The Restless Quest for Moral Excellence and Bureaucratic Competence: The State Examination System And Its Contradictions in Chosôn
| Milan Hejtmanek | |
| |
| Name in Latin Alphabet: | Milan Hejtmanek |
|---|---|
| Nationality: | USA |
| Affiliation: | Seoul National University |
강연 소개
Over the 741 times it was given between 1393 and 1894, out of hordes of aspirants 14,607 men passed and were granted the precious title of "passer" or munkwa kûpcheja. Given its fundamental importance to understanding the nature of the Chosôn state and society, the examination system has not been neglected by historians, and their efforts have led to a much better understanding of the legal and philosophical underpinnings of the munkwa, as well as the complexities of its administration.
Hitherto, however, it has been difficult to study systematically some of the most intriguing issues surrounding the munkwa due to a lack of comprehensive data on the examination participants. Who were the successful candidates? How old were they? How diverse were their social and geographical backgrounds? What was the linkage with the lower, sama, tests? And, perhaps most important of all, how did success on the examination change their lives? Thanks to the Herculean efforts of Edward Wagner and Song June-ho, whose great scholarly efforts over three decades to compile a comprehensive roster of all munkwa passers has borne rare fruit, we can begin at last to attempt a preliminary answer to these questions.
In this paper I will make use of a subset of the Wagner-Song munkwa database to examine the issue of how the career patterns of 4,028 munkwa passers between 1545-1719 (i.e., the Myôngjong through Sukchong reigns) varied across the provinces of Chosôn Korea. These data represent a rich slice of the Chosôn period, stretching over 174 years and seven monarchs. Their use has the additional advantage of providing nearly complete information on residence, birth and death years, and career paths for the successful candidates. It should be noted that residence data as used in this study refer to the site where a candidate began the examination process that ended in success and not necessarily to his place of birth or place of local identification. Many successful candidates from the provinces were resident in Seoul when they passed, whether at the Sônggyun’gwan or living with relatives. Accordingly, the group of passers residing in Seoul represents a much broader section of the Korean elite than those born and raised there.
강연 영상
The State Examination System And Its Contradictions in Choson
