page_title: Choe Je-u
section_title: Legacy
hierarchical_section_title: Choe Je-u / Life / Legacy
caption_attribution_description: English: Sttue of Choe Je-u (Su-un), founder of the Cheondo-gyo religion, located at the entrance to the Yeongdamjeong (Yongdam Temple) near Gyeongju, South Korea
context_page_description: Choe Je-u, who used the pen name Su-un, was the founder of Donghak, a Korean religious movement against foreign invasions and critical of Joseon Dynasty government policies of the time. His teachings led to peasant revolts in Korea which were contemporary with the Taiping Rebellion in China, and he was martyred by order of the Daewongun, only weeks before the death of Hong Xiuquan.
  His birth-name was Choe Je-seon. During his childhood, he was also called Bok-sul. He took the name Je-u in 1859. His disciples called him Su-un, which was the name he used for his writings, and also called him Daesinsa, the great teacher.
context_section_description: After his death, the movement was continued by Choe Sihyeong (Haewol, 1827–1898). The works of Choe Je-u were collected in two volumes, The Bible of the Donghak Doctrine (in Korean-Chinese, 1880) and The Hymns of Dragon Lake (in Korean, 1881).
  In 1894, the brutally suppressed Donghak Peasant Revolution, led by Jeon Bongjun (1854–1895), unleashed the First Sino-Japanese War, which placed Korea at the mercy of Japan. Choe Sihyeong evaded capture for four years but was finally executed in 1898. In the wake of this disaster the movement was drastically reformed by Son Byong-Hi (Uiam, 1861–1922), who removed overt political elements, inserted religious ones, and renamed it as Cheondogyo in 1905. Although initially it won the approval of Japanese authorities, this new religion was active in anti-Japanese resistance and a major factor in the March 1st Movement of 1919, which failed and forced Cheondogyo underground until 1945.
  His life was the subject of Stanley Park's 2011 film The Passion of a Man named Choe Che-u (동학, 수운 최제우).
caption: Statue of Choe Je-u
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