ABSTRACT
Although the Korean government abolished the system of Confucian examinations and the Confucian system of government, the monarchy continued to support the Confucian ritual-system. Confucian ritual had been a prime means for expressing the moral and ethical system which was at the heart of the Confucian weltanschauung. King Sejong had eliminated the great rite offered to Heaven on the grounds that it was appropriate only for the Emperor of China to perform such a rite. When the Kingdom of Choson became the Empire of Tae Han in 1897, this rite was restored and a special altar was created for its performance. As a sign of the submissive relationship between Korea and Japan, by 1908 all rituals but the rites offered to the dynastic ancestors and Confucius had been eliminated. These latter ceremonies survive to the present day.
