What is "yangban"

n. (context historical English) A ruling class of male Confucian intellectuals in Korea at and before the time of the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean%20Empire.

The yangban ( Hangul: 양반: Hanja: 兩班) were part of the traditional ruling class or gentry of dynastic Korea during the Joseon Dynasty. The yangban were mainly composed of civil servants and military officers. The yangban were landed or unlanded aristocracy who comprised the Korean Confucian idea of a "scholarly official." Basically, they were administrators and bureaucrats who oversaw ancient Korea's traditional agrarian bureaucracy until the medieval regime of Joseon Dynasty ended in 1894. In a broader sense, office holder's family and descendants as well as country families who claimed such descendance were socially accepted as yangban.