Close neighbors with separate identities
Korea and China share a land border and a long history of contact, including trade, diplomacy, migration and war. Chinese culture was a major influence on the Korean peninsula for many centuries, particularly in writing, philosophy, religion and government. At the same time, Koreans developed their own language, social customs, cuisine and arts, and the culture that resulted is distinct. The relationship is best described as exchange and adaptation, not one-way transfer.
Chinese writing and Korean script
Korea’s early written records used Chinese characters and the written style of Classical Chinese. Educated Koreans read the Chinese classics and wrote official documents and poetry in Chinese. Because Korean is a very different language from Chinese, several systems were devised over time to use characters to represent Korean sounds and grammar. The Chinese-derived characters used in Korean are called hanja.
In the fifteenth century, during the Joseon dynasty, King Sejong and scholars working under him created a new alphabet, now called Hangul, which was promulgated in the mid-1440s. It was designed to represent the sounds of spoken Korean in a systematic way and be easier to learn than characters. For a long time, elite men continued to prefer Chinese writing for formal purposes, while Hangul was used more widely in everyday and literary contexts. In modern times, Hangul became the main script in Korea, while hanja are used less often. Knowing Chinese characters can still help a reader recognize the origins of much Korean vocabulary, since a large share of words has Chinese roots.
Buddhism
Buddhism reached the Korean kingdoms from China in the fourth century, according to traditional chronologies. Rulers supported it, monasteries flourished and Korean monks studied in China and, in some cases, traveled further toward India. Korean Buddhism developed its own schools and notable thinkers, and Korean monks and artisans later played an important role in carrying Buddhism to Japan.
Though the faith lost official favor in the Joseon period, it did not disappear, and temples remain an important part of the Korean landscape. The Chinese Buddhism that Koreans first encountered was itself already a blend of Indian and Chinese ideas.
Confucian thought and society
Confucian ideas were studied in Korea from early times, but they gained exceptional prominence during the Joseon dynasty, which began in 1392. The court adopted Neo-Confucianism, the interpretation developed in Song-era China, as its guiding philosophy. Scholars debated its finer points in Korea with great sophistication, and some Korean thinkers are respected for original contributions.
Confucian values shaped ideas about family, education and ritual. Concepts such as filial piety, ancestor rites and respect for elders were stressed, and genealogies and ancestral ceremonies were an important feature of elite family life. These Confucian values have continued to influence attitudes in Korea, though modern life, religion and urbanization have changed practice considerably. As in other countries, it would be a mistake to assume that all Koreans hold the same views.
Government and examinations
Korean states adopted elements of Chinese governance, such as written law, bureaucratic ranks and examination systems. The civil service examinations in Korea tested knowledge of the Chinese classics. They were never identical to the Chinese examinations, however, because Korean society had a hereditary aristocratic class called the yangban, and their influence on the system was strong. Official historiography also followed Chinese models, resulting in detailed records of court affairs.
Tribute, diplomacy and the Ming and Qing
For much of premodern history, Korean rulers maintained formal relations with Chinese dynasties in which they sent envoys and gifts and received recognition and trade opportunities. These tributary relations were a diplomatic framework, and historians debate how much they limited Korean autonomy in practice. The Joseon court was especially close to the Ming dynasty. After the Qing dynasty took power in the seventeenth century, relations were more complicated, and many Koreans felt ambivalence about the change, while some scholars later became interested in practical learning from Qing China.
Envoys also carried books, ideas and goods, and travel diaries by Korean visitors to Beijing are a rich source for historians.
Everyday traditions and calendars
Many Korean festivals have connections to the traditional East Asian lunisolar calendar. Lunar New Year, called Seollal, and the fall harvest holiday Chuseok are major family occasions, sharing roots with Chinese New Year and the Mid-Autumn Festival while having their own foods and customs. The Chinese zodiac is familiar in Korea too, as is the use of yin and yang, notably in the design of the national flag.
Korean cuisine uses staples that are shared across East Asia, such as rice, soybean-based seasonings and noodles, but it has distinctive features, most famously kimchi. Medicine, architecture, music and painting also show interaction. For example, the Korean traditional medicine system has historical links with Chinese ideas, but it should be understood as a cultural tradition and not as a replacement for professional medical care.
Influence in both directions
Korea was not only a recipient. Korean states transmitted Buddhism and technologies to Japan, Korean printing developed with metal movable type in the medieval period, and Korean ceramics were admired in East Asia. In recent decades, popular culture from South Korea, including music and television, has attracted audiences in China and across the world. Cultural influence between the two neighbors has therefore moved in both directions.
Summary of a shared heritage
Shared Confucian values, Chinese-derived vocabulary and Buddhist traditions give Korea and China a considerable common heritage, but both countries have changed and developed in ways that differ. Anyone studying one of these cultures benefits from understanding the other, and from avoiding the temptation to treat either as a simple extension of its neighbor.