A Yangban Life

수염이석자라도먹어야양반

“Even though one has a three-stranded beard, one should eat to be yangban.”

돈이 양반이라

“Money is yangban.”

Once upon a time, a yangban, or nobleman, from the central area went on a trip with his servant. However, as they covered a long distance on foot, they ate up all the food they had brought from their hometown, and ended up with nothing to eat. Feeling hungry, the yangban ordered his servant to bring him something to eat. The servant took his order and searched around. To the yangban’s surprise, the servant brought back two sacks of beans.

“My goodness, what is this?” the yangban asked.

“Sir, these are the beans I collected from the fields. I will cook them soon over a fire.”

“You rascal! Are you asking a high-ranking yangban like me to eat these dirty beans like you filthy servants? Go back and bring something else!”

The servant again took his order and searched for food. This time he brought some barley rice.

“Now, what is this?” asked the yangban.

“Sir, this is barley. I will soon make a fire and cook some for you.”

“How rude! How can you ask me to eat things like barley? Throw it away! Now!”

After shouting this, the yangban suddenly fainted. The servant cooked beans and barley, and looked back at the yangban whose long beard was shaking miserably.

So the servant woke the yangban up, saying, “Sir, wake up. Even though your beard is in three strands, you still have to eat to be yangban. What’s the point of being yangban if you die?”

Listening to the servant’s words, the yangban took the beans and barley and gobbled them up immediately.

As you probably understand, this Korean saying is about the importance of food, but it also illustrates the environment and status of the yangban. The word yangban originated from the way the king’s subordinates arranged themselves in conference. When the king opened his morning assembly, he had his munban, or those who dealt with civil and diplomatic policies, to his east, and his muban, or those who led the military, to his west. Yangban was a comprehensive term for the two bans, or groups: munban and muban.

However, as the king’s subordinates and their descendants made occlusive marriages and dominated high seats of government, yangban became a term not only for government officials but for the families of officials. Yangban generally had special privileges for education and gwageo, the highest-level state examination held every two to three years to recruit ranking officials. They were also free from military service and used their power not only to own land and slaves, but also to bequeath them.

Though yangban were social elites, that did not mean yangban were always rich and powerful. In fact, many yangban were so poor in the 1800s that they often sold their status and genealogy. From this practice came sayings that derided yangban, such as “Yangban is money” and “Even though he has a three stranded beard, he should eat to be yangban.” By the Late Joseon Dynasty, the number of fake yangban outnumbered the true yangban due to this forging and trading. Thus, the term deteriorated into a term for general people soon after.