56 EARLY CHOSON DYNASTYglers shipped it to Japan in violation of the law. The government responded by
ordering executions for the smugglers but to little avail. Then when a bumper
crop in the fall of 143 T caused a precipitous fall in the price of rice, the state
abandoned its attempt to regulate the value of cash (hwamae) by ever normal
price stabilization operations altogether, probably since it held insufficient cash
to buy enough rice to raise its price to normal levels.
In T438, Sejong noticed that the supply of cash had been so depleted by the
smuggling of copper abroad and the conversion of worthless cash to more valu-
able copper implements that the amount of copper cash in circulation was no
more than one-tenth of the supply first issued. Despite this shortage, the value
of the coins dropped further in 1439 to '/14 toe, and occasional government sales
of goods for cash only succeeded in raising the value of cash temporarily, but
never higher than Ys toe. Yi Chongyong has concluded in his study that copper
cash was doomed to failure as a currency once it dropped in value below cop-
per's intrinsic value.^82
Utility of Cash in Japan and ChinaThe failure of copper cash occurred even though some Koreans were able to
appreciate its utility in Japan and China. During a visit to Japan Pak Tansaeng
had noticed that there was more cash than rice in circulation, and that travelers
could pay for lodging and horses wherever they went. Foodsellers, tea shops,
hostels, and widespread public baths all accepted payment in cash, and retail
trade appeared to profit from this condition; shops in markets were better than
those in Korea because merchants displayed their wares on wooden stands under
the eaves of buildings, protecting foods and merchandise from dirt. Even Sejong
commented ruefully in 143 T that though the Japanese lacked the benefits of a
Neo-Confucian sense of propriety and ritual, they still had found a way to pro-
mote the use of cash among the population. In 1471, Sin S6mju also praised the
flourishing markets of Japan, the prevalence of tea and pastry shops, the hustle
and bustle of the markets, and the use of cash instead of rice to purchase goods
and services.
Sin Sang, a visitor to Ming China in 1433, marveled at the presence of active
markets in even the smallest towns while only Korea's capital had permanent
markets. Cash circulated widely in China but not in Korea. When he suggested
that markets be opened in at least the seats of all district magistrates to promote
the use of cash, Sejong agreed, even though he realized that many would criti-
cize the idea as promoting an increase in vagrants and idlers who would aban-
don their fields and flock to the marketplace in search of easy profits. He felt it
was justified to violate conventional Confucian economic wisdom because it
would help to alleviate population pressure on the small amount of arable land
in Korea.^81