Jungin

Jungin
Korean name
Hangul	중인
Hanja	中人
Revised Romanization	jung-in
McCune–Reischauer	chung'in

Joseon class system
Class	Hangul	Hanja	Status
Yangban	양반	兩班	noble class
Jungin	중인	中人	intermediate class
Sangmin	상민	常民	common people
Cheonmin	천민	賤民	lowborn people (nobi, baekjeong, mudang, gisaeng, etc.)
v t

The jungin or chungin (Korean: 중인; Hanja: 中人) were the upper middle class of the Joseon Dynasty in medieval and early modern Korean society. The name "jungin" directly means "middle people".^[1] This privileged class of commoners consisted of a small group of petty bureaucrats and other highly educated skilled workers whose technical and administrative skills enabled the yangban and the royal family to rule the lower classes. Jungin were the lifeblood of the Korean Confucian agrarian bureaucracy, on whom the upper classes depended on to maintain their vice-like hold on the people. Their traditions and habits are the forerunners of the modern Korean administrative systems in both North and South Korea.^[2]^[3]

Professions and roles in the society

In dynastic Korea, particularly during the Joseon period, the jungin were lower than the yangban aristocracy but above the lower middle and working class commoners in social status. They included highly educated government-employed specialists with a status—comparable to modern white collar workers—military officers from or had marriage ties to the families producing technical specialists, hereditary government functionaries (both capital and local), and illegitimate children of aristocrats.^[4]^[5]

In everyday life, the jungin were below the aristocratic yangban but superior to the lower middle and working class sangmin. Their roles were minor technical and administrative officials who supported the structure of the government. The highest-ranking jungin, local functionaries, administratively enabled the yangban to oppress the lower classes, especially the total control they had over the sangmin. The jungin functioned as the middle-class and were essentially petty bureaucrats particularly in the rural areas.

Although inferior to the aristocracy in social standing, the highly educated jungin enjoyed far more privileges and influence than the lower middle and working class commoners. For example, the jungin were not taxed nor subject to military conscription. Like the yangban, they were allowed to live in the central part of the city, hence the name "middle people". Also, the jungin tended to marry within their own class as well as into the yangban class. In addition, since they were eligible to enter the palace as royal servants, it was possible for a jungin girl, if her father had a clean reputation or good connections and she was able to catch the King or Queen Dowager's eye, to become a royal consort or even a Royal Noble Consort, the second highest level in the hierarchy of the king's harem, after the Queen. An example is Royal Noble Consort Hui of the Indong Jang clan, personal name Jang Ok-jeong, was a consort of King Sukjong of Joseon and mother of Gyeongjong. She was the Queen of Joseon from 1689 until her deposition, in 1694.

However, to become a jungin, passing the chapkwa examination, which tested their practical knowledge of certain skills, was usually required. The jungin besides being known as a section of the middle-class, they were the smallest social class in dynastic Korea.

The Korean jungin, as a social class, were roughly analogous to the middle-class in Europe. Local functionaries in the rural areas were basically equal to petty bureaucrats.

Culture Impact on Korean Literature

Jungin were highly educated like yangbans, and though they were never regarded the same level or social status, they would receive help from the yangban people who enjoyed their poems to get them published. Moreover, from being less acknowledged than the yangban class, they were discriminated against as well. As jungin were being unfairly treated for their status in society, they wanted more acknowledgement in society and created a poetry group; heir work can be seen in the ancient books, “Okgyeiseungcheop” and “Okgyecheongyucheop.” Alongside, They would go on to publish their first collection of poems, “Sodaepungyo,” and would continue to release a new collection every 60 years.^[6]

A literature collection, Recitation of Miscellanies by Six Poets, talks about the level of the poet’s literary talents compared to their place in society. Despite their differences, development of The Songsogwon Poetry Society led to a closer interaction between the yangban and jungin societal classes. During the late seventeenth century many Jungin gained a bit of popularity by writing poetry. They would write poetry about their lives as poets and sometimes the people in the higher society would spread their poetry among the others. Even though they shared these poems and were liked by others, it still did not allow them to gain more favor in society and they remained as jungin. Remaining Pearls of Korea was a set of poems put together by a jungin who was encouraged by a yangban to get it together.

A notable Sijo author during the Joseon dynasty, Kim Cheon Taek, was a Pogyo constable during the reign of King Sukjong. Kim Cheon Taek compiled Cheonguyeongeon and was known for memorizing hundreds of works from Sigyeong. Kim was a highly skilled singer with great knowledge in arts who touched the nation's people to tears with his singing. As a member of the jungin class during his period, he was not able to advance in society therefore choose to live with nature. Kim knew this because of the social stratification in the Joseon Dynasty, and settled to live amongst what nature had to offer most jungin people. In his sijo’s, Kim incorporated elements of nature; in his sijo about a white seagull (english translation below) he expresses that as a member of the jungin class, he will be live with nature: ^[7]^[8]

White seagull, let me ask you something. Don’t be alarmed.

Where are all the famed places, splendid lands that have been abandoned?

If you tell me in detail, we can go and spend time together there.

- Kim Cheon Taek

Famous jungin

Jungin were prominent especially in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries when they tended to welcome Western institutions and ideas for modernizing Korea.