822 FINANCIAL REFORM AND THE ECONOMYhistory. In ancient times Korean institutions suffered by comparison with Chi-
nese models because Koreans were isolated and inferior culturally. Yu traced the
origin of royal tribute to a statement in the T'ung-tien, which had noted that when
the state of Koguryo conquered the petty state of Okcho along the northeastern
coast of the peninsula in the third century A.D., it had made Okcho responsible
for transporting fish, salt, and maritime products over a distance of a thousand
i (333 miles) to the Koguryo court. China, by contrast, had at least passed through
an era of rule by sage kings in antiquity before it had declined to a period of "dirt
and filth" - the post-Chou era of centralized bureaucracy - but at least it had
something to admire in its past. "As for our country, we only had the customs
of barbarians, so that even in the clean-washed and new [atmosphere] of this
dynasty we still have not completely changed the vulgar [customs] of the past."l3
Now the time had come to restructure Korean institutions in conformity with
those of the ancient Chinese sages so that kings would be guaranteed adequate
provisions and all evi Is associated with royal tribute could be eliminated. If the
king's privatc Royal Treasury (Naesusa) and his concept of treating the product
of his kingdom as his own private property (sajae) could be eliminated, "we
could reduce the plague on the mass of the people, be in accord with the minds
of all under Heavcn, make the country wealthy and the military strong, achieve
education and moral transformation, and bring about the Great Peace."I4
In Korea the king's private and selfish interests and the satiation of the phys-
ical needs of his palate and stomach had taken precedence over concern for the
sickness of the state or fatigue of the people. Yet despite his inordinate desire
for the fanciest foods and the best materials, tribute goods were still poor in qual-
ity. The superiority of the Chinese system was obvious because it placed prior-
ity on the livelihoods, occupations, or strength of the people. Thus, Yu urged
adoption of the Chinese system of establishing a bureaucratic agency and pur-
chasing goods for the king from ordinary tax revenues. The vestige of feudal
ritual tribute could be maintained at a ceremony conducted on New Year's day,
"and if the court also accepts [the tribute] with ritual propriety, we will perhaps
come close to the rites of the ancients."'5
Although Yu had been influenced in his criticism of royal tribute by the views
of sixteenth-century statesmen like Yulgok and Cho Han, he was also indebted
even more to his belief that royal tribute in Korea was inferior to Chinese meth-
ods because it originated in the barbaric and immoral institutions of the Koguryo
dynasty. Yu obviously hinted that warlike Koguryo was most likely to have sub-
ordinated reciprocal obligation and ritual respect to the avaricious desires of
the ruler, and he appealed for an adoption of the Chinese system because he
believed it preserved the essence of classical norms defined by the ancient Chi-
nese sages. Although his respect for those norms was probably motivated by
his admiration for the wisdom of the sages dissociated from their Chinese eth-
nicity, his derogation of the barbaric nature of Korea's early history and the
preservation of barbaric norms into the seventeenth century could in no way be
construed as an exercise in incipient - let alone fully developed - nationalism,