Abstract
The technocrats in Chosŏn court like interpreters, painters, legal officials or accountants, played a significant role in a range of services in the court to facilitate the scholar-officials. Some technocrats were from the former scholar-officials families, and some believed their ability should be recognized. They were keen to be promoted as some decision-makers in the court, but the Confucian norms restricted their mobility.
This paper argues that Chosŏn technocrats, known as middlemen, in the course of acting as service providers, had worked on their identity construction as a rising class in the 19th century. By re-examining the petition by Chosŏn technocrats in 1861, this paper illustrates how they attempted to conquer the obstacles formed by the Confucian norms in their court service and the petition for empowering themselves. It is shown that the technocrats attempted to extricate their community from the ruling monopoly of Yangban scholar-officials.
This paper argues that Chosŏn technocrats, known as middlemen, in the course of acting as service providers, had worked on their identity construction as a rising class in the 19th century. By re-examining the petition by Chosŏn technocrats in 1861, this paper illustrates how they attempted to conquer the obstacles formed by the Confucian norms in their court service and the petition for empowering themselves. It is shown that the technocrats attempted to extricate their community from the ruling monopoly of Yangban scholar-officials.
| Original language | English |
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| Publication status | Published - 26 Jun 2023 |
| Event | Association for Asian Studies AAS in Asia 2023 - Kyungpook National University, Daegu, Korea, Republic of Duration: 24 Jun 2023 → 27 Jun 2023 https://aasinasia.org/welcome |
Conference
| Conference | Association for Asian Studies AAS in Asia 2023 |
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| Country/Territory | Korea, Republic of |
| City | Daegu |
| Period | 24/06/23 → 27/06/23 |
| Internet address |