Everyday Life in Joseon-Era Korea Everyday Life in Joseon-Era Korea Economy and Society The Organization of Korean Historians, Seoul Edited and Translated by Michael D. Shin Co-translated by Edward Park LEIDEN • BOSTON 2014 Cover Illustration: Banquet in Yeongwangjeong (Yeongwangjeong yeonhoedo) (detail), late eighteenth century. Part of the series Welcoming Banquet for the Magistrate of Pyongyang (Pyeongyang gamsa hyangyeondo). Thought to have been painted by Gim Hongdo. This part of the painting depicts people near Daedong Gate in Pyongyang. (National Museum of Korea). Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Control Number: 2013040417 This publication has been typeset in the multilingual “Brill” typeface. With over 5,100 characters covering Latin, IPA, Greek, and Cyrillic, this typeface is especially suitable for use in the humanities. For more information, please see www.brill.com/brill-typeface. 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This book is printed on acid-free paper. <UN> <UN> CONTENTS List of Contributors vii List of Illustrations and Maps xi Preface and Acknowledgements xv Note on Romanization xvii The Intimate Past: An Introduction to the Joseon Period 1 Michael D. Shin PART ONE ECONOMY 1 Farming in the Joseon Period 37 Kim Kuentae 2 A Typical Day and Year in the Life of the Peasantry 47 Yeom Jeong Sup 3 The Tax Burden of the Peasantry 61 Kim Sung Woo 4 Currency and the Value of Money 71 Lee Hun-Chang 5 The Merchants of Seoul 83 Lee Uk 6 The Joys and Sorrows of the Itinerant Merchants 93 Yoo Pil Jo 7 Foreign Trade and Interpreter Officials 105 Kim Kyung-ran 8 Salt: White Gold 115 Kim Eui-Hwan 9 Seeking Work at Mines 127 Oh Soo-chang 10 When Did Joseon’s Population Reach Ten Million? 135 Ko Dong-Hwan <UN> <UN> vi contents PART TWO SOCIETY 11 Rural Society and Zhu Xi’s Community Compact 147 Kwon Nae-Hyun 12 Why Did Peasants Create the Dure? 155 Lee Hae Jun 13 Did Fake Genealogies Exist? 163 Jung Jin Young 14 The Baekjeong Class 173 Kwon Ki-jung 15 The Rebellion of Im Ggeokjeong 181 Han Sang Kwon 16 Did People Divorce in the Joseon Period? 189 Kwon Soon-Hyung 17 The Educational System 197 Jang Dong-Pyo 18 Military Life 207 Seo Tae-Won 19 The Penal System 217 Sim Jae-woo 20 Eating Culture 225 Chung Yeon-sik 21 Liquor and Taverns 235 Chung Yeon-sik 22 Tea and Tobacco 245 O Jong-rok 23 The Outhouses of the Royal Palaces 253 Hong Soon Min About the Authors 263 Appendix – Monarchs of the Joseon Period 265 Glossary 267 Index 285 <UN> <UN> LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS Chung Yeon-sik is a Professor in the Department of History at Seoul Women’s University. He is the author of the two-volume work Tales of Everyday Life in the Joseon Period (2001). Han Sang Kwon is Professor of History at Duksung Women’s University. He is the author of Social Problems and the Petition System in the Late Joseon Period (1996) and other studies of the political and social history of the period. Hong Soon Min is a Professor in the Department of Cultural Resources in the Graduate School of Records, Archives, and Information at Myongji University in Seoul. He is the author of The Story of Korea’s Royal Palaces (1999) and The Scenery of Seoul (2008). Jang Dong-Pyo is a Professor in the Department of History Education at Pusan National University. He is the author of numerous studies of local history in the late Joseon period. Jung Jin Young is Professor of History at Andong National University. He is the author of The History of Rural Society in the Joseon Period (1998) and of numerous articles on social history. Kim Eui-Hwan is Professor in the Faculty of Liberal Education at Chungbuk National University in Cheongju. He is the author of Salt Production in the Joseon Period (2006), The Gwangmu Land Survey and the Socioeconomic Structure of Chungju (2010), and Lectures on Korean History and Folklore (2010). Kim Kuentae is an Associate Professor in the Department of Korean History at Seoul National University. He is the author of Agricultural Management of Yangban Families in the Joseon Period (2004) and numer- ous studies of the agricultural and social history of the late Joseon period. Kim Kyung-ran is the Chief Researcher at the Daedong Institute for Korean Studies at Sungkyunkwan University. She has published much research on the local history and social history of the Joseon period. <UN> <UN> viii list of contributors Kim Sung Woo is a Professor at Daegu Haany University. He is the author of Sajok and the State in the Mid Joseon Period (2001) and The Shift in Local Hegemony in Gyeongsang Province in the Joseon Period (2012). Ko Dong-Hwan is Professor of Korean History at the Korean Advanced Institute of Science and Technology. He is the author of Commercial Development in the Joseon Period (1998), The Urban History of Seoul in the Joseon Period (2008), and Merchants’ Guilds in the Joseon Period (2013). Kwon Ki-jung is an Assistant Professor in the Department of History and Culture at Hansung University in Seoul. He is the author of Hyangni and Local Society in the Joseon Period (2010), as well as many articles on local society. Kwon Nae-Hyun is an Associate Professor in the Department of History Education at Korea University. He is the author of The Finances of Pyeongan Province in the Late Joseon Period (2004). Kwon Soon-Hyung is a researcher at the Academy of Korean Studies. A spe- cialist in women’s history, she is the author of Women’s Lives and the Institution of Marriage in Goryeo (2006). Lee Hae Jun is Professor of History at Kongju National University. He is the author of The History of Village Society in the Joseon Period (1996) and Clan- Based Seowon in the Late Joseon Period (2008), as well as the co-author of Traditional Society and Life Culture (2006). Lee Hun-Chang is Professor of Korean Economic History in the Department of Economics at Korea University. He is the author of The Economic History of Korea (2012) and many articles on economic history in both Korean and English. Lee Uk is an Associate Professor in the Department of History at Sunchon National University. He is the author of many studies of the economic and political history of local areas. O Jong-rok is an Associate Professor in the Department of History at Sungshin Women’s University. He has written numerous studies of the political history of the early Joseon period. <UN> <UN> list of contributors ix Oh Soo-chang is Professor of Korean History at Seoul National University. He is the author of Social Development in Pyeongan Province in the Late Joseon Period (2002) and The Framework of Politics in the Joseon Period (2011). Edward Park graduated with an A.B. degree in East Asian Studies from Harvard University. He was the main translator of The Dynamics of Confucianism and Modernization by Yi Tae-jin (Cornell East Asia Series, 2007). Currently, he is participating in a multi-year project to translate the Veritable Records of the Joseon dynasty. Seo Tae-Won is an Assistant Professor in the College of Liberal Education at Mokwon University in Daejeon. A specialist in military history, he is the author of The Local Army System in the Late Joseon Period (1999). Michael D. Shin is Lecturer in Korean Studies at the University of Cambridge. A specialist on the Japanese colonial period, he is the editor of Landlords, Peasants, and Intellectuals in Modern Korea (2005) and the edi- tor and co-author of the forthcoming Korean History in Maps (2014). Sim Jae-woo is an Associate Professor at the Academy of Korean Studies. He is the author of State Power and Crime in the Late Joseon Period (2009) and Confess Your Crime! Understanding Joseon through Crime and Punishment (2011). Yeom Jeong Sup is an Associate Professor in the Department of History at Hallym University in Chuncheon. He is the author of Seo Yugu and the Imwon Gyeongjeji (2011) as well as many studies of agricultural history. Yoo Pil Jo teaches at Nangok Middle School in Seoul. He is one of the authors of books by The Association of Korean History Teachers, includ- ing How Should We Teach Our Children About History? (2002). <UN> <UN> <UN> <UN> LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS AND MAPS Map 0.1 Map of Joseon xviii Kim Kuentae 1.1 Rice Transplantation by Gim Jungeun 39 1.2 Gyeongjikdo (detail) 41 1.3 Harvesting Rice by Sim Sajeong 43 1.4 Tadorakchwido by Gim Hongdo 45 Yeom Jeong Sup 2.1 Bringing Food to Farmers Weeding a Field by Gim Hongdo 48 2.2 Nonggawollyeongga 54 2.3 Plowing a Field in Spring by Gim Hongdo 55 2.4 Plowing a Field by Gim Hongdo 57 Kim Sung Woo 3.1 Tenants Paying Their Fee to the Landlords by Gim Yunbo 62 3.2 Bansangdo by Gim Deuksin 64 3.3 Bubyeokru yeonhoe (detail) 67 Lee Hun-Chang 4.1 Gyeongjikdo (detail) 73 4.2 Weaving by Gim Hongdo 76 4.3 Susepae 79 Lee Uk 5.1 Rice stores in the Jongno area of Seoul 84 5.2 The Chilpae district in Seoul 85 5.3 Market (Sijang) by Gim