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The regional connections of the 1728 Musin Rebellion (戊申亂)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 June 2015

Andrew David Jackson
Andrew David Jackson*
Affiliation:
University of Copenhagen
*
[email protected]
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Abstract

Many scholars have stressed that regional dynamics led to the outbreak of the Musin Rebellion, the largest rebellion in eighteenth-century Korea. Scholars have examined the economic and political situation leading up to the violence and concluded that political marginalization caused Kyŏngsang Province elites (from the Southerner faction) to launch the rebellion. This paper analyses evidence from official sources about rebel motivations, rebel geographical associations and the court view of the causes. Although post-rebellion government statements acknowledge tensions between the court and many Kyŏngsang Province elites, rebel testimony showed no evidence of any anger about discrimination against elites from a single region. There is also inconsistent evidence of regional concerns in the membership of the rebel organization, which was drawn from three southern provinces and mainly concentrated around the capital. My findings challenge the conclusions of regionalist scholars and place the Musin Rebellion in a trajectory of late Chosŏn rebellion that was attempting to redress factional political discrimination and was not caused by regional concerns.

Keywords

Musin RebellionRegional historyKyŏngsang ProvinceChosŏnKorea
Type
Articles
Information
Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies , Volume 78 , Issue 3 , October 2015 , pp. 537 - 555
Copyright
Copyright © SOAS, University of London 2015 

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References

Bibliography

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Borton, Hugh. 1968. Peasant Uprisings in Japan of the Tokugawa Period. New York: Paragon.Google Scholar
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Cho Ch'anyong 조찬용. 2003. 1728 nyŏn Musinsat'ae koch'al. [1728년 무신사태 고찰, “An enquiry into the 1728 Musin situation”.] Seoul: Iolive.Google Scholar
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Kim, Sun Joo. 2009. “Manifestos during the Hong Kyŏngnae Rebellion of 1812”, in Haboush, J.K. (ed.), Epistolary Korea: Letters in the Communicative Space of the Chosŏn, 1392–1910, 141–51. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
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Lee, Ki-baik. 1984. A New History of Korea. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Little, Daniel. 1989. Understanding Peasant China: Case Studies in the Philosophy of Social Science. New Haven: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
O Kapgyun 吳甲均. 1977. “Yŏngjo cho Musillan e kwanhan koch'al” [英祖戊申亂에 關한 考察/An examination of the Musin Rebellion during the early Yŏngjo period.] Yoksa kyoyuk, 21. [歷史敎育 21집.] Yoksa kyoyuk yŏnguhoe, 65–99.Google Scholar
Palais, James. 1994. “Political leadership and the Yangban in the Choson Dynasty”, Etudes Thematiques: La société civile face à l’état dans les traditions Chinoise, Japonaise, Coréene et Vietnamiennes 3, 391–408.Google Scholar
Palais, James. 1996. Confucian Statecraft and Korean Institutions: Yu Hyongwon and the Late Chosǒn Dynasty. Seattle: University of Washington Press.Google Scholar
Perry, Elizabeth J. 1980. Rebels and Revolutionaries in North China, 1845–1945. Stanford: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Rudé, George. 1981. The Crowd in History: A Study of Popular Disturbances in France and England, 1730–1848. London: Lawrence and Wishart.Google Scholar
Russell, Diana E.H. 1974. Rebellion, Revolution and Armed Force: A Comparative Study of Fifteen Countries with Special Emphasis on Cuba and South Africa. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Setton, Mark. 1992. “Factional politics and philosophical development in the Late Choson”, The Journal of Korean Studies 8, 37–79.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tilly, Charles. 1974. “Town and country in revolution”, in Lewis, J.W., Peasant Rebellion and Communist Revolution in Asia, 271–302. Stanford: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
White, James W. 1995. Ikki: Social Conflict and Political Protest in Early Modern Japan. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yea, Sallie. 1997. “Maps of resistance and geographies of dissent in the Cholla region of South Korea”, Korean Studies 24, 69–93.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yi Chaech’ŏl 李在喆. 1986. “Sipp'al segi kyŏngsang udo sarim kwa Chŏng Hŭiryang nan” [18 세기 경상우도 사림과 정희량난/ The rebellion of Chŏng Hŭiryang and the eighteenth-century South Kyŏngsang Province rural scholars], in Taegu sahak [대구사학]. Taegu: Taedaegu sahakhoe, [대대구사학회], 33–72.Google Scholar
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Yi Usŏng [李佑成]. 1959. “Chibang t'oho tae chungang kwŏllyŏk ch’ŭng ŭi t'ujaeng”, [地方土豪 對 中央權力層의 鬪爭/ The struggle between local landowners and central power] Kyŏngsangtoji sang. [慶尙道誌 上], 723–30.Google Scholar
Yi Wŏngyun [李源均]. 1971. “Yŏngjo Musillan e taehayŏ- Yŏngnam ŭi Chŏng Hŭiryang nan ŭl chungsimŭro” [英祖戊申亂에 대하여 嶺南의 鄭希亮亂을 中心으로/ About the Musin Rebellion during the Yŏngjo period, focussing on the rebellion of Chǒng Hǔiryang in Yŏngnam], Pudaesahak, 2. [釜山史學 2집] Pusan taehakyo sahakhoe, 63–87.Google Scholar
Yim, Dong Jae. 1976. “Factional ties in seventeenth century Korea: a reevaluation of traditional concepts”, PhD Dissertation, Harvard University, Cambridge MA.Google Scholar
Musin Yŏgok ch’uan 戊申逆獄推案. 1994. (“Trial record of the Musin year rebels”) in Kaksa Pipyŏnsa Tŭngnok (國譯備邊司謄錄/ Records of the Border Defence Council, original and Korean translation). 2006. Kuksa p'yŏnch'an wiwŏnhoe 75–7. Kwach’ŏn: Imun insoe.Google Scholar
Pipyŏnsa Tŭngnok (國譯備邊司謄錄, “Records of the Border Defence Council, original and Korean translation”). 2006. Kuksa p'yŏnch'an wiwŏnhoe 24–7. Kwach’ŏn: Imun insoe.Google Scholar
Yŏngjo sillok [英祖 實錄, “Veritable records of Yŏngjo's reign”]. 1955. In Chosŏn wangjo sillok 41–2, edited by Kuksa p'yŏn ch'an wiwŏnhoe. Seoul: Tonggukmunhwasa.Google Scholar
Borton, Hugh. 1968. Peasant Uprisings in Japan of the Tokugawa Period. New York: Paragon.Google Scholar
Ch'oe, Yŏng-ho. 1999. “Private academies and the state in late Chosŏn Korea”, in Haboush, Jahyun Kim and Deuchler, Martina (eds), Culture and the State in Late Chosŏn Korea. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University East Asia Center.Google Scholar
Cho Ch'anyong 조찬용. 2003. 1728 nyŏn Musinsat'ae koch'al. [1728년 무신사태 고찰, “An enquiry into the 1728 Musin situation”.] Seoul: Iolive.Google Scholar
Chŏng Sŏkchong 鄭奭鍾. 1972. “Hong Kyŏngnae ŭi nan ŭi sŏnggyŏk” [홍경내 난의 성격 The character of the Hong Kyŏngnae Rebellion]. Han'guksa yŏngu 7 (한국사연구 7), 151–207.Google Scholar
Chung, Edward. 1995. The Korean Neo-Confucianism of Yi T'oegye and Yi Yulgok. Albany: SUNY Press.Google Scholar
Dutton, George. 2006. The Tây Son Uprising: Society and Rebellion in Eighteenth-Century Vietnam. Hawai‘i: Hawai‘i University Press.Google Scholar
Haboush, JaHyun Kim. 1988. A Heritage of Kings: One Man's Monarchy in the Confucian World. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Haboush, JaHyun Kim. 2009. “Open letters: patriotic exhortations from the Imjin War”, in Haboush, J.K. (ed.), Epistolary Korea: Letters in the Communicative Space of the Chosŏn, 1392–1910, 121–40. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Han'guk inmyŏng taesajŏn p'yŏnch'ansil [한국인명대사전 편찬실]. 1967. Han'guk inmyŏng taesajŏn [한국인명대사전]. Shin'gumunhwasa.Google Scholar
Jackson, Andrew David. 2011a. “The causes and aims of Yŏngjo's Chŏngmihwan'guk”, BAKS (British Association of Korean Studies) Papers 13, 17–34.Google Scholar
Jackson, Andrew David. 2011b. “Rebel military strategy in the Musillan rebellion of 1728”, BAKS (British Association of Korean Studies) Papers 13, 35–41.Google Scholar
Jackson, Andrew David. 2013. “The initiation of the 1728 Musin Rebellion: assurances, the fifth-columnists and military resources”, Korean Histories 3/2, 3–15.Google Scholar
Karlsson, Anders. 2000. The Hong Kyôngnae Rebellion 1811–1812: Conflict between Central Power and Local Society in 19th-Century Korea. Stockholm: Stockholm University.Google Scholar
Karlsson, Anders. 2006. “Central power, local society, and rural unrest in nineteenth-century Korea: an attempt at comparative local history”, Sungkyun Journal of East Asian Studies 6/2, 207–38.Google Scholar
Kim, Sun Joo. 2007. Marginality and Subversion in Korea: The Hong Kyǒngnae Rebellion of 1812. Seattle: University of Washington Press.Google Scholar
Kim, Sun Joo. 2009. “Manifestos during the Hong Kyŏngnae Rebellion of 1812”, in Haboush, J.K. (ed.), Epistolary Korea: Letters in the Communicative Space of the Chosŏn, 1392–1910, 141–51. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Kim Uch’ŏl [金友哲]. 2010. Chosŏn hugi ch'uguk unyŏng mit kyŏlan ŭi pyŏnhwa [조선후기 推鞫 운영및 結案의 변화/ Changes in the administration of interrogations and judgments in Late Chosŏn]. Minjok munhwa 35 [民族 文化 第 35 輯].Google Scholar
Kŏch'ang kunsa p'yŏnch'an wiwŏnhoe [Kŏch'ang kunsa 거창군사 편찬위원회]. 1997. Kŏch'ang kunsa [거창郡史/ A history of Kŏch'ang county]. Kŏch'ang kun, Kŏch'ang kun munhwawŏn [거창문화원], 558–613.Google Scholar
Lee, Ki-baik. 1984. A New History of Korea. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Little, Daniel. 1989. Understanding Peasant China: Case Studies in the Philosophy of Social Science. New Haven: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
O Kapgyun 吳甲均. 1977. “Yŏngjo cho Musillan e kwanhan koch'al” [英祖戊申亂에 關한 考察/An examination of the Musin Rebellion during the early Yŏngjo period.] Yoksa kyoyuk, 21. [歷史敎育 21집.] Yoksa kyoyuk yŏnguhoe, 65–99.Google Scholar
Palais, James. 1994. “Political leadership and the Yangban in the Choson Dynasty”, Etudes Thematiques: La société civile face à l’état dans les traditions Chinoise, Japonaise, Coréene et Vietnamiennes 3, 391–408.Google Scholar
Palais, James. 1996. Confucian Statecraft and Korean Institutions: Yu Hyongwon and the Late Chosǒn Dynasty. Seattle: University of Washington Press.Google Scholar
Perry, Elizabeth J. 1980. Rebels and Revolutionaries in North China, 1845–1945. Stanford: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Rudé, George. 1981. The Crowd in History: A Study of Popular Disturbances in France and England, 1730–1848. London: Lawrence and Wishart.Google Scholar
Russell, Diana E.H. 1974. Rebellion, Revolution and Armed Force: A Comparative Study of Fifteen Countries with Special Emphasis on Cuba and South Africa. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Setton, Mark. 1992. “Factional politics and philosophical development in the Late Choson”, The Journal of Korean Studies 8, 37–79.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tilly, Charles. 1974. “Town and country in revolution”, in Lewis, J.W., Peasant Rebellion and Communist Revolution in Asia, 271–302. Stanford: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
White, James W. 1995. Ikki: Social Conflict and Political Protest in Early Modern Japan. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yea, Sallie. 1997. “Maps of resistance and geographies of dissent in the Cholla region of South Korea”, Korean Studies 24, 69–93.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yi Chaech’ŏl 李在喆. 1986. “Sipp'al segi kyŏngsang udo sarim kwa Chŏng Hŭiryang nan” [18 세기 경상우도 사림과 정희량난/ The rebellion of Chŏng Hŭiryang and the eighteenth-century South Kyŏngsang Province rural scholars], in Taegu sahak [대구사학]. Taegu: Taedaegu sahakhoe, [대대구사학회], 33–72.Google Scholar
Yi Chongbŏm 이종범. 1997. “Yŏrŏ chiyŏk ŭi hangjaeng kwa musillan”, [여러 지역의 항쟁과 무신란/ The Musin Rebellion and the struggle in different areas], in Han'guksa 36: Chosŏn Hugi minjung sahoe ŭi sŏngjang, [한국사 36: 조선 후기 민중 사회 성장] edited by Kuksa p'yŏn ch'an wiwŏnhoe. [국사편찬위원회] 176–209. Seoul: T'am'gu tang munhwasa.Google Scholar
Yi Usŏng [李佑成]. 1959. “Chibang t'oho tae chungang kwŏllyŏk ch’ŭng ŭi t'ujaeng”, [地方土豪 對 中央權力層의 鬪爭/ The struggle between local landowners and central power] Kyŏngsangtoji sang. [慶尙道誌 上], 723–30.Google Scholar
Yi Wŏngyun [李源均]. 1971. “Yŏngjo Musillan e taehayŏ- Yŏngnam ŭi Chŏng Hŭiryang nan ŭl chungsimŭro” [英祖戊申亂에 대하여 嶺南의 鄭希亮亂을 中心으로/ About the Musin Rebellion during the Yŏngjo period, focussing on the rebellion of Chǒng Hǔiryang in Yŏngnam], Pudaesahak, 2. [釜山史學 2집] Pusan taehakyo sahakhoe, 63–87.Google Scholar
Yim, Dong Jae. 1976. “Factional ties in seventeenth century Korea: a reevaluation of traditional concepts”, PhD Dissertation, Harvard University, Cambridge MA.Google Scholar