CENTRAL BUREAUCRACY 635
tions of the people to find out what was going on in the locality and inspect all
weights and measures to prevent cheating during tax collection by clerks and
officials. On the basis of this investigation the governor would have some basis
for determining whether to reward the district magistrate or punish him.
To ensure strict daily attendance on the job. a "Keep Order" sign would be
pasted up at the office door to indicate an official's presence in his office, but
only when he showed up for work. At the end of the day, subordinate officials
and clerks would not be allowed to leave for home until a sign was posted stat-
ing that the chief official had left. Yu did allow, however, that when there was
no business to be conducted in the office, officials would be allowed to do what
they wanted, eithcr entertain guests, study books, play the flute, or practice archery
- not necessarily because Yu himself believed in liberality as a matter of prin-
ciple, but because "I hear said that this is the way they do things in China." In
short, the main inspiration for Yu's proposed regulations to correct the laxity of
Korean bureaucratic practice was Cho Hem's memorial of 1574 and his adula-
tion of late Ming bureaucratic behavior.^66
Since it is well known that the Ming was nearing the end of its days at this
time and the signs of decrepitude were already manifest, one might conclude
either that Cho Hon was really one of the those modern "instant experts" who
spend a week or two in a foreign country and then publish a raft of articles on
that country, or that Korean bureaucratic practice was so undisciplined at that
time that even the Ming bureaucracy in its decline looked like a wonder of dis-
pline and rectitude.
Yu Hyongwon's motives, however, had to have been different since he was
undoubtedly writing this section of his book after the two Manchu invasions of
Korea. the fall of the Ming dynasty in 1644. and the establishment of Ch'ing
suzerainty over Choson. Since the perception of the Manchus as the barbarian
destroyers of the greatness of Ming culture was dominant in Korea, and prob-
ably in Yu's mind as well, Cho Hon's exaggerated view of late sixteenth-cen-
tury Chinese reality must have been even more convincing to Koreans than when
he made his recommendation in late Ming times.
Limits on Parties and DrunkennessYu's concern about the evils of profligate spending extended beyond royal ban-
quets to every phase of goverment. He cited Cho Kwangjo's complaint to King
Chungjong that in the reign of YOn san' gun the officials had abandoned them-
selves to partying and pleasure and the mores of the people in general had declined
because they tired of hearing the constant and "mournful" admonitions for fru-
gality when they saw before their very eyes examples of the splendor of luxu-
rious parties as if they were living in an age of prosperity.
Yu also cited Cho Han's criticism of the profligate indulgence in partying and
drinking that flourished in Korea. Cho reported to King Sonjo (in 1574) that the
Chinese he observed were always frugal in providing food to guests and lim-