Why Yangban Confucian Culture has been Denounced = Why Yangban Confucian Culture has been Denounced

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

The purpose of this essay has been to investigate the origins of the negative perceptions of yangban culture. The result of this investigation has been a confirmation that the problematic perception of traditional yangban culture first became prominent when Koreans were forced to accept Western technological civilization in the middle of the nineteenth century. However, this problematic perception was not a cultural but a political one. The Western Way-Western Technique discourse, introduced by way of Japan, shook the core of the Great Han Empire from the very first. In contrast to how Japan made use of their own national characteristics, with their Japanese Spirits-Western Technique discourse, in their reception of Western civilization, the Japanese prevailed upon us to discard our roots and our tradition.