636 REFORM OF GOVERNMENT ORGANIZATION
ited the number of utensils, the size of the cups, and the number of rounds of
drinks served. Chinese officials never dared to expropriate anything from the
people to suit their fancies or entertain their guests, not even a single chicken
or fish. In his usual hyperbolic praise of Ming culture, he claimed that the Chi-
nese were neither drinkers nor alcoholics, and drunkenness never caused dis-
ruption in their administration of government.
Cho believed, however, that Koreans always provided lavish amounts oUood
and drink on any occasion without ever thinking that they might spend all their
property in the process. Officials of the Royal Treasury (Naesusa), who were
supposed to eat at home to save costs, were guilty of extravagant expenditures
of food and goods, and the poor scholars in the countryside were guilty of the
same fault, albeit on a smaller scale, because they always feared criticism for
stinginess.
District magistrates in the provinces never adhered to the legal limitations on
food and utensils in the entertainmcnt of visitors because they felt that officials
who visited them on their way through the provinces only judged their worth
on the basis of how lavish they were in offering them food and gifts, and the
magistrates lacked the courage to abstain from what they thought was expected
of them. Although the king himself had to think twice before butchering an ox
to provide meat for himself or his guests, the clerks of magistrates did not hes-
itate to do so to provide for the magistrate's guests.
The situation was even worse when envoys to or from China anived at a large
district town. Then a nine-course banquet was set out with music and drinking
until the wee hours of the night. Not only were oxen slaughtered and huge amounts
of rice consumed for making wine, but the people were subjected to demands
from the magistrate for goods, the yamen runners were worn out providing oil
for lamps, pillows and blankets, and the slaves were run ragged bringing fruit
and vegetables from the gardens they tended. So badly were the slaves harassed
that some even ran away rather than endure the bad treatment.
Possibly the worst evil of all in Cho's view was the endemic addiction to liquor
among the Korean people. Among the worst were the military commanders along
the frontier and in remote areas "who in many cases out of their love for spir-
its abandon their garrisons and cross the border carousing and reveling in drink
for several days on end. Not only is this a matter of concern because of the harm
done to the poor soldiers, but also because the enemy bandits could take advan-
tage of the abandoned [gaITisons], and if they did so, who then would be able
to fight them om"
Koreans simply loved to drink and many had "died young" because of it. Cho
warned the king that he had no choice but to take measures to prevent this, and
urged that he promulgate Ming T'ai-tsu's prohibition against liquor. He sent him
a gift of cups to be sent to the provinces as models for the manufacture of wine
cups of small capacity to be used in local wine-drinking and archery rites and in
important rites for guests and sacrifices. He also urged Sonjo to follow Chinese
rites by restricting the number of wine cups offered in any formal situation, and