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

202 SOCIAL REFORM

examination system not only for failing to obtain the best men for office, but

also for wrecking public mores by encouraging competition.^107

Yi also quoted a statement of An Chongbok, an intellectual heir to Yu's thought,

that traced the history of recruitment in China and reflected Yu's ideas rather

closely. An described the system of recommendation and selection at the vil-

lage level in the Chou; the use of guaranteed recommendation in the comman-

deries and principates and hiring of subordinates by active officials in the regular

prefectures and districts during Han times; the use of the Chung-cheng, who

recommended men for office according to the nine ranks (chiu-p'in) in the Wei

and Chin dynasties of the third century; and the adoption of the examination

system in the Sui. He also praised the ancient method of recruitment because

It cultivated [educated] men in the sang and suk [local schools], and recom-

mended them for the higher schools, until they reached the court of the Son of

Heaven. They only took scholars of virtuous behavior and talent in the arts, and

in the countryside no one of any worth was left out [of the recruitment process].

In Han times, even though the instruction provided in the local schools [the

sang and suk of the hyang and tang local communities] was not as good as the

ancient method, and even though the attainment of moral order in society was

not as great as in ancient times, nevertheless the systems of guaranteed recom-

mendation and the hiring of subordinates by officials did mean that men were

selected on the basis of their actual behavior. The flourishing of men of talent

and the beauty of mores during the two Han dynasties reached a level that no

[dynasty] in later ages ever attained. 108

An criticized the Northern and Southern dynasties system of recommenda-
tion because it was based on pedigree, but he allowed that it preserved some-
thing of the classical ideal because rank was (supposedly) determined on the
basis of talent and behavior. With the beginning of the examination system, how-
ever, the attention of scholars shifted to the study of letters for their own sake
and the use of learning for obtaining office. The result was that the bureaucracy
became filled with seekers after scholarly fame and material fortune while "the
men of great talent and capacity grew old and died in the caves [of remote moun-
tains] and were never selected" - an apt description forYu Hyongwon himself.
Ever the professional historian, An went further than Yu had by discussing
the utility of examinations throughout Korean history, pointing out that prior to
the adoption of the examinations (in 958), Korea had produced many great men
and literary talents, Silla had unified the Three Kingdoms, and Koryo had reuni-
fied the Later Three Kingdoms even without benefit of the examination system.
It was only King K wangjong (in 958) who, because of his admiration for Chi-
nese customs, mistakenly believed that the examination system was an essen-
tial part of Chinese civilization. He had no idea what the real method of
recruitment was in ancient China and did not realize that the sages had never
used an examination system. 109