Eastern Learning and the Heavenly Way

Tonghak, or Eastern Learning, was the first major new religion in modern Korean history. Founded in 1860, it combined aspects from a variety of Korean religious traditions, and it was seen as an ideological threat by the Korean government in the last half of the nineteenth century. The new teaching appealed to the poor and also to marginalized educated people and became best known for its prominent role in the largest peasant rebellion in Korean history in 1894, which set the ground for a wider regional conflict in the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895. Although the rebellion failed, it caused immense changes in Korean society and Japans victory in the war inaugurated its rise as an imperial power.