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Ameliab2026 (talk | contribs) Included brief detail about the South Korean Confucian Association that started up shortly after Japanese invasion, wherein members tried to resurrect the religion, but faced many challenges. |
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A growing number of Neo-Confucian scholars had also begun to question particular metaphysical beliefs and practices. A movement known as [[Silhak]] (lit. "practical learning") posited that Neo-Confucian thought ought be founded more in reform than in maintaining the status quo. Differences among various Confucian and Neo-Confucian schools of thought grew to conflicts as Western countries sought to force open Korean, Chinese and Japanese societies to Western trade, Western technologies and Western institutions. Of particular concern were the growing number of Catholic and Protestant missionary schools which not only taught a Western pedagogy but also Christian religious beliefs. In 1894, Korean Conservatives, nationalists and Neo-Confucians rebelled at what they viewed as the loss of Korean Society and Culture to alien influences by the abandonment of the Chinese classics and Confucian rites.<ref name=":1" />
The [[Donghak Peasant Revolution|Donghak Rebellion]]—also called the 1894 Peasant War (Nongmin Jeonjaeng)—expanded on the actions of the small groups of the Donghak (lit. Eastern Learning) movement begun in 1892. Uniting into a single peasant guerrilla army (Donghak Peasant Army) the rebels armed themselves, raided government offices and killed rich landlords, traders and foreigners. The defeat of the Dong Hak rebels drove ardent Neo-Confucians out of the cities and into the rural and isolated areas of the country. However, the rebellion had pulled China into the conflict and in direct contention with Japan ([[First Sino-Japanese War]]). With the subsequent defeat of Qing China, Korea was wrested from Chinese influence concerning its administration and development. In 1904, the Japanese defeated Russia ([[Russo-Japanese War]]) ending Russian influence in Korea as well. As a result, Japan annexed Korea as a protectorate in 1910, ending the Joseon kingdom and producing a thirty-year occupation ([[Korea under Japanese rule]]) which sought to substitute Japanese culture for that of Korea. During this period, a Japanese administration imposed Japanese language, Japanese education, Japanese practices and even Japanese surnames on the Korean population predominantly in the large cities and surrounding suburban areas.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Traditional Korea a Cultural History|last=Joe|first=Wanne J.|publisher=Chung'ang University Press|date=June 1972|location=Seoul, Korea|pages=356–378}}</ref>
However, secret Confucian practice and organization still took place, and later took form as the ''Union of Confucian Associations'' in 1945–shortly after the Japanese influence was gone<ref name=":5">{{Cite journal |last=Myonggu |first=Yi |last2=William |first2=Douglas A. |date=Spring-Summer 1967 |title=Korean Confucianism Today |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2754621 |journal=Public Affairs |volume=40 |issue=1/2 |pages=43-59 |via=JSTOR}}</ref>. The organization was founded with the goal to eradicate and prevent further colonialist influence, and also update the once ''Myeongnyun Institute'' into the larger ''[[Sungkyunkwan University|Seong Gyun-gwan College]].'' The update was funded by the offerings given to the ''[[hyanggyo]]'' shrines, but fundings for the ''Union of Confucian Associations''–later transformed into a new Confucian Association, or ''Yohoe'', the following March–came from either membership dues or income from the land of the ''hyanggyo''. All the collected money was then to be split 30/20/50; 30% was to go to the local chapter, 20% to the provincial chapter, and then 50% to the Association<ref name=":5" />. Unfortunately, after the ravaging of factionalism and struggle swept throughout the country after 1945, many local chapters refused to contribute, which further fueled the battle in maintaining Confucianism with the Association. As it was, there was an estimate of 150,000 members in the Association of South Korea’s then population of 26 million. In comparison, Buddhism had over 5,000 monks and roughly 3,500,000 people that actively practiced the religion within South Korea alone<ref name=":5" />.
After the land reform by the [[Syngman Rhee|Rhee government]] in 1949, the Association began losing another significant amount of money as the land previously owned by the ''hyanggyo'' began to dwindle<ref name=":5" />. The once vast land amounts that the ''hyanggyo'' owned in the [[Yi dynasty]] were forced to be ceded to the government for farmland distribution, or given up for education establishments. Slowly, the local chapters no longer had as much income to fund the upkeep for the ''hyanggyo'' shrines or the activities that occurred throughout the Association.
But the Association was also struggling with the problem their rapidly aging followers posed. With the decline in popularity, according to a questionnaire conducted in 1963, the average Confucian followers per local chapter were in their forties. In contrast, the average age of the local chairmen was 63, and there were very few followers in their thirties or twenties<ref name=":5" />. In conjunction, a misconception was arising in Soul at the time that only aristocratic ''[[yangban]]'' families were able to join and follow Confucianism. This was presumably due to the two local chapters–located on remote Korean islands–that had established that only descendents of Confucius were able to join. This was quickly diffused, however, as it contradicts Confucius’ own outlook on the hereditary ruling class.
==Contemporary society and Confucianism==
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