The Formation of Neo-Confucian Humanity: Joseon People Living in the Age of Neo-Confucianism
The Birth of Park Seong-ui, a Neo-Confucian Man | Neo-Confucianism and Neo-Confucian Man | Texts for Neo-Confucianism | A Neo-Confucian Life

Formation of academic networks - academic exchanges with schools of thought
Formation of Schools | Methods and Contents of Academic Exchange | Structure of Academic Networks

The Local Nobility Becomes the Ruler of the Rural Areas - The Rule of the Nobility in Rural Areas, Its Establishment and Changes
Local Nobility and Rural Rule | The Establishment and Structure of Rural Rule in the 16th and 17th Centuries | The Content and Character of Rural Rule in the 16th and 17th Centuries |
Changes in rural governance and the emergence of 'new powers' in the 18th and 19th centuries

From Family to Clan - The Story of a Family's History and Formation
Marrying men, and the ancestral rites continued by only daughters | The eldest son and the same surname are the most important | The fragmentation and division of kinship | The trend toward clanization in the late Joseon Dynasty: Clan villages and clan academies

Farmers and landlords - the agricultural management of the yangban class
The era of farming with slaves | The spread of rice planting and the intensification and diversification of field farming | The yangban striving to collect more rent | People who depended on the yangban's land

Joseon's daily life - Joseon's lifestyle culture as seen through food, clothing, and shelter
Wearing Status and Order | Joseon People's Food and Meals | Even a Thatched House Must Be Decorated with Etiquette

Seoul, overflowing with doctors and medicine, while the countryside lacked food: the medical landscape of Joseon in the late 18th century.
Seoul's Medical Landscape and Yu Man-ju's Diary | Kim Yak-haeng's Country Life

Deviance and Resistance - Those who seek to escape the system, those who resist the system
Those who leave the village | When they gather, they are bandits; when they disperse, they are peasants | Those who resist reality | Those who resist toward a new world

For a history of communication

The compilation of the Korean History Research Society's Historical Series began in 2002.
Afterwards, the 'Korean History Research Society Historical Series Compilation Committee' was formed, writing principles and a compilation schedule were established, and teams were formed for each era, including ancient, Goryeo, Joseon, modern, and contemporary times, to prepare a plan, select appropriate writers, and begin writing.
It was a arduous process, with nearly 60 authors participating and working collaboratively to produce 10 books.
From coordinating and gathering the opinions of various authors to reviewing and revising the completed manuscripts several times by team, heated discussions took place.
This process also makes us look back on our present times.
As symbolized by the fall of the Berlin Wall in the past, the world entered the 21st century moving toward reconciliation and exchange rather than confrontation between systems and ideologies, as the Cold War ended with the reform and opening of Eastern European socialist countries.
The Korean Peninsula also moved toward reconciliation, exchange, and cooperation between the South and the North, starting with the visit of Chairman Chung Ju-young of Hyundai to the North in 1998 and the inter-Korean summit in 2000.
But now, 15 years into the 21st century, the world is once again heading towards conflict.
Conflicts and disputes within the Middle East, such as the conflict between Israel and Palestine, the confrontation between the United States and the Islamic camp including Al Qaeda, the Syrian civil war and the emergence of an Islamic state, and the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, continue, and historical and territorial disputes are fiercely unfolding in Northeast Asia.
The difference from before is that it is more of a religious and civilizational conflict than an ideological one.
So what about Korean society?
Unfortunately, Korean society is still plagued by anachronistic ideologies and regional conflicts, while neoliberalism is rapidly leading to economic and social polarization, deepening conflicts between generations and classes.
And even the safety of everyday life is threatened by the shallow profit logic of capitalism and the chains of political and social corruption.
The Sewol ferry disaster, which killed 304 people, including 250 young students, can be said to be an incident that symbolically represents the contradictions in Korean society.
In a society where courtesy and consideration for humanity have vanished, where the safety and welfare that should be the state's responsibility are now left to the citizens themselves, where justice has vanished and trust and hope are replaced by distrust and resignation, what role can history play? This "Korean History Research Society Historical Series" hopes to contribute to the systematization and communication of Korean history.
History has been said to be 'a conversation between the present and the past.'
It is about examining the past from the present standpoint and looking forward to the future based on that.
To achieve this, historians must constantly rewrite history.
With this in mind, the Korean History Research Society's Historical Series examines Korean history from ancient times to the present day from a new perspective.

The history of the Joseon Dynasty, not a history of fiction and virtuality
For a history of evidence and facts

Recently, many books that can be considered educational books about the Joseon Dynasty have been published.
Along with this, video productions such as documentary educational programs and historical dramas based on history are also providing support.
This phenomenon has emerged thanks to the ease of access to various materials, including original and translated versions of chronicles such as the Annals of the Joseon Dynasty, which are now available online. It is also a result of the growing interest of the general public in history and their mutual influence.
While the growing interest and desire for culture among the general public and the resulting production of a large number of cultural products, videos, and other educational materials are welcome phenomena, there are also concerns.
Historical narrative is a combination of data and interpretation of facts, built on a foundation of empirical evidence that reconstructs facts.
A story that has not been verified, no matter how interesting, cannot be called history, and a narrative that is not supported by accurate historical criticism and interpretation cannot be included in the category of history.
However, around us today, there are countless cases of fiction and illusion that run counter to historical facts and truth being disguised as history and spread.
Mistaking something that is not history for history cannot but have great repercussions.

16 authorities from various fields of academia,
The Joseon Dynasty as viewed through the framework of individual-society-state-world

These circumstances, both within and outside the scope of research, have given scholars studying the Joseon Dynasty a sense of obligation to answer the questions of what history is and how to understand and describe the Joseon Dynasty.
Researchers specializing in the Joseon Dynasty belonging to the Medieval 2 Division of the Korean History Research Association, who wrote ≪History of the Joseon Dynasty 1 - State and World≫ (Hong Sun-min, Han Sang-kwon, Son Byeong-gyu, Kim Seong-woo, Ko Dong-hwan, Han Myeong-gi, Bae Woo-seong, Noh Dae-hwan) and ≪History of the Joseon Dynasty 2 - Humans and Society≫ (Kim Hoon-sik, Ko Yeong-jin, Jeong Jin-yeong, Lee Hae-jun, Kim Geon-tae, Jeong Yeon-sik, Kim Ho, Han Hee-sook), decided to examine the Joseon Dynasty centered on the framework of individual (family) - society - state - world, and selected 16 subtopics that fit each category and put them into two books.

For example, among the subtopics, [The Formation of a Neo-Confucian Man] and [From Family to Clan] look at the Joseon Dynasty from the individual (family) level; [The Formation of an Academic Network] and [Local Nobility Becomes the Ruler of the Rural Area] look at the Joseon Dynasty from the social level; [The Progress of Political Operations and Royal Power] and [Education and Criminal Justice] look at the Joseon Dynasty from the national level; and [International Relations and War] and [The Image of the World Drawn by Joseon People] look at the Joseon Dynasty from the global level.
At first glance, it may seem unsystematic, but the book is written in a way that allows readers to come up with a single 'Joseon Dynasty theme' after reading the entire book.
Just like Robert Darnton's classic work in Western history, "The Cat Massacre."

Therefore, this book is not an introductory or comprehensive history like existing books covering the history of the times.
In order to understand the reality of the Joseon Dynasty more deeply, experts in each field have condensed and organized the academic research results accumulated over time to look at the Joseon Dynasty through the windows of individuals (families), society, the nation, and the world.
It can be said that the authors' common understanding is based on their desire to look at the Joseon Dynasty in a new way, going beyond the existing perspective.
This book, which develops and deeply describes subtopics that cannot be covered in existing introductory books or general histories under a new explanatory framework, will serve as a valuable guide for understanding the Joseon Dynasty.
The composition and contents of ≪History of the Joseon Dynasty 1 - The State and the World≫ and ≪History of the Joseon Dynasty 2 - Humans and Society≫ are as follows.

Joseon Dynasty History 2 - The Composition and Content of Humans and Society

In 'History of the Joseon Dynasty 2', we examine Joseon's Neo-Confucianism, rural society, food, clothing, and shelter, and agricultural culture in general under the categories of 'individual (family)' and 'society.'
[The Formation of a Neo-Confucian Human] examines how a person was raised as a Neo-Confucian human during the Joseon Dynasty and what their lives were like through the life of Park Seong, a scholar who lived in the era of Neo-Confucianism.
Park Seong-eun, from Hyeonpung, Gyeongsang Province, was born into a wealthy noble family.
It is a condition that allows one to grow into a human being of Neo-Confucianism.
The atmosphere of his family also provided the background for him to grow into a person of Neo-Confucianism.
[The Formation of an Academic Network] provides an overview of the schools and academic exchanges of the Joseon Dynasty.
Joseon scholars formed diverse academic networks across various levels, including family, school, and region, and engaged in active academic exchanges on this basis.
As a result, the academic character of an individual or group was also determined within it.
Additionally, the nature of academic networks has changed slightly over time.
Based on this problem awareness, the process of forming an academic network among scholars in the Joseon Dynasty was examined, focusing on the establishment of schools, the method and content of academic exchange between regions, and the structure of the academic network.
[The local nobility becomes the ruler of the countryside] organizes the nobility's rule over the countryside and its establishment and changes.
The local aristocracy was the ruling power in rural society during the Joseon Dynasty.
Contrary to the national stance of pursuing centralization, they sought to run rural society autonomously.
Therefore, there were several clashes with the state or the Hungu forces over the issue of rural governance.
By the mid-16th century, with the political victory of the Sarim faction, they were finally able to establish a ruling system in rural society.
These include hyangso, hyangyak, hyanggyu, or donggye, dongyak, seowon, and hyanggyo.
Through these organizations and regulations, the local gentry were able to reign as rulers of rural society and, through these, enforce their own communal interests.
[From Family to Clan] looks at the history and formation of the family.
What exactly did the family structure and kinship relationships of the Joseon Dynasty look like, and what processes did they undergo to reach their current state? We believe the Joseon Dynasty consistently maintained a patriarchal structure dominated by men.
However, the patriarchal kinship system was rather established in the late Joseon Dynasty, and for a long time, a two-line kinship system was maintained in which the paternal and maternal lines were recognized as equals.
However, after the mid-17th century, this kinship system changed into a male-dominated patriarchal kinship system.
The latter half of the 18th century was a period in which clan activities increased.
They actively promoted the organization of kinship called jokgye or jonggye, the publication of jongga, ancestral shrines, ancestral shrines, and genealogical records (pabo), the worship of ancestors, and the establishment of seowon and shrines.
[The Farmer Who Farms, the Landowner Who Collects] summarizes the agricultural management of the Yangban class.
In the 15th and 16th centuries, the Joseon yangban class managed agriculture through farms that combined slaves and land rather than using farmers.
In the late Joseon Dynasty, the population growth rate exceeded the land growth rate, and the average size of farmland owned by farmers decreased.
While the number of landowners owning large tracts of land gradually decreased, the number of farmers owning small tracts of land increased, leading to an increase in the number of small-scale farmers.
During this period, poor farmers had no choice but to follow the control of the yangban in order to rent land, and the yangban landlords took advantage of this situation to strengthen the landlord system.
[Joseon's Daily Life] examines Joseon's lifestyle culture through food, clothing, and shelter.
Daily life in the Joseon Dynasty was subject to certain restrictions depending on one's status and social standing, and changes in lifestyle progressed slowly.
In the case of clothing, cotton was cultivated in earnest during the Joseon Dynasty and became a common fabric along with hemp, and cotton for winter use was also widely used.
During the Joseon Dynasty, people usually ate two meals a day: breakfast and dinner.
However, in some cases, I ate a small lunch during the day.
Lunch was mainly eaten from spring to fall when the days were long and people were active, but according to folk custom, lunch was stopped when the first frost fell.
In the case of residential life, discrimination was imposed on houses based on social status and rank, and regulations were put in place to prevent the construction of houses exceeding a certain size, but these were not strictly enforced.
[Seoul overflowing with doctors and pharmacists, while the countryside lacks food] provides an overview of the medical culture of Joseon in the late 18th century.
Through Yoo Man-ju's diary, the medical landscape in Seoul is compared with the poor medical landscape in exile through Kim Yak-haeng's diary.
The nobility and commoners of Seoul could receive a diagnosis and prescription from a doctor and then prepare or make their own medicine at a pharmacy.
The situation in the provinces had not improved much, so obtaining medicinal herbs was still not as easy as in Seoul.
[Deviation and Resistance] summarizes the resistance of the people during the Joseon Dynasty.
During the Joseon Dynasty, when people could not afford to pay taxes or when natural disasters became severe, they would migrate to other regions in search of food.
Promise was the most widespread form of popular passive resistance throughout the period, threatening the very foundations of an agricultural nation.
In the 16th and 17th centuries, the greed of the Hungu and Ch'uksin forces intensified, and the people with weak economic foundations were ruined by the excessive imposition of tribute, military service, and new vassalage, leading to an increase in the number of slaves and slaves.
The damage to the peasantry due to natural disasters and excessive taxes became more severe in the 17th century, and people who were trying to deviate from the law formed bandits who established bases in the mountains and attacked and plundered villages and government offices, threatening the system.
Representative examples include the activities of Hong Gil-dong during the Yeonsangun era, Im Kkeok-jeong during the Myeongjong era, Jang Gil-san during the Sukjong era, and the Myeonghwajeok bandits.
Moreover, under the 19th century Sedo regime, the division of the peasant class over land ownership deepened and the three administrative systems of government, military administration, and grain exchange became extremely chaotic, leading to frequent active peasant resistance.
However, as feudal contradictions failed to be reformed, the flames of peasant revolt intensified, leading to the Donghak Peasant Revolution of 1894, which called for anti-feudalism and anti-imperialism.