Sungkyunkwan
| Sungkyunkwan | |
 The plaza of the Seonggyungwan. | |
| Korean name | |
|---|---|
| Hangul | 성균관 |
| Hanja | 成均館 |
| Revised Romanization | Seong-gyun-gwan |
| McCune–Reischauer | Sŏng-gyun-gwan |
Sungkyunkwan, also called Tae-hak (태학/太學), was the foremost education institution in Korea during the late Goryeo and Joseon Dynasties.
History
Gukjagam (국자감), the highest education system during the Goryeo dynasty established in November of 992AD by King Sungjong. Gukjagam was renamed Sungkyunkwan in June of 1304, and then relocated to the old site of Soong-Moon-Gwan (숭문관) in 1367 during the reign of King Gong-min near the end of the Goryeo Dynasty.
After the founding of the Joseon dynasty in 1392, King Taejo relocated Sungkyunkwan to Hanyang, current Seoul, and also founded 360 Hyanggyos nationwide in July of 1398, establishing a national education system.
Sungkyunkwan was destroyed by fire in 1400 and rebuilt in 1407.
Sungkyunkwan was rebuilt again in 1601 after it was destroyed during the Japanese invasions of 1592.
During the Japanese occupation between 1910 - 1945, royal Sungkyunkwan was demoted to private institution and renamed to Gyunghakwon (경학원), and Korean education was prohibited and Japanese education was forced nationwide.
After Korea gained independence in 1945, Gyunghakwon was renamed to Sungkyunkwan and with the funding from Yurims nationwide, Sungkyunkwan University was established.
Buildings and Administration
Dae-sung-jun (대성전) : Shrine which holds the memorial for Confucius.
Dong-mu (동무) and Seu-mu (서무) : Shrines which holds the memorial for Confucius' 10 students, and 18 Korean scholars.
Myung-ryun-dang (명륜당) : The main study.
Jon-gyung-gak (존경각) : Library
Dong-jae (동재) and Seu-Jae (서재) : Dormitories
Bi-chun-dang (비천당) : Examination building
Je-gi-go (제기고) : Storage building for ceremonial dishes
Jin-sa-shik-dang (진사식당) : Dining building
Jung-rok-chung (정록청) : Administration building
The institution's administrator had a government rank of sam-poom (삼품), with lower ranking officials of Jwe-ju (좨주), Ak-jung (악정), Jik-gang (직강), Bak-sa (박사), Hak-jung (학정), Hak-rok (학록), Hak-yu (학유) as supporting staff.
Education
Sungkyunkwan's teachings were mainly Confucian-related, and was largely aimed at preparing students for government services. The main goal was for the students to pass the civil service examinations, also known as gwageo (과거), which assessed the ability to interpret the Chinese classics in terms of official Neo-Confucian ideology.
The set number of students were 150 when Sungkyunkwan was founded, and raised to 200 in 1429.
Entrance examinations for Sungkyunkwan was extremely harsh, and was only allowed for the sons of high-ranking officials or yang-bans.
There were two ways to be accepted into Sungkyunkwan. Either the students had to pass the two admission exams, Seng-won-shi (생원시) and Jin-sa-shi (진사시), or take the other two examinations, Seung-bo (승보) and Um-seu (음서). If they passed these examinations, they were given the opportunity to be accepted.
Once accepted, the students had to complete the curriculum and also fulfill the minimal attendance score of 300 Won-jum (원점) to qualify for the first test of the civil service exams.