Choi Seungno or Choi Seung-ro (; 927 – 17 June 989 was a politician, Confucian scholar, poet, and literary writer in the early

Goryeo dynasty Goryeo (; ) was a Korean kingdom founded in 918, during a time of national division called the Later Three Kingdoms period, that unified and ruled the Korean Peninsula until 1392. Goryeo achieved what has been called a "true national unificati ...

. He came from the Gyeongju Choe clan, one of the third class noble families of

Silla Silla or Shilla (57 BCE – 935 CE) ( , Old Korean: Syera, Old Japanese: Siraki2) was a Korean kingdom located on the southern and central parts of the Korean Peninsula. Silla, along with Baekje and Goguryeo, formed the Three Kingdoms of K ...

. He was famous for dedicating 28 duties to King Seongjong, most of which were accepted and a became an important basis for state affairs such as Goryeo's political system and local government.

Life

Choi Seungno was born in Gyeongju. He was the son of Silla noble Choi Eunham. Since the age of 12, he had been highly praised by

Taejo of Goryeo Taejo of Goryeo (31 January 877 – 4 July 943), also known as Taejo Wang Geon (; ), was the founder of the Goryeo dynasty, which ruled Korea from the 10th to the 14th century. Taejo ruled from 918 to 943, achieving unification of the Later Three ...

. He spread Confucianism widely in Korea and set up the basic political structure of

Goryeo Goryeo (; ) was a Korean kingdom founded in 918, during a time of national division called the Later Three Kingdoms period, that unified and ruled the Korean Peninsula until 1392. Goryeo achieved what has been called a "true national unificati ...

at the era of Seongjong. According to his Choi, Seongjong accepted the ruling system of

Later Zhou Zhou, known as the Later Zhou (; ) in historiography, was a short-lived Chinese imperial dynasty and the last of the Five Dynasties that controlled most of northern China during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. Founded by Guo Wei (E ...

of China and threw away its traditional ruling system. Seongjong installed 12 provincial capitals and 3 small capitals which were

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 ...

Gyeongju Gyeongju ( ko, 경주, ), historically known as ''Seorabeol'' ( ko, 서라벌, ), is a coastal city in the far southeastern corner of North Gyeongsang Province in South Korea. It is the second largest city by area in the province after Andong, ...

and

Pyongyang Pyongyang (, , ) is the capital and largest city of North Korea, where it is known as the "Capital of the Revolution". Pyongyang is located on the Taedong River about upstream from its mouth on the Yellow Sea. According to the 2008 populatio ...

. In 988, he was titled marquis of Chungha.

Poetry

He composed "a significant corpus of poems".Paragraph 4 in

Emanuel Pastreich Emanuel Pastreich (born in Nashville, Tennessee, 1964) is an American politician and international relations expert who serves as the president of the Asia Institute, a think tank with offices in Washington DC, Seoul, Tokyo and Hanoi. Pastreich ...

"The Reception of Chinese Literature in Korea", chapter 53 in Mair 2001.

In popular culture

*Portrayed by Lee Ji-hyung in the 2002–2003

KBS1 The Korean Broadcasting System (KBS) () is the national broadcaster of South Korea. Founded in February 1927, it is one of the leading South Korean television and radio broadcasters. KBS operates seven radio networks, ten television channels, a ...

TV series ''

The Dawn of the Empire ''The Dawn of the Empire'' () is a South Korean historical television series which aired on KBS1 from March 2, 2002 to January 26, 2003 for 94 episodes every weekend at 21:45 ( KST). It revolves around the reigns of the second, third and fourth ki ...

''.

References

Cited works

* Mair, Victor H. (ed.) (2001). ''

The Columbia History of Chinese Literature ''The Columbia History of Chinese Literature'' is a reference book edited by Victor H. Mair and published by the Columbia University Press in 2002. The topics include all genres and periods of poetry, prose, fiction, and drama but also areas not tr ...

''. New York: Columbia University Press. . (

Amazon Kindle Amazon Kindle is a series of e-readers designed and marketed by Amazon. Amazon Kindle devices enable users to browse, buy, download, and read e-books, newspapers, magazines and other digital media via wireless networking to the Kindle Store. ...

edition.) {{DEFAULTSORT:Choi, Seungno 927 births 989 deaths Korean male poets Goryeo Buddhists 10th-century Korean poets People from Gyeongju 10th-century Korean philosophers

Life

Poetry

In popular culture

See also

References

Cited works