Definitions for "Yangban"
ruling literati class of the old korea.
The Yangban were a well educated scholarly class of male Confucian scholars who were part of the ruling elite within Korea prior to 1910 and the republics period of Korean history. The name yangban, literally "both classes," refers to two kind of classes it consists of: munban (문반;文班), the literary class, and muban (무반;武班), the martial class. The yangban tradition of close links by education, teachers, family background, city of origin, has been perpetuated within the Korean ruling class of the partitioned Koreas, with the south forming a new yangban class of leaders who share many of the values of earlier times; and the north forming a new yangban class based on military and educational fellowships and alliances.