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Abstract
While the urban area was increasingly filled with middle- and low-status residents, the rural area was dominated by high-status settlers whose number increased because of migration from the city and natural growth. Remarkable differences existed between urban and rural marriage features such as marriage age and rate of remarriage. The more sincere adoption of the high-status marriage culture in the rural area may be attributed to its occupational homogeneity. In the rural agrarian settings, landlords, self-cultivators and tenants shared a similar living pattern and value system based on the agricultural cycle. The urban area, however, exhibited a variety of work patterns of local functionaries, artisans and merchants. Many middle- and low-status people might well have found the high-status culture of the rural area incompatible with their own.
Notes
1 The computerized database of the Tansŏng hojŏk was published on CD-Rom in December 2003 by the Daedong Institute of Korean Studies, which is affiliated with Sungkyunkwan University, Seoul, Korea.
2 The figure was 19.8 in Lee and Campbell (Citation1997), but the average age was lowered by 1.5 in Lee and Wang (Citation2001).
3 The kokudaka (year production of rice) for the upper class farmer was set above 18 koku, while that for the lower class farmer was set below 4 koku. The koku is approximately equal to 180 l.
4 Here, the remarriage of the widower occurred within three years from the loss of the spouse.
5 Here, the remarriage of the widower occurred within six years from the loss of the spouse.
6 The Taegu hojŏk is being kept at the Kyujanggak Library of Seoul National University.
7 Taegu si sa (History of Taegu City) (Compilation Committee of History of Taegu, 1973), pp. 239–431.
8 The hojŏk for Sŏsang-myŏn are from the years of 1681, 1684, 1714, 1717, 1729, 1732, 1735, 1738, 1756, 1759, 1762, 1765, and 1789.
9 The hojŏk for these three sub-counties are from the years of 1711, 1714, 1717, 1738, 1741, 1781, 1784, 1789, 1792, and 1795.
10 On the rural hojŏk of the 18th century, many peasants moved out to the urban area.
11 One kyŏl approximately equals the size of land that produces about 8000 l of rice.
12 The1714 hojŏk records many migrations of the high households into the rural area.
13 The 1792 and 1795 hojŏk of Suhyŏnnae-myŏn offer such cases.
14 The process of measuring the first marriage age using two consecutive hojŏk for Sŏsang-myŏn can be demonstrated in the following example. The 1762 hojŏk records Paek Pongjip's daughter as being 11 years old (in traditional Korean calculation). The 1765 hojŏk records simply that his daughter had been married, without giving the marriage year. Because the actual recording took place at the end of the previous year (i.e., 1764), the marriage must have taken place between 1762 and 1764. So, she was married sometime between the ages of 11 and 13 in traditional Korean calculation, which falls between 10 and 12 in modern calculation. Thus, for her first marriage she was determined to be 11.5 years old.
15 Sukjong sillok (Veritable Records of King Sukjong) vol. 37; Yŏngjo sillok (Veritable Records of King Yŏngjo) vol. 36, vol. 57, vol. 71; Chŏngjo sillok (Veritable Records of King Chŏngjo) vol. 3, vol. 22, vol. 32, vol. 48.
16 Throughout the Chosŏn period, higher status in general meant greater economic wealth. See Kim Kuentae (Citation2004).
17 Ch'ŏngdae ilgi (Diary of Kwŏn Sang-il), 03/19/1706, 12/30/1706, 02/08/1725, 02/09/1725, 07/22/1727, 04/08/1748, and 11/08/1748.
18 Yŏngjo sillok (Veritable Records of King Yŏngjo) vol. 79, vol. 83; Chŏngjo sillok (Veritable Records of King Chŏngjo) vol. 30.
19 Yŏngjo sillok (Veritable Records of King Yŏngjo) vol. 118.
20 See Kyŏngguk taejŏn (National Code of the Chosŏn Dynasty).
21 Komunsŏ 26 (Old Documents) (Kyujanggak Library, Seoul National University, 2003), p. 32.