Research On The Official Admonition Of The Choson Dynasty

The official admonitions,drawn up and issued by the feudalist leadership of ancient China,were the principle with which officers would have to keep in line and the embodiment of the executive wisdom of feudalist leaders.The Choson Dynasty,ever since its founding,followed the example of China in establishing political systems and statutes.The official admonitions were no exception.From the 15^th century to the 19^th century,as books concerned spread to the Korean Peninsula,there was a learning craze among both the ruling class,from the emperor and Yangban to local officials and the academic walk of life with the Confucian scholars being the major force.By integrating Chinese official admonitions with their national conditions,they completed a great many books and cultivated a culture with their own characteristics which exerted profound impact on the Choson Dynasty’s cultures of local governance and administration.During the 15^th and 16^th centuries,as the cultural exchanges between China and Korea deepened,a number of official admonitions such as The Political Maxim of West Hill by Zhen Dexiu and Mokminsimgam by Zhu Fengji spread to and were copied in Korea.Against the backdrop,a school called Shilin,which had been deeply influenced by the thoughts of Zhuzism,created their own official admonitions by integrating what they had learned from China’s official admonitions with their own experiences drawn from their involvement with politics.Concerned with the many ills in local governance,they called for special attention to moral cultivation among officials in their works,of which the notable include Chihyeonsuji by Liu Xichun,Yuupjaimun by Zheng Che,The Letters from Li Yuanyi Who Tell His Nephew Li Deyi How to Be An Official by Li Yuanyi.These works constitute a main focus of this dissertation where there is a careful examination of their arguments on moral cultivation,taxes,civil affairs,justice system,criminal laws and imprisonment from which has led to the conclusions that the official admonitions during this early phase were simple and flexible in terms of style,basically the same with China’s in terms of contents,and limited to the Zhuzist thoughts in terms of thoughtfulness.The 17^th and 18^th centuries,namely the King Yeongjo and King Jeongjo Period（from1724 to 1800）,witnessed the fastest growth featuring various schools of thought in the history of the Choson Dynasty’s official admonitions.During this period,thanks to the Tangpyeong Politics,the cliquey conflict that had been quite tense became relaxed.When it comes to schools of thought,the Zhuzist Doctrine was on a decline and the Practical Learning was on a rise.As far as local governance was concerned,the village governing system was established which led to a fall of Yangban and a rise of Chungin respectively in their status in the ruling system.Against the background,there were a great number of influential works,notably,Xian Jue,The Mokmin Daebang by Hong Lianghao,and Lin Guan Zheng Yao（or The Conduct Codes of Being A Official）by An Dingfu.Lin Guan Zheng Yao is another focus of this dissertation in which there is a deep analysis of its main points and thoughts.The conclusion is that the official admonitions of this phase enjoyed a constantly expanding group of writers,enlarging coverage of contents,deepening thoughts and greater concern for their own local conditions.The late 18^th and 19^th centuries were the prime time of the Choson Dynasty’s official admonitions.During the period,the Sedo politics began to prevail,the three policies were chaotically intertwined,and the campaign to learn from the north gained ground.Against such a backdrop,the development of the Choson Dynasty’s official admonitions reached its peak signified by the founding of the school named the Studies on Governing the People created by Ding Ruoyong,the most important work of whom was Mokminsimseo.Ding Ruoyong and his work are yet another point of focus in this dissertation which examined his political career,thoughts on practical learning and studies on how to rule the people as well as contents of his work.The conclusions are that Mokminsimseo was the most comprehensive,most insightful and thus most important work among the Choson Dynasty’s official admonition works which followed the people-first idea advocated by Confucianism,and also carried the reformative ideas proposed by elitism.The above is the vertical examination,after which is the horizontal examination.First,the Choson Dynasty’s official admonitions can be categorized according to its contents and uses into the comprehensive political essays and reference compilations.Second,these works mainly had its contents discussed from three aspects,principles and moral standards in involvement with politics,road map in political career and techniques in dealing with politics.In terms of principles,these works attached importance to corruption-free,caring for the people,loyalty,dedication to duties and self-discipline.In terms of the political road map,there were instructions on how to get appointed to a position,fulfill one’s duties,get along with other officials,and resign from one’s post.In terms of political techniques,the center idea was Suryeongchilsa around which there were three sections concerning economic and civil affairs,taxes,social culture,social order,justice system,legal action and prison management.Third,those works had a wide range of writers from the emperors,Yangban,local officials to students of Confucianism.Fourth,these works had its readers targeted at the county magistrates,village heads,and clan leaders.In fact,the Choson Dynasty saw serious conflicts between different political parties and groups,and between different thought schools,which is clearly reflected in the official admonition works written by officials and Confucianist.Based on these works,a culture formed around the official admonitions in Choson Dynasty.The culture called for all level of officials to pay special attention to self-cultivation,family management and rule of the country and called for them to put people first by caring for them and getting close to them.It advocated that officials should be clearly conscious of these ideas and always keep in line with these principles.It worked both as a warning as well as an inspiration.It was rich in its meaning and practical in its application.It greatly improved local governance and helped to maintain local rule and order,cast much light on how to fight against corruption and build a corruption-free government in traditional societies and offered many useful lessons for today’s administrative cultures.However,it was born in a feudalist society and was always the tool for the ruling class to keep their rule.China’s official admonition culture had its prime time at the Ming and Qing Dynasties when it hit the peak both in book creation,publication and spread.The general trend was that they turned from macro generalization to micro analysis,and from abstractness to concreteness.It educated officials morally and also helped to improve their administrative capabilities,which became a set procedure for administrative rule.The Ming and Qing Dynasty’s official admonition culture and the Choson Dynasty’s had some both in common and in difference.They both followed and practiced Confucianism by disciplining the official team with its thoughts,which was an inevitable result since the two were deeply influenced by the Confucianist cultures and Korea,as the vassal,exchanged frequently with China,the suzerain.However,the two cultures were born in different places,so there were a lot differences between them in terms of the level of development,content creation,ideological theme,value impact.The Choson Dynasty’s official admonition culture,revolving around the essence of Confucianism,formed its own characteristics,notably,the idea of benefiting people and improving the living conditions.