Chapter 215
Indeed, the reason the common people do not even dare try to learn to read and write is that Chinese characters are far too difficult.
When modern people study the Thousand Character Classic, Hangul annotations explaining the meanings and pronunciations of the Chinese characters accompany it.
Even so, learning the Thousand Character Classic requires quite a lot of time and effort...
Now imagine trying to learn Chinese characters without any explanation of their pronunciations or meanings.
You would realize that, to even begin learning, you would need a teacher sitting beside you to tell you the pronunciation and meaning of every single character in the Thousand Character Classic.
His Majesty King Sejong, who is currently devoting himself to creating a new writing system, would know this better than anyone.
‘Once Hunminjeongeum is completed, I intend to establish a system that will allow us to use it to print books in large quantities.’
“Books are too expensive...”
“While working at the Hall of Worthies, I asked various officials about this. As a result, I learned that even among the officials serving at court, some did not have the Four Books and Three Classics at home.”
Sejong tilted his head as he listened to me.
Officials serving at court were people who could make a living one way or another, so they should not have been short of money. That was why he seemed unable to understand my claim that some of them did not even possess the Four Books and Three Classics, the basic learning of a scholar.
However, once you considered how much books cost, it became understandable that even some court officials did not own any books...
“According to what I found out, obtaining a single copy of the Great Learning in the market today requires thirty bolts of cotton cloth. Thirty bolts of cotton cloth amount to twelve seom of polished rice, which is equivalent to one household’s living expenses for an entire year.”
“To obtain a single copy of the Great Learning, one must spend as much rice as a household needs to live for an entire year...”
“The Four Books and Three Classics together require a fortune equivalent to roughly one hundred seom of polished rice. Books are so expensive that even if poor commoners wish to encounter the teachings of the sages, they have no way to do so.”
Twelve seom of polished rice was an enormous sum, equivalent to roughly ten to twelve million won by modern Korean standards.
A single copy of the Great Learning cost twelve million won, and acquiring even the minimum set of books needed to prepare for the civil service examination cost more than one hundred million won.
Even if Sejong created Hunminjeongeum, most of Joseon’s people would be unable to afford books that were far too expensive, making it nearly impossible for them to learn or use the new script.
If we established one village school in every village and gathered children there to teach them, we would at least need to stock enough copies of the Elementary Learning for the number of students.
Would the books needed for a single village school really cost as much as two or three hundred seom of polished rice?
‘That’s ridiculous.’
“Mencius said that every human being is born good, while Xunzi said that every human being is born evil. Although their words appear contradictory in some respects, they also share one point: both men said that human beings become good through learning. However, unless we improve the situation in which books are so expensive that the common people cannot buy them, only a tiny minority of wealthy people will be able to encounter the proper teachings of the sages, while the poor will be unable even to hear the sages’ words throughout their entire lives.”
His Majesty King Sejong’s complexion rapidly darkened as he listened to me.
I had expected as much.
Sejong was not an ordinary person like me. He was a benevolent king who loved studying so much that he had even created Hunminjeongeum because he wanted to share that joy with all his people.
How heartbreaking must it be for him to know that his people could not study simply because they had been born poor?
“Some people say that the reason the criminal Im Osu, whom I brought back when I led the diplomatic mission to Japan this time, and Kim Hwa, who killed his own father two years ago, committed crimes against the Confucian moral order was their vicious nature. However, I have a different opinion. I believe that if someone had taught them the principles of the Three Bonds and Five Relationships as they grew up, they would not have committed such rebellious atrocities.”
Education is truly magnificent.
Its power is so great that it can even allow people born with psychopathic tendencies to function as human beings and live within society.
It is said that five out of every hundred people born with psychopathic tendencies go on to commit serious crimes...
But when you consider that almost all of them might have become serious criminals without education...
Taking a somewhat extreme view, one could say that education saved ninety-five percent of the people who would have been killed by psychopaths from the threat of death.
“You speak the truth. I, too, felt deeply grieved when I ordered Kim Hwa to be beheaded for violating the Confucian moral order. I thought that this had happened because, through my own lack of virtue, I had failed to teach the people the proper principles widely enough.”
Although most people can be reformed through the power of education, there are also irredeemable scumbags who simply cannot be reformed.
Therefore, this was certainly not Sejong’s fault.
“How could the crime of a rebellious and immoral man like Kim Hwa possibly be Your Majesty’s fault? However, it cannot be denied that there are cases in which people, unable to learn, go on to commit acts of filial impiety... I believe that the Ministry of Works should expand the Jojiseo to a certain extent in order to lower book prices, while also permitting merchants to produce and sell books so that as many books as possible can be distributed and put to use throughout the market.”
“Expanding the Jojiseo and having the state encourage the buying and selling of books...”
“Do the words of the sages not have meaning only when they are made known widely to all the people?”
Joseon was the first country in the world to create metal type.
However, Joseon’s metal type did not change the world.
That was because metal type was not used to mass-produce books so that everyone could read them easily.
By contrast, Gutenberg’s metal type and printing technology were used by people including Martin Luther with the aim of allowing everyone to read and learn from the Bible...
As more and more books were printed, knowledge and information began to be shared among many people. This positive effect turned printing into a tool that accelerated social development.
That was how the West was able to usher in the Renaissance.
“If you recognize merchants’ right to profit from selling books and permit them to buy and sell books freely, more people will be able to read books with ease.”
There was nothing inherently wrong with the state operating a business as a monopoly, but aside from exceptional cases such as steel, water supply, and railroads...
when the state monopolistically intervened in a particular industry, nothing good ever came of it.
When Sejong heard this, the corners of his mouth nearly reached his ears.
Yes, if a project got underway by taking advantage of His Majesty’s good intentions to lower book prices throughout the Eight Provinces of Joseon and make books cheap and easy for everyone to read...
then every official at court, as a scholar of this land responsible for enlightening the entire populace, would have to voluntarily join in the overwork to create a nation of gentlemen where every person could read books.
‘Seeing as you oppose spreading the sages’ teachings widely to enlighten the people, could it be that there’s something wrong with your head...’
That is, if I wanted to avoid hearing things like that.
Everyone, myself included, would get to engage in meaningful overwork. How wonderful.
“If it becomes possible to print books more cheaply, then later we could establish a school in every district, gather children together, and teach them.”
“It will be entirely possible.”
By the middle and late Joseon periods, members of the Sarim faction had opened village schools in the areas where they lived and taught children there.
Since Joseon’s current economic level was not far behind that of the middle and late Joseon periods...
if we had the will, we should be fully capable of establishing at least one village school in every village.
“It would be wonderful if every child could memorize the Three Bonds and Five Relationships and the Elementary Learning. However, even if we did not go that far, would they not refrain from doing wrong of their own accord if they at least learned proper principles? Then Joseon’s customs would become more beautiful than ever before.”
“Certainly.”
Sejong conveyed through his expression a silent pressure telling me to lay out everything I had.
“To accomplish that, the most important thing is to lower book prices. To that end, we should order Hogun Jang of the Ministry of Works to devise and build metal type and a new printing press... and would it not be best to make the techniques for producing them public to everyone?”
Unless I were a merchant concerned only with living well myself, there was no reason for me to monopolize printing-press technology when I was an official of Joseon.
On the contrary, it would be far more profitable to spread printing-press technology widely, have books printed by the thousands and tens of thousands, and collect brokerage fees through my father-in-law’s merchant guild.
So far, we had continued talking only about the Elementary Learning and the Four Books and Three Classics, but how well would books on agriculture, medicine, and various other subjects sell?
“Moreover, the hanji currently used widely in Joseon is far superior in quality to the paper of Ming and Japan... but it is equally difficult to produce. For this reason as well, book prices have no choice but to become extremely high.”
Ten books made from cheap paper would do far more good for the world than a single book made from precious paper.
Therefore, it would be better for Joseon to print even books made from low-grade paper indiscriminately and in enormous quantities.
“Therefore, I believe that the Ministry of Works should research ways to make paper more easily, quickly, and cheaply, even if that means lowering its quality.”
“I agree with the Deputy Director’s view.”
Sejong declared this at the court lecture.
“The Hall of Worthies shall devote itself to lowering the price of books in Joseon.”