Asian History (China, Korea, Japan)

I have been working on developing a fantasy world for the last 12-13 years. This year I have decided to completely revamp and redesign the world. As such I have been greatly influenced by Asian history. When I say Asian History I am referring to China, Korea and Japan. I find it amazing how they have interacted over the MANY years. There is just something about this part of the world that entrances me.

Its interesting that Korea has only really been whole twice in its existence once in the Joseon Dynasty and the following Japanese rule. After which the UN allowed it to be split between Russia and the US. Thus why we today have a split Korea. Both China and Japan allowed Western influence which changed them drastically and very uniquely.

Both China and Korea had a Three Kingdom's period and for a short while they over lapped. Japan and China had influence during Korea's three Kingdom's period. With the Help of the Tang Dynasty in China, Silla (one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea) was able to unify 90% of the current Korean Peninsula. The Northern Part of the peninsula and a large chunk of North Eastern China was owned by Korean's part of a kingdom called Balhae. Both China and Korea had a lot of changes in power and division of tribes for the longest periods.

Anyhoo, I find this area of the world so fascinating and the geography there is also so amazing. I am hoping that before I die to have the chance to backpack through Korea and explore this amazing terrain following the history that I am learning and experiencing through historical drama's.

Korean Period Drama's Evalutated By: CW

I enjoy a lot of Korean Historical Based TV shows and movies. Most recent show I have been watching has been the Great Queen Seon Deok. Which is based off the First Queen (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_Seondeok_of_Silla) ever to rule the South East part of Korean during the Three Kingdoms (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Kingdoms_of_Korea) Period (58BC - 668). I have also enjoyed Jumong (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jumong_(TV_series)) which is the story for the guy who united the Northern part of Korea (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Dongmyeong_of_Goguryeo). What these shows have in common is they are both drama's about the uniting of different parts of Korea. They also both had to overcome from nothing to being ruler of a nation. Both had the King try and take them out, and in both cases the king was their father or adopted father. They also both had a major female character that was the main source of grief fighting for power.

I think that’s what makes these so interesting is the intrigue and power struggle. The adventure is pretty cool and full of action but the part I want to make note of is how a lot of the show focuses on people sitting around a table plotting. They love throwing wired and interesting twists and drawing them out. It can be so annoying sometimes to have to watch long drawn out facial shots when you want them to reveal some truth that you know but the characters don't. Another thing about these two drama’s in particular is that both have love stories that have to be sacrificed for the greater good of the nation they are trying to unite.

Watching these shows along with Iljimae makes me wonder if it would be possible to write a tv show that is based around a situation rather than a character. Where the characters are just there to support the story rather than be the focus of the story. This would allow for characters to be killed and evolved without a death to the story. But can it be done? Has anyone done this before? I don’t know, it’s something to explore.