Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Mashimaro]

[Blind Willie]

[Mashimaro]

[quote="kiwiboy_nz_99"]

[tomato]

[ulsanchris]

confucianism is also highly conservative. There is the idea that what worked in the past will work in the future. Confucians also had strict views on proper behaviour and conduct.

[On the other hand]

[Mashimaro]

[On the other hand]

[Paji eh Wong]

I took a survey course of Chinese history in school. I had this great prof who had these really vivid lectures that stuck in my head. He mentioned that there are large differences between Confucianism and Neo-Confucianism. Neo-Confucianism was a reaction to the Mongol invasion and the Yuan dynasty (I think, I'm no expert). The Chinese spent about a hundred years fighting each other, and then another hundred having their asses handed to them my Mongolians. So intellectuals turned back to Confucianism, looking for some harmony. After 200 years of war and being the prison bitch of outsiders, I could see how harmony and xenophobia were interesting ideas.

Now think about these ideas moving to Korea where they've had an even worse history of invasion.

Not that I'm making apologies for it. I dislike confucianism because, IMHO, it and democracy are mutually exclusive.

[weatherman]

Neo Confucianism can go by other names too, but it doesn��t usually get these labels. Try ��fundamentalist Confucianism�� ��ultra orthodox Confucianism�� terms we use for extremes in other schools of thought. Lets face it, Neo Confucianism really is quite repressive on a social and intellectual level, where women are repressed, there is a clear hierarchal system of who can do what, questioning of ideas is wrong. Really we are dealing with a society that is still dealing with a lot of left over issues from this past. Korea could teach other fundamentalist societies something I believe in sharing its experience in coming out of this way of thinking.

[Paji eh Wong]

[Ya-ta Boy]

A point or two others haven't addressed:

#1. Pres. Kim DJ wanted the influence of Confucianism reduced. I was talking to a Korean friend recently and he said he wants Roh to (somehow) reduce the custom of promoting people based on 'relationships' and start doing it based on merit. (Wouldn't that be refreshing?)

#2. A large part of the anti-Japanese sentiment here is because Japan is a 'younger' country and should 'respect' Korea more. That is an important part of the tendency to blame Japan for everything they don't blame on the Americans. Japan didn't keep its place in the hierarchy in 1910.

[mithridates]

[chotaerang]

I've asked a number of people a number of times why China always seems to get a free ride. The aforementioned support of North Korea during the Korean War and the continued collaboration with the gangsters presently in charge in the North spring to mind as two reasons why Koreans might want to throw a bit more antipathy towards the Chinese.

In response, two themes emerged: first, that Korea was the beneficiary centuries of Chinese culture and this debt muted criticism. Second, that in the latter twentieth century China came to be seen as dirty and poor, and so beneath the radar of disdain.

As an aside, Mithridates, I like your informative posts - keep up the good work.

[Squid]

I've read some of the analects, though only in translation. They're interesting from a cultural point of view.

At least grounding out a little knowledge of what's shaped the society in which you live...ie here in ROK, is an invaluable tool when it comes to trying to understand why people do the things they do. Why overt corruption at almost every level of society is tolerated as an extension of regular business practices, why some husbands beat their wives in public and the neighbors and the police do nothing...

The emphasis in Confucius on filial piety and the overarching importance of the family, when used as teaching material, has produced what we live amongst. Weird, yes... but if you stay here a while it should no longer baffle you.

Yours eruditely,

Squid the fairly well read.