808 FINANCIAL REFORM AND THE ECONOMY
tax by 23 percent from thirteen to sixteen mal/kyol, which also meant that upland
residents of Chima were paying 23 percent more in taxes than the coastal resi-
dents who were still paying thirteen mal. Even though the real tax may well
have been as high as twenty-five mal/kyol as Pae Ki and the other scholars of
ChOlla had charged, an increase in the commutation rate still would have added
to the heavier tax burden for the upland districts. The upland residents, there-
fore, had a legitimate reason for their discontent with the taedong tax system.
If the government were still committed to maintaining an equal and uniform
tax for all persons in the province, it would have raised the tax rate on the low-
lands to sixteen mal/kyong or allowed residents of the uplands to pay rice instead
of cloth at the thirteen mal/kyong rate. As long as it insisted that upland districts
pay their taxes in cloth, changes in the market price or commutation rate were
bound to create discrimination.
In January 1666, governor of Ch6lla Min Yujung then recommended that the
taedong law be rescinded in the upland districts on the basis of his survey of
public opinion. King Hy6njong accepted the recommendation, ordered a return
to the old tribute system for upland Ch6lla, and reduced the rice tax rate for the
lowlands from thirteen to twelve mal/kyol. One censor then reminded the king
that a survey of land and official needs had to be undertaken to redistribute trib-
ute quotas, but before this task could be completed Hy6njong suddenly changed
his mind after receiving a more detailed report from the secret censor (Amhaeng
6sa) for Ch6lla, Sin My6nggyu. Sin reported that he visited each district indi-
vidually and found that it was only the large households living in the larger and
more important districts that opposed the taedong system, while the poorer and
smaller households living in smaller districts all wanted the law restored. Ch6ng
T'aehwa and Hong My6ngha (now councilor of the left) both agreed that pub-
lic opposition to taedong had been misrepresented.?3
Ex-governor Min Yujung then admitted that he recommended abolition of the
taedong tax in upland Ch6lla because while making his tour of inspection in the
province he had heard people complaining that the rise in the commutation rate
had increased the grain paid to buy cloth for the tax. He expressed regret, how-
ever, that after the taedong tax had been rescinded in favor of a return to trib-
ute taxes in kind taxpayers were once again subjected to demands for gratuity
payments and arbitrary rejection of tribute goods on the grounds of poor qual-
ity. Not only did common people prefer the taedong system, but even agents of
the capital bureaus (kyong kaksajuin) felt that funding for obtaining tribute had
never been as good as when the taedong tax was in effect.
King Hyonjong then accepted Min's recommendations to restore the taedong
tax for upland Ch6lla in the next year (1668), cut the tax rate from thirteen to
twelve mal/kyol and retained the commutation rate of 8 mal/p 'il. As Kim Okklin
put it, Hy6njong's original decision to abolish the taedong system in upland Ch6lla
was based on the misrepresentation of the views of the wealthy and landown-
ing class as if it were the majority opinion of the whole population. Hy6njong
provided some relief to the lowland rice-paying districts by cutting the rate by