CHAPTER 26
Cash and Economic Change
after 1731
iGng Yongjo's decision to mint more cash in 173 I appeared to mark the end
of an era of government conservatism and guarantee the permanence of the role
of cash in the Korean economy. In actuality, cash had already won its place by
the gradual expansion of commercial activity since the seventeenth century; it
was only a matter of time before Korean kings acknowledged its necessity. Did
the grudging acceptance of cash as a permanent part of the Korean economy
mean that a significant advance over the seventeenth century was underway in
general attitudes toward the economy, and did Yu's prescription on the role of
cash and commerce in the economy appear irrelevant and outdated just when
his ideas were beginning to spread among scholars and officials?
Yu SUWONThe Development olMerchant CapitalWhile many scholars and officials were still opposed to problems that they attrib-
uted to cash itself, some of their more enlightened fellows began to face some
of the implications raised by the emerging role of commerce in the economy.
In some ways, the most enlightened of these men was Yu Suw6n, an official
affiliated with the Disciple's Faction (Soron) purged in a factional dispute with
the Patriarch's Faction (Noron). He was one ofthe first writers to challenge tra-
ditional Confucian restrictions on the function of commerce in the economy. I
Between 1729 and I 737Yu wrote a book called Usa, which advocated greater
respect for the "despised" occupations of commerce and industry, and he began
his discussion of this topic by directing his sympathies toward the growing
class of yangban I iterati who had failed the civil service examinations and were
unable to obtain an official appointment. Since Korean law prohibited anyone
from standing for the official examinations or holding high civil office if any
of their ancestors had ever engaged in commerce or handicrafts, yangban fam-
ilies were prevented from engaging in those occupations no matter how poor