Im Yunjidang

She belonged to a poor yangban family. Due to the hardships of her life (death of her father, retreat of the family to a mountain village), she was less pressured by the usual stereotypes of her time. Moreover, her brothers --Im Songju (1711-1788) among them-- have been moved by her talented mind and helped her to read and access the Classics [3].

She married Sin Gwangyu at the age of 19, but became a widow 8 years later. Then she partake her life between helping her family-in-law and commenting the Classics.[4]

In no place of her writings does she proactively resist neo-Confucian social norms, including the samjongjido 삼종지도 (三從之道), which states that a woman must be a follower of her father and then of her husband and finally of her son.[5] As stated by Kim Sungmoon, it was ironically the same series of unfortunate deaths in Im Yunjidang's life that deprived her of the possibility to follow three Ways of the virtuous Confucian woman ---and that granted her the freedom to study neo-Confucian texts and develop her own philosophical thought [6]

In the end, and despite the gender bias of the Confucian society, a collection of the written thoughts of Im Yunjidang was compiled and published in 1796, three years after her death, by her brother-in-law Sin Kwang-wu and her younger brother, Im Jeong-ju. This Yunjidang Yugo has been handed down to nowadays.[7]

Im Yunjidang was part of a tradition opened by the Naehun of Queen Insu: using the Classics themselves to reclaim the right for women to access education and philosophy. In her writings, she discussed her cosmic view on the supremacy of gi (energy) over i (reason) and human relations based on the principle of equality. She also discussed the Four Beginnings (benevolence, righteousness, etiquette and wisdom) and the Seven Emotions (joy, anger, grief, terror, love, hate and desire).[8]

She is counted as one of the first female Confucian philosophers in Korea, and served of model to Kang Jeongildang and others. It should be noted also that few women were published in Joseon-Korea. She was alongside the poet Seo Yeongsuhap (1753-1823), and Yi Bingheogak, who published the women's encyclopedia Guyhap chongseo about household tasks in 1809.

• Ko, Dorothy; JaHyun Kim Haboush; Joan R. Piggott; Joan Piggott (2003). Women and Confucian Cultures in Premodern China, Korea, and Japan. University of California Press. ISBN 9780520231382. 250 pages. --> p. 164

• Yi Pae-yong (2008). Women in Korean History. Ewha Womans University Press. ISBN 9788973007721. 319 pages

• Kim Youngmin (2011). Kim Youngmin; Pettid, Michael J. (eds.). Women and Confucianism in Choson Korea: New Perspectives. SUNY Press. ISBN 9781438437750. 170 pages

• Kim Sungmoon (July 2014). "The Way to Become a female Sage: Im Yunjidang's Confucian Feminism". Journal of the History of Ideas. University of Pennsylvania Press. 75 (3): 395–416. doi:10.1353/jhi.2014.0026. JSTOR 43289674. S2CID 144228529.CS1 maint: date and year (link)

• Jeong Seonghee (2020a). "임윤지당" [Im Yunjidang]. 인물한국사 [Figures of the Korean History].

• EncyKor (2020a). "삼종지도" [samjongjido]. Encyclopedia of Korean Culture.