24 Blast from the Past
The Donghak Peasant Rebellion
www.gwangjunewsgic.com
January 2022
blast from the past
A Bloody Chapter in Jeolla History
When we think of history-making uprisings centering on the Gwangju area, we immediately think of the May 18 (1980) Democratization Movement. Some might also recall the Gwangju Student Independence Movement of 1929. Few, however, will recollect the Donghak Peasant Rebellion of the late 19th century, though it was a struggle involving many more casualties than these other two and arguably the initial crusade for democratic reforms in Korea. This article is from a two-part series penned by Won Hea-ran, “The Donghak Peasant Rebellion, Parts I and II,” which originally appeared in the January and February 2015 issues of the Gwangju News. We hope you enjoy them as republished here. — Ed.
I
n the late 1800s, corruption was everywhere in Joseon Korea, but it was especially rampant in Jeolla Province [consisting of today’s North and South Jeolla provinces]. Perhaps Jeolla’s rich farmland made the region a desirable target for corrupt officials. The governor of Gobu [present-day Jeong-eup, north of Gwangju], Jo Byeong-gap, was one of those unscrupulous officials. He exploited the region’s citizens through high taxes and intimidated them with false criminal accusations. Once, he took 1,000 nyang (billions of won in today’s currency by some estimates) from his people to build a commemorative monument to his father. He also unnecessarily levied a tax on water from a reservoir after using farmers as laborers to build it. Many people grew angry with the governor’s harsh mandates. Among them was the future leader of the Donghak (or Gobu) Peasant Rebellion, Jeon Bong-jun (전봉준). THE FIRST REVOLT Jeon Bong-jun was the son of a fallen aristocratic family. As a young man, he was greatly influenced by the religious ideology of Donghak (동학, “Eastern Learning”). When Jeon Bong-jun’s father was killed for criticizing the governor, Jeon Bong-jun planned the Gobu Peasant Rebellion. At the end of 1893, he gathered farmers who were angry with the governor and wrote their names on a document known as the Sabal Manifesto (사발통문). The names of the 20 participants were written in random order to make it harder for officials to pinpoint the group’s leader. In January 1894, Jeon Bong-jun and his followers
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▲ Jeon Bong-jun, leader of the Donghak Rebellion.
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