60 EARLY CHOSON DYNASTYand the examinations was achieved. So, too, had the desire for concentrating on
agricultural production at the expense of industry been achieved by limiting hand-
icraft production to authorized artisans. Commerce had also been kept under
wraps by establishing licensed shops in the capital and restricting merchant activ-
ity in the countryside to periodic markets and peddlers. While a number of kings
tried to break out of an excessively conservative monetary system by introduc-
ing cash and paper money, that policy ultimately failed, but the net result was
welcomed by the most conservative Neo-Confucians.
Problems emerged in the early Choson structure for two reasons: the failure
to solve some of the essential difficulties of the late Koryo period, from over-
sight or neglect or political opposition to the ideal reform program, and the dete-
rioration of some institutions because of changing circumstances. The main
obstacles that were carried over from late Koryo because the political situation
prevented the adoption of the more radical aspects of the Neo-Confucian pro-
gram were the continuation of the power of the yangban and the preservation
of landed property. Landed property was preserved by the kwajon land reform
in 139 I even before the Choson dynasty was founded. The maintenance of inher-
ited slavery was somewhat different because the reformers never considered its
abolition. Its continuation, however, represented a silent affirmation of the prop-
erty rights of the slaveholders. Problems that represented the deterioration of
healthy institutions included the misuse of power by kings and bureaucrats, the
emergence of factions, the spread of corruption among underpaid clerks, the
breakdown of official schools and the deficiencies of the examination system,
and the anomalies in the taxation system, especially the tribute and military and
labor service systems.