Download or read book Between Dreams and Reality written by Eugene Y. Park and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2007 with total page 310 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Park argues that the mukwa--Korea's state military examination--was not only the primary means of recruiting aristocrats as new members of the military bureaucracy, but also a way for the ruling elite to partially satisfy the status aspirations of marginalized regional elites, secondary status groups, commoners, and manumitted slaves.