Table Of ContentEveryday Life in Joseon-Era Korea
Everyday Life in Joseon-Era
Korea
Economy and Society
The Organization of Korean Historians, Seoul
Edited and Translated by
Michael D. Shin
Co-translated by
Edward Park
LEIDEN • BOSTON
2014
Cover Illustration: Banquet in Yeongwangjeong (Yeongwangjeong yeonhoedo) (detail), late eighteenth
century. Part of the series Welcoming Banquet for the Magistrate of Pyongyang (Pyeongyang gamsa
hyangyeondo). Thought to have been painted by Gim Hongdo. This part of the painting depicts
people near Daedong Gate in Pyongyang. (National Museum of Korea).
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CONTENTS
List of Contributors vii
List of Illustrations and Maps xi
Preface and Acknowledgements xv
Note on Romanization xvii
The Intimate Past: An Introduction to the Joseon Period 1
Michael D. Shin
PART ONE
ECONOMY
1 Farming in the Joseon Period 37
Kim Kuentae
2 A Typical Day and Year in the Life of the Peasantry 47
Yeom Jeong Sup
3 The Tax Burden of the Peasantry 61
Kim Sung Woo
4 Currency and the Value of Money 71
Lee Hun-Chang
5 The Merchants of Seoul 83
Lee Uk
6 The Joys and Sorrows of the Itinerant Merchants 93
Yoo Pil Jo
7 Foreign Trade and Interpreter Officials 105
Kim Kyung-ran
8 Salt: White Gold 115
Kim Eui-Hwan
9 Seeking Work at Mines 127
Oh Soo-chang
10 When Did Joseon’s Population Reach Ten Million? 135
Ko Dong-Hwan
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vi contents
PART TWO
SOCIETY
11 Rural Society and Zhu Xi’s Community Compact 147
Kwon Nae-Hyun
12 Why Did Peasants Create the Dure? 155
Lee Hae Jun
13 Did Fake Genealogies Exist? 163
Jung Jin Young
14 The Baekjeong Class 173
Kwon Ki-jung
15 The Rebellion of Im Ggeokjeong 181
Han Sang Kwon
16 Did People Divorce in the Joseon Period? 189
Kwon Soon-Hyung
17 The Educational System 197
Jang Dong-Pyo
18 Military Life 207
Seo Tae-Won
19 The Penal System 217
Sim Jae-woo
20 Eating Culture 225
Chung Yeon-sik
21 Liquor and Taverns 235
Chung Yeon-sik
22 Tea and Tobacco 245
O Jong-rok
23 The Outhouses of the Royal Palaces 253
Hong Soon Min
About the Authors 263
Appendix – Monarchs of the Joseon Period 265
Glossary 267
Index 285
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LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS
Chung Yeon-sik is a Professor in the Department of History at Seoul
Women’s University. He is the author of the two-volume work Tales of
Everyday Life in the Joseon Period (2001).
Han Sang Kwon is Professor of History at Duksung Women’s University. He
is the author of Social Problems and the Petition System in the Late Joseon
Period (1996) and other studies of the political and social history of the
period.
Hong Soon Min is a Professor in the Department of Cultural Resources in
the Graduate School of Records, Archives, and Information at Myongji
University in Seoul. He is the author of The Story of Korea’s Royal Palaces
(1999) and The Scenery of Seoul (2008).
Jang Dong-Pyo is a Professor in the Department of History Education at
Pusan National University. He is the author of numerous studies of local
history in the late Joseon period.
Jung Jin Young is Professor of History at Andong National University. He is
the author of The History of Rural Society in the Joseon Period (1998) and of
numerous articles on social history.
Kim Eui-Hwan is Professor in the Faculty of Liberal Education at Chungbuk
National University in Cheongju. He is the author of Salt Production in the
Joseon Period (2006), The Gwangmu Land Survey and the Socioeconomic
Structure of Chungju (2010), and Lectures on Korean History and Folklore
(2010).
Kim Kuentae is an Associate Professor in the Department of Korean
History at Seoul National University. He is the author of Agricultural
Management of Yangban Families in the Joseon Period (2004) and numer-
ous studies of the agricultural and social history of the late Joseon period.
Kim Kyung-ran is the Chief Researcher at the Daedong Institute for Korean
Studies at Sungkyunkwan University. She has published much research on
the local history and social history of the Joseon period.
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viii list of contributors
Kim Sung Woo is a Professor at Daegu Haany University. He is the author of
Sajok and the State in the Mid Joseon Period (2001) and The Shift in Local
Hegemony in Gyeongsang Province in the Joseon Period (2012).
Ko Dong-Hwan is Professor of Korean History at the Korean Advanced
Institute of Science and Technology. He is the author of Commercial
Development in the Joseon Period (1998), The Urban History of Seoul in the
Joseon Period (2008), and Merchants’ Guilds in the Joseon Period (2013).
Kwon Ki-jung is an Assistant Professor in the Department of History and
Culture at Hansung University in Seoul. He is the author of Hyangni and
Local Society in the Joseon Period (2010), as well as many articles on local
society.
Kwon Nae-Hyun is an Associate Professor in the Department of History
Education at Korea University. He is the author of The Finances of Pyeongan
Province in the Late Joseon Period (2004).
Kwon Soon-Hyung is a researcher at the Academy of Korean Studies. A spe-
cialist in women’s history, she is the author of Women’s Lives and the
Institution of Marriage in Goryeo (2006).
Lee Hae Jun is Professor of History at Kongju National University. He is the
author of The History of Village Society in the Joseon Period (1996) and Clan-
Based Seowon in the Late Joseon Period (2008), as well as the co-author of
Traditional Society and Life Culture (2006).
Lee Hun-Chang is Professor of Korean Economic History in the Department
of Economics at Korea University. He is the author of The Economic History
of Korea (2012) and many articles on economic history in both Korean and
English.
Lee Uk is an Associate Professor in the Department of History at Sunchon
National University. He is the author of many studies of the economic and
political history of local areas.
O Jong-rok is an Associate Professor in the Department of History at
Sungshin Women’s University. He has written numerous studies of the
political history of the early Joseon period.
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list of contributors ix
Oh Soo-chang is Professor of Korean History at Seoul National University.
He is the author of Social Development in Pyeongan Province in the Late
Joseon Period (2002) and The Framework of Politics in the Joseon Period
(2011).
Edward Park graduated with an A.B. degree in East Asian Studies from
Harvard University. He was the main translator of The Dynamics of
Confucianism and Modernization by Yi Tae-jin (Cornell East Asia Series,
2007). Currently, he is participating in a multi-year project to translate the
Veritable Records of the Joseon dynasty.
Seo Tae-Won is an Assistant Professor in the College of Liberal Education
at Mokwon University in Daejeon. A specialist in military history, he is the
author of The Local Army System in the Late Joseon Period (1999).
Michael D. Shin is Lecturer in Korean Studies at the University of
Cambridge. A specialist on the Japanese colonial period, he is the editor of
Landlords, Peasants, and Intellectuals in Modern Korea (2005) and the edi-
tor and co-author of the forthcoming Korean History in Maps (2014).
Sim Jae-woo is an Associate Professor at the Academy of Korean Studies.
He is the author of State Power and Crime in the Late Joseon Period (2009)
and Confess Your Crime! Understanding Joseon through Crime and
Punishment (2011).
Yeom Jeong Sup is an Associate Professor in the Department of History at
Hallym University in Chuncheon. He is the author of Seo Yugu and the
Imwon Gyeongjeji (2011) as well as many studies of agricultural history.
Yoo Pil Jo teaches at Nangok Middle School in Seoul. He is one of the
authors of books by The Association of Korean History Teachers, includ-
ing How Should We Teach Our Children About History? (2002).
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