Iljinhoe, largest non religious mass organization in Korean history, some volunteered during the Russo-
Japanese war; collaboration led to a split within the Progressive party). They knew Korea did not have
the recourses to modernize, thought the Japan would help.
-
Development of modern Korean culture was inseparable from the rise in nationalism, the demand
for education in Western learning with practical application for protecting Korea from foreign
aggression led to the founding of at least 2,250 private academies across the country, a few that were
founded by Koreans and missionaries educated women. Schools provided a venue for debate and
mappers that heightened student’s patriotism; weaned from their addiction to Chinese culture,
scholars studied Korean language, history, and literature; published books on nation building
experiences elsewhere in the world. The “new novel”, a precursor to modern Korean fiction
emerged with protagonists advocated Korean independence and a new Korea founded on principles
of social equality, equality of men and women, and replacement of superstition with rationality.
Songs glorifying Korea spread nationalist sentiment across the country.
1st Decade of Japanese Rule:
-
Created a modern bureaucratic government, one with officials trained in administration and one which
could reach into villages (in China and Korea the lowest level was local leaders, in Japan it was
villages, wanted to reach down into taxes and create order), and they built a modern police force and
modern legal system
-
Regularized land-ownership, more Koreans took advantage of this than Japanese did to acquire more
land (rich Korean landlords took advantage of this and seized land from fellow Koreans, Koreans
owned 80% of Korean land)
-
Began opening public schools in which Japanese became he language of instruction, teachers carried
swords. As Koreans became more literate in Japanese, they became more literate in Korean too, as
much as half the population in Korea was literate in Japanese, Korean, or both by 1945.
-
Promoted modern financial business institutions, which gave an advantage to Japanese businessman,
first bank in Korea was opened by the Japanese.
•
If you were a Korean businessman, you needed a Japanese partner to get a loan.
Korea & Taiwan Under Japanese Rule
March 3 2015
-
Koreans were angered by many “modernizing” measures,
such as outlawing the slaughtering of pigs and chickens at
home, creating public cemeteries (challenging belief in
geomancy [fengsui,
풍수
], controlling doctors of Oriental
medicine, taxing wine and tobacco, etc.
-
Led to March 1, 1919 popular uprising against Japanese rule.
-
Seoul 1920: architecture important in an authoritarian
government, create fear in Koreans.
Colonial Development:
-
Growth in agricultural productivity, along with a decline in
the quantity and quality of what Koreans were eating (the
surplus they produced was exported to Japan), why is
agricultural grown important in the long run? It provides a
surplus. Koreans were still eating better than the Chinese at the time, but they didn’t run a surplus.
