Christian epidemic

Rebillion against Japanese: non factor

One reason given is that Xtianity was associated with resistance to Japan but this is not convincing as Xtians were still around 5% until Korean war. Most of the growth happened from Korean war to 1980’s with US military/gov’t backing. SK was still poor then, so Xtians were up to their usual huckster tricks of “prosperity gospel” etc. As SK got richer, growth tapered off a lot, Xtians have declined from 29% to 27% in last 10 yrs.

Yangban disdain

See Ito’s article.

it’s elite tried to mimic China & had a Confucian base. At the same time they also had disdain for mudang. This was carried forward into the modern era. This Yangban & later elite disdain for mudang meant that during the so called modernization drive after Korean war, many traditions were stopped & the vacuum was filled by Xtians.

Same reason why Xtians find it much easier to fool PRC Han, Singapore Han but find it very hard to do it with Taiwanese or Chinese in Malaysia. Korea & Japan r very different in their historic attitudes to China. Contrast the attitude of Yangban with say the development of Kokugaku or even Mitogaku (which integrated Confucian ideas).

Misin Tapa Udong

  • Misin Tapa Udong ( “movement to destroy the worship of gods”)
  • Late Joseon (1890s) - Protestantism sunk deep roots in Korea in the 1890s, establishing a network of schools and hospitals. The missionaries led campaigns for the burning of idols, ancestral tablets, shamans’ tools and clothes, and shrines. The police began to arrest shamans, destroy shrines and burn ritual tools.
  • Later, harassment continued vigorously as part of Park Chung-hee’s Saemaul Undong. (SP_TW_18) Rituals were attacked with economic justification.