A History of Korea (54 page)

According to law, the total land taxes to be paid per cultivated ky
ŏ
l was less than 20 tu, or 107 kilograms, of rice, or less than one-tenth of the harvest. In practice, however, total tax collections rose to as much as 100 tu, or 535 kilograms, per ky
ŏ
l, an amount equal to roughly half the harvest. The military cloth tax levied on each able-bodied male had been the payment of one bolt of cotton cloth, or the equivalent of six tu, or 32 kilograms, of rice. The peasants were under ever greater duress, as they were subject to various illegal exactions, for example, being charged a military cloth tax on behalf of deceased family members and nursing babies. The military cloth tax, in fact, caused greater pain to the peasantry than the land tax. Rich farmers evaded payment by forging or purchasing yangban titles. Under the national granary system, loans of grain had been made to poor peasants in the lean spring season to be repaid at harvest time at an interest of 10 percent. But now this same system that had been designed to offer a helping hand to the impoverished peasants was transformed into an instrument of exploitation. Officials in charge of the granary loan system forced peasants to borrow more than they needed, fabricated false reports on their transactions for their own profits, and even multiplied the quantities
of rice borrowed severalfold by mixing husks in with the grain. Corrupt local officials and hyangni also became rich by pocketing large portions of the taxes collected for the central government, further diminishing government revenues. Such corruption was a primary cause of the significant peasant rebellions that erupted throughout the country.

In this period of rule by royal in-laws, peasant life was grinding poverty itself. In addition to oppressive government measures, draughts and floods, alternately striking the country, caused a succession of bad harvests, which in turn generated a grim cycle of famines. Many starving peasants were forced to become landless wanderers or try to survive in the upland areas as
hwaj
ŏ
nmin,
or slash-and-burn farmers. Many others migrated across the border into the Jiandao region of Manchuria or the later Russian Maritime Province.

In the mid-eighteenth century discontented and anguished peasants began to form armed brigades.
Hwaj
ŏ
k,
or fire brigands, who usually set fires to commit burglaries, were often on horseback and armed with muskets.
Suj
ŏ
k,
or water brigands, pillaged along the rivers and seashores. Some hwaj
ŏ
k groups became better organized and developed into more powerful forces such as the S
ŏ
gangdan, or West River Band, and the P’yesagundan, or Northwest Frontier Corps, mainly robbing government storehouses. For now, however, a massive uprising was deferred, and the peasant resistance was limited to brigandage.

Beginning in the early nineteenth century, the angry peasantry became increasingly organized. At first, streamers and wall posters with inflammatory rhetoric appeared throughout the country. In 1804 the
Kwans
ŏ
pigi,
or Secret Account of Conditions in P’y
ŏ
ngan Province, was affixed to the four main gates of Seoul. Similar incidents also took place at Anak, Hwanghae province, and at Ch’
ŏ
ngju, Ch’ungch’
ŏ
ng province. At the same time the peasants’ opposition to government taxation grew increasingly intense.

The sporadic dissatisfaction among the general populace exploded into massive uprisings nationwide. The first major rebellion broke out in the northwestern region of P’y
ŏ
ngan province, led by a fallen yangban named Hong Ky
ŏ
ngnae. Frustrated by continually failing to pass the civil service examinations, he conspired with other malcontents in his area, including U Kun-ch’ik, Kim Sayong, Yi H
ŭ
i-jo, and Kim Ch’ang-si. In January 1812, upon distributing a manifesto throughout the northwestern region complaining of government corruption and centuries-old discrimination against the northerners, Hong organized
a rebellion with an army of 1,000 men. Because the people of P’y
ŏ
ngan province were already in a volatile mood, the rebels made notable military achievements, immediately occupying nine towns north of the Ch’
ŏ
ngch’
ŏ
n River. Soon, however, government forces defeated them at Songnim-ni in Pakch’
ŏ
n county, and the routed rebels were only able to hold out at the Ch
ŏ
ngju fortress for four months. In May 1812 Hong was killed in the final battle for the town, and the largest rebellion in the Chos
ŏ
n dynasty finally came to an end.

Peasant uprisings again broke out throughout the country in the mid-nineteenth century, specifically in March 1862, when a serious peasant revolt erupted in the town of Chinju, Ky
ŏ
ngsang province. Ouraged at the rapacious exploitations of Paek Nak-sin, a provincial army commander, the populace took up arms, all wearing white caps as a mark of their unity. Under the leadership of Yu Kye-ch’un, a former yangban fallen to peasant status, the rebels killed local government officials and burned down government buildings. The uprising subsided as the peasants voluntarily dispersed, but it gave rise to a series of similar riots. In April 1862, for instance, a peasant rebellion broke out at Iksan, Ch
ŏ
lla province, and other popular disturbances rocked 20 counties in Ky
ŏ
ngsang province, 37 counties in Ch
ŏ
lla province, and 12 counties in Ch’ungch’
ŏ
ng province. The central government dispatched troops to crush the rebellions, but at the same time it punished corrupt local officials and took steps to lighten the peasants’ burden. These positive efforts resulted in gradually ending the popular disturbances.

Over the course of the nineteenth century, the addition of a wide range of new disciplines further enriched the existing Chos
ŏ
n scholarship. Korean scholars, as in previous periods, worked to uncover solutions to the day’s pressing problems and to advance reform proposals. In their efforts to “modernize” the country, a new system of thought known as
kaehwa sasang,
or enlightenment thought, emerged.

The most well-known scholar at the start of the century was Ch
ŏ
ng Yakyong. The author of more than 500 works, he is best known for synthesizing Sirhak scholarship with Pukhak scholarship. In 1810 Yi Kyu-gy
ŏ
ng compiled
Oju y
ŏ
nmun changj
ŏ
n san’go,
or Random Expatiations of Oju, a 60-volume encyclopedic work that expounded upon 1,417 disciplines, including history,
astronomy, geography, economics, music, medicine, and agriculture. His penname,”Oju,” meaning “Five Continents,” reflects his vast outlook on scholarship. The work of another scholar, S
ŏ
Yu-gu—compiled in 1835, comprising 113 volumes, and titled
Imw
ŏ
n simnyuk chi,
also known as
Imw
ŏ
n ky
ŏ
ngje chi,
or Sixteen Treatises Written in Retirement—dealt with agriculture and farm life. In these volumes, the author urged the government to raise agricultural productivity and improve the living standard of the peasantry through managerial reform and technological innovation. The scholar Ch’oe Han-gi advanced various reform programs aimed at promoting commerce and industry, suggesting, overall, that the government abandon its isolationist policy and open its doors to the outside world. His book,
Chigu ch
ŏ
nyo,
or Descriptions of the Nations of the World, written in 1857, was the first Korean work on world geography.

Ch
ŏ
ng Yak-yong’s remarkable historiographical work,
Abang kangy
ŏ
k ko,
or A Study of Korean Territory, appearing in 1810, uncovered previously unknown facts about ancient Korean kingdoms. For example, he discovered that present-day Seoul had been chosen as the first capital of the Paekche kingdom and that the center of the Parhae kingdom had been located east of Paektu-san. These and other ideas he revealed have since become widely accepted as established truths. In the realm of cartography, Kim Ch
ŏ
ng-ho, who is regarded as the greatest geographer in pre-modern Asia, completed his
Taedong y
ŏ
jido
in 1861, based on his lifetime work observing the geographical features of the Korean peninsula. Lastly, in 1852, Kim Ch
ŏ
ng-h
ŭ
i, an epigraphist who adopted the approach of the Qing empirical school, wrote
K
ŭ
ms
ŏ
k kwaan nok,
or Observations on Examining Two Stone Inscriptions, a study of two stelae erected during the royal tour of Silla king Chinh
ŭ
ng at Pukhan-san and Hwangch’o-ry
ŏ
ng.

Catholicism was first introduced to Chos
ŏ
n between the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries as part of the transmission of Western culture rather than as a religion, and was therefore known as
S
ŏ
hak,
or Western Learning. It was the Sirhak scholars who were first interested in studying Catholicism as a new religion. In his work,
Chibong yus
ŏ
l,
Yi Su-gwang referred to
Ch’
ŏ
nju sir
ŭ
i,
or True Principles of Catholicism, written by Matteo Ricci, a Jesuit missionary in Ming China, clarifying the difference between Catholicism and Buddhism. Later, based purely on intellectual curiosity, Yi Ik and his disciples discussed the Western religion in their writings but showed no disposition toward believing its doctrine.

Catholicism penetrated Chos
ŏ
n on a significant scale in the second half of the eighteenth century. Catholic doctrines appealed particularly to scholars from the frustrated Namin faction, who had long been excluded from political power. In 1784 Yi S
ŭ
ng-hun, who had accompanied his father on a diplomatic mission, returned to Chos
ŏ
n after being baptized in Beijing by a Western priest. Other Namin figures who converted to Catholicism included Yi Py
ŏ
k, Yi Ka-hwan, the brothers Ch
ŏ
ng Yak-ch
ŏ
n, Ch
ŏ
ng Yak-chong, and Ch
ŏ
ng Yak-yong, and the brothers Kw
ŏ
n Ch’
ŏ
l-sin and Kw
ŏ
n Il-sin. Members of the chungin class such as Kim P
ŏ
m-u also became members of the Catholic Church.

Unprecedented in world history, Catholicism was widely accepted by the Koreans without any proselytizing efforts on the part of Western missionaries. The Koreans’ traditional worship of heaven facilitated the diffusion of the religion among the general populace. Furthermore, as in many other parts of the world, Catholicism served as a solace for physically distressed people. Sirhak scholars attempted to find a solution to the dismal conditions of Chos
ŏ
n society by embracing the Western religion.

As the number of Catholic converts grew, othodox Confucianists naturally looked upon Catholicism as subversive and especially as questioning the Confucian system of loyalties and ancestor worship on which the state rested. The Catholics’ denial of ancestral ritual was considered especially immoral and lacking in filial piety. Some Neo-Confucian thinkers criticized the religion theoretically and took the anti-Catholic position, which was typified by An Ch
ŏ
ng-bok’s
Ch’
ŏ
nhak mundap,
or Questions and Answers on Heavenly Learning, which appeared in 1795. In 1785 King Ch
ŏ
ngjo designated Catholicism a heresy, and the next year he banned the importation of books of any kind from Beijing. In 1791 Yun Chi-ch’ung, a yangban residing in Chinsan, Ch
ŏ
lla province, was put to death for failing to prepare an ancestral tablet for his deceased mother, an essential practice in Confucian memorial ritual. But because King Ch
ŏ
ngjo was friendly with the Namin faction and held a relatively benign view of Catholicism, the religion was tacitly tolerated and no further severe persecutions occurred. Meanwhile, the Chinese Catholic priest Zhou Wenmo secretly entered Chos
ŏ
n in 1795 and engaged in proselytizing activity.

With Sunjo’s ascension to the throne in 1800, the Py
ŏ
kp’a clique of the Noron faction gained power and the cruel suppression of Catholics, known as the Sinyu saok, immediately followed. More than 300 Korean Catholics, including Yi S
ŭ
ng-hun, Yi Ka-hwan, Ch
ŏ
ng Yak-chong, and Kw
ŏ
n Ch’
ŏ
l-sin, as well
as the Chinese priest Zhou Wenmo, were executed, and Ch
ŏ
ng Yak-ch
ŏ
n and Ch
ŏ
ng Yak-yong were exiled. This persecution of Catholics was accompanied by a ban on importing Western science and technology. A political motive for the persecution was that the ruling Py
ŏ
kp’a clique sought to stage a purge of its rival Sip’a clique, mainly consisting of the Namin faction. A few months later a Korean Catholic convert, Hwang Sa-y
ŏ
ng, secretly attempted to send the “silk letter” to the Catholic bishop in Beijing, a Frenchman, but the letter was discovered in advance and Hwang was executed. In this letter, written on silk, Hwang had asked the French to dispatch armed troops to force the Chos
ŏ
n government to grant religious freedom. But this traitorous action only intensified the government’s anti-Catholic policy.

As demonstrated by the Sinyu saok, the government’s Catholic policy was closely related to factional strife. Whereas the Py
ŏ
kp’a faction were sternly anti-Catholic, the Sip’a group maintained a moderate stance. Thus once Kim Cho-sun of the Andong Kim clan, who was a member of the Sip’a faction, took power in 1805, Catholicism was no longer suppressed. Thereafter the Catholic faith was widely accepted in Chos
ŏ
n; in fact, the Vatican appointed a vicar apostolic for Chos
ŏ
n in 1831, and French priests entered the country—Maubant in 1836 and Chastan and Imbert the following year. But when the P’ungyang Cho family, belonging to the Py
ŏ
kp’a faction, held power during the reign of King H
ŏ
njong, Catholic converts were persecuted once again. During the
Kihae soak,
or Catholic Persecution of 1839, three French Catholic priests and scores of Korean converts were executed. A few years later, in 1845, the first Korean Catholic priest, Kim Tae-g
ŏ
n, who had been trained at a seminary in Macau, secretly returned to Chos
ŏ
n to proselytize in Ch’ungch’
ŏ
ng province. The next year, however, he was apprehended and sacrificed his life to become a martyr. When Ch’
ŏ
lchong ascended the throne in 1849, the Andong Kim family again seized power and once more the government relaxed its anti-Cathloic policy.