Joseon Korea (1392–1910) was Korea's longest-lived dynasty and, by many accounts, one of the most thoroughly Neo-Confucian states ever built — a kingdom that engineered its whole society around Neo-Confucian order, gave Korea its own alphabet under King Sejong, survived a catastrophic Japanese invasion, sealed itself off as the 'Hermit Kingdom,' and was finally annexed by imperial Japan.
For more than five centuries one family ruled Korea, longer than any other Korean dynasty. Its rulers tried to build one of the most perfectly Confucian societies on earth, governing by ritual and filial duty more strictly than China itself. That same kingdom gave ordinary Koreans their own alphabet, survived an invasion that burned its capital, then restricted foreign contact so sharply that outsiders called it the Hermit Kingdom. In 1910 it was swallowed whole by Japan, and the dynasty that had lasted 518 years simply ended.