A History of Korea Read Online Free PDF Page B

Textual and archaeological sources point toward practices, such as uxorilocalism, or the custom of the husband living in his bride’s household, suggesting a relatively high standing of females in the ancient kingdoms. The Kogurytomb paintings discussed in Chapter 1 also feature prominent females in a way never seen again in later Korean eras. Perhaps the most convincing sign of high female standing, however, are Silla’s three female monarchs, starting with Sndk, then with her successor, Chindk, and finally Queen Chinsng, who reigned in the late ninth century toward the end of the Unified Silla kingdom. A female ruler of Korea would not reappear thereafter.

    Image 2    The Ch’msngdae Observatory, Kyngju, South Korea. (Author’s photo.)
    There remain competing interpretations about the background of Sndk’s ascent to the throne, which laid the foundation for the other two female monarchs, but the important point is that Sndk was almost certainly much more than a figurehead, and that indeed she elicited fierce pride and loyalty. The legends surrounding her mystical powers, described above, point to this, but a more convincing source is the
History of the Three Kingdoms
, which notes that, even before her reign, she had proven herself “generous, benevolent, wise, and smart.” This source reveals that, upon ascension to the throne, she undertook a major relief campaign on behalf of frail commoners in the countryside, and later she coordinated efforts to find a solution to the constant barrage of attacks from the other two peninsular kingdoms. The most memorable episode came in 643, when she dispatched a diplomatic mission to the Tang emperor of China, only to be ridiculed for being a female monarch in the first place! The Tang emperor, it is recorded, put forth three proposals in response to the Silla ambassador’s pleas. First, he would attack Liaodong in order to divert the attention of Kogury, China’s longtime nemesis, and carry out a naval campaign on the western coast of the peninsula to preoccupy Paekche. Second, the Tang emperor would provide thousands of Tang uniforms and Tang army flags in order to help Silla soldiers disguise themselves as fearsome Chinese troops. Finally, the emperor would send a Tang prince to serve as the new monarch of Silla, for Silla, according to the emperor, faced constant siege because its enemies wereemboldened by Silla’s female monarch. The unsettling implications of this final proposal could not have escaped the Silla ambassador, who is recorded as having simply but respectfully acknowledged the emperor’s proposals. This only invited more scorn from the Tang emperor, who wondered about the fitness of such a man as a diplomatic envoy.
    What is equally remarkable about this historical account is that the twelfth-century compiler of the
History of the Three Kingdoms
, Kim Pusik, was a Confucian scholar-official who disdained the idea of a female ruler. In addition to other details suggesting that the Tang emperor’s proposals provoked political intrigue among Sndk’s opponents in the Silla elite, the
History of the Three Kingdoms
’ account of Queen Sndk’s reign concludes with commentary that support the Tang emperor’s proposal: “According to heavenly principles, the
yang
[male] is hard while the
yin
[female] is soft; and people know that men are to be revered and women are subordinate. So how could Silla have allowed an old maid to leave her inner sanctum in order to govern the country’s affairs? Silla allowed her to ascend to become the king, and sure enough chaos ensued. How fortunate that the country did not get destroyed!”
    Not only did the country avoid destruction, but it might have been Sndk’s accomplishments, including her patronage of science and technology as well as her savvy in cultivating Sillan statecraft, that saved the kingdom in the face of its imminent demise. That this might even have contributed to Silla’s ultimate triumph on the