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Chungin
Hangul	중인
Hanja	中人
Revised Romanization	jungin
McCune–Reischauer	chungin

The chungin also jungin, were the petite bourgeoisie of the Joseon Dynasty of Korea. In fact, the name "chungin" literally means "middle people".^[1] This privileged class of commoners consisted of a small group of petty bureaucrats and other skilled workers whose technical and administrative skills enabled the yangban and the wangjok to completely and totally subjugate the lower classes. Chungin were the lifeblood of the Confucian agrarian bureaucracy, for 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 system and police state in both North and South Korea.^[2][3]

Contents 1 Professions and roles in the society 2 Famous chungin 3 See also 4 References 5 External links

[edit] Professions and roles in the society

In dynastic Korea, particularly during the Joseon period, the chungin were lower than the yangban aristocracy but above commoners in social status. They included government-employed technical specialists (e.g. interpretters, physicians, jurists, astronomers, accountants, calligraphers, and musicians), 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 chungin were below the aristocratic yangban but superior to the sangmin. Their roles were minor technical and administrative officials who supported the structure of the government. The highest-ranking chungin, local functionaries, administratively enabled the yangban to oppress the lower classes, especially the total control they had over the sangmin. The chungin functioned as a class of petite bourgeoisie and were essentially petty bureaucrats in the rural areas especially.

Although inferior to the aristocracy in social standing, the chungin enjoyed far more privileges and influence than commoners. For example, the chungin 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 chungin tended to marry within their own class as well as into the yangban class.

However, to become a chungin, passing the chapkwa examination, which tested their practical knowledge of certain skills, was usually required. The chungin besides being known as a class of petite bourgeoisie, they comprised the smallest social class in dynastical Korea.

The Korean chungin, as a social class, were roughly analagous to the petite bourgeoisie in Europe. Local functionaries in the rural areas were basically equal to petty bureaucrats.

[edit] Famous chungin

Chungin were prominent especially in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries when they tended to welcome Western institutions and ideas for modernizing Korea. Well known chungin include Yu Daechi (a.k.a. Yu Honggi), O Gyeongsok and his son O Sechang, Byeon Su, Kim Gyusik, and Choe Namseon.

[edit] See also

• Yangban
• Sangmin
• Cheonmin
• petite bourgeoisie
• Joseon Dynasty

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• infoKorea