Social Background of a Visionary Rebellion and the Image of an Ideal Society : A Review of the Yi Ch’unggyŏng Incident during the 7th year of King Injo (1629)
Journal Title: International Journal of Korean History - Year 2010, Vol 15, Issue 1
Abstract
Yi Ch'unggyŏng's Rebellion of 1629 (7th year of King Injo), was an incident that saw people displaced by the First Manchu Invasion of 1627 (Chŏngmyo horan) attempt to overthrow the existing government. The majority of the participants in this attempted uprising were from the lower classes. As the group involved only a score of people, and they were all arrested before their plot could be actualized, it did not garner any attention at the national level. It was even evaluated as a ‘silly game involving some overgrown children.’ However, leaving aside the success or failure of the incident, much can be gained from delving into the participants’ social background, how they got to the point where they raised a resistance, and their wishes for an ideal society. This incident was hatched in the provinces of P’yŏngan and Hwanghae, both of which had suffered greatly as a result of the First Manchu Invasion of 1627. Most of those who followed Yi had lost their families and found themselves displaced by the war. These individuals perceived the proposed coup as a means to secure a livelihood. On the other hand, they also harbored a strong sense of hostility toward Later Chin. The growing emphasis on the worship of Ch’oe Yŏng and Nam Yi, two generals who had opposed the Chosŏn dynasty, signified that Yi’s group had been transformed from a band of thieves into one that plotted rebellion. However, despite this change in character, every member of the group's support for Yi remained unwavering. The group’s ringleader Yi Ch'unggyŏng gave form to the ideal society that he envisioned in a document called the 〈Kaeguk taejŏn〉. The ideal society was one in which public equality was to be achieved by reigning in abuses in the military service and tax structures and removing privileges. It was a society in which the state’s illegal exploitation of the people was to be brought to a halt. Their pure wishes for an end to the conflicts that pervaded Chosŏn dynasty were ignored by the powers that be, and their uprising was evaluated as a ‘useless farce initiated by a few woodsmen’ or as a 'silly game involving some overgrown children.' As such, the inherent conflicts at the center of this incident were not resolved and a tinderbox that could be lit at another time was left behind to fester.
Authors and Affiliations
Woo-cheol Kim
Keywords
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