A Heritage of Kings

This is one of the most interesting books I've read recently!

The title "A Heritage of Kings" did not sound inspiring at first but it reads like a riveting novel. The book was full of interesting tales of palace intrigues, factional struggles, and other purported historical rumors such as how King Yongjo murdered his brother in order to become king, and how his mother was a concubine/slave.

The book also helped explain a doubt I had earlier on in the year about why Prince Sado was killed in a rice chest. After reading the book, the idea of killing the Prince in what I earlier thought was an incomprehensible way did not seem so difficult to understand, after all.

But overall, it was interesting to read that Korean kings were generally said to be circumscribed by the powerful bureaucracy and the censorial, and were at times even mere "pawns in the grip of bureaucratic rhetoric".

I thought Yongjo was an exceptional character, especially the theatrics, tears, tantrums and abstinence he had to resort to in order to get his way. He was also highly shrewd in manipulating rituals to advance and consolidate his power.

I also thought he was progressive in many ways, particularly in wanting to reform the penal code and military tax, and in having a strong relationship with commoners who genuinely seemed to support and respect him. Of course it can be argued that he was doing all that to entrench his hold on power. But if the means to an end are progressive and benefit the people, then I guess it can't be all that bad.

It was also interesting to read about King Yongjo's adoption of the moral kingship due to his conviction that power flowed from moral authority, hence his need to assiduously cultivate that image. What he had done, to use a modern term, is to undertake "a DIY sagehood" - or a "do-it-yourself sagehood". It's basically a step-by-step manual on how to declare oneself a sage king!

But of course his treatment of Sado was capricious. Nevertheless, it was tragic, not to mention ironic, to read about the father-son relationship. Particularly:

"Undeterred by his personal tragedy, he continued in his quest for sage kingship until his death. The discrepancy between the ideal of his vision and the reality of his rule was at it sharpest in the most intimate of his relationships - the killing of his son ... yet ... the gap almost disappeared in his role as ruler-father to the people - the most remote, if most important, group to the monarchy. Yongjo, who killed his own son, could become father to his people, the fulfillment of a public paternal role at the expense of a private one."