Ch'oe Sŭng-no (; 927 – 17 June 98912th days 5th months on

Lunar calendar A lunar calendar is a calendar based on the monthly cycles of the Moon's phases ( synodic months, lunations), in contrast to solar calendars, whose annual cycles are based on the solar year, and lunisolar calendars, whose lunar months are br ...

. was a politician, Confucian scholar, poet, and literary writer in the early

Goryeo dynasty Goryeo (; ) was a Korean state founded in 918, during a time of national division called the Later Three Kingdoms period, that unified and ruled the Korea, Korean Peninsula until the establishment of Joseon in 1392. Goryeo achieved what has b ...

. He came from the

Gyeongju Choe clan The Gyeongju Choi clan () is a Korean clan, with a bon-gwan located in Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province. According to a census from 2015, the population of the Gyeongju Choi clan is 945,005 in South Korea. The apical ancestor of the Gyeongju ...

, one of the third class noble families of

Silla Silla (; Old Korean: wikt:徐羅伐#Old Korean, 徐羅伐, Yale romanization of Korean, Yale: Syerapel, Revised Romanization of Korean, RR: ''Seorabeol''; International Phonetic Alphabet, IPA: ) was a Korean kingdom that existed between ...

. He was famous for proposing 28 policies 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

Ch'oe Sŭng-no was born in Gyeongju. He was the son of Silla noble Ch'oe Ŭn-ham, a member of the head rank six class. At age of 12, he had been highly praised by

Taejo of Goryeo Taejo (; 31 January 877 – 4 July 943), personal name Wang Kŏn (), also known as Taejo Wang Kŏn (), was the founder of the Goryeo Dynasty of Korea. He ruled from 918 to 943, achieving unification of the Later Three Kingdoms in 936. Backgroun ...

after reading the ''

Analects The ''Analects'', also known as the ''Sayings of Confucius'', is an ancient Chinese philosophical text composed of sayings and ideas attributed to Confucius and his contemporaries, traditionally believed to have been compiled by his followers. ...

'' in front of the royal court. Due to impressing the king, he was made a student of the Wŏnbongsŏng (). In 982, Ch'oe submitted a memorial to King Seongjong, where he discussed the state policies of previous five kings of Goryeo and proposed 28 policies to reform the government. Later that year, Ch'oe was promoted to the office of Vice-Director of the Chancellery (). He spread Confucianism widely in Korea and set up the basic political structure of

Goryeo Goryeo (; ) was a Korean state founded in 918, during a time of national division called the Later Three Kingdoms period, that unified and ruled the Korea, Korean Peninsula until the establishment of Joseon in 1392. Goryeo achieved what has b ...

at the era of Seongjong. Seongjong installed 12 provincial capitals and 3 small capitals which were

Seoul Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...

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

and

Pyongyang Pyongyang () is the Capital city, capital and largest city of North Korea, where it is sometimes labeled as the "Capital of the Revolution" (). Pyongyang is located on the Taedong River about upstream from its mouth on the Yellow Sea. Accordi ...

. In 988, he was promoted to Chancellor (), and enfeoffed as marquis of Chungha. He died in 989, and was posthumously named as Munch'ŏng. In 998, he would also be posthumously promoted to

Grand Preceptor Grand Preceptor, also referred to as Grand Master, Section Cp2:192 C was the seniormost of the Three Ducal Ministers or Excellencies, the top three civil positions of the Zhou dynasty of ancient China. The other two were Grand Tutor and Grand P ...

Poetry

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

Emanuel Pastreich Emanuel Pastreich (born October 16, 1964) is an American professor, director, and polyglot who is an international relations expert and serves as the president of the Asia Institute, a think tank with offices in Washington DC, Tokyo, Seoul and Ha ...

"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 KBS 1TV is a South Korean free-to-air television channel that launched on 31 December 1961 and is owned by Korean Broadcasting System. The channel offers more serious programming than its sister channel KBS2, and airs with no commercials. Hi ...

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's KBS' second histocal series set in Goryeo after ''Taejo W ...

''. *Portrayed by Lee Ki-yul in the 2009

KBS2 KBS 2TV is a South Korean free-to-air Free-to-air (FTA) services are television (TV) and radio services broadcast in unencrypted form, allowing any person with the appropriate receiving equipment to receive the signal and view or listen ...

TV series ''

Empress Cheonchu ''Empress Cheonchu'' (; also known as ''The Iron Empress'') is a 2009 South Korean period television series based on the title character, an actual historical figure and her lifelong struggle to protect the country her ancestors built. The gran ...

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 ...

''. 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, Audible audiobooks, and other digital media via wireless networking ...

edition.) {{DEFAULTSORT:Ch'oe, Sŭng-no 927 births 989 deaths Korean male poets Goryeo Buddhists 10th-century Korean poets People from Gyeongju 10th-century Korean philosophers 10th-century Confucianists Gyeongju Choe clan

Life

Poetry

In popular culture

See also

References

Cited works