452 t h e a n n a l s o f k i n g t’a e j o
Thus, you would have the students learn the sounds and meanings of the
Chinese language, as well as the correct ways of producing compositions,
so that we can do our best in serving the great nation and at the same time
bring about the effect of cultivating our customs. We have discussed the
important matters related to instruction and examination and submit the
result of our discussions as follows:
“1. The faculty should consist of three instructors. Two of them should
teach Chinese and the other one Mongolian, and they need to be provided
with a generous stipend. The students are to be divided into two groups accord-
ing to the languages they study—i.e., Chinese and Mongolian—and they will
be rewarded or punished based on their academic achievements, and the
instructors will also be subject to the evaluation of their job performance.
“1. Since there are few students who want to study these foreign lan-
guages, the five wards in the capital and the major towns and districts in
local provinces across the country should be required to select an intelligent
person under the age of fifteen among the people of good status and send
him [to the central government in Seoul] every year.
“1. The examination will be held every three years. As for the qualifica-
tions of the candidates, specifications will be needless if there is none. In the
case of the students of the Court of Interpreters, those who are below rank
7 and proficient in The Four Books, The Small Learning (Sohak), imun
[Chinese language used in diplomatic documents], Chinese, and Mongolian,
should all be allowed to take the examination.
“The candidates taking the examination are divided into three categories:
the ones who belong to category 1(ilgwa) are those who are proficient in all
four areas—i.e., The Four Books, The Small Learning, imun- style Chinese,
and the Chinese language—and they will be given senior rank 7 by royal
decree [if they pass the examination]. The ones who belong to category 2
(igwa) are those who are good at only half of The Four Books, The Small
Learning, and the Chinese language, and they will be given rank 8a. The
ones who belong to category 3 (samgwa) are those who are good at The
Small Learning and the Chinese language, and they will be given rank 9a.
“The candidates who specialize in the Mongolian language are divided
into two categories: the ones who belong to category 1 are those who can
both translate and write Mongolian and Uyghur, and those belonging to cat-
egory 2 are those who can only write Uyghur and speak Mongolian, and the
ranks awarded to the successful candidates of these two categories should be
the same as those of the candidates who specialize in the Chinese language.