Clans in Korea

[pabomandu]

Upon reading what I can about Korean History on Wikipedia and watching these shows..I had no idea how strong or important Clans and clan linneage dictated historical events....and does clan hertitage play an important part in today's Korean society?

[Soju]

There was a scene at the beginning of 'So This Is Love' where the character Oh young-ah is introduced to her Father-in-law-to-be, Mr. Cha. He asks her "So, do you come from the [part of Korea] Oh clan, or the [other part of Korea] Oh clan?"

She rather alienates him when she says that she's bothered that Korean society is so partilineal, and that no one knows the history of their mother's side of the family.

[waldomommy]

Everyone in Korea knows exactly what clan they come from. That's also bc they keep their geneological record in something called "jok-bo." It's a family registry that dates back to forever.

The last name is "sung" and the clan is "bohn."

I'm a Korean American, born and raised here, but my parents taught me how to write my name in Chinese characters and what "bohn" I'm from.

I don't necessarily know that it's all that important these days, but anecdotally, my ex-boyfriend's family was very traditional, his mom asked him what my last name was and when he told her. She said something like, "Oh, good there were a lot of "yangbans" from that clan." (Yangbans being scholars/nobles, as opposed to commoners.)

Also in Korea, they used to forbid marriages between ppl that were from the same clan "Dong sung, dong bohn." (Dong is Korean for same). So same last name and same clan were forbidden to marry. I'm not sure if this is still true since you can come across ppl that fit into this category that are like your third cousin twice removed. But that used to be the case.

I find it very interesting that many Americans need to trace geneology and figure out when they're ancestors came to America and then go back to the old country and trace some more. For Koreans, it's all written right there for generations.

Hope this helps! Perhaps someone with more knowledge than I can expound further.

[tinkerbell]

Welcome waldomommy and thanks for your insightful post.

[jojo]

That was very interesting waldomommy!!

I think it's awesome that clans have written histories. I wish my family had one.

[MTR]

There are history's of the Min Clan who were famous for supplying Queens and Consorts to the Joseon Dynasty and also the Kim's who date back to Silla but managed to navigate their way through Koryo ,Joseon and even are powerful today .
These historys have English Translations but are tough to find ,best bet is through the library or an online service like J Stor .