Today our class went to Sungkyunkwan. Sungkyunkwan was a education institute way back in the Joseon Dynasty, and there still is a college named Sungkyunkwan right next to the original college. Sungkyunkwan only took the most talented students in Joseon, because the students in Sungkyunkwan studied to become government officials. Because Joseon was based on Confucianism, that is what the students at Sungkyunkwan studied. Because the students studied Confucianism, they had to seek Confucius and Confucian sages as their role models. Confucius believed that true studies began with respecting and following the Confucian scholars, so they built shrines inside Sungkyunkwan for Confucius and the greatest scholars of Joseon and China.

The first things you can see at the entrance of Sungkyunkwan are the Tangpyeongbi and the Hamabi. The Tangpyeongbi is a stone monument which has words inscribed by Youngjo, the 21st king of Joseon. The King pleads with the students not to split into factions and become fair government officials. Hamabi is also a stone monument that tells people to get off whatever they are riding as a sign of respect. I thought the most important buildings were the Myeongryundang, the Daeseongjeon and the Jongyeonggak. The Myeongryundang is where the students had their lessons. It surprised me that the students had to take tests every day. The Daeseongjeon is where they kept the spiritual tablets of Confucius and the Confucian sages. This building was considered as the most important building because it housed the spirits of their role models. The Jongyeonggak is the only library they had in Sungkyunkwan. The Jongyeonggak holds books about Confucianism so the students can study more deeply about it. King Seongjong, the 9th king of Joseon, provided many books for them to enrich their studies.