Gyeongse Yupyo

《Gyeongse Yupyo》(經世遺表) is a book that discusses reform of all institutions and laws concerning state administration. Jeong Yak-yong began writing it in 1808 (the 8th year of King Sunjo) at Gangjin County, his place of exile, and finished the writing in 1817 (the 17th year of King Sunjo). It was initially written in 48 volumes, but was compiled into 44 volumes in 15 fascicles during the copying process.

Overview

Its original title was 《Bangnye Chobon》(邦禮草本), and it contained empirical examples of contradictions in the existing political system, emphasizing the need to reform them.

Modeled on the structure of the 《Rites of Zhou》 (周禮) and the 《Gyeongguk Daejeon》(經國大典), which were described in the six-ministry system (六典體制) of Personnel (吏), Revenue (戶), Rites (禮), War (兵), Punishment (刑), and Works (工), each category was described as Heavenly Office Personnel Board (天官吏曹), Earthly Office Revenue Board (地官戶曹), Spring Office Rites Board (春官禮曹), Summer Office War Board (夏官兵曹), Autumn Office Punishment Board (秋官刑曹), Winter Office Works Board (冬官工曹), Heavenly Office Revised System (天官修制), Earthly Office Revised System (地官修制), Spring Office Revised System (春官修制), and Summer Office Revised System (夏官修制), and each mixes political, economic, and social thought. However, the Autumn Office Revised System and Winter Office Revised System, corresponding to Punishment (刑) and Works (工) in the six-ministry system, remain unfinished.

The 《Gyeongse Yupyo》 was written with the aim of reforming political, social, and economic institutions and achieving national wealth and military strength, taking the ideals of the Book of Documents (書經) and the Rites of Zhou as its model while adjusting them to the realities of Joseon at the time.

Here, Master Jeong Yak-yong also discussed not only land system reform and stabilization of people's livelihoods, which were common concerns of Namin Silhak scholars, but also the realization of national wealth and military strength through technological development and promotion of commerce and industry, which had mainly been the concern of the Practical Learning scholars of the Northern Learning school.

In particular, regarding land and agricultural problems, which can be regarded as the concentrated contradictions of society at the time, in <Jigwan Subje> he placed the ultimate goal of reform on the Well-field system (井田制), based on management by self-cultivating farmers (自營農), while judging that it was difficult to implement immediately, and therefore presented the Well-field Proposal (井田議), which can be called a partial reform theory, as a first step. That is, he explained that the well-field system is not a system of dividing land by partitioning it into well-shaped plots, but rather a system in which the land area is calculated and the ratio of private fields (私田) to public fields (公田) is set at 9:1, or taxes are paid at one-ninth of the harvest, and he presented the possibility and method of implementing the well-field system in Korea. In addition, in <Jigwan Subje> he presented a reform plan for the taxation system, criticizing the reality that state taxation was concentrated on farmers and land, and argued that all industries should be taxed.

New Crops

In the fields of leeks, garlic, Chinese cabbage, and cucumbers around the outskirts of Seoul and the major cities of each province, 10 mu (畝) of land yields tens of thousands of jeon in income. Tobacco fields of the northwestern region, hemp fields of Gwanbuk region, ramie fields of Hansan, ginger fields of Jeonju, sweet potato fields of Gangjin, and rehmannia fields of Hwangju, when compared with income from the best-yielding rice paddies, bring tenfold profits. Nowadays, ginseng is also all cultivated in fields, and its profit is said to reach 10 million jeon. —Jeong Yak-yong, "Gyeongse Yupyo"—

Evaluation

This book well contains the core of the Northern Learning school's Practical Learning thought at that time, and together with Jeong Yak-yong's 《Mongmin Simseo》 and 《Heumheum Sinseo》 it is called the "One Table, Two Books" (1표 2서).