The Local Gentry Association in Mid-Yi Dynasty Korea: A Preliminary Study of the Ch'angnyŏng Hyangan, 1600-1838

The Local Gentry Association in Mid-Yi Dynasty Korea: A Preliminary Study ofthe Ch'angnyöng Hyangan, 1600-1838 FUJIYA KAWASHIMA !here are two traditions in Yi dynasty political culture that are both contrasting and complementary, somewhat comparable to the organic dualism of the Yin-Yang school. They are what I would like to call a royal-Confucian bureaucratic tradition, on the one hand, and a tribal-aristocratic lineage tradition, on the other hand. The orientation of the former is egalitarian, achievement-based, centralized , and holistic, the latter hierarchical, ascriptive, decentralized, and particularistic. Historiographically, I would argue that there has been such appreciation of the influence of the royal-Confucian bureaucratic tradition in the study of Yi political culture that historians have often slighted, if not overlooked, the significance of the tribal-aristocratic lineage tradition. There is a need to explore the area where the two traditions interacted in the development of Yi socio-political institutions and to reevaluate the "Korea as a variant model of China" approach . For example, unlike Ming and Ch'ing China, Yi Korea did not institutionalize royal autocracy and absolutism because Koreans took more or less for granted that the royal-Confucian emphasis on leadership by men of superior and proper (orthodox) learning was quite compatible with the tribal emphasis on leadership by men of superior and proper lineage background. Specifically, one may raise the following questions: How did This research was assisted by grants from the Faculty Research Committee of Bowling Green State University in 1978, and from the Joint Committee on Korea of the Social Science Research Council and the American Council of Learned Societies in 1979. I would like to thank the following persons for their valuable comments and criticisms: Professors James B. Palais, Edward W. Wagner, Song Chun-ho, John Somerville, Mr. Mark Peterson, and Mrs. Rachael R. Graham. 113 114Journal of Korean Studies the two traditions interact in the development of the central government and the local administration, and in the relationships between the magistrate and the local elite? Could the interaction of the two traditions be better documented in the working of the formal and informal components of the local administrative setup at the county (hyon) level, the lowest administrative unit in the province? THE LOCAL ADMINISTRATION AND ELITE LINEAGES While we know something about the formal structure of local administration in Yi dynasty Korea, we know little about the structure and function of the informal groups, in particular those organized by local elite at the county (hyon) level that provided services essential to the preservation and perfection of the local administrative setup . Local administration in the Confucian state may be viewed as an effort by the central government to maintain some control and integration while at the same time incorporating into government policy local initiative and diversity in matters of direct interest to the people. The government delegated authority to the centrally appointed officials as magistrates to administer the area at the hyon level and above. The Yi dynasty government was authoritarian, but not absolute in that it exercised only indirect and limited power over the people who resided in the villages below the hyon level. Despite the Legalistic practice of the Confucian monarchy that upheld submission and obedience to the ruler and his laws, Confucian officials were supposed to employ moral suasion rather than physical coercion to govern the people, by setting an example as "the father-mother officials." Ideally the magistrate was to preside over his jurisdiction with minimum bureaucracy and maximum support of the people, as a wise legislator, judge, educator, tax collector, and military commander. To serve his term successfully, it was necessary for a magistrate to work closely with local men of influence, somewhat as a modern precinct politician acts to get things done properly. His success or failure with the people was scrutinized by the government to determine his promotion or demotion within the bureaucracy. The local leaders were elite members of well-established lineages who commanded social prestige and political power among the people. This article will explore the structure and function of this local elite and one of its unique organizations, the hyangan or local gentry association. The hyangan, typically...