#it's like saying the mongols were oppressed in china during the yuan dynasty because they assimilated into han culture

[gwenllian-in-the-abbey]

https://www.tumblr.com/myimaginationplain/719391604220248064/brideoffires-qayaamat-brideoffires-its-hard?source=share

What is your opinion on this post?

OP, the problem with the argument that Targaryens or Valyrians were corrupted by Andal culture is that the Targaryens were conquerors. Putting aside how asinine it is to claim that the conquered culture corrupted the conquerors, even if the conquerors had to adopt some aspects of the culture they conquered in order to be accepted as the ruling class, that is entirely on the conquerors. No one forced Aegon I to conquer Westeros, that was on him. They could very well have stayed on Dragonstone doing their thing-- no one was really bothering them up to that point. Even supposing that Valyrian culture was this utopia of gender equality (which, let's be clear, it certainly wasn't), if that was an aspect of their culture that they deeply valued, then perhaps the Targaryens should have thought twice before doing the whole violent conquest thing.

As for the arguments from the main series, they seem to miss the forest for the trees. The takeaway should be that people will twist historical events to suit their own narratives, and that works in both directions. The Rhoynish came to Westeros to flee the Valyrian empire and at the time of the Dance Dorne wanted nothing to do with either Rhaenyra or Aegon, and the Westerosi certainly wanted absolutely nothing to do with Dornish customs. Arianne arguing from a Dornish point of view nearly two centuries later that Rhaenyra should have been queen is unsurprising, but that logic can't be applied to anyone alive at the time of the Dance. Rhaenyra claiming to follow Dornish custom in 129 AC would have been political suicide. It's also unsurprising that Stannis considers her a usurper. To him, what she attempted to do would be akin to what Renly attempted to do to him. Remember, the Targaryens actually excluded women to a greater degree than even the Andals did. Andal custom never held that women cannot rule, only that in the order of succession they come after their brothers. But that's all neither here nor there. Everyone in the main series citing the Dance of Dragons is doing so to fit their own agenda. Let's not forget, Myrcella is not a valid claimant to the throne either, regardless of her gender, and there are reasons why putting her on the throne only creates more problems rather than solves them, which is, ironically, similar to the case of Rhaenyra.

[countrymadefoods]

Gija: The Legend behind the Origin of Korea's Confucian Culture

“Gija is first described as having ruled the Korean peninsula in the Records of the Grand Historian (史記, Shiji) and Great Commentaries to the Book of Documents (尙書大傳, Shangshu dachuan), which were written after the third century BCE.Gija first appears in Korean historical texts in the Memorabilia of the Three Kingdoms (三國遺事, Samguk yusa), written by the Buddhist master Ilyeon. From this and other records written in the Goryeo dynasty, it seems that ancient Koreans were aware of Gija.  Confucian scholars considered Gija to be important as the man who brought Chinese culture to Korea, and hence as evidence that Korea's Confucian tradition is almost as old as that of China. They referred to the period when Gija and his descendants were believed to have ruled Gojoseon (circa 1000-194 BCE) as "Gija Joseon."

(via Gija: The Legend behind the Origin of Korea's Confucian Culture - Korea100)

Gija Joseon

“Chinese records before the 3rd century BC describe Gija (箕子) as the paternal uncle (or brother in other records) of the last emperor of the Chinese Shang Dynasty, the tyrannical King Zhou...Records written after the 3rd century BC, when China and Gojoseon were at war, add that Gija led 5,000 to the east of present-day Beijing, as written in the Geography of Hanshu from the Han Dynasty...and became the king of Gija Joseon.

Gija Joseon (323 BC-194 BC) refers to the putative period of Beonjoseon, one of the Three Confederate States of Gojoseon, after Gihu (기후, 箕詡) became the king of Beonjoseon. Chinese traditional accounts indicate that Gihu's ancestor, Gija, was the same person as Jizi (both written as 箕子 in Hanzi/Hanja).”

“Beonjoseon began disintegrating after its king had been killed by a rebel from the Chinese state of Yan at around 323 BC. With this, the five ministers of Beonjoseon began contending for the throne. Gihu joined in this struggle, and emerged victorious as the new king of Beonjoseon, defeating the competitors for the throne. He established Gija Joseon, named after his ancestor Gija. During Gija Joseon, the king enjoyed strong sovereign powers. Eventually, in 94 BC, Gija Joseon fell after King Jun was overthrown by Wiman, who established Wiman Joseon in its place.”

“There are many controversies on whether Gija was the surname "Gi," or "Ki", or "Han". There are those controversies because King Jun of Gija Joseon defeated Samhan, Jinhan, and Byeonhan Joseon, uniting the 4 Old Joseon territories, and claimed himself "King of Han", which makes people think that all kings of Samhan, Jinhan, and Byeonhan Joseon of "Han" lineage, which makes people with other surnames in Korea jealous of the surname "Han".

Cheongju Han clan

“Cheongju Han clan (Hangul: 청주 한씨; Hanja: 淸州 韓氏) is a Korean clan, considered one of the most noble clans of Korea produced the most 7 queens in the Joseon Dynasty, as well as all were the "sacred bone" or seonggeol the highest rank in the Silla Dynasty...Their founder was Han Ran [ja], who was one of the three children of Jun of Gojoseon who was the Gija Joseon's last emperor.[1][2][3] The noble clan of Han received the most generals of the prominent Joseon Dynasty. In the Joseon, Lee Dynasty, and were considered the highest of the yangban class next to the Jeonju Lee clan. Cheongju Han clan is considered one of the most royal clans since Gija Joseon and Gojoseon.”

List of Gija Joseon monarchs (12th century BC–2nd century BC)

Gojoseon was the 1st state of Korea founded in 1122 BCE by Gija, whose descendants, 41 Kings, reigned for over 1,000 years.

Haengju Gi clan

“Haengju Gi clan (Hangul: 행주 기씨; Hanja: 幸州 奇氏) is one of the Korean clans. Their Bon-gwan is in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province...Their founder was Gi U Seong [ja] who was one of the Jun of Gojoseon’s three children. Jun of Gojoseon was the Gija Joseon’s last emperor. Gi U Seong [ja] is Gija’s 48 th grandchildren.”

Redeeming Empress Gi

“In the year 1331, the 16-year-old girl who would one day become Empress Gi arrived in the Yuan capital of Khanbaliq (present-day Beijing) among hundreds of young men and women sent as human tributes from Korea...She eventually became the first  Korean empress of the Yuan Dynasty and effectively came to rule the 60 million inhabitants of Mongol-controlled China in that dynasty’s waning years.

Yet many of Gi’s accomplishments were ignored because her history was written by those who defeated her. She was labelled a traitor in Korea and demeaned as a corrupting influence by Ming Dynasty historians. When her life was dramatized in the Korean television series Empress Ki, viewers criticized the portrayal as too sympathetic. Historians who came to her defense suggested that her alleged treason might more accurately be viewed as the fulfillment of filial duty.”

“The official history compilations of a dynastic reign, based on notes taken by historians at the time, came at the beginning of the next dynasty...Meaning that foremost among concerns was to legitimatize the new dynasty, which usually came to power by overthrowing the previous one. Hence the early-Ming official history of the Yuan in China and the early-Joseon official history of the Goryo in Korea were invariably going to portray Empress Gi (in China) and her family members (in Korea) in a very negative light.”

Although Empress Gi was called Öljei Khutuk by the Mongols, her first name was not recorded at birth. History suggests that she was born around 1315 to Gi Jao, a member of Korea’s yangban class, which was mainly composed of civil servants and military officers.

During the Yuan domination of Korea from 1270 to 1356, Korea was referred to as a “son-in-law state,” reflecting the practice of marrying Mongol princesses into the Korean royal family. In less than a century, seven princesses were sent to Korea, then called Goryeo, and three children born of such unions became kings.”

“These women maintained ties to family members in Korea, whose interests they were expected to protect...The advantages of service to the Yuan was usually the prime reason families decided to send daughters to the Yuan capital or form marriage alliances with Yuan elites.”

Lady Gi’s talents, intelligence and beauty soon attracted the attention of the teenage Toghon Temür...Gi was accomplished in singing, dancing and calligraphy, and fluent in Chinese...The romantic bond they formed would last for the rest of the emperor’s life.

In 1340, a year after Gi gave birth to a son, Ayushiridara, she was named a secondary empress. Although Gi would have to wait until 1365, when Bayan Khutuk died, to officially become primary empress, her power continued to grow as her husband increasingly delegated his authority to her. While Mongol society was patriarchal and patrilineal, women could and did exercise authority.”

“She was a person of great strength and talent...The fact that the historians say that she liked to read history books, however condescending that may sound, seems to indicate her strengths, ambition and talents, [and] also her attempt to learn from history in order to be smarter in her moves in the present.”

She also read the Book of Filial Piety for Women, which advises wives to strengthen a husband’s reputation and improve his popularity. A man’s virtue is determined by his wife, the book warns. If a wife is ignorant and dissolute, she will bring her husband down with her.

As was expected of her, Gi enhanced the power of her family in Korea. Her father and mother were given titles that made them the equivalent of king and queen...Although Korea’s King Gongmin had grown up in the Yuan court and married a Yuan princess, he wanted to reform the government and exorcise Yuan supporters. He saw the Gi family as a direct threat to his own power. 

Around 1358 Gongmin invited Gi Cheol and his supporters to a banquet and murdered them all. To avenge her family and place a pro-Yuan king on the throne, Gi dispatched her son Ayushiridara, now heir to the throne, and an army to Korea.”

When the Mongol empire finally crumbled in 1368, Toghon Temür fled with Gi and other family members to Yingcheng, in present-day Inner Mongolia. Toghon Temür died of dysentery in 1370, and Ayushiridara was enthroned as the Khan of the Mongols. Gi became Empress Dowager.

Qing scholars criticized the inaccuracies in the official History of Yuan, hastily composed by Ming historians, but by then it was too late to redeem Gi’s reputation. Or so it seemed. In late 2013-2014 Korea’s MBC station released the 51-episode television drama Empress Ki, a fictionalized version of her life. The script enabled viewers to see her as an oppressed woman who nonetheless mastered an impossible situation...portraying Ki as a brave woman instead of as a traitor.”

(via Redeeming Empress Gi | China Channel)

List of Northern Yuan khans

Although Empress Gi was claimed to be weak and responsible for the downfall of the Yuan Dynasty. However Empress Gi ensured that her son’s descendants established the Northern Yuan Dynasty, which fought the Ming Dynasty for three centuries. Was the last Emperor of Northern Yuan, Ejei Khan the same person as Emperor Nurhaci, the first emperor of the Qing Dynasty (Aisin Gioro, Aisin=gold=Oro Tartary[Kirin province]), who defeated the Ming Dynasty? 

List of emperors of the Qing dynasty 

SAUCE OF WISDOM: MEET KOREAN GRAND MASTER KI SOON-DO OF KISOONDO TRADITIONAL JANG

“Meet grand master Ki Soon-do, a 10th generation matriarch of a family that has been making jang—fermented sauces—for over three centuries...When Ki Soon-do got married in 1972, it was not just a relationship she was sealing. Being wife of the eldest son in a traditional jang-making family, she was expected to inherit her mother-in-law’s recipes and be responsible for  preserving the family’s three-century-old jang legacy.

This was a craft she immersed herself in and spent the last 45 years honing. In 2008, she was named Korean traditional food grand master No. 35, specialising in jingang, her five-year aged soy sauce. The grand master certification is one of the highest honours for traditional food producers in Korea, and it is a title she wears with pride.”

“We make ganjang (soy sauce), doenjang (fermented soy bean paste), cheonggukjang (fast-fermented bean paste) and gochujang (fermented red pepper paste)—even some strawberry gochujang. We also produce some rice sikhye (traditional Korean beverage made with rice and malted barley).”

They say the taste of a house’s ganjang shows the taste of their food. Back then, noble families passed down one jar with their best soy bean sauce from generation to generation, using it only for special occasions, weddings, celebrations or ceremonies to pay respects to ancestors.”

(via SAUCE OF WISDOM: MEET KOREAN GRAND MASTER KI SOON-DO OF KISOONDO TRADITIONAL JANG | Wine & Dine)

Woman behind Trump's state dinner

“360-year-old soy sauce...used for the beef ribs with gravy, is the product of Madam Ki Soon-do, 69. Madam Ki is known as the nation's best producer of "jang," a term used to describe Korean-style fermented sauces like soy sauce.

"I am very honored and proud to have served jang ― the basis for Korean cuisine ― in representing Korean food," Ki said. The soy sauce is the oldest of over 1,200 sauces of her family business based in Damyang County, South Jeolla Province.”

(via Woman behind Trump's state dinner | The Korea Times)

A visit to jang Master Ki Soon-do

“Back in the day, every household would make their own jang, those essential fermented condiments that season just about every dish in Korean cuisine.

“Ganjang is the most important. Koreans used to use ganjang in place of salt!... People need to know that traditional Korean soy sauce and doenjang is made from just three ingredients: soy beans, water and salt.” And time.”

“Onggi, the earthenware jars containing the living, breathing jang. “Every region has a slightly different shaped onggi, depending on the weather...In Seoul and up north, they’re slimmer and taller because it’s colder there. But here, our onggi are round and huge, which makes for more delicious jang.”    

It takes over a year, minimum, to make ganjang and doenjang: Fermented bean blocks are soaked in salt water then the solids are separated to ferment and become doenjang, while the liquid is aged as soy sauce. The aging process can last for decades upon decades, though those precious liquids are reserved for ancestral ceremonies. Gochujang is mixture of soy powder, grain syrup, rice flour, chili powder and usually salt.”

(via A visit to jang Master Ki Soon-do | bburi kitchen blog)