Detail

`Since 1999, the Ministry of Information and Communication has been issuing a millennial series of stamps to pay tribute to the past accomplishments of our ancestors and meaningfully celebrate the beginning of the new millennium. This sixth collection depicts important events and individuals from the late Choson dynasty. In the wake of repeated invasions by the Japanese and Manchus, the post-war Choson period witnessed a surge of new reform efforts by pragmatic scholars to deal with the aftermath of the foreign invasions and the rampant social ills and discrepancies. Known todya as Sirhak or Practical Learning, the philosophy saw further development under Chong Yak-yong, rightfully the school`s greatest name, to produce a fundamental change in late Choson society. In line with this, Huh Joon developed Choson`s traditional folk remedies into a systematic study of indigenous medicine in his compilation of medical treatises called Tongui Pogam (The Treasured Mirror of Korean Medicine). In the field of cartography, Kim Chong-ho completed his ``Detailed Map of Korea`` after spending a lifetime on the road crisscrossing the country. The spirit of Sirhak manifested itself in the form of genre painting, with Kim Hong-do its most famed master, as a result of rising awareness of the common people. As a confluence of these various social and cultural movements, Tonghak or Eastern Learing bacame the major driving force behind the Tonghak peasant struggle, the large-scale popular campaign to modernize the country on its own against intensifying foreign aggression and the crumbling feudal system. The collection of stamps feature : ``An anatomical chart of internal organs`` in Tongui Pogam and a mortar and pestle used to crush herb medicinal stuff, ``Dancer with Musicians`` by Kim Hong-do in his Album of Genre Scenes, ``Plum blossoms and the Bird`` by Chong Yak-yong and the ``Tasan Chodang`` where he stayed during his exile at Kangjin, The ``Detailed Map of Korea`` and a wheel chart used as a directional compass, and the portrait of Chon Bong-joon, a prominent Tonghak rebel leader, a round robin used among them, and teh rock carving and stone monument at the Tonghak Peasant Uprising Memorial Hall located at Hwangto-hyun, a Tonghak battleground.`