조선후기 京江 지역 실태와 江民의 특성

Abstract

This paper has examined the actual life and livings conditions of residents near the Han River outside the capital city of Joseon Dynasty in its late period. The Han River in early Joseon Dynasty period played a key role as a river behind the capital city. This is why the Han River was called the ‘Gyeong Gang(京江)’ literally meaning the river of Seoul from the early stage of Joseon Dynasty. The villages in the vicinity of Gyeong Gang were different from those of the capital city, which is within the administrative jurisdiction of Hanseongbu, or the capital city of Seoul. The officials of the administrative office were not uniformly applied or operated between the capital city and the Gyeong Gang. During the reign of King Sukjong, the organization called the Ogajaktong(五家作統) was formed to prevent the occurrence of robberies and drifting migrants and to reform the custom but did not extend its reach as far as the Gyeong Gang area. When it comes to tax collection, Hanseongbu took charge of imposing compulsory labor on villagers near the Han River while land taxes were imposed by different local authorities, such as Yangju-gun and Goyang-gun The dichotomous perception of Hanseongbu was also demonstrated by the way of naming the people of Hanseongbu, which was split into Gyeong Min(京民) and Gang Min(江民), literally meaning the people of Seoul and the people of river, respectively. They were sharply separated in terms of economic status as well with Gyeong Min being much better off than Gang Min. In a bid to resolve the economic deprivation, these Gang Min had confrontation with each other and sometimes conflicted with local officials using governmental authority. They frequently appealed to the central government and the people of the capital city about their sufferings through various means, including Sangeon(上言), Gyeokjaeng(擊錚) and Soji(所志), which gave the central government and the people within the capital city an impression of being lawsuit seekers or whiners pursuing their own interests. Therefore, Gang Min were disregarded with contempt dubbed as the "river bums" instead of being respected as "river villagers".