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Reviewed by:
  • Chosŏn ch'ogi yangban yŏn'gu , and: Kwagŏ
  • James B. Palais
Chosŏn ch'ogi yangban yŏn'gu [A study of the yangban in the early Chosŏn period]. By Yi Sŏng-mu. Seoul: Ilchogak, 1980. xii, 424 pp. 8,000 wŏn.
Kwagŏ [The examination system]. Edited by Yŏksa hakhoe. Seoul: Ilchogak, 1981. vi, 223 pp. 4,000 wŏn.
James B. Palais
University of Washington

Glossary

chapkwa
chikchŏn
chinsa
chin-shih
cho
ch'ŏn
chŏnsikwa
chung'in
hsiang-shih
hyangni
kwajŏn
kwijok munbŏl
Kyŏngguk taejŏn
munbŏl
munji
munjip
munkwa
nog'ŭp
saengwŏn
se
Sillok
sinbun
sinbunje
sujang
sujoji
ŭm
yang
yuhak

Footnotes

1. See J. B. Palais, "Han Yŏng-u's Studies of Early Chosŏn Intellectual History," Journal of Korean Studies 2: 199-224.

2. Ch'oe Yŏng-ho, "Commoners in Early Yi Dynasty Civil Examinations: An Aspect of Korean Social Structure, 1392-1600," Journal of Asian Studies 33, no. 4 (August 1974):611-32.

3. With regard to the question of the relationship between the examination system and the yangban and commoner statuses, see my discussion of Song June-ho's interpretation later on in their review.

4. I am indebted to Bruce Cumings for reminding me of this valid point.

5. It should be noted that the scholars who deserve the most credit for these views are Yi U-sŏng, Kang Chin-ch'ŏl, Pak Pyŏng-ho, Hatada Takashi, Arii Tomonori, Takeda Yukio, Min Hyŏn-gu and Pak Si-hyŏng. Although Fukaya Toshikane leaned toward the view of state ownership, he contributed much to the analysis of land tenure. For references to their important articles, see the bibliography of Yi Sŏng-mu's book. For differences of view on minor points, see pp. 262-366.

6. Cf. his use of Max Weber in the book on the examination system, also reviewed in this article.

7. I have to use elite here as a neutral generic term to avoid the economic connotation associated with "class" in Western usage, and also because Yi himself uses sinbun (status) or sinbunje (status system) for yangban and other elements in the social structure.

8. Ho Ping-ti, The Ladder of Success in Imperial China (New York: Columbia University Press, 1962), p. 171.

9. See Song June-ho's views on this question later on in this review.

10. Ichisada Miyazaki, Conrad Schirokauer, trans., China's Examination Hell (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1981), pp. 116-17.

11. Ho, Ladder of Success, pp. 171-72.

12. Aoyama Hideo, Makkusu uebā no shakai riron [Social theories of Max Weber] (Tokyo: Iwanami shōten, 1950).

13. See Song June-ho, "Chosŏn sidae ŭi kwagŏ wa yangban mit yang'in," Yŏksa hakpo 69 (March 1976):101-35.

14. Ibid., table 1, p. 135, shows that 162 illegitimate sons passed the examinations through Yŏngjo's reign, to the end of the third quarter of the eighteenth century. He was not able to compile accurate figures for the nineteenth century.

15. Song, "Chosŏn sidae ŭi kwago . . ., p. 135.

16. Edward W. Wagner, "The Ladder of Success in Yi Dynasty Korea," Occasional Papers on Korea, no. 1 (June 1972 rev. ed., 1974), pp. 1-8.

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