A History of Korea (28 page)

Although education was also encouraged in the countryside, local educational facilities had still not been established by the reign of King S
ŏ
ngjong. At
first the king brought local youth to the capital, where they were educated to become future government officials. After this program failed, in 987 the king sent two scholars, one of Chinese classics and the other of medicine, to each of the 12 mok to educate the youth. By 1127, under King Injong (1122–1146), local educational institutions, called
hyanghak,
or local schools, were established in those areas.

To promote education, Kory
ŏ
published many books and imported a number of books from Song China. Soon publication in Kory
ŏ
was so prolific that, during the reign of King S
ŏ
njong (1083–1094), the Chinese dynasty began importing or transcribing rare books not found in Song and, in fact, is said to have transcribed thousands of books found only in Kory
ŏ
.

The
kwag
ŏ
,
or civil service examination, established in 958, was the mechanism through which candidates for the officialdom were selected throughout the entire Kory
ŏ
period. Three different types of civil exams were offered, and were tailored for candidates from different backgrounds and seeking different posts: the
chesul-
ŏ
p,
or composition examination; the
my
ŏ
nggy
ŏ
ng-
ŏ
p,
or classics examination; and the
chap-
ŏ
p,
or miscellaneous examination. The chesul-
ŏ
p tested candidates’ literary ability to compose
si
(
shi;
poetry),
pu
(
fu;
rhyme prose),
song
(
song;
sacrificial ode), and
ch’aek
(
ce;
an essay discussing a problem) in Chinese; and the my
ŏ
nggy
ŏ
ng-
ŏ
p examined candidates’ knowledge of Confucian works such as the
Book of History, Book of Divination, Book of Poetry, Book of Rites,
and
Spring and Autumn Annals.
The subjects covered in these two exams were almost identical to those taught at Kukchagam, the national university, and so both exams were conducted to select qualified officials from Kukchagam. Because Kory
ŏ
society held literary accomplishment in greater esteem than knowledge of the Confucian classics, the chesul-
ŏ
p was regarded as the more important exam. During the Kory
ŏ
period, more than 6,000 men passed the composition examination, whereas only 450 passed the classics examination. This was also partly because of the demand in Kory
ŏ
for qualified officials with outstanding literary abilities, far greater than the demand for officials who were experts on the Chinese classics. The chap-
ŏ
p was used to select specialists to serve in posts calling for technical knowledge, principally in statute law (
my
ŏ
ngp
ŏ
p-
ŏ
p
), accounting (
my
ŏ
ngsan-
ŏ
p
), medicine (
ŭ
i-
ŏ
p
), divination (
pok-
ŏ
p
), and geomancy (
chiri-
ŏ
p
). Within Kory
ŏ
’s aristocracy, the chap-
ŏ
p had far lower standing than the chesul-
ŏ
p and the my
ŏ
nggy
ŏ
ng-
ŏ
p. An independent state examination for the selection of military officials did not exist until the reign of King Kongyang (1389–1392). By the time of the last king, the
civil examinations selected military officials as well as civil officials, although military candidates constituted a very small portion of all those selected. Then, by the end of the dynasty, Kory
ŏ
created an independent examination for the selection of military officials.

In theory, the people of
yangin,
or commoner, origin or higher were all qualified to sit for the state examination, whereas
ch’
ŏ
nmin,
or the lowborn, and the children of monks were ineligible. In reality, however, the commoners’ lack of time for continued Chinese classical studies, their exclusion from many government schools, and other petty restrictions inspired by class prejudice prevented them from taking advantage of this theoretical opportunity. Therefore the successful candidates of the composition and classics examinations were mostly the sons of incumbent officials. Indeed, the examination was so difficult that only those who studied at the national university could pass it. Commoners usually sat for the chap-
ŏ
p.

The civil service examination was not the only mechanism used to select government officials. The
ŭ
ms
ŏ
(
mun
ŭ
m
), or protected appointment, institution enabled one son (or grandson, son-in-law, younger brother, or nephew) of an official of the 5th rank or higher to receive an official appointment, without passing the difficult state examination. Thus this system preserved the permanence and heritability of special aristocratic privilege. Although it was a more closed society than that of the subsequent Chos
ŏ
n dynasty, whose leaders came from a broader social base, Kory
ŏ
, compared to Silla, was relatively open. Because Silla society was based on the bone-rank system, in which the only criterion for appointment to office was hereditary social status, Silla had no need for an examination to select officials. In Kory
ŏ
, on the other hand, the civil service examination enabled large numbers of men, including local functionaries, to become government officials. In other words, the Kory
ŏ
aristocracy was a broader constituency, far more inclusive than Silla’s true-bone aristocracy.

In Kory
ŏ
’s predominantly agricultural society, peasant farmers were the main providers for society and the aristocracy acted like parasites. In the late Silla period, both the central government and the local gentry excessively burdened and exploited the peasant population, causing large-scale rebellions. Fully aware of this situation, T’aejo and his successors in the early Kory
ŏ
period
lightened the people’s burdens in an effort to stabilize their livelihood. At the time the peasants, who comprised the large majority of the population, cultivated their own privately owned land, commonly known as the “people’s land.” Although the state authorized their ownership of this land, the king, based on the idea that he actually owned all the land in the country, considered the people’s land to be “public land” and levied a tax in kind.

In 940, to guarantee the livelihood of merit subjects and government officials, the state allotted them
y
ŏ
kpun-j
ŏ
n,
or land grants as rewards, in varying quantities. Of course the state did not endow these men with the right of ownership but instead granted the right to levy taxes on these farmlands. By 976 the y
ŏ
kpun-j
ŏ
n system had evolved into the
Ch
ŏ
nsikwa,
a stipend land system, which, after undergoing several changes, was finally completed in 1076, under King Munjong. Under this system, the state allocated land in 18 stipend grades based on the office rank structure. The allocation of land included both farmland (
ch
ŏ
n
) and forestland (
si
)—hence the term “Ch
ŏ
nsikwa”—and the state gave the right of taxation on the people’s land as well as public land. At first, however, officials were strictly banned from collecting land taxes directly; instead, the state collected the taxes on their behalf. Because the land granted an official was considered his salary, in principle, upon the official’s death, the allocated land was to be returned to the state. In time, however, the aristocracy and officialdom gained increasingly greater control over their landholdings, thus weakening the authority of the monarch and the central government.

To provide economic benefits to a few privileged aristocrats, the state gave officials of the 5th rank or higher so-called
kong
ŭ
m-j
ŏ
n,
or privileged merit land, in graded amounts. Since kong
ŭ
m-j
ŏ
n could be bequeathed to the recipient’s descendants, it was also called
y
ŏ
ng
ŏ
p-ch
ŏ
n,
or land held in perpetuity. The grantee of kong
ŭ
m-j
ŏ
n could freely dispose of it and collect taxes on his authority from the tenant farmers who cultivated it. The land was thus, in effect, privately owned. Together with the
ŭ
ms
ŏ
(protected appointment) institution, discussed above, kong
ŭ
m-j
ŏ
n further perpetuated the privileges of the high aristocracy.

Land, or more precisely the right to levy taxes on land, was also allocated to local government functionaries and professional soldiers. The former received
oey
ŏ
k-ch
ŏ
n,
or local service land, and the latter
kunin-j
ŏ
n,
or soldier’s land. Local service land served as the salaries of local functionaries. And since their positions were inherited, this oey
ŏ
k-ch
ŏ
n land was also a type of y
ŏ
ng
ŏ
p-ch
ŏ
n (land held in perpetuity). Furthermore, it was effectively private land, as taxes
were directly collected by the local functionaries. Soldier’s land was granted to professional soldiers in compensation for military service. Because soldiers inherited their military service obligations, soldier’s lands were held in perpetuity, passed down through generations of military households.

There were other land allotments:
naejang-j
ŏ
n,
or royal estate land, was given to the royal household;
konghae-j
ŏ
n,
or public agency land, was allocated to government offices;
kungw
ŏ
n-j
ŏ
n,
or palace estate land, was given to the palace; and
saw
ŏ
n-j
ŏ
n,
or temple land, was given to Buddhist temples. The allocation of these lands allowed these organs to meet their expenses via their right to impose rents.

Immediately after its final establishment in 1076, the Ch
ŏ
nsikwa began to collapse. As the power of the aristocracy and officialdom grew, stipend land, like privileged merit land, was also inherited and finally turned into private land, allowing the recipients of the land to collect rents directly. As the Ch
ŏ
nsikwa remained in name only, the aristocracy and bureaucracy increased their landholdings by reclaiming wasteland, receiving special grants from the monarch, and forcefully seizing land owned by others. Gradually these private landholdings grew into large, well-organized estates, bestowing their surplus produce directly to their aristocratic owners rather than to the state.

The self-supporting peasants cultivated their farmland and usually paid one-fourth of the harvest as a state tax. The peasants, who had little or no land, tilled the private farmlands of aristocrats and officials, and paid one-half the yield as rent. The peasantry also had to pay a tribute tax, usually in cloth, to the state. Tributary payments had to be made in the form of specialized products from a particular area, such as fur, fruit, paper, and hemp cloth. Furthermore, adult males between the ages of 16 to 60, in addition to their required military service, were liable for corvee labor duty and were mobilized without pay for all sorts of construction projects.

Kory
ŏ
had at least some minimal relief programs for the people’s welfare. To secure funds for a variety of purposes, the state established a number of
po
(-
bo
), or endowments, which profited from the interest on grain loans:
Hak-po
provided support for students at the national university;
Kwanghak-po
provided funds for Buddhist monks;
Chewi-bo
provided relief for the poor; and
P’algwan-bo
covered expenses for the Buddhist
p’algwan-hoe
festivals. The Buddhist temples and the aristocracy built granaries, called
changsaenggo,
to store their share of the harvest, and then profited by lending grain at a high interest rate. The state developed a social welfare system to address the economic
hardship of the peasantry. In addition to Chewi-bo, the state operated several relief organizations for the people. The Tongs
ŏ
daebiw
ŏ
n, or East and West Infirmaries, functioned as a national hospital that cared for the sick and needy. The Hyemin’guk, or Dispensary for the People’s Benefit, was a public dispensary of free medicine. The
ŭ
ich’ang
, or righteous granaries, a network of state storehouses, stored grain during normal times for relief in years of poor harvests. The
sangp’y
ŏ
ngch’ang
, or ever normal storehouses, held grain in storage for use in smoothing out price fluctuations.

Handicraft manufacturing in the Kory
ŏ
kingdom was mainly performed under the government’s aegis, but it was also undertaken on private initiatives. Craftsmen and artisans throughout the country were enrolled by the state in separate rosters and manufactured weaponry, pottery, furniture, gold and silver wares, clothes, and silk. In some cases the state allocated farmland to craftsmen and artisans where they could maintain their livelihood. As tribute payments to the state, the inhabitants of special settlements of so mined gold, silver, copper, and iron or made yarn, cloth, paper, India ink, and tea. In Buddhist temples monks and their slaves produced various kinds of goods, both for sale and self-consumption, as did peasant farmers during the off-season, putting out hemp cloth, silk, ramie cloth, farming appliances, vessels, and straw mats.