Confucian Statecraft and Korean Institutions. Yu Hyongwon and the Late Choson Dynasty - James B. Palais

(Darren Dugan) #1
NOTES TO CHAPTER 22 I 139

yen, and the Ming commentator Ch'iu Chiin also described details of the salaries for the
four grades of clerks and runners. Ibid. 20:3a-4b.



  1. See as well the commentary on the meaning of terms by Mr. Ts'ai in ibid. 20:4b.
    He translated the passage as follows: "Only after those people in office are provided with
    salaries which they can look up [forward?] to, will it be possible to hold them responsi-
    ble for doing good [or performing well]. If their salaries are not continued, clothes and
    food not given to them, so that they are not able to live in harmony at home, then these
    people will in the future fall into crime and perversity." I have adopted the translation in
    Sahagwon, ed., Pan 'gye surok (1963) 4:42. See also the translation by Han 'gukhak kibon
    ch'ongso, ed., no. 10, Chiingbo pan 'gye surok 3 (Seoul: Kyong'in munhwasa, 1974):553.
    The translation by Clae Waltham in Shu Ching: Book (If History, p. 128, appears vague
    and ambiguous. Legge's translation appears to have missed the mark: "All right men,
    having a competency, will go on to be good. If you cannot make men have what they
    love in their families, they will only proceed to be guilty of crime." Chinese Classics
    3:330-31, p. 5, b. 4, par. 13·

  2. PGSR 20:4b-5a. See the comment on this issue by the Sung official, Hsia Sung,
    in the mid-eleventh century.

  3. Ibid. 20:5b.

  4. Ibid. 20:6a-b.

  5. Ibid. I9:2b-3a. The salary lists from the Former Han through Ming are discussed
    in ibid. 20:6b-I 3b.

  6. Ibid. I9:2b.

  7. Ibid. 20: 14a-b.

  8. Ibid. 20:16b-I8a; 3:25b.

  9. Ibid. 3:26a.

  10. Ibid. I9:Ia-b, 4b. To convert Yu's kok to contemporary si5m, one would have to
    multiply by ro mal and divide by 15.

  11. Ibid. 3: 29 a.

  12. Ibid. I9:3a.

  13. Ibid. I8:3b-4a, Chiingbo Pan'gye surok 3:466.

  14. PGSR I9:5a.

  15. Ibid. 19:4b-5a, 22b. Yu noted that boy servants in the capital, who were called
    ch ongjik, were sons of clerks and official slaves who volunteered for the job. They were
    referred to in Kyonggi Province as tong'in. In the southern provinces, however, they were
    called kongsaeng (tribute students) and recruited from the sons of officials and clerks.
    In the north (ybngbuk) thcy werc recruited from sons of official slaves and called ybnjik.

  16. Ibid. I9:4b-5a.

  17. Ibid. I9:22b-28b.

  18. Ibid. 19:29a-b.

  19. Since the kyi5ng was roo myo or 16.7 acres, then Yu's estimated production for a
    superior farmer was 1,300-1,400 mal or 86.7-93.3 in contemporary S(lm (i.e., 15 mal,
    not ro mal as in Yu's sbm), or 5.19-5.59 S(lm per acre. Production for an average farmer
    would be 600-700 mal/kyi5ng or 40-46.7 s(}mlkY(lng, or 2,4-2.8 si5m/acre.

  20. Ibid. 19:29b. Yu's monthly salary scale for capital clerks was 40 mal (4 kok) for

Free download pdf