[Brenda-Jean Shephard]

I've never been a fan of stories that are told as fact but are difficult or impossible to establish the credibility of; I feel like the educational field is full of educated people making guesses based on the limited evidence that is available, and different people come up with completely different theories based on the same limited evidence.  Yesterday a friend dragged me to watch a documentary showing (very limited release) in the cinema.  It was the most excrutiatingly boring movie I've ever seen--although for the record, I don't have TV and so I've seen very few documentaries.  For two hours we were dragged through the controversy of whether written language had developed to the point of being possible for Moses to have written Exodus as a primary source by an actual participant.  The filmmaker (whose name escapes me, and I don't feel like looking it up) presented the argument that artifacts found between Egypt, the Sinai peninsula, and Canaan give evidence that the Hebrews had an alphabet before the Phoenicians did.

When it comes down to it, I don't like ancient history because it seems so gory.  It's painful to think about people butchering each other in heinous ways, with their own hands.  Are there any prehistoric or early historic societies that were more humane than others?  Or has the history of civilization always involved the survival of the cruelist?

[Brenda-Jean Shephard]

plural noun - emoluments: 

 

salary, fee, or profit from employment or office.

 

Makes sense.

 

[Brenda-Jean Shephard]

The text did not explain what the injunctions were.  Made me wonder if there was any similarity to the ten commandments.  Looked it up  (https://www.ancient.eu/Taejo_of_Goryeo/, not wikipedia!), and it turns out there is no similarity.  While the commandments are aimed at the common person, the injunctions are specifically for rulers.  If you want to know, they are

1. The state is based on Buddhism: honour both Son and Kyo traditions.
2. Do not allow more temples unless they accord with the pungsu principles of Toson.
3. The eldest son should succeed to the throne. If he is unworthy choose the next. If he too is unworthy, choose the next, and so on down the list.
4. We have always followed Tang China; do not imitate the Khitan.
5. The state is founded on good pungsu and the site of Pyongyang is crucial. Visit there every fourth year for 100 days.
6. Maintain the Palgwan-hoe and Yondung-hoe festivals.
7. Rule like the classic kings, with fairness, judiciously taking advice and not overtaxing the people.
8. South of the Cha Pass and beyond the Kum river the people are as difficult as the terrain. Do not give them major appointments or marry them into the royal family.
9. Practise no favouritism, pay fair emoluments, and always take care of the army.
10. Study the ancient kings of China and keep the classic 'No Complacency' as your motto. 

Now I may have to google "emoluments"...

[Brenda-Jean Shephard]

In "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly," by Hurst (U of Kansas), we see more of what we learned about last Monday.  More difficult-to-substantiate history with controversial characters.

“Imagine trying to piece together the background of the Watergate conspiracy  thousand years hence, using only three brief accounts written in 2175, 2300, and 2500, by pro-Nixon authors, without any newspaper or magazine accounts, or the books written by the participants themselves, let alone the records of the trial.”

Kung Ye – illegitimate child of a king, not sure which one.  Survived infanticide attempt, but lost an eye.  Raised by bandits.  As king, became so cruel, he personally murdered his own wife and sons.  Eventually assassinated.

Kyon Hwon – son of a farmer, according to myth, suckled by a tigress.  Led a popular revolt during the reign of hughly-criticised Queen Chinsong.  General in the “Rape of Kyongju.”  Tried to make his 4^th son his successor, which was not well received by his other, older sons.  Had to flee.

Wang Kon – “Since in the end he emerged victorious and founded the dynasty of which all the compilers of the sources were loyal subjects, Wang Kon not surprisingly appears in the sources as an unqualified ‘good dynastic founder,”” Credited with virtuous loyalty, magnanimity to his enemies (refreshing!), military prowess, and benevolent rule (yay).  Reunited the Three Kingdoms and had the Ten Injunctions written.

The stories of oppression sound only too familiar.  Remove the Early Asian names and replace them with names from any number of different cultures.  Makes humans look pretty bad.  Are humans better today?  We would certainly like to think so, but how would we actually know?  Will our planet survive long enough to find out?

[Brenda-Jean Shephard]

I wonder if conditions have improved at all.  It's so easy for us to take life for granted, and forget that other people in the world right now are enduring atrocities we wouldn't want to imagine.

[Brenda-Jean Shephard]

Interesting that in the case of the Emishi, they had horses, armor, and more advanced weapons such as swords before the Yamato.  I wonder if there have been other historical exceptions to the general rule of the invaders/conquerors having better technology.

[Brenda-Jean Shephard]

Ok, well don't make fun of me for quoting Wikipedia.  If anyone has more reliable information, do share it!  But according to my questionable source, “The Imperial House of Japan is the oldest continuing monarchical house in the world.^[2]  The historical origins of the Emperors go back to the 3rd–7th centuries AD.”  Apparently, Japan is the only country in the world with a head of state called “emperor” in English.  His role is defined as "the symbol of the State and of the unity of the people." Historically, he was also the highest authority of the Shinto religion.  “Since the enactment of the 1947 Constitution, he has been a ceremonial head of state without even nominal political powers.”  The current emperor, Akhito, is 84 years old, and has decided to retire – or abdicate the throne – at the end of April, rather than continuing to rule until he dies.  His Son Naruhito, who is 59, will be the next emperor.  Naruhito has a brother and sister who are the same ages as my older brother and younger sister, respectively.  He’s been married since 1993 and has one daughter, who is 17 years old.  Presumably, she will eventually become the empress of Japan.

I enjoyed reading the story of Emperor Akhito and his wife, Empress Michiko http://factsanddetails.com/japan/cat16/sub111/item2880.html.  They have been married for 60 years!  She was neither royalty nor aristocratic, and in fact is Catholic.  In spite of what we learned about the history of Japan (or pre-Japan), and the dubious nature of history altogether, it seems that the current generation is in fact better than the past ones were.  I wish the emperor and empress a pleasant retirement.

[Brenda-Jean Shephard]

I guess I will need to do some Googling to find answers to some questions regarding the hereditary longevity of the emperors of Japan.  Guess I should read some manga too.  Too bad I never kept books confiscated from 6th graders who liked to read manga during lessons...

[Brenda-Jean Shephard]

Based on the reading, it's clear that the history of ancient Japan was very different from that of mainland Asia.  The first thing I noticed is that the dates are much more recent (AD rather than BCE).  I look forward to hearing about indigenous and non-indigenous inhabitants, and societies that had queens/empresses as well as kings/emperors.

[Brenda-Jean Shephard]

I don't know about you, but I have a hard time keeping track of all the characters in the Early China drama, partly because their names seem to change a lot.  I often have to google them to keep them straight.  Dr. Dube mentioned that someone named Li Si assassinated Han Fei.  Trying to fit that in to the narrative, I searched both men.  They were in fact contemporaries, living from 280-208 bce and 280-233 bce respectively, but the account says philosopher Han Fei committed suicide while Li Si was Prime Minister to the First Emperor Qin Shi Huang.  Looks like he was a significant player in the sweeping changes introduced during the 14 remarkable years of the Qin "dynasty."  One historian (John Knoblock of Stanford University) considers Li Si "one of the two or three most important figures in Chinese history."  As the power behind the very significant throne of the first emperor, Li Si had an enormous amount of influence on political policy, such as moving away from nepotism in the appointment of government officials, and softening legalism (Wikipedia says he "relaxed taxes and the draconian punishments inherited from Shang Yang." (Xunzi Volume 1. p 37. Knoblock))

I can't retell the whole story, but Li Si was instrumental in the brutality against either scholars or priests (accounts differ), and apparently he convinced Han Fei to commit suicide--so yes, he basically assassinated him.  Interestingly, he later convinced or tricked the FIrst Emperor's oldest son Fusu to commit suicide.  (How grisly!  I guess that's how he dealt with people he considered an impediment to his own interests.)  He allied himself with another government official, Zhao Gao, and the First Emperor's youngest son, Huhai (or Qin Er Shi???).  But Zhao Gao turned on Li Si and Huhai/Er Shi, and that was the end of them.

Life was treacherous in those times!  Politics was a risky game to play.  In the end, Li Si's entire family was wiped out.  Karma?  I think that's a different philosophical system altogether...(or is it really?)

[Brenda-Jean Shephard]

Good idea to compare/contrast with other (barbaric) ancient civilizations.  Apparently we are going to include Socrates and the Buddha too.

[Brenda-Jean Shephard]

If I turn my father in for his action, so that he is punished, I will establish my commitment to the ultimate authority to the law, and the ruler will know that I am qualified for promotion to a post as one of his ministers.  Then I wlll do my best to keep a low profile and be forgotten!  Because in spite of my proof of loyalty, the ruler will not trust me and will eventually get rid of me anyway.

The more I think about it, I realize I should just keep my head down and not bring attention to myself by turning in my dad - even though according to my legalist philosophy, the guilty criminal needs to be punished.

This all assumes, of course, that I am a man.  As a woman I would have no credibility in the first place.

[Brenda-Jean Shephard]

just an observation.  moist is an adjective that has a different meaning than mohist...

[Brenda-Jean Shephard]

Reading the primary source quotations from Shang Yang and Han Fei Zi was pretty startling!  Qualities I would have expected to be virtues - such as art, music, literature, love of travel, benevolence (kindness), integrity, brotherly love, sincerity, faith, cultural rituals, education, and intelligence - are totally condemned.  I had to look up the definition of "sophistry," because it's not a word in frequent usage.  It means "the use of fallacious arguments, especially with the intention of deceiving," so that one makes sense to be on the list of things for rulers to avoid.  But otherwise, OMGoodness, what a distressingly bleak outlook on life!  It sounds like it's all about control and suppression.  Maybe that shouldn't be too shocking, but it's unfortunate when the people in charge take that approach to strengthening their positions at the expense of people being human and wanting to grow and enjoy life.  I suppose there are parallels in our own history, if you consider Puritanical thought.  That could be an interesting comparison to research.

[Brenda-Jean Shephard]

That sounds like a valuable exercise you've developed over the course of time.  I'd be interested to talk to you and get ideas about how you motivate students to really think analytically and critically.  I struggle with teaching writing because many students resist the work of mentally grappling with ideas, understanding them, and either incorporating them or coming up with coherent arguments against them.

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