The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1904-06-14
PHASES OF KOREAN LIFE
A Study Of the "Yang Bans"
or Mobiles.
DUDES OF THE HERMIT KINGDOM

They Are Said to BE the Curse Of Ko-
rea and Cypress the Common PeO-
ple Woefully-H0w Koreans Walk.
No Women Seen ON the Streets In
the Daytime.
A writer in the London Chronicle
thus describes some features of life in
Korea, the cockpit of the war in the
far east:
Although months ago, it seems only
yesterday that whenever | had half an
hour to spare in Seoul, the capital of
the Hermit Kingdom, l used to sit in
q shop and watch the crowd of pass
ersby. A few small purchases had
brought me the eternal friendship Of
the proprietor, who always had a long
pipe ready for me, longer than my
arm, so that he always had to light it.
My friend was a vender Of brass
pots of all sizes, but Of only three
shapes, that shone like FURNISHED gold
on the shelves around and were ar
ranged outside the open front. There
was no fuss or hustle about his bust
ness II importuning for custom. He
would sit calmly with his legs tucked
under him on the platform about two
BILE pipes and wrapped in oriental
calm and his voluminous white gar
ments. The laundering Of his other
suit or suits appeared to be pcrpetu-
ally in progress, as could be heard by
the whack-whack of the sticks beat
ing on a roller which came constantly
from the back Of the premises, telling
that his wife was at work at the ko-
rean method Of ironing, by which the
Indispensable satin-like gloss is given
to the surface. ,
1t was a quaint and interesting
procession that passed outside. The
most striking thing about the Ko-
rean is the way he walks. He car
ries himself better than the men of
any place F know. There is practically
nothing to indicate to a stranger diff
ference of rank, but as you watch a
man coming along the street there is a
slight swing, redolent of immense dig
nifty, that points out the patrician to
the most casual onlooker. Some of
ing up the center of a palace chamber
to the dais amid adm:ring eyes. 1t is
not swagger, but a very quiet, super
lative self consciousness of their own
worth and position.
The young yang ban," Or noble, is
a delicious study. No London, Paris
or New York swell, laneur or dude is
in it with him. His white suit is spot
less-there is not a hair straying from
his ''mangkun," a crownless skullcap
of h%orsehair and fastened so tightly
as to produce a permanent groove in
his skin and frequent headaches, to be
borne for the sake Of fashion. On this
his hat, also of horsehair, is poised and
tied under his chin by black ribbons.
If he has brown hair, it has been dark
ened with lampblack to the fashionable
shade. He is invariably attended by
a servant; he carries nothing for him
self, not even his pipe. Even going to
school their books are carried for them.
When he travels he is attended by as
many servants as he can possibly mus
ter. When he rides, he does not even
hold the reins Of his diminutive horse.
It is led, and servants attend him on
either side of the high saddle on which
he is perched. Seoul simply swarms
with these young dudes, who come up
from all parts Of the country to this
center Of that political intrigue in
which the yang ban lives, moves and
has his being. He never in all his life
does any work himself. This would
be the worst Of bad form and altogeth-
er mira dig, but he is not above being
supported by his relatives and will
even wink at the fact of his wife at
home surreptitiously taking in washing
to earn a little toward the household
expenses Of perhaps a big pretentious
yamen. covering a lot of ground and
in a chronic state of dilapidation and
decay.
These yang bans are the curse of
Korea. The common people are woe
fully oppressed by them. If a peasant
is known to have accumulated a little
money 1t is not long before the local
yang ban comes down on him, perhaps
nominally, for a loan, which is never
repaid, or perhaps for a levy pure and
simple. If the hind objects he is
promptly taken to the yang bans va
men and kept there until he pays, or
else he is imprisoned on some trumped
up charge and kept locked up until his
relatives produce the required amount.
One great popularity Of. the streets
Of Seoul is that during the daytime
practically no women are to be seen
about. One occasionally sees an odd
woman of the lower class, dressed very
much as the men, but wearing her
cloak over her head, holding it with
her hands so as to conceal the lower
part of her face. About 8 o'clock in
the evening the great bell of Seoul