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PersonAD 925 – AD 975

King Gwangjong

Fourth king of Goryeo, who strengthened royal power with the Slave Review Act, the civil service examination and imperial titles

After keeping a low profile early in his reign, he weakened the economic and military base of the local magnates with the Slave Review Act of 956, freeing people they had wrongfully enslaved. In 958, on the advice of Ssanggi, a naturalised official from Later Zhou, he introduced the civil service examination, and in 960 he fixed official robes in purple, crimson, scarlet and green by rank. He called himself emperor and used his own era names, Gwangdeok and Junpung, naming Gaegyeong the imperial capital. He purged the merit subjects and magnates who opposed him and made Gyunyeo abbot of Gwibeopsa.

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6 related events

  1. AD 949 – AD 975Reforms of Gwangjongleader

    King Gwangjong strengthened royal power over the lords and merit subjects with the Slave Review Act, the civil service examination and imperial titles.

  2. 1
    AD 956Slave Review Actcreator

    King Gwangjong investigated people wrongly enslaved through war or debt and restored them to commoner status.

  3. 2
    AD 958First Civil Service Examinationcreator

    On the advice of Shuang Ji, a naturalized official from Later Zhou, Gwangjong held Goryeo’s first civil service examination to recruit Confucian-educated officials.

  4. 3
    AD 962Iron Flagpole of Yongdusa Temple Site, Cheongjurelated figure

    In 962, under King Gwangjong, an iron flagpole was raised before Yongdusa temple in Cheongju. Its inscription preserves Gwangjong’s own era name, Junpung.

  5. 4
    AD 963 – 1112Goryeo Relief Policies and Institutionsmonarch

    Goryeo lent grain and steadied grain prices through the Uichang and Sangpyeongchang, and aided the poor and sick through the Jewibo, the East and West Daebiwon and the Hyeminguk.

  6. 5
    AD 968 – 1006Stone Standing Maitreya Bodhisattva of Gwanchoksa, Nonsanmonarch

    A colossal stone figure over 18 m tall, begun under King Gwangjong in 968 and finished in 1006. Called the "Eunjin Maitreya", it typifies the distinctive regional sculpture of early Goryeo.

Related works

  • TV episode: Naked Korean History Episode 124: Why Did the Reformer King Gwangjong Turn into a Tyrant?TV episode · 2024 · Park Jae-woo · tvN STORY

People who appear alongside

  • Ssanggi (Shuang Ji)

    Official from Later Zhou, naturalized in Goryeo, who proposed the civil service examination to Gwangjong

  • GyunyeoAD 923 – AD 973

    Hwaeom monk under King Gwangjong who led Gwibeopsa and wrote the hyangga cycle Bohyeon sibwon-ga

  • King SeongjongAD 960 – AD 997

    Sixth king of Goryeo, who adopted Choe Seung-ro’s 28-article memorial and built a Confucian central and local administration

  • King Yejong1079 – 1122

    Sixteenth king of Goryeo, who sent Yun Gwan to build the Nine Forts and revived state schooling

Themes this person appears in

  • Sui, Tang and the East Asian WorldAD 317 – AD 979

    From the divided Southern and Northern Dynasties and the Gupta age through the Sui and Tang empires to the founding of the Song — the age when an East Asian world sharing law codes, Buddhism, Confucianism and Chinese characters took shape, and Korea and Japan built their states on its model

  • Changes in Buddhist StatuesAD 539 – 1100

    From a Goguryeo gilt-bronze Buddha in Northern Wei style and "the smile of Baekje" to the Seokguram Buddha, Balhae’s twin Buddhas, early Goryeo iron Buddhas and colossal regional stone figures

  • Cheongjuc. 700,000 years ago – 1728

    From the Heungsu child of Durubong Cave to the Jikji — Silla’s secondary capital Seowon, where the oldest surviving metal-type book was printed