The respected Comrade
"Education, science, art, literature, publication and media organs should study the national classics, translate and publish them, bring out large numbers of books on historical knowledge, and introduce historical sites and relics and traditional customs in various forms and by various methods. By doing so, we can ensure that the working people, youth and students always treasure our historical sites and relics, conserve them well and staunchly continue the spirit of the nation."
Among the national classics of our ancestors is the "PanGye Collection Book" written by the famous realist scholar of the 17th century, Ryu Hyong Won (1622-1637).
Here "PanGye" is the nom de plume of Ryu Hyong Won and "Collection Book" simply means that he wrote some improvisations.
But the book, unlike its mere title, systematically describes the "reforms" in each field on the basis of deep research.
In his lifetime, Ryu Hyong Won wrote such vast books as "Gihaengilrok", "Rigichongron", "Ronhakmuli", "Kyongsilmundap", "Insimdosim", "Sadanchiljong", "Dongsagangmokchorye", "Jongumjinam", "Gihyosinsojelyo", and "Mugyongsasicho", and among them "PanGye Collection Book" is the typical one showing his attitudes and socio-political views seeking truth from the fact.
In this book, he analyzed the situation of the Korean feudal dynasty in which all fields such as land system, military system and other were extremely spoiled, and systematically explained in details the reform plan for the politics, economy, culture and military affairs of the feudal state.
The "PanGye Collection Book", 26 volumes in total, can be divided into four main parts in content.
From Vol. 1 to 8 contains the reform bills of the land system, census registration, taxation, transport, irrigation, currency, market and grain loans at that time.
The land system part (田制) is divided into the first and second half, which constitutes the "reform bill" of the existing land system and this is the core part of this work.
At the first head of this part, he claimed that all "reforms" comes with reformation of the land system (田制).
The main idea of the "reform" of the land system proposed by the author in this part was that all land in the country should be made official land owned by the state (公田) and divided equally to each farmhouse, and that the state should collect a tenth of the actual harvest from them, which contributed to the national budget, and one soldier should serve for the state from a unit of 4 farmers.
This scheme was aimed at strengthening the economic basis of the feudal state, but it was of some progressive significance in the situation when the process of collecting the private land of the feudal landlords was being intensified.
The postscript of the land system part proposes a "reform" for the census registration, shipping, guard, irrigation repair, currency, market etc. which are directly related to the land system, and the parts of old stories of the land system and the postscript give historical studies on the mentioned contents with the factual examples of our country and China.
The context covers the area of the above-said land allocating (井田) system and opinions about it after Jin (秦) and Han (漢) kingdoms, and mainly studies about the land system of China, including the kingdoms of the Houwei, Beiqi, Sui and Tang and also about the land system of Koryo and Korean feudal dynasty.
Vol. 9-12 describe the reforms of the school system and the state examination system and Vol. 13-18, reforms of the recommendation, imposition and punishment of the feudal officials and the administrative system in the central and local areas of the feudal state, Vol. 19-20, the stipend system of feudal officials, and Vol. 21-22, the military system like castle, chariot, military horses, compulsory labour system.
And Volume 23 and 24 describe the old stories of the military system and its postscript and the records of the size of the house, roads and bridges, and the piecemeal view of the monks, shaman and slaves, and two appeals as the appendix in the epilogue.
The book reflects the author's progressive view to rectify the disturbed socio-political system and resolve the contradictions existing in all fields of society.
The author asserted that the root cause of the slowdown in the productive forces of the country and the disturbance of the socio-economic system was the aggravated contradiction in the relations of land ownership, the economic basis of feudal society, and that the establishment of the "equally allocated land system", which was to make all the land official (common property) and equally allocate it.
This assertion was believed to be very positive and progressive in view of eliminating social evils and arbitrariness due to the concentration of land by feudal bureaucrats and of developing agricultural productivity.
The book also explains the idea of establishing a permanent military system, building up a strong fortress and maintaining all kinds of weapons well so as to prepare themselves for a sudden strike and establish a national defence system. This was a constructive opinion to strengthen the military force at that time when it was virtually defenseless due to the disorder of the military system.
In addition, the book put forward a positive view on eliminating the social and class contradictions of the period, such as the issue of eliminating the discrimination between the family lineages, the legitimate and illegitimate children, and the regions, recommending talents on a broad scale and the issue of eliminating persecution upon the slaves.
The views and ideas put forward by the author were advanced and progressive for that time, but like the other national classics in the past, the book also has some serious limitations of the period and class.
But there are some limitations as the reforms mentioned in the book are illustrated in the flunkeyist and restorationist stand to meet the interests of the ruling class.
However, the national classic "PanGye Collection Book" is one of the earliest documents in the field of realism, and it is a precious treasure of the nation because it provides sufficient data to understand the study of geography, economy, culture, military affairs, and other fields, and the socio-political views of the realist scholars with its richness and valuable historical materials.
