Jeongjo

Jeongjo 22nd King of the Joseon Dynasty
Portrait of King Jeongjo (1680)
Spelling of names
Hangeul	정조
Hanja	正 祖
Revised Romanization	Jeongjo
McCune-Reischauer	Chŏngjo
Reign
Reign of	April 27, 1776
Reign until	August 18, 1800
predecessor	King Yeongjo
successor	King Sunjo
Life dates
Born on the	October 28, 1752
place of birth	Changgyeonggung Palace, Hanseong
Birth Name	이산
Hanja	李 祘
Revised Romanization	Yi San
McCune-Reischauer	Yi San
father	Crown Prince Sado
mother	Hyegyeong consort of the Pungsan Hong clan
Death dates
Died on	August 18, 1800
Place of death	Hwaseong Fortress , Suwon , Gyeonggi-do Province
tomb	Geolleung Tomb, Hwaseong City , Gyeonggi-do Province
Spouses, mistresses, offspring
Woman (s)	Queen Hyoui Ui of the Changnyeong Seong clan Su of the Bannam Park clan Won of the Pungsan Hong clan Hwa of the Namwon Yun clan
Sons	Prince Munhyo (Yi Sun) Prince Yi Gong
Daughters	Princess Sukseon and another daughter whose name is unknown

Jeongjo ( Korean : 정조 ) (born October 28, 1752 in the Changgyeonggung Palace ( 창경궁 ), Hanseong ; † August 18, 1800 in the Hwaseong Fortress ( 화성 ) in Suwon ( 수원 ), Gyeonggi-do Province ( 경기도 )) was the 22nd King of the Joseon Dynasty ( 조선 왕조 ) (1392–1910) in Korea .

Life

King Jeongjo lived during the last third of the Joseon Era (1392–1897). His father was Prince Sado ( 사도 ), who was killed by starvation in a rice box by his father Yeongjo ( 영조 ) in 1761 because of his unpredictable and violent behavior . Jeongjo, the second son of Prince Sado and San ( 산 ), was only 11 years old at the time. He then grew up under the care of his grandfather, King Yeongjo , who had appointed him crown prince as a Wangseson , ( 왕세손 ) (son of the prince and grandson of the king) at the age of 8 . At the age of 24 he succeeded Yeongjo to the throne and took over the business of government. His wife and thus queen of the country was Hyoui of the Cheongpung Gim clan ( 효 의 왕후 김씨 ) (1753-1821).

Jeongjo died at the age of 48 from a long-running illness. The rumor that he had been poisoned for the throne by unpopular rivals could invalidate a collection of letters published by Sungkyunkwan University 's Academy of East Asian Studies in February 2009.

Reign

Jeongjo ruled from 1776 until his death in 1800. Since, according to the Confucian ethos of the Joseon monarchy, it was reprehensible for a member of the Yangban (ruling class) to behave criminally or dishonorably, the legitimacy of his succession to the throne was initially questioned because of his origin posed. Even before his accession to the throne, his grandfather decreed that he be an adopted son of Prince Hyojang ( 효장 ), Yeongjo's deceased first son. However, after his enthronement, Jeongjo did everything to rehabilitate his father, Prince Sado . First, he posthumously returned his original name Jangheon ( 장헌 세자 ) and in 1789 moved his father's grave to a special place on the west coast, the hill Paldalsan ( 팔달산 ), in today's city of Suwon. Then he planned the construction of the fortress Hwaseong ( 화성 ), which was completed in just over 2 1/2 years of construction (January 1794 - September 1796). Hwaseong, located near his father's grave, became a fortress, city with an economic center and the new center of power for his reign.

Jeongjo ruled the country in terms of the divided political camps like his predecessor Yeongjo . He involved both political camps in a balanced way in power, promoted education and science, as well as the documentation of administrative processes and the state, and expanded national defense by means of new strategies. The creation of the Gyujanggak ( 규장각 ) Royal National Library was his initiative.

Jeongjo's politics are often referred to as Tangpyeong politics in connection with King Yeongjo . Tangpyeong is referred to in Shujing ( Chinese 書 經  /  书 经 , Pinyin shūjīng ), the book of documents of Chinese classical philology , as "achieving an ideal form of government of a state" and is generally used in East Asia as the definition of an ideal political system . His politics brought peace and prosperity, secured the political system and thus the existence of the Joseon dynasty.  

Nonetheless, the Catholicism that came to Korea via China in the middle of the 18th century led to unrest in the country, as it threatened the Confucian system. Therefore called Jeongjo the Catholic faith as heresy and took him in 1785 with a spell, followed by a ban on the import of books of all kinds, from Beijing arrived. Even though, as happened in 1791, a member of the Yangban (ruling class) was executed for converting to the Catholic faith, the secret practice of the faith was tolerated by Jeongjo despite the prohibition of the belief. After his death, the Catholics in Korea already numbered around 10,000 members at that time, this changed. Under King Sunjo ( 순조 ), his successor, Catholics were persecuted and killed if they continued to adhere to their beliefs.

literature

• Han Young Woo : Joseon Era . In: A Review of Korean History . Volume 2 . Kyongsaewon Publishing Company , Pajubookcity, Gyeonggi-do 2010, ISBN 978-89-8341-092-4 (English).
• Michael J. Seth : A Concise History of Korea, From the Neolithic Period through the Nineteenth Century . Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. , Oxford 2006, ISBN 978-0-7425-4005-7 (English).
• Sung-Yun Kim : Tangpyeong and Hwaseong: The Theory and Practice of Jeongjo's Politics and Hwaseong . In: Korea Journal . Vol. 41 , No. 1 . Korean National Commission for UNESCO , 2001, ISSN  0023-3900 , p. 137-165 (English).
• Peter H. Lee : Sourcebook of Korean Civilization . Volume II . Columbia University Press , New York 1996, ISBN 0-231-07914-1 (English).
• Charter J. Eckert u. a .: Korea Old and New, A History . Ilchokak Publishers , Seoul 1990, ISBN 0-9627713-0-9 (English, published by Harvard University Press ).

Individual evidence

1. ^ Seth : A Concise History of Korea . 2006, p.  183 .
2. ↑ ^{a b} Geolleung . Cultural Heritage Administration of Korea , accessed February 20, 2013 .  
3. ↑ Chung Ah-young : Reformative King Jeongjo Was Not Fatally Poisoned . Korean Times , February 9, 2009, accessed February 20, 2013 .  
4. ^ Lee : Sourcebook of Korean Civilization . 1996, p.  42 f .
5. ↑ Kim : Tangpyeong and Hwaseong . In: Korea Journal . 2001, p.  137 .
6. ↑ Eckert u. a .: Korea Old and New, A History . 1990, p.  170 f .
7. ^ Lee : Sourcebook of Korean Civilization . 1996, p.  147 .