Admonitions on Governing the People: Manual for All Administrators

"This is a translation of an important work by one of the most important writers in premodern Korea. Only a few bits and pieces of this highly regarded work have been translated into English before; consequently this translation is the first to make this window on government and society in premodern Korea available to the wider world." Donald Baker, University of British Columbia

"Admonitions on Governing the People is the most highly regarded and celebrated work by one of Korea's most creative thinkers. This carefully translated English-language edition will be widely consulted by scholars of Korean intellectual history." Mark Setton, author of Chong Yagyong: Korea's Challenge to Orthodox Neo-Confucianism

This is the first English translation of one of Korea's most celebrated historical works, a premodern classic so well known to Koreans that it has inspired contemporary literature and television. Written in 1821 by Chong Yagyong (Tasan), Admonitions on Governing the People (Mongmin Simso) is a detailed manual for district magistrates on how to govern better. In encyclopedic fashion, Chong Yagyong addresses the law, social and economic life, criminal justice, the military, and the Confucian ritual system. He also discusses topics of the day, such as famine relief and social welfare. A general call for overhauling the Koran ruling system, the book also makes the radical proposition that the purpose of government is to serve the interests of the people. This long-awaited translation makes available to a wide audience a work whose main concerns transcend national and cultural boundaries.

Chong Yagyong (1762-1863), who wrote under the pen name Tasan, was one of Korea's greatest Confucian Scholars.
Award-winning writer and scholar Choi Byonghyon has devoted himself to the English translation of Korean classics over the past two decades, and his translation of The Book of Corrections: Reflections on the National Crisis on the Japanese Invasion of Korea, 1592-1597 won the translation award from the Korea Literature Translation Institute. He is currently working on a dictionary for the English translation of Korean classics.