A Concise History of Premodern Korea | Michael J. Seth | Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

This is actually a textbook at the undergraduate level.  Still it provides a decent 101 for me in trying to understand the sangeuks that I have watched.  

Having never stepped foot in Korea, my glimpse into Korea is only through the kdramas and occasional variety shows.  I was quite struck by the rigidity portrayed in the kdramas, be there sangeuks or modern dramas, as well as the multiple mentions of the Ming court.  Like, even if someone is a mere week older than another, that person becomes a sunbae, and the hoobae needs to run errands for the sunbae.

From this book, I realised the obsession with Confucianism of the Koreas, which manifests in the very hierarchical patrilineality of the Korean society.  And yet, in sangueks, officials from the Ming court were often portrayed in a negative light - they would be greedy and uncourth, with robes that strangely end well above their ankles like how the Joseon males wear their robes.  Ancient paintings of Ming officials always show their robes ending just slightly showing the tips of their boots.

The author uses modern names such as China and Japan in the book in reference to Choson/Silla/Goryeo/Joseon's interactions with its neighbours, which makes it easy to understand today.  However, nationhood/statehood is a rather recent concept and terms such as China and Japan would not have existed in those days, and would have comprised of multiple smaller states each with its ruler.

While I know know that the Koreans' obsession with Confucianism goes back a long long way, I still don't quite understand the WHY of it.  Geographically premodern Korea was close to what is today's China, however, there were also many other states surrounding the Central Plains.  Did those states back then saw Confucianism also as the WAY?

Another question I had after reading this book was about the Tributary System of the Central Plains.  Did it mean that the states and tribes that provided tributes to the Central Plains in exchange of ruling titles recognized by the Central Plain ruler was actually part of the Central Plains empire?  That the people considered themselves subjects of the Central Plain empires?