Two articles are presented, both dealing with reclaimed land along the shore in Ansan-gun(District).
Article #1: Ownership and Management of Reclaimed Land in Late Joseon Period -- the Example of Seokjang-dun in Ansan-gun, Gyeonggi-do(Province)
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Two articles are presented, both dealing with reclaimed land along the shore in Ansan-gun(District).
Article #1: Ownership and Management of Reclaimed Land in Late Joseon Period -- the Example of Seokjang-dun in Ansan-gun, Gyeonggi-do(Province)
In 1720, Jinhyul-cheong, a government agency in charge of distributing food and grain seeds in case of bad harvest, created Seokjang-dun in Chosan-myun(Canton) of Ansan-gun by reclaiming the shore, to expand funds. This article investigates the building process of land ownership in Seokjang-dun area. Jinhyul-cheong mobilized civilians to earthworks such as salt-removing for the development of rice fields, and granted them thereafter with land ownership in proportion to labor and capital invested in that enterprise. Instead, Jinhyul-cheong levied 40 dus -- 1 du is equivalent to approximately 18 litters -- of rice(100 dus of millet) using its own tax collecting right, the burden of which is comparatively heavier than that levied to ordinary civilians' paddy[23 dus of rice] and much lighter than that levied to paddies belonging to Royal family or state organs[80 dus of rice or 200 dus of millet]. It is true that Jinhyul-cheong administrated Seokjang-dun as an independant farm of its own, exercising tax collecting right, etc. But it should be noted that the ownerships of land holders were generally acknowledged and it was possible to sell or buy it. Analysing the Terrier of Ansan Seokjang-dun, we can find that the upper classes and common peoples joined the reclamation works in same number of households. But it also shows that their proportion of land ownership was 2:1 in size, the upper classes being superior to the common by two times. Nevertheless, the common peoples' active participation in reclamation works and acquisition of land therein need to be estimated highly as important indices proving the development of individual land ownership in late Joseon period.
Article #2: Settlement of Land Ownership and its State-Civil Divergence, from the End of the Korean Empire to the Early Years of the Imperial Japan's Rule -- the Example of Seokjang-dun in Ansan-gun, Gyeonggi-do(Province)
This article traces the process by which Seokjang-dun, reclaimed in 1720, came to be integrated into the modern system of land ownership after the Gabo Reform(1894). After the Gabo Reform Seokjang-dun came to be laid under the State's control like any other dun-land, which means a farm belonging to a national institution. Then nationwide official survey of state lands was performed. The object was to confirm actual cultivators and calculating land taxes to be levied. As Royal Treasury of the Korean Empire, Naejang-won pursued rigorous politics to nationalize such farm lands, regardless of their origin or history. But the case of Seokjang-dun shows that the process was not so smooth, even lacked consistency in part. By the Land Leasuring Operations of Gwangmu(光武) in 1900, Seokjang-dun was at first recognized as landowner of itself. But soon it was confirmed as private land, its presumably attributed characteristics of dun-land being denied. Yet, the question was far from being finally resolved. By the Land Research Project by Imperialist Japan, Seokjang-dun had to suffer troubles while oscillating between the state ownership and the private one. Leving of 40 dus (in rice) instead of 23 dus like ordinary civilians' paddy at the first years of that farm land, here was the root of such sufferings. Anyway, private land ownership was sanctioned from the first and selling-buying of it obviously continued to be practiced over 200 years thereafter, there arose few difficulties in officially acquiring private rights. Notwithstanding the enforcement of nationalization by the State institutions, private land ownership issued from the reclaimed land in the late period of Joseon became reconfirmed as such by the modern system of land ownership.