The passing of Korea/Chapter 31
CHAPTER XXXI
SLAVERY
He said in effect: "God decrees that man shall live by his own exertions, each one earning a living by his own hands and obtaining both the necessities and luxuries of existence by his own personal effort. If, therefore, a man takes by' wile or by force the fruits of another man's industry, he becomes joined to that man by a logical and, moral bond. If he eats the other man's food, he belongs to the other man." Theft was therefore punished by slavery, the thief becoming the property of the man from whom he stole. It was possible for him to redeem himself by the payment of a large sum of money, but even after that he must remain a discredited member of society, an outcast. Adultery was likewise punished by slavery, but the male offender could not, for obvious reasons, become a slave in the house of the man he had wronged. He became a slave of the government, and the King gave him to one or other of the high officials.
This continued till the year 193 B.C., when Kijun, the last of the ancient line, was driven out by Wiman and fled to the southern part of the peninsula. The upheaval of the north disorganised society, and slavery disappeared under Wiman's short rule. But Kijun carried the institution south with him and introduced it into his new kingdom of Mahan. It existed in the mild form in the early days of Silla (57 B.C.-918 A.D.), but could not have been very common, for only murderers were condemned to slavery. Meanwhile the Kingdom of Koguryu arose in the north (36 B. C.). Slavery did not exist there until the armies began the conquest of the wild Hyungno tribe. These people were taken and made slaves. Thus we find that when Buddhism began to gain a foothold on Korean soil in the fourth century, slavery existed in a mild form throughout the peninsula.
One curious effect of Buddhism was to do away with the institution of slavery. The exaggerated notion of the value of human and animal life entertained by that cult, together with the doctrine of the transmigration of souls, aroused a decided sentiment against human slavery, and so the institution fell into desuetude throughout the peninsula in proportion as Buddhism made conquest of the country.
But after the entire peninsula was united by the first king of Koryu in 918 A.D. and Buddhism became rampant, the cult underwent a rapid deterioration. Its spirit dropped away, leaving nothing but the form. Luxury began to sap the life of the people, and slavery again lifted its head. In fact, the number of slaves increased to an enormous total, and exciting stories are told of how they revolted from time to time and fought bloody battles with their masters, only to be put down. On one occasion three hundred slaves had stones tied about their necks and were cast into a river.
When the Koryu dynasty was overthrown and the present one took its place, in 1392, there occurred a period of social house-cleaning in the peninsula; but general slavery continued up to the time of the great invasion by the Japanese Hideyoshi, 1592. This war killed off so many of the male population of Korea that when peace reigned once more, a law was promulgated forbidding the slavery of males and confining it to the gentler sex. This has continued till the present time, and the great outstanding fact in regard to the slavery of Korea to-day is that there is not a single male slave in the domains of the Emperor of Korea.
In discussing the status of slavery, therefore, we have to do only with female slaves, and the first question that arises in the inquiring mind is as to the methods by which a woman can become a slave. There are four ways.
Let us suppose that a woman of the middle or lower class finds that she has lost all visible means of support, and must either become a beggar or a slave or else starve; or if perchance she is in great need of ready money to bury a parent or to support aged parents, she will go to an acquaintance and ask him to recommend her to one of his friends as a slave. This is done, and she is introduced into the house of her prospective purchaser. He looks her over, sets her to work, and satisfies himself that she is competent. He then pays her forty thousand, fifty thousand or as high as a hundred thousand cash for herself, and she gives a deed of her own person, made out in legal form. In place of a seal, she places her hand upon the paper and marks its outline with a brush pen, and by this she can easily be identified. She is now a slave. The transaction does not come under the cognisance of the government, but is a private contract. Formerly only men of the higher class were allowed to hold slaves, and it is only during the last fifty years that Koreans of the middle class have been allowed to hold them. This is one of the marked features of the rapid demolition of social barriers that has been taking place during the past half-century. A woman of the upper class can sell herself into slavery only by disguising her high birth and so deceiving her purchaser, for no gentleman would knowingly buy a lady's person, not only because of the innate impropriety of the transaction, but because he would subject himself to the most caustic criticism of his peers.
The second way in which a woman could become a slave was as follows. If a gentleman was convicted of treason (or, formerly, of counterfeiting as well), he was either executed or banished, and all the female inmates of his house became slaves. They were given by the government to high officials, but as a rule it was not long before such women were liberated. They were never sold from one house to another.
If a woman slave dies, her daughter takes her place and enters the ranks of slaves. She is called a " seed slave," as she follows the mother in the ordinary line of descent. Under every circumstance a slave dying, still unredeemed, has to give her daughter to be a slave in her place. It is very probable that when a slave dies leaving a young daughter, this young girl will go with the master's daughter as part of her wedding dowry.
There is a fourth way in which a woman may become a slave. She is poor, and finds it impossible to live. She wants a home of some kind, and so voluntarily offers herself as a slave without any compensation, except the food, clothes and shelter that will be given her. One would suppose that such a slave would be of a higher grade than the one that has sold herself, but the opposite is the case. The sold slave can redeem herself at any time by paying back the exact amount that she received, but a woman who becomes a voluntary slave cannot be liberated by any means.
As all slaves are women, it will be necessary to inquire how their marriages are arranged and what is the status of the husband. It is manifestly to the interest of the owner to have his slave marry, for if she 'dies without issue there will be no one to take her place. A bought slave is allowed to select her partner about as she pleases. She will probably marry some day-labourer or coolie in the vicinity. She has her little room on her master's compound, usually near the gate quarters; and her husband is allowed to occupy it with her free of rent. He owes nothing to the master of the house, and does no work for him excepting of his own accord. In the case of a slave who is not bought, the master may let her marry or not, as he wishes; but ordinarily he will consent. After she has worked several years her master not infrequently lets her go, and even sets her up in some little business or other. The husband of a slave has no right to eat the rice that she receives from her master. He must bring in his own provender, and the two will "pool" their interests and get along very snugly. Of course she will try to get enough out of her master to feed them both, but in any case the children eat of the master's rice till they are old enough to work for themselves.
We have seen that if a slave dies her daughter takes her place. If there are several daughters the eldest takes the mother's place, and the rest go free. If the eldest daughter dies before her mother, then the master selects one of the younger ones to take the mother's place. If a slave dies and the eldest daughter takes up her work, but dies immediately, none of the other daughters can be compelled to step into the vacant place. All male children are naturally free and cannot be enslaved. They owe nothing to their mother's master, and as soon as they can go alone they no longer feed out of his bag.
The slave does all the rough work about the house. She does the washing, brings the water from the neighbourhood well, goes to market, helps with the cooking, walks as a mourner in her master's funeral procession, runs errands and makes herself generally useful. In the country she will work as an ordinary field hand. She is not the familiar servant of the lady of the house, and she seldom acts as lady's-maid, nor is she ever called to do any of the sewing or nursing. Her place is in her master's kitchen or yard, and not in the chamber of her mistress.
Korean folk-lore is full of stories of faithful and unfaithful slaves.