Were Koreans the most peaceful people in East Asia?

[Mingle]

Therefore Korea deserves our respect for surviving their culture despite its geopolitical location.

Their culture would have survived even if they were conquered by China since the cultures in south-central China are alive and well despite being part of China for over a thousand years. But yeah, they deserve props for maintaining their independence. They almost got conquered by the Japanese once, but they had a legendary general named Yi Sun-sin (known as Admiral Yi) that repelled the Japanese invaders in four big campaigns. In many battles, he had inferior equipment and was massively outnumbered. One of the tactics he'd use was trying to trick the Japanese warships into going different directions, splitting them up, and then attacking them separately with cannons. The Japanese once even made it all the way to the Korean border (where they slaughtered so many Koreans that they had to cut off their noses to bring back home as bounty since so many bodies wouldn't fit in the boats), but after defeating them at the sea, they were eventually repelled and driven back to Japan. Also, this was Japan after it finally got unified. Admiral Yi is seen as a national hero cause of this. Also, one thing about him is that he almost didn't make it as commander. He was relatively old when he first got the position but he got sacked later cause one of his jealous colleagues lied about to try become commander, but he did poorly against the Japanese so Yi was reinstated (he had no prior naval training but got called up cause he impressed as a border guard against the Jurchens).

[Mingle]

So they had potential but failed due to their powerful neighbors, right? I thought they were always just defenders and defended their own region.

The Hamgyong region of North Korea was originally Jurchen/Machu until fairly recently afaik. Also, the original language of North Korea during the Gojoseon and Balhae period is disputed and may have been Tungusic.

[LoLeL]

What I like about Koreans is this:
South Korea: a model of development?

After the Korean war, South Korea was one of the world's poorest countries with only $64 per capita income. Economically, in the 1960s it lagged behind the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) – currently holding elections marred by violence . Since then the country's fortunes have diverged spectacularly. South Korea now belongs to the rich man's club, the OECD development assistance committee (DAC). The DRC has gone backwards since independence and, out of 187 countries, ranked bottom in the 2011 Human Development Index.

Making a poor third world country a first world one.

[zhaoyun]

What I like about Koreans is this:
South Korea: a model of development?


Making a poor third world country a first world one.

All East Asian countries went through this phase. China is in the middle of it right now.

[LoLeL]

All East Asian countries went through this phase. China is in the middle of it right now.

Other Asian countries should learn from them, especially the ones in the West side of that continent.

[zhaoyun]

Other Asian countries should learn from them, especially the ones in the West side of that continent.

Very different cultures, it will be near impossible to replicate that same model. Vietnam is probably the next country that will follow in their footsteps though since they are a Confucian based society.

[LoLeL]

Very different cultures, it will be near impossible to replicate that same model. Vietnam is probably the next country that will follow in their footsteps though since they are a Confucian based society.

Yeah, a 100% similar model does not work for all countries. What I say is other countries can learn from East Asia and adapt their own models which work for them.

[glass]

In the Warring States period, many of the rival Chinese states already had standing armies of over 1 million and battles where hundreds of thousands were killed. Even massacres where tens of thousands were slaughtered in one place.

I believe that is highly exaggerated figures how it was possible to supply armies nubmering million soldiers? That is like ancient greeks 'estimated' persian armies of million(s) soldiers streignth, but todays historians believe those greko-persian battles were not as epic and somewhat even numbers wise.

[zhaoyun]

I believe that is highly exaggerated figures how it was possible to supply armies nubmering million soldiers? That is like ancient greeks 'estimated' persian armies of million(s) soldiers streignth, but todays historians believe those greko-persian battles were not as epic and somewhat even numbers wise.

China's population was already far higher.

I said they had battles with several hundreds of thousands, not millions. And Chinese bureaucracy back then was already quite efficient, the numbers were accurate.

[Taiji]

In the Warring States period, many of the rival Chinese states already had standing armies of over 1 million and battles where hundreds of thousands were killed. Even massacres where tens of thousands were slaughtered in one place.

Please note that we should always be careful when speaking of numbers such as this. History is always romanticized and the deeds of men exaggerated. That "million" figure might not be literal, and it could be used as an adjective instead.

China's population was already far higher.

Not really. If I'm not mistaken, the maximum population Han Dynasty China for example was around 58 million. More recent research suggests the Roman Empires population peaked between 70 to 100 million.

I said they had battles with several hundreds of thousands, not millions.

But I think he was talking about the standing army of "over a million"

And Chinese bureaucracy back then was already quite efficient, the numbers were accurate.

Quite debatable. Some of the "population losses" in China could be attributed to poor record keeping in the past. Also, many of these figures are based off the words of others and it was not uncommon for generals to exaggerate their numbers to intimidate opponents. Cao Cao almost certainly did that at the Battle of Red Cliffs.

Koreans are a great people. They were cursed geographically, but they are a tremendous culture. I feel closest to them ethnically compared to any other Asian group.

To each his own
Despite the horrendous historical and political relations I feel closer to the Japanese than Koreans. I just feel somehow more familiar to them somehow.

Anyways, ethnically I feel closest to them:


And I know how some, maybe even many overseas Chinese (and mainland Chinese too) hate on the Manchus but honestly without them China would never be as big as it is now. They eliminated many of the traditional threats China faced and to me Manchus are as much a part of China as any "Han".