Talk:Cheondoism

See Naming conventions (Korean) for some suggestions on how to improve this article. --Henrygb 10:56, 26 Feb 2005 (UTC)

Followers
Hopefully somebody is watching this article...

I've never seen such a gap in data on number of followers. The article state 27,000 (source: http://memory.loc.gov/frd/cs/korea_south/kr_glos.html), but adherents.org which is generally considered a good source is stating three millions (on http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html near bottom).

Insights?

Pjacobi 22:27, 2005 May 18 (UTC)


 * Another source for another number (800,000) is stated on this page: http://www.adherents.com/adhloc/Wh_178.html --Pjacobi 22:41, 2005 May 18 (UTC)


 * This research states Cheondoism is the major religion in North Korea making up the 12.9% of the total population (followed by Christians 2.1% and Buddhists 1.5%). —Preceding unsigned comment added by 87.0.84.54 (talk) 14:52, 5 September 2007 (UTC)

Hi all, I see an issue here. Can someone native korean check the source, proving, that there is 5+mio of followers? Depend on my understanding of Korean, the article speaks about Catolic church...--DeeMusil (talk) 19:45, 11 November 2010 (UTC)

Relevance
Chondogyo is the 20th century face of the 19th century Tonghak movement and its religion. This article, as it stands, while titled "Chondogyo" focuses, rather, on the Tonghak movement's origins and involvement with Peasant Rebellions, which is an important related subject, but it says almost nothing about Chondogyo. Most of the article belongs under Tonghak and Tonghak rebellion heads. I am working now on preparing materials on the religious ideas of Ch'oe Che-u and the subsequent leaders of the church and its history in order to have an entry more relevant to Chondogyo. Chondogyo is important because of its anti-fedualistic and anti-imperialistic political apects as well as its religious ideas developed in abreaction to Christian (Catholic originally) penetration of Korea and for its incorporation of Confucian, Taoist, and other eastern aspects together with a monotheistic view that finds divinity in all.Doc Rock 16:22, 5 April 2007 (UTC)

Donghak Peasant Revolution has its own article
So I cut the following from this article out:
 * The 1894 Peasant War saw the poor farmers rise up against the rich, corrupt, oppressive landlords and the ruling elite. The peasants demanded land distribution, tax reduction, democracy and human rights. Taxes were so high that most farmers were forced to sell their ancestral homesteads to rich landowners at bargain prices. Landlords got richer by selling rice to the Japanese and by buying poor peasants off their land. The rich sent their children to Japan to study and enjoyed things Japanese. It was in this context that the peasants developed intense anti-Japanese and anti-yangban sentiments.

The peasants were not on their own. Progressive-minded yangbans, scholars and nationalists joined the Army. The Army was politically indoctrinated in Tonghak (Eastern Learning). On January 11, 1894, the first major battle of the Army erupted in Gobu. The rebellion was caused by Jo Byeong-gap, a Joseon government official in charge of Gobu. Jo Byeong-gap was believed tyrannical and corrupt and was accused of oppressing the peasants and extorting exorbidant taxation from his subjects.

The Donghak rebels routed Jo's government forces and took over the county office, and handed out Jo's properties to the peasants. The rebels took weapons from the government soldiers and marched onto adjacent villages. The armed rebellion spread like a wildfire. The peasant army had few muskets and its arms were mainly bamboo spears and swords. The peasants wore bandanas on their heads and waistbands on their waists to identify themselves. The peasant army waved yellow flags with the characters "sustain the people and provide for the people" written. Jeon Bong-jun (全琫準 ) was the military commander. Jeon's father was killed for refusing to pay bribes.

The peasants raided the armory and killed the local officials and rich folks. The war went well for the peasants until March 13, 1894. On this day, the Army was crushed by the government troops led by Yi Yong-tae, who mercilessly butchered captured peasant guerrillas, burned villages, and confiscated peasants properties in Gobu. The news of Yi's scorched-earth policy quickly spread to other regions and angry peasants rose up all across the country. Thus began the Peasant War of 1894.

The peasants' marching orders were:
 * "Do not kill or take peasants' properties"
 * "Protect peasants' rights"
 * "Drive out the Japanese and purify our sacred land"
 * "March to Seoul and clean out the government"

The Peasant Army defeated one government garrison after another and closed in on Seoul. The Seoul government asked Qing China for help. Qing was more than happy to send in its troops. However Imperial Japan sent soldiers into Korea without permission (This escalation and internationalization of the conflict ultimately resulted in the First Sino-Japanese War). Although many government troops joined their ranks, the peasant army was no match for the new forces with modern weapons and numerical superiority. The Army abandoned its march to Seoul.

Choe Je-u was captured and executed in March 1864 at Daegu. After Choe's death, Choe Si-hyeong took over as the leader of the Donghak movement. He went beyond the religion and appealed to the general peasant populace, who made up the majority of the Korean population. He offered the down-trodden farmers a way to better their lives which provided its followers a hope for eliminating the yangban class and foreign powers. Under the leadership of Choe Si-hyeong, Donghak became a legal political organization recognized as such by the government. The number of followers exceeded 20,000. In late June of 1894. pro-Japanese forces hatched a plan to wipe out the Peasant Army in collusion with the Japanese troops stationed in Incheon and Seoul. On October 16, the Peasant Army moved toward Gong-ju for the final battle. It was a trap. The Japanese and the pro-Japanese government troops were waiting for them.

A Japanese scroll records the defeat of the Donghak Army in the Battle of Ugeum-chi. The Japanese had cannons and other modern weapons, whereas the Korean peasants were armed with bow-and-arrows, spears, swords, and some flintlock muskets.

The bitter battle started on October 22, 1894 and lasted till November 10, 1894. The poorly armed peasants stormed the well-entrenched enemies some 40 times but they were beaten back with heavy losses. The remnants fled to various bases. The triumphant Japanese and their lackeys pursued the Army and eventually wiped it out. Jeon Bong-jun, the Donghak commander, was captured in March 1895.

In 1898, following the execution of Choe Si-hyeong, the leader of Donghak Son Byeong-hui sought political asylum in Japan. After the Russo-Japanese War in 1904, he returned to Korea and established the Jinbohoe ("progressive society"), a new cultural and reformist movement designed to reverse the declining fortunes of the nation and to create a new society. Through Donghak he conducted a nationwide movement that aimed at social improvement through the renovation of old customs and ways of life. Hundreds of thousands of members of Donghak cut their long hair short and initiated the wearing of simple, modest clothing. Non-violent demonstrations for social improvement organised by members of Donghak took place throughout 1904. This coordinated series of activities was known as the Gapjin Reform Movement. CruftCutter 18:44, 4 December 2007 (UTC)

Pantheistic and Panentheistic
I do not see how exactly a country could be both pantheistic and panentheistic, especially since both wikipedia articles make a statement of why the two are different, one believe there is a personal god while one says there is no personal god. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.186.245.107 (talk) 00:56, 17 September 2011 (UTC)
 * A good point. This article suffers from some misinterpretations (depending on who wrote that particular portion) about Confucian and Asian religious terminology, as seen through a Western filter.  This is a tough issue to overcome, but I have made some effort to try and present Cheondoism on its own terms with the latest updates, and not compared to other religions.  --Ph0kin (talk) 17:25, 25 June 2012 (UTC)

Updates and Revisions
I got some material on Cheondoism through a book on Confucianism (incl. Korean Confucianism), which I've used to update the article and firmly root Cheondoism with its Confucian background. It wasn't as much information as I would have liked, but it helped clarify some basic details.

I also removed a lot of material that was related to the history of the Donghak movement, in order to better disambiguate the two.

I cleaned up a few dead or dubious links as well.

Hopefully this will make the article more solid, even if a bit shorter. --Ph0kin (talk) 16:57, 25 June 2012 (UTC)

Beliefs section
Fascinating but lacking. I imagine most information would be in the Korean language. Interlaker (talk) 14:15, 25 March 2013 (UTC)

Shamanism
Both Religion in North Korea and Korean shamanism assert the influence of shamanism on Chendoism, but this isn't mentioned in the article. If it was a peasant based movement such an influence would seem to be likely, but this article seems to concentrate on a philosophical interpretation which would more likely appeal to an intellectual.--Jack Upland (talk) 23:45, 25 April 2013 (UTC)

External links modified
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 * Added archive https://archive.is/20120907052014/http://www.koreanconsulate.on.ca/en/?b_id=81&amp;c_id=355&amp;mnu=a06b04&amp;start=1 to http://www.koreanconsulate.on.ca/en/?b_id=81&c_id=355&mnu=a06b04&start=1
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20140413124433/http://manak.org.in/wp-content/uploads/pdf-manak/The%20Emergence%20of%20National%20Religions%20in%20Korea.pdf to http://manak.org.in/wp-content/uploads/pdf-manak/The%20Emergence%20of%20National%20Religions%20in%20Korea.pdf

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