NEW SCHOOLS I87Yu contrasted the situation with his understanding of contemporary China in
which every prefecture and district (chou and hsien) had a doctor. Yu did not
insist on the immediate establishment of medical schools in the local districts.
If instructions were issued to recruit men already skilled in medical practice, it
would be sufficient for local needs; it would also provide an incentive for young
men to tum to medicine as a respected profession with job opportunities in state
service. He pointed out that the current dynastic code had established quotas
for both medical and legal students (uisaeng, yulsaeng) in the districts, ranging
from eight to sixteen depending on the size of the district, but all were of base
or slave status and hardly any were literate. He also claimed that there was ancient
precedent for the recruitment of doctors by the state. 59
Yu complained that the specialists' positions in various capital agencies such
as the Palace Physicians' Court (Naeuiwon), the Directorate of Medicine
(Chon'uigam), the Directorate of Astronomy (Kwansanggam), and the Court of
Interpreters (Sayogwon) were all unranked sinecures (ch 'ea). He suggested that
both rank and salaries be provided for these officials in correspondence to their
talents, and that they be subjected to a biannual review of their performance for
promotion or demotion. He also drew up a detailed set of regulations for entrance
examinations for students in the technical schools, specifying the technical texts
to be used in the examinations for each.6o Of course, Yu was living in an age
when an educated man could lay claim to conversance with the full body of
knowledge about life, but his attempt to define and impose curricula in the area
of technical competence confirms his illiberal and conservative tendencies in
the pursuit and instruction of knowledge.
Technology and Technical Schools: Music. Yu also castigated the pathetic sit-
uation in the Court of Music (Chang'agwon) in the capital. Under prevailing
practice court musicians were divided by personal status into commoner musi-
cians (aksaeng) and slave musicians (akkong), with quotas of 297 for the for-
mer and 5 I 8 for the latter. To fill quotas, people from the provinces were forced
to move to the capital together with support taxpayers who were responsible for
providing their upkeep. They were given examinations on their instruments, but
only 2 or 3 percent were lucky enough to receive a sinecure; the rest had to per-
form their duties without salary and most of them ended up as runners in the
Court of Music, Ministry of Rites, or other court offices, even though they retained
the title of Musician. The higher officials in charge of the Court of Music had
become wealthy by establishing large quotas of musicians and requiring fees
(kap (}) from peasants liable for the duty. If the individuals owing service in the
Court of Music absconded, the fee obligation would then be shifted to their rel-
atives. Yu proposed establishing fixed quotas, providing regular salaries to the
musicians, testing the candidates upon admission, and weeding out the incom-
petent. Unqualified musicians would be subject to corporal punishment, dismissal,
and enrollment for military service.^61
Lacunae in his Program for Technicians. In summary, Yu sought to improve
the training, qualification, support, and status of the CUlTent range of the tech-