간찰을 통해 본 長城 유생 奇陽衍의 과거 합격 과정

Abstract

The Guemgang head house of Haengju Ki’s family in Jangseong has about 130 letters that passed between father and son in the 1860-70s. People focus on the letter written by Ki Yang-Yeon. He wrote this letter to his father, Ki Yun-Jin, when he was studying for state examination and he was working for the government post. In the letters, he told about news happening in Seoul and about government in some detail besides their personal greetings. He wrote about new events he met very accurately and realistically. And the letters are pretty much related to one another. Even though the letters were private, we can see the society of that time. In the late 19th century, it is generally known that the process of the examination corrupted and was very unstable. The national situations inside and outside of the country also precarious at that time. Moreover it was hard for the people from the countryside to pass the civil service examination. Even if he got a pass, it is way harder to get a high ranking government position. These facts remained intact in Ki Yang-Yeon’s correspondence. Ki was the eldest grandson of the Geumgang head family. He headed to Seoul with his family’s great expectation, then he finally passed the examination with honors after devoting himself to his studies for 4 to 5 years. Through the letters sent from him when he was taking many other examinations, we can see the aspect of the state examination in Joseon Dynasty and rural intellectuals’ attitude coping with the situation.