Hwaseong: King Jeongjo’s new city
New martial arts for Joseon

The Silhak vision
‘Wealth is created by the people’

Evolving farms and markets
‘Sanga yorok’: A royal physician’s cookbook

Popular culture flourishes
Yi Danjeon, the ‘nobi’ poet

Love and marriage in Joseon
Gang Jeongildang and Yun Gwangyeon in love

Kim Jeongho and ‘Daedong yeojido’
Korean maps of the past

The peasants rise up
Hong Gyeongnae and the battle of Jeongju Fortress

Seohak and Donghak
Protestantism gains royal backing

Isolation or enlightenment? Korea at the crossroads
‘Uigwe’: Joseon texts seized by France

Opening the doors
A ‘Treaty of Peace, Amity, Commerce and Navigation’

‘A new world, for three days’: the Gapsin Coup
A military uprising: The Imo Incident

Jeon Bongjun and the Donghak Peasant Revolution
The attack on Gyeongbokgung and the Gabo Reforms

The death of Empress Myeongseong
The Daehan Empire is born

Treaty ports usher in the winds of change
When did Korea start using the solar calendar?

- Index
- Image credits and sources