홍만선 洪萬選
Practical-learning scholar and official who wrote the agricultural manual Sallim gyeongje; pen name Yuam
| Life | 1643 ~ 1715 |
| Era | 조선 후기 |
| Clan | 풍산 홍씨 |
Life & career
Hong Man-seon (洪萬選, 1643-1715) was a late-Joseon official and practical-learning scholar of the Pungsan Hong clan, with the courtesy name Sajung and pen name Yuam (流巖). His father was Hong Ju-guk, vice-minister of rites. He passed the jinsa examination in 1666 (the seventh year of Hyeonjong) and entered office in 1682 under the privilege of rank inheritance, serving at home as Sa-ongwon bongsa, Hanseongbu chamgun, Uigeumbu dosa and Gongjo jwarang and jeongnang, and in the provinces as post-station inspector, deputy magistrate of Hamheung and Daegu, county magistrate of Daeheung, Hapcheon, Goyang, Baecheon and Danyang, and governor of Incheon, Bupyeong and Sangju, finally rising to head of the Court of Music. The clan association describes him as an exemplary provincial official.
Respected and gifted as a writer, he judged fairly even in the heat of party strife and is said to have been sought out by many scholars for advice. Sallim gyeongje (山林經濟), written in his old age, is a leading rural economic manual covering agriculture and daily life. Serving as a local magistrate, he saw the people's lives and came to believe that the way to improve them was to circulate a book they could apply directly. He was deeply moved by Heo Gyun's guide to a life of retreat and wrote the book with reference to over eighty Chinese and Korean agricultural and medical works.
Sallim gyeongje is an encyclopedic farm manual on crops, medicine, famine relief and household management, and greatly contributed to later farm books from the eighteenth century on. The younger scholar Yu Jung-rim expanded it into Jeungbo Sallim gyeongje, and it is credited with influencing Seo Yu-gu's Imwon gyeongje ji. Wikipedia calls him a Sukjong-era practical-learning scholar, while the clan association presents him as a contemporary of Yu Hyeong-won and a forerunner of the school of practical use and public welfare. His kinsman Hong Man-jong, born in the same year, was also renowned for writing. Hong Man-seon died in 1715; his tomb could not be confirmed here.
Sallim gyeongje
A four-volume rural economic manual on farming, medicine, famine relief and household life, compiled from over eighty Chinese and Korean sources. Yu Jung-rim expanded it, and it influenced Seo Yu-gu.
An Upright Provincial Official
He served as magistrate and deputy magistrate of many districts and as governor of Sangju, and was known as a fair official who stayed out of factional strife.
Grave
His tomb could not be confirmed here.