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            Chapter 13              Biography Activity
         Few people in the history of the world can take credit for inventing an alphabet. One
         who could was Sejong, king of Korea in the fifteenth century. This was not the only
         achievement of this outstanding ruler of the Yi, or Choson, dynasty (see textbook page
         322). 
               ◆As you read, think about the immense influence that a ruler such as Sejong can have
         on a country. Then, on a separate sheet of paper, answer the questions that follow.
         King Sejong (1397–1450)
         Korea reached the height of its medieval culture        niques. He personally carried out experiments with
              during the 32-year reign of King Sejong. While     growing better grain harvests. To help farmers avoid
         he is best known for inventing and introducing the      droughts, Sejong had his scholars devise a rain
         Korean alphabetical writing system, Sejong had          gauge to measure rainfall accurately; it was so
         many other interests that he applied for the good of    advanced that modern rain gauges are much like it. 
         the country.                                                King Sejong is most famous for devising a new
   C        Sejong became king in 1418 or 1419, when he          system for writing the Korean language. Like other
         was in his early twenties.  Soon afterward, he          countries in Asia, Korea had been influenced by
   H     brought together a group of scholar-officials  to       Chinese culture and had used Chinese ideographs in
   A     study and do research in the Hall of                                      writing. The two languages are
   P     Worthies. They published works in              King Sejong is             totally different, however. For sev-
   T     history, language, law, music, astron-                                    eral years, Sejong personally
         omy and medicine. Because Sejong           “                              worked with scholars to create a
   E     also encouraged the development of         most famous for                28-letter phonetic alphabet to rep-
   R     typecasting and printing from copper     devising a new sys-              resent the sounds of Korean. To
         plates, Korean presses could publish                                      make sure the system was practi-
   13    the scholars’ work. The king some-       tem for writing the              cal, the king first used it to publish
         times rewarded craftsmen working                                          a translation of a Chinese classic
         on new technology by sending them       Korean language.                  “Songs of Flying Dragons.”
         gifts of extra wine and food.                                                The alphabet was officially
            Sejong believed that people had                                ” published in 1446 as Hunmin
         to be well fed and comfortable before                                     chongum, “Correct Sounds to
         they could become wise. He said, “The people are        Instruct the People.” One official who had worked
         the root of the state, and food is an indispensable     with the king wrote an essay congratulating the
         necessity of the people.” Throughout his reign, he      “heaven-endowed sage” for creating an alphabet
         took a hand in improving agriculture through sci-       that could reproduce “even the sounds of wind, the
         ence and technology. In 1429, he issued a practical     cries of cranes. . . and the barking of dogs.”  Still
         farm manual called “Straight Talk on Farming,”          used in Korea today, the system is now called hangul
         which gave advice about planting and plowing tech-      (“Great Letters”).
                                            Questions to Think About
          1. How did King Sejong encourage science and           3. Identifying Ideologies From his actions as
             technology in Korea?                                   king, what beliefs do you think Sejong held
          2. What were the reasons for creating a new               about the responsibilities of a leader?
             writing system for Korea? What was the
             advantage of the new system?
                                                                                                                        © Prentice-Hall, Inc.
         104 •  Biography Activity                                                                        Chapter 13