부자들의 빈곤2 – 18세기 중반 영남 한 향촌 양반지주가의 경제생활 –

Abstract

This study reconfirmed the poverty of the landed gentry in country villages in the 16th - 18th centuries that was reviewed in the previous study mainly based on a specific family in the mid-18th century, and generally examined where their ‘poverty’ or ‘penury’ was originated and how they coped with and responded to it. The Gyeongju Choi clan family in Daegu, the target family of the study, produced government officials and secured or maintained their financial foundation as an owner of the small and medium-sized lands or higher. In particular, the Choi family left Yeok-Joong-Il-Gi (曆中日記) written by Choi Heung-won (1705 – 1786), along with the records of property inheritance and trading statements. The journal Yeok-Joong-Il-Gi by Choi Heung-won frequently described the issues related to poverty in himself, brothers, relatives, relatives of his mother’s and wife’s sides and many other people. The reasons for poverty were natural disaster, the large number of family members and reception of the guests of ancestral rites, and the family handled the issue by borrowing grain and money or selling lands and slaves or using the Grain Loan System (Hwangok) of provincial government. However, these were not just unilateral measures because the Choi family also often lent lands or grain to many relatives and neighbors or purchased lands from them. Such responses to bad years or poverty were only temporary remedies rather than the fundamental solutions. Therefore, when bad years or poverty continued for a long time or occurred periodically, the gentry were forced to be placed in more extreme situations. In these circumstances, it can be assumed that more and more of the gentry had to face a financial collapse in the 18th - 19th centuries. Lastly, there is a question left about how to understand poverty of the Choi family. In this case, the family’s poverty was temporary rather than habituated poverty. Therefore, they were not forced to ‘collapse.’ The family continued to buy small farmlands and constructed buildings that required a considerable amount of finance. Poverty experienced by the Choi family was so-called ‘poverty of the rich.’ They experienced poverty because of excessive spending rather than being poor. Such poverty was commonly found in the families of the landed gentry in country villages in the late Joseon Dynasty. It is also considered evident that agricultural management was unstable as it was significantly limited by the natural conditions.