260 SOCIAL REFORMtribute levies on female slaves was not even a part of the tsu~yung-tiao triple tax
system (of the T'ang dynasty); it had to be abolished because it was practiced
nowhere else in the world besides Korea. Others agreed that abolishing female
slave tribute was correct and proper but objected that it would encourage female
slaves to keep their children off the slave registers thereby reducing the official
slave population even more, and that the loss in revenue could not be made up
from other sources. Won rejoined that any losses in the official slave population
could be made up by tightening the opportunities for manumission by purchase,
and restricting the freedom of movement of slaves.
When YOngjo also suggested removing tribute levies from female post-sta-
tion slaves as well because they were really not guilty of any crime, most of the
high councilors objected. They insisted that requiring post-station female slaves
to pay tribute was not a violation of fundamental principle because they only
paid tribute when off duty, while the capital bureau female slaves performed
actual service. Besides, their tribute was essential to the maintenance and oper-
ation of the post-stations and their horses! And when Yongjo proposed elimi-
nating tribute cloth levies on female shamans as well, his officials pointed out
that this levy was designed to deter shamanism rather than punish criminals.
In the final version of the decree, YOngjo confined the abolition of female slave
tribute to official slaves, leaving private female slaves unaffected. The result of
the law was that henceforth only male official slaves paid tribute at the rate of
one p'it of cloth, the same rate as the commoner peasant cloth levy in lieu of
service. Nonetheless, any positive results ofthe reform were probably offset by
official corruption, in particular the practice of arbitrary levies on relatives and
neighbors.!9!
By insisting on a close reading of classical sources Yongjo had found justifi-
cation for eliminating female slave tribute by discovering that Kija's slave reg-
ulation had allowed enslavement only for thieves or criminals, not the
transmission of slave status hereditarily. Even though no mention was made of
Yu Hyongwon's ideas in the court discussion of the issue (Yu had little use for
Kija's laws as justification for slavery anyway), Yongjo's approach was in keep-
ing with the spirit ofYu's use of classical sources. He did not, however, follow
Yu's lead by calling into question hereditary slavery as a whole.
Although most ofYongjo's officials were opposed to the refoml because they
feared the loss of revenue, they nonetheless confirmed that Yongjo's decision
was in accord with the principle of the rectification of names (chongmyong). In
other words, abolition of female slave tribute was in no way a violation of what
was written about Kija or classical antiquity. of what the meaning of the name
slave denoted. In short, the reform was inspired by a subtle change in attitude,
a shift from blind acceptance to a questioning of tradition and custom that Yu
Hyongwon had helped set in motion.
By the last two decades of the eighteenth century, the system of official slav-
ery was in disarray despite the reduction of tribute rates, abolition of the spe-
cial slave registrars, and adoption of the provincial quota system. Official slaves