The Largest Library of the Joseon Dynasty - Gyujanggak

 In March 1776, King Jeongjo, a 25-year-old young king, became the 22nd king of Joseon. The day after King Jeongjo ascended to the throne, he ordered what he had planned since his time as Seson. It was to install Kyujanggak. -Gyujanggak, which used to be located in the best-viewed background in Changdeokgung Palace, had several annexes, but now all other annexes besides Juhapru and Seohyanggak have disappeared, so you can only guess the old appearance from Donggwado Island, which depicts the palace's topography in detail. During the 25 years of King Jeongjo's reign, more than 5,000 books of 168 species were compiled in Gyujanggak, which was worth taking the academic culture of the Joseon Dynasty to the next level. King Jeongjo's personal collection, Hongjaejeonseo, King Jeongjo's diary, Ilseongrok, and Far Away, which records the 60th anniversary of Hong's death in Hyegyeonggung Palace, are compiled in Gyujanggak. King Jeongjo was also eager to import books from China. In particular, King Jeongjo ordered the collection of 10,000 volumes of ancient and ancient books, which were compiled from Chinese history during the Ganghui Festival of the Qing Dynasty. Gyujanggak had a printing shop outside the palace, and the woodblock prints stored in it suggest the printing level of Gyujanggak, which was active at the time. In addition, Gyujanggak was built on Ganghwa Island to systematically store books, and it was comparable in size as a royal library. King Jeongjo placed Gyujanggak at a close distance, especially favorably, to make it an instrument to strengthen his royal authority. Therefore, the minister of Gyujanggak was with King Jeongjo from morning to night, and he was able to directly express his opinions on various matters of the court as well as his studies, and participated in the competition held by the king. As such, Gyujanggak Gaksin, who gained the absolute trust of the king, was the highest honor as a civil official. Gyujanggak was the closest organization to the king throughout the functions of major national institutions such as Seungjeongwon, Saheonbu, Saganwon, and Hongmungwan. It was a powerful authority in itself to have the nation's supreme ruler close by day and night. Moreover, King Jeongjo treated Kyujanggak specially so that he would not be influenced by other departments of the government or the party, and the privilege was very unconventional. Even if customers came, they were not allowed to get up from their seats, and if each of them made a mistake and had to investigate, they had to obtain permission from the king. In this way, King Jeongjo gave them independence and autonomy so that Kyujanggak's officials would not be interfered with by the ruling forces in the government. - King Jeongjo was 11 years old when his father, Crown Prince Sado, died tragically. After that, until he ascended the throne at the age of 25, King Jeongjo was always in danger. King Jeongjo was always checked and threatened, and the safety of his life was also in danger. During the time of King Jeongjo's death, he always had to live nervously, and even when he slept, he could not take off his clothes and went to bed. Under these circumstances, King Jeongjo, who became king, was most urgent to establish the authority of the king, weakened by the Dangdang, and needed the closest hands, feet, and brains to help his politics. The role was entrusted to Kyujanggak. King Jeongjo established a personnel system that could not be interfered with from outside so that each minister could work according to his conviction, and selected each minister carefully. What was particularly important in selecting each member of Gyujanggak was to evenly appoint talented people without leaning toward the party. Thus, fresh and outstanding talent was selected to help King Jeongjo's politics regardless of the no-ron, the no-ron, and the men. In addition, those who did not see the light because of their high ability and knowledge were appointed as inspection officers who corrected and compiled Kyujanggak's books so that they could fulfill their will based on the studies and knowledge they encountered at Gyujanggak. Gyujanggak had a patrol tattoo system. The patrol tattoo system was a so-called elite curriculum that selected young people under the age of 37 from among the past tattoos and required them to study at Gyujanggak until the age of 40. The reason why King Jeongjo selected and educated young officials as patrol tattoos was to change the habit of being negligent after the past because he was busy only in the past, along with the intention of selecting young officials who were not colored by party colors. King Jeongjo, who was deeply educated enough to teach his subjects, not only directly educated the patrol tattoos, but also directly involved in tests and rewards. From the 5th to 24th of King Jeongjo's reign, 138 people were selected as patrol tattoos 10 times, more than half of them advanced to high-ranking positions, and according to the list of Yi Jo Pan-seo, who was in charge of 52 officials from the late King Jeongjo to the reign of King Sunjo, 29 out of a total of 65. King Jeongjo carried out his politics through carefully selected Kyujang Cabinet ministers. -First of all, King Jeongjo selected excellent local Confucian scholars nationwide through Minister Gyujanggak. It was used as an opportunity to engage in public opinion politics by listening to local residents' grievances and evaluations of the central government from selected Confucian scholars. In addition, King Jeongjo dispatched secret royal inspector more often than before and left school directly for details to be investigated, mainly sending Kyujanggak patrol tattoos to the temple. This was for King Jeongjo to directly correct the discipline of lax local officials. In other words, he allowed his will to spread throughout the country. In addition, King Jeongjo abolished the "golden sovereignty," which had previously been the privilege of merchants during wartime. This led to the development of commerce in the late Joseon Dynasty, and at the same time, it took a heavy toll on the forces that had benefited from the economic benefits of privileged merchants. In addition, King Jeongjo published many books, including "The Great Traditional Edition," which was supplemented with "Sokjeon" to systematically organize and spread the political achievements, and "Hwanggeuk Edition," which revealed the cause of the party conflict from King Seonjo to King Sukjong. Gyujanggak was always next to King Jeongjo, who reformed practices and systems and led academics and politics. As a result, Joseon entered a period of brilliant literary revival about 300 years after King Sejong. ---------------------------------------------------------- King Jeongjo had the Chogye tattoos stay overnight in the palace for a week, reading the Analects and memorizing two or four books every day. And I took oral and essay tests once a month, and sometimes I took as many as five tests a month. Chogye Tattoo studied mainly the Three Sages, including university and Analects, and King Jeongjo especially encouraged free scriptural interpretation and academic discussion. This was possible because King Jeongjo himself was well-educated enough to teach his subjects. Oh, and if you fail the test, you'll be investigated by the Department of Medicine or something. a saying that is true