Detail

`Since 1999, the Ministry of Information and Communication has been issuing a millennial series of stamps that will run through the year 2001 in order to pay tribute to the past and meaningfully celebrate the beginning of the new millennium. This fourth collection depicts milestone events and important people of the Koryo dynasty. During the Koryo dynasty, a Confucian political culture was established, with the adoption of a state civil service examination system to select civil servants by virtue of merit rather than background. Meanwhile, Buddhism flourshed, producing a fine collection of scriptures on wooden tablets known as the Palman Taejangkyong or the Tripitake Koreans. It is considered one of the most outstanding cultural achievements in human history. The world`s first movable metal type was invented during this time, and the oldest existing book printed with movable metal type is : Chikchi simch`e yojol (The Selected Teachings of Buddhist Sages and Son Masters). Toward the end of the Koryo dynasty, Neo-Confucianism was introduced to Korea, bringing about widespread social and cultural changes. An Hyang was a representative and influential Neo-Confucian scholar of the time. In addition, cotton seeds were imported by Moon Ik-Jom, revolutionizing Korean clothing habits. This collection of stamps features Puksaesonon-do (Rendering Service in the Northern Frontiers) by Han Shi-gak, depicting a state civil service examination scene the hongp`ae (red tablet) handed out to those who passed the state civil service examination a scene of printing from the woodblocks of the Tripitaka Koreana the text of Chikchi simch`e yojol and the Bronze Type ``Pok`` believed to date back to the Koryo period the portrait of An Hyang and a letter written in his own had and Sosu Sowon, the oldest private Confusian academy dedicated to An Hyang and the portrait of Moon Ik-jom, who first brought cottom seed into Korea, with cotton and a spinning wheel. `