730 REFORM OF GOVERNMENT ORGANIZATIONother moral texts, but some officials complained in the early 1630S that young
students hardly ever read it because they were too busy studying for the gov-
ernment examinations. Injo mentioned community compacts in a set of regula-
tions to promote schools in 1634, but he did nothing to implement them.^44
Hwang Chonghae, a retired scholar, did establish a small local association in
Mokch'on in 1641 called the Golden Orchid Kye (Kiimnan'gye), based on Chu
Hsi's emendation of the Lii-Family compact. The ground rules (tonggyu) pro-
vided that two yangban would be chosen to act as heads of the association (Yusa)
and two low persons (hain) to act as secretaries or functionaries. Qualifications
for membership were more liberal than the rules for Yulgok's Haeju compact
since everyone in the village or township of whatever class ("whether high or
low") who were married and had their own residence was permitted to join, and
new arrivals to the village were to be allowed to join after having lived and cul-
tivated the land for a few years. Those who refused to join initially would not
be eligible for labor sharing in agriculture, assistance in case of flood or drought,
or any natural disaster, and if they continued to refuse, they could be beaten and
ultimately expelled from the district (tong). The compact was to be restricted
to the village community alone, and not to any other village or administrative
district.
The regulations provided some recognition but no liberation from status by
allowing the announcement of awards to lower persons (hain) who had done
good deeds or had observed three years of mourning for their deceased parents,
or to slaves (nobi) who had demonstrated strict loyalty to their yangban mas-
ters. Strict distinctions were maintained between sons of legitimate wives and
the nothoi of concubines (chOkso), pointing out that they all shared the same
obligations (to their parents), but that nothoi were forbidden from insulting legit-
imate sons and liable to punishment for such acts in the state law code. On the
other hand, if the nothoi of yangban (sao!) were found guilty of fighting, they
were only to be penalized according to the rules for yangban, not commoners
or lower persons.
Hwang maintained Yulgok's schedule for differentiating penalties according
to the social status of individuals. He referred to the local elite as yangban rather
than sajok or saryu (scholars or literati) as Yulgok had done in the previous cen-
tury, and he stated that even though men of all classes were liable for punish-
ment for their misdemeanors, the distinction between yangban and lower
persons (lwin), legitimate son and nothoi, and elder and younger persons had
to be kept clear. Unfortunately, because in recent years the lower persons had
become used to "lording it over" the yangban and even attacking them physi-
cally, these violations had to be punished by beatings, and in severe cases reported
to the magistrate.
Yangban as well as low persons had to aid their neighbors in time of disaster
and obey the rules for mourning, but a yangban was allowed to send one of his
slaves to participate in a funeral as a substitute. If a yangban failed to partici-
pate in a funeral, however, he only had to pay a penalty of one mal of rice, but