678 REFORM OF GOVERNMENT ORGANIZATIONnot appointed until 1430, three-quarters of a century after the dynasty was
founded, but they were meant to be circuit inspectors rather than permanent gov-
ernors. Although they submitted memorials to the emperor, they did not assume
full responsibility for tax collection, and provincial commissioners communi-
cated directly with the ministries. As provincial control weakened, circuit inten-
dants assumed control of the administrative and surveillance commissioners.
Eventually, grand coordinators (Hsiin-fu) dispatched to maintain surveillance
over areas were turned into provincial governors by 1550, and they were placed
under a supreme commander for military affairs (Tsung-tu chiin-wu). In other
words, the creation of the permanent governorship to transcend all prefectural
and district officials only appeared in full-fledged form a century before Yu
Hyongwon's lifetime. 10
By the seventeenth century, the Koreans had long since adopted the province
and surveillance commissioner as provincial governor (K wanch'alsa, named after
the Tang tcrm for civil governor, Kuan-ch'a-shih), but provincial administra-
tion was still not fully developed and the governor himself still functioned like
a temporary circuit inspector. Not only did Yu want to make the governor a per-
manent official, he also wanted to restructure the governor's staff subordinates
to aid him in provincial administration. Yu had found that since the Chou dynasty,
kings and emperors were primarily concerned with controlling the powers of
the chieflocal officials without interfering too much with their responsibilities.
The Son of Heaven or ruler of the Chou empire sent officials called Ta-fu to
oversee (chien) the leader of the feudal lords, called the Fang-po, the only lord
who had the authority to lead a punitive expedition against a transgressor.
In the Ch'in dynasty, an imperial scribe (later censor) (Yii-shih) was sent to
the commanderies as an inspector (Chien) who reported to the emperor, but in
the early Han period the post of inspector was abolished. A censor was estab-
lished to investigate the metropolitan area (San-fu) in the early second century
B.C., and investigating censors (Chien-ch'a yii-shih) at the prefectural (Chou)
level. Because their surveillance was lax, Emperor Wen (r. 180-157 B.c.)
ordered the prime minister to dispatch clerks to investigate the prefectures, but
they were not always appointed. In 106 B.C. Emperor Wu then created the post
of regional inspector (Tz'u-shih) to oversee one of the thirteen regions and all
their commanderies and kingdoms, but Grand Minister of Works (Ta Ssu-k'ung)
Ho Wu, in the mid-first century (ca. 32 B.C.) criticized this system because the
regional inspector was too low in rank to take charge of criticizing his superi-
ors, and he was replaced by a higher ranking official. I I
In the Tang dynasty, civil governors (called variously An Ch'a-shih and Kuan-
ch'a-shih) were appointed to the ten (later fifteen) circuits (tao) of the empire,
and they and thc rcgional military commissioners (Chieh-tu-shih) had about four
subordinates, including special commissioners for taxation (Tsu-yung-shih),
transport (ChLian-yLin-shih), and salt and iron production (Yen-t'ieh-shih) who
were not always appointed. The Sung government replaced the circuit with the
eightecn (later twenty-three) routes (Lu), each of which was run by a governor