30 EARLY CHOSON DYNASTY
weaving did not flourish, and high quality silk products were imported from China
to the end ofthe dynasty.7 Cotton textile production began in the mid-I 290S in
China, and cotton seeds were first brought to Korea around 1364, but cotton
cloth did not become a major source of clothing until the 1460s. In 1469 Yang
Songji recommended that it be designated as an item of tribute for the three
provinces in the south, and by 15 I 6 the position of cotton as a medium of
exchange became more firmly established.s
By the early Koryo dynasty, the state asserted control over salt production and
granted rights to salt flats to princesses as a means of support. As royal author-
ity waned, private magnates gained control over the salt flats, but in 1309 King
Ch'ungson, under the influence of Yuan dynasty methods, confiscated all salt
flats in the hands of private magnates, members of royalty, and Buddhist tem-
ples. He then designated certain households along the coast as "salt households"
and entrusted responsibility for salt production to them. By the end of the dynasty,
however, salt production was taken over by corrupt officials, wealthy private
parties, and smugglers, and the salt households either fled their lands to escape
excessive levies or were driven off the salt flats by the Wak6 pirates.^9
The mining industry was also limited by the circumstances of the time. Early
in the Choson dynasty mining was undertaken to extract gold, silver, lead, iron,
copper, and sulphur, but most activity concentrated on gold and silver to sup-
ply annual tribute to China. The sums were not large, and the government imposed
a ban on specie exports and even confiscated private holdings. Even after per-
suading the Ming emperor to eliminate the gold and silver tribute levy in 1429,
however, the Koreans refrained from expanding the mining of specie because
it might have led to the reimposition of Chinese tribute demands. Since some
also feared that an expansion of mining would withdraw essential labor from
agriculture, mining was limited by the state to brief five-or six-day intervals or
periods after a bumper crop had been harvested. Although some private mining
was permitted on a small scale, there were no records of mining activities for
the next century, and Korea had to rely almost exclusively on imports from Japan
for its gold.IO
There were sixty-six iron mines and seventeen smelters around the country
by 1430, but regulations restricted even those mining operations to the agricul-
tural off-season. The state used corvee labor on the iron mines as part of the
tribute levy, collected an artisan tax on specialist ironworkers, and used the iron
for making weapons and armor for soldiers on the frontier. Copper mining was
stimulated by the decision to mint copper coins in 1423, but when the coin failed
to circulate, minting was ended in 1445. King Sejong maintained copper mines
to obtain material for military weapons, but the greater stimulus that might have
been obtained from a free market and private demand was absent. II
Commerce. Commerce was also marked by tight government control and lim-
ited to the licensed shops (sijon) in the new capital at Hansong (Seoul) and
Kaesong, the old capital of the Koryo dynasty. In 1410 King T'aejong set aside
certain areas in the capital to specialize in the sale of specific products and estab-