Baekjeong

The baekjeong (백정) were an untouchable caste in Korea, originating from some minority, nomadic groups of disputed ethnicity. In the early part of the Goryeo period (918–1392), these minorities were largely settled in fixed communities. However, the Mongol invasion left Korea in disarray and anomie and these groups became nomadic. Subgroups of the baekjeong included the chaein (才人 "entertainers") and the hwachae (禾尺) or suchae (水尺), who were primarily butchers. The baekjeong occupied specific professions like butchery, tanning, basket weaving and performing executions. During the Goryeo period, "baekjeong" was used as a neutral term to refer to the common people. From the time of the Joseon dynasty, it became an insulting title used to refer to the lowest class of society. In addition, since the Joseon dynasty, "baekjeong" has been also used to denigrate a person. In contemporary South Korea, the term is mainly associated with the meaning of a butcher and even used in the restaurants' names.

Origin
According to Jeong Yakyong, one of the most distinguished scholars on the methodology of historical researches in the reign of King Jeongjo (1777-1800) and King Sunjo (1801-1834), one theory holds that they were of "Tatar" origin. The term "Tartar" seems to have been a general term for all northern peoples, Mongols, Manchurians, and so on. In his book, the origin of the baekjeong is attributed to a nomadic group from the Goryeo period known as the Yangsucheok (楊水尺) or Mujari (무자리). Being an alien people, the Yangsuchuk were hardly assimilated into the general population. They were engaged in the making and selling of willow baskets. They were also proficient in slaughtering animals and had a liking for hunting.

In the Goryeo period
From the Goryeo Dynasty (918~1392) until the time of King Sejong of the Joseon Dynasty, baekjeong was not used to refer to the lowest class of people. The Sino-Korean term baekjeong (白丁) originally meant "common people", a meaning which it retains in Chinese and Japanese. Based on information in the Goryeosa, the chief surviving history of Goryeo Korea, scholars assume that a baekjeong is "a person who has no burden of duties (역, 役)". The term is a compound of baek (백, 白, lit. 'white/innocent/blank'), and jeong (정, 丁, lit. 'person'). As such, baekjeong or "blank man" connotes a group of peasants who have not been granted land because they have not received certain duties from the state.

In the Goryeo period, terms for the group which would later be known as baekjeong were yangsucheok (hanja: 楊水尺), sucheok (hanja: 水尺), hwacheok or hwachae (hanja: 禾尺), and mujari (Korean: 무자리, probably a compound of 물 "water" and 자리 "seat, place"). They descended from the Jurchen or Khitans dating back to the beginning of Goryeo. They enjoyed group life among themselves so they continued to live in temporary residences while moving to various areas. They were distributed nationwide, but were especially concentrated in the provinces of Pyeongan-do and Hwanghae-do. They were not registered in the national register.

In the Joseon period
In the early days of the founding of the Joseon Dynasty, King Sejong consolidated the various outcaste groups with ordinary farmers. This combined group was called "baekjeong", the name of the general peasant group in the Goryeo period. King Sejong also put them on the family register, gave them lands to plant, settled them into fixed communities, and tried to keep them under state control. However, the common policies of King Sejong could not overcome the prejudices of the ordinary people, who continued to discriminate against the descendants of outcastes. Even government officials did not follow the instructions of the king.

Moreover, it seems that the baekjeong did not change their existing lifestyle or occupation easily. They settled in one area but did not try to farm, instead engaging in the production and sale of wicker products, slaughtering, singing and dancing. In this situation, integration of the baekjeong into the ordinary peasantry was not easy and the practice of discrimination and suppression against them continued. In particular, the mainstream group regarded the life and customs of the butchers as despicable, antisocial, non-normative, and even potentially criminal.

End of the Joseon Dynasty
Near the end of the Joseon Dynasty, a mutual aid organization for the baekjeong was established, called Seungdongdoga, with representatives from various communities. The organization was involved in taking action, coordinating improvements, and acting at times as the official representative of the baekjeong in legal matters. In 1894, the Korean caste system was legally abolished by the Gabo reform. However, social discrimination against the baekjeong did not come to an end. The family register of baekjeong was still separate and, under "occupation", their names were marked by the use of the word 屠漢 ("butcher") or a red dot. Nonetheless, the Gabo reform ensured that baekjeong could become officials, scholars, or artists if they had the ability. Although they were still largely limited to their traditional occupations, modified regulations in 1896 allowed non-baekjeong to become licensed butchers, eventually leading to meat businesses which have pushed many out of one of the few occupations open to them.

However, while improvements to the social status of the baekjeong came slowly, it was different for the commoners (the lower of the yangmin), who had economically been little different from slaves. Respect for government officials plunged in the 17th century as they fled from the invading Japanese and Manchurians, leaving the civilians at their mercy. The government also awarded many militiamen yangban class status in exchange for their voluntary militia activities against these invaders. In time, with the rise of commerce, merchants bought forged family histories and official status documents as well. Eventually, around three fourths of the population were yangban in name.

Modern use
The term "baekjeong" is still used in modern South Korean society. This is particularly common in occupations dealing with raw meat, which carry a negative social stigma. In spite of this, "baekjeong" is widely used in Korean restaurant names, denoting barbecue establishments where raw marinated meat is served and cooked at the table. In this context, baekjeong is descriptive and carries no negative connotation.

Executioner
Throughout much of the Joseon Dynasty, they were also forced to serve as executioners. When the baekjeong community were called upon to supply an executioner, the job was assigned to some hapless member, sometimes practically an insane person.

Butcher
The baekjeong did jobs that no self-respecting Buddhist Korean would touch, including anything working with animals. Slaughtering animals, leather making--these kinds of unclean duties were avoided by other Koreans, and so were filled de facto by baekjeong. In other words, the group was assigned to the most demeaning tasks in Korean society. They were also considered in moral violation of Buddhist principles, which led Koreans to see work involving meat as polluting and sinful, even if they saw the consumption as acceptable. By the latter part of the Joseon Dynasty, baekjeong accepted the principles of Confucianism and did not slaughter for three years when their parents died.

Discrimination
The group had long suffered severe social discrimination in Korean society. The baekjeong were seen as contemptible and polluted people that others feared and avoided meeting. Baekjeong could not live in a roof-tiled house and were not allowed to wear silk clothes or leather shoes or a gat (a traditional Korean horsehair hat). When baekjeong went outside their houses, they had to wear a paeraengi or bamboo hat. A baekjeong had to lower himself in front of a yangin and was forbidden to smoke or drink in their presence. Baekjeong could not ride a litter or horse when they married and a married woman could not wear a hair stick. Baekjeong were not allowed surnames and were forbidden the use of certain characters in their personal names, such as 仁 "benevolence", 義 "righteousness", 禮 "rites", or 智 "wisdom". The extent to which they were seen as impure people is well-illustrated in the fact that their bodies were kept in separate graveyards so as not to mingle with those of the yangmin.

Influence of religion
Donghak and Christianity had a lot of influence on the baekjeong. These belief systems exposed the baekjeong--and Koreans more generally--to concepts of egalitarianism and social equality. The influence of these religions became linked to the social movement.

Donghak
Towards the end of the 19th century, there was an increasing impetus towards human dignity and liberalization. Of particular importance was the growth of certain religions supportive of change. Donghak, a Korean nationalist religion, wished to end unfair conventions. Donghak peasants had staged an uprising in 1894 in favor of human rights, especially for those low on the social ladder. Among other things, they demanded that the baekjeong no longer be forced to wear discriminatory hats and widows be allowed to remarry. Although this uprising was ultimately unsuccessful, it was an important impetus behind the Gabo Reform, and helped to abolish the class structure that had placed legal restrictions on certain groups. However, the baekjeong benefited much less from these changes than other groups, such as the slaves.

Christianity
The other major religious influence on human rights came through Christianity. Some missionaries had converted baekjeong to Christianity, stating that everyone has equal rights under God. However, everyone was not equal in Christian congregations and protests erupted when missionaries attempted to integrate the baekjeon into worship services, with non-baekjeong finding such attempts insensitive to traditional notions of social status. Thus, both Donghak and Christianity exposed the baekjeong, and Koreans more generally, to concepts of egalitarianism and social equality. Parallel to and supportive of the rise of these ideas were transitions occurring in Korean society as a whole, particularly with regard to social classes.

Social movements
Beginning in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the baekjeong began to resist the open social discrimination that existed against them. In 1900, leaders from 16 counties petitioned the mayor of Jinju to be allowed wear the same clothes and hats as other people. When others in the north refused to wear the humiliating garb traditionally expected of them and were jailed, an effort was made to release them. Growing industrialism in Korea began to erode baekjeong dominance over certain occupations, particularly as the Japanese began to control slaughterhouses and exploit them as employees.

However, as some baekjeong fell into financial despair, the loosening of segregation led others to profit from changes, giving them the ability to fund efforts for change. Beyond financial resources, organization was also strengthened due to the longstanding connections created through segregation and close-knit social networks. Between these human and financial resources, an emphasis on progressive models, and feelings of social deprivation and discrimination, the conditions were ripe for the baekjeong to mobilize for change. One of the earliest of these movements was in 1910 when Chang Chip'il, later an influential member of the Hyeongpyeongsa, unsuccessfully attempted to establish a trade union for butchers. In 1921, the Jipseong Johap was established by Korean and Japanese entrepreneurs, attempting to provide poverty assistance for butchers. However, this effort for improvement of economic conditions was soon overshadowed by an organization with broader goals.

The Hyeongpyeongsa was launched in Jinju on 23 April 1923 through the alliance of wealthy or educated baekjeong and non-baekjeong proponents of change, advocating for "the abolition of classes and of contemptuous appellations, the enlightenment of members, and the promotion of mutual friendship among members." It advocated both for individual civil rights as well as communal fellowship, recognizing that the group must maintain its identity under the strain of changes such as urbanization and industrialization which threatened to atomize the community. Thus, the Hyeongpyeongsa pursued both an equality of human rights and the right to assimilate into the broader public, even as it worked to forge a common identity. In 1927 a number of members of the Hyeongpyeongsa were arrested for their involvement in the creation of an underground nationalist organization. Their absence was partially responsible for the organization's shift to the socialist left in the late 1920s. Power within the organization shifted several times, including the shift in 1925 from the original Chinju faction advocating educational reform to a group of Seoul intellectuals more interested in economic reforms based around traditional occupations.

At the 1931 national conference, they stirred controversy within the movement by introducing a dissolution proposal, feeling that the organization had abandoned its original aims in favor of those of the bourgeois intellectuals directing it. It was their belief that dissolution would better serve their interests as it was replaced by trade unions. The dissolution proposal failed, but not without further alienating more conservative members of the movement, who were already financially strapped from broader economic conditions in Korea. Even more fatal for the movement was the arrest of a number of young radical members, who were accused of establishing a secret communist organization, the "Hyeongpyeongsa Youth Vanguard", which authorities said demanded struggle against feudalism and the abolishment of private property. The trial related to this accusation dragged on for four years, before the defendants were found to be innocent. It appears likely that the "organization" was a construction by Japanese authorities to ensure the labor wing of the Hyeongpyeongsa would not interfere with their access to leather needed for the invasion of China. As a result, the Hyeongpyeongsa shifted to the right, abandoning progressive ideals and finally disbanding in 1935, claiming the movement's aims had successfully been met.

The growing power of the radical wing divided the movement, and much of the economic support provided by wealthier baekjeong was pulled, particularly under the strain of the Great Depression, which had negatively impacted the meat and leather trades. The young socialists in the Hyŏngp'yŏngsa forged connections with other movements, attempting to broaden the movement and work towards "the reconstitution of Korea as a whole." More importantly, they focused on social and economic injustices affecting the baekjeong, hoping to create an egalitarian Korean society. Their efforts included attacking social discrimination by the upper class, authorities, and "commoners" and the use of degrading language against children in public schools.

Journal

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