SOUTH KOREA: Suwon - Sculptures, Statues & Monuments - Collection Page

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Tribute to Chong Yak-yong

Chong Yak-yong (1762-1836), who used the pen name Tasan, was a prominent scholar and official of the late Choson period. He was born in Kwangju, Kyonggi Province, and passed the civil service examination in 1789, the 13th year of the reign of King Chongjo. He served at the Royal Secretary and the Ministry of Military Affairs before the Catholic persecution in 1801, when he was banished to Kangjin, South Cholla Province. He spent 18 years there, devoting himself to research in political and economic sciences.

Chong Yak-yong made outstanding achievements in Shirhak, or Practical Learning, and wrote some 500 books including Mongmin shimso (Admonitions on Governing the People), proposing reforms in local administration; Kyongse yupyo (Design for Good Government), putting forth his views on government structure; and Humhum shinso (Toward a New Jurisprudence), in which he offered his ideas on penal administration.

Chong is credited for applying the institutional approach to government in the most comprehensive fashion, calling for reform in such vital areas as the land system, administrative structure and military organization. He also devised levers and pulleys used to aid in the construction of Hwasong Fortress in today’s Suwon. He died at the age of 75 and was buried in Nungnae-ri, Choan-myon, Namyangju-Shi, Kyonggi Province. His house was reconstructed near his grave.