic background . Her parents believed that their five daughters should be educated at an early age . It is believed that she started painting at the age of five . When she was as young as six , she surprised her parents by creating a nearly perfect replica of a landscape by a renowned landscape painter . In time , her landscape paintings became her most treasured works .
When she was nineteen , in the same year that she married , her father died . Because she came from a family where there were no sons , she had to balance her responsibilities between her duty to her mother and her own family . In spite of the fact that it was difficult to visit her mother because she did not live nearby , she remained a dutiful daughter and divided her time between visiting her mother and being a devoted mother of seven children .
Because Saimdang appreciated the fine education she received from her parents , she felt it was one of her familial obligations to be productive and utilize her artistic and literary skills . She also believed that she should make sure that her children were well-educated and constructive members of society . Her third son , Yulgok , reportedly mastered the Confucian classics at the age of seven , wrote poetry at the age of eight , and ultimately became one of Korea ’ s most famous philosophers .
Saimdang ’ s sense of devotion to her family , along with her artistic achievements , required a great investment of time and energy and may have contributed to her relatively early death at age forty-seven .
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Upcoming Issues of EAA FALL 2013 ( 18:2 ) Cyber Asia and the New Media WINTER 2013 ( 18:3 ) Central Asia and Focus on the ROK ’ s Economic Rise SPRING 2014 ( 19:1 ) Teaching Asia through Field Trips and Experiential Learning
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