International Journal of Korean History (Feb 2015)
The Development of Rice Farming, Regional Development, and Changes in the Economic Views of Local Elites in Chosǒn Dynasty Korea (1392~1910)
Abstract
The agricultural structure of modern Korean society is based on the cultivation of rice. However, the climatic and natural conditions of Korea were significantly different from those of Jiangnan, China or Kansai, Japan, where rice farming was well developed. As a result, rice farming in Korea followed a different route compared to the aforementioned regions. Securing irrigation facilities was most important, and a particular emphasis was put on early cultivation in order to overcome the seven to eight-month-long dry season during the winter and spring (October to May). The development of rice farming in Korea accelerated the development of the mountainous regions, where it was possible to construct diversion weirs, which were traditional irrigation facilities. As rice farming came to be closely associated with regional development, which became particularly prominent in the mountainous regions, sajok (hereditary yangban), or local elites, began to move from the plains and hilly regions, where they had originally resided, to the mountainous regions. Various aspects of premodern Korean society that became distinct after the mid- to late eighteenth century were different from those of China and Japan during the same period of time. The Chinese gentry and Japanese samurai generally resided in cities around the mid- to late seventeenth century. However, a closed regional structure in which agricultural villages ruled over cities was firmly instituted in Chosǒn. Behind the development of rice farming technologies and regional development, which created differences in the process of modernization in the three countries, were the differences in natural environment. Korea, which had the least suitable environment for rice farming, attempted to circumvent this environmental problem by developing the mountainous regions and adopting yiangbǒp (transplanting rice seedling), which led to the development of the mountainous regions and movement of local elites to agricultural villages. Local elites in agricultural villages abhorred and oppressed trade and craft, which threatened agricultural communities, and as a result, it was barely possible for merchants to flourish or for commercial capitalism to develop. This was the fundamental difference between Korea and Jiangnan, China or Japan. Due to the fact that Korea had the least favorable agricultural environment and geographic conditions among the three East Asian countries, and thus least developed commercial capitalism, Korea suffered the most in the process of modernization among the three nations, being annexed and colonized by Japanese Imperialism for 36 years (1910~1945).
Keywords
