SLAVERY 263was incompatible with sagehood. Since An had occupied the post of adviser
and tutor to King Chongjo when he had been crown prince (prior to his acces-
sion to the throne in 1776), it is quite possible that this last statement formed
the link between Yu's neglect of the Kija slave law and King Yongjo's order to
his official in 1774 to investigate the classics to find whether Kija had ever autho-
rized tribute payments for female slaves, and King Sunjo's decree of 1801, which
rejected Kija's slave law as a legitimate basis for hereditary slavery. 197
An was as ambivalent as Yu on the prospects for slave reform because both
admitted the power of social custom and were reluctant to risk the social dis-
ruption that would result from immediate abolition. Although his own rumina-
tions on the question demonstrated his debt to Yu (italicized in the following
quote), his own solution was different.
Some have asked: "What should be done to rectify it?" Some have said: "Let's
just follow the ancient way and only enslave those guilty of crime. Let's just
adopt the Chinese system and employ hired labor." Others have said that
"[Korean hereditary slavery] has been in practice for such a long time that
[Korean customs] are not the same [as those in China]. This was the reason that
the Yiian people were not able to abolish [the Korean slave laws] even though
they wanted to do so."
Some have said: "If the laws are changed, then the situation will change. If
the situation changes, then customs will follow along and change." If you can
find the right way [of doing things] and put it into practice, then why is it not
possible that what was used in ancient times would not work in the present?
Why would not something that [worked] in China be adopted in our country?
The reason why the Yiian were not able to abolish [our slave laws] even though
they wanted to do so was because the power rested with us, but how would the
hereditary aristocrats and great clans been pleased [with the loss of their slaves]
and gone along with it?
That is why the elimination of this evil must pass through a great change, for
only after there is no difference between noble and base to speak of can a true
king make his appearance and bring [slavery] under control. If, prior to the abo-
lition [of slavery], you only take the rather petty measure of investigating and
judging each and every case [of possible improper enslavement], this will not be
the right way to do things, and social order will be completely destroyed. and
the habit of [slaves ] lording it over their superiors will prevail just as described
in the histories, 19 RAn felt that heroic or courageous leadership could not possibly overcome the
resistance or inertia of social forces. When he wrote that a great transformation
had to take place, he meant that society itself had to change to the point where
distinctions of social status diminished in importance before slavery could be
abolished. Until it did, it would be harmful to tamper with existing practice even