Today’s Classical Figure: Jeong Yak-yong and the Value of Learning During Difficult Times
“What would you do if you had to spend many years in a place you never chose?”
You might spend every day resenting the situation.
Or you might ask a different question:
“What can I still do with the time I have?”
For today’s Tuesday edition of Classical Figures, let us look at Jeong Yak-yong (1762–1836), also known by his pen name Dasan, one of the most important scholars of the late Joseon period.
Jeong Yak-yong spent many years in exile.
But during that period, he continued studying, teaching, observing society, and writing.
His life offers an important lesson:
Even when you cannot immediately change your circumstances, you may still be able to decide what you create from them.
A Scholar Interested in Real-World Problems
Jeong Yak-yong lived during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, a period of social and economic change in Joseon Korea.
He was not interested only in reading old texts.
He also thought deeply about practical problems.
Administration.
Agriculture.
Technology.
Law.
The lives of ordinary people.
He is commonly associated with Silhak, or “Practical Learning,” a broad intellectual movement that emphasized the importance of studying real conditions and improving society.
Jeong Yak-yong also received the trust of King Jeongjo and participated in government affairs and practical projects.
During the construction of Hwaseong Fortress in Suwon in the 1790s, he studied and organized technical methods used to improve construction efficiency.
His interest was clear:
Knowledge should help solve real problems.
A Long Exile Changed His Life
After King Jeongjo died in 1800, the political environment changed dramatically.
In 1801, during the Catholic Persecution known as the Sinyu Persecution, Jeong Yak-yong was investigated and eventually sent into exile in Gangjin, in the southern part of Korea.
His exile continued until 1818.
That was almost eighteen years.
For a man who had been active in government and intellectual life, the experience must have been deeply difficult.
But Jeong Yak-yong did not abandon scholarship.
He continued reading.
He taught students.
He studied society.
And he organized his ideas into books.
Dasan Chodang and Years of Study
During his years in Gangjin, Jeong Yak-yong spent part of his time at a place later known as Dasan Chodang.
There, he continued extensive research and writing.
His studies covered classical learning, government administration, law, economics, and social institutions.
One of his best-known works is Mokminsimseo, often translated as Admonitions on Governing the People.
The book was completed in 1818.
It discusses how local officials should behave and how public administration should be carried out.
It is not simply a manual for using authority.
A central question runs throughout the work:
What responsibilities come with public power?
Today’s Representative Quote
A well-known line from Mokminsimseo says:
廉者，牧之本務，萬善之源，諸德之根。
English Translation
“Integrity is the fundamental duty of a local official, the source of all goodness, and the root of every virtue.”
In simpler language:
“If you are trusted with public responsibility, your first duty is to use that authority honestly.”
A person may be intelligent and highly capable.
But if that person uses power mainly for personal benefit, ability alone is not enough.
Jeong Yak-yong believed that administration required not only skill, but also integrity and responsibility.
At Work: If You Cannot Change the Environment, Choose What You Build
We cannot always choose our situation.
You may be assigned to a project you did not want.
A promotion may be delayed.
Your work may feel stagnant.
The lesson from Jeong Yak-yong is not that we should enjoy difficult circumstances.
Hard situations are still hard.
A more useful question is:
“What can I change, and what can I not change?”
Jeong Yak-yong could not simply end his exile whenever he wanted.
But he could continue studying.
He could write.
He could teach.
He could develop his ideas.
When the environment cannot change immediately, the skills you build inside that environment may still be within your control.
In Business: Record Experience So It Can Be Used Again
Business often teaches through failure.
A product may sell poorly.
A project may cost more than expected.
Customers may respond differently from your prediction.
But if the reasons are never recorded, the same mistakes can easily happen again.
Why did customers lose interest?
Why did costs increase?
Which assumptions were wrong?
Which decisions worked?
Writing these things down turns experience into something reusable.
Jeong Yak-yong observed real problems and transformed them into organized knowledge.
In the same way:
Experience becomes much more valuable when it is recorded and examined.
Leadership: More Authority Means More Responsibility
One reason Mokminsimseo continues to attract attention is its emphasis on the relationship between authority and responsibility.
A team leader can assign work.
A company owner can make major decisions.
A public official can use public resources.
But authority without responsibility easily destroys trust.
Good leadership does not end with:
“I have the power to decide.”
It should continue with:
“Am I willing to take responsibility for the result of this decision?”
That question remains relevant in modern organizations.
Personal Growth: Difficult Time Does Not Have to Become Empty Time
There are periods in life when progress seems to stop.
Plans fail.
Opportunities disappear.
Things move more slowly than expected.
There is no need to pretend those times are pleasant.
But while waiting for circumstances to improve, you may still be able to prepare something.
Read one book.
Learn one skill.
Write down your thoughts.
Study something useful.
Build a small project.
The meaning of a difficult period is not determined only by what happened to you.
It can also be shaped by what you managed to leave behind during that time.
Learning Is Different from Simply Enduring
Jeong Yak-yong’s story should not be reduced to:
“Suffering makes people stronger.”
That would be too simple.
Hardship does not automatically produce wisdom.
Some hardship only causes pain.
What matters is what a person is able to do within the limits of the situation.
Jeong Yak-yong used study, observation, teaching, and writing to give structure to years he could not control.
The lesson is not to praise hardship.
The lesson is to recognize that some choices may remain even when freedom is limited.
Why Writing Matters
There is another important lesson in Jeong Yak-yong’s life.
He did not merely think.
He wrote.
Thoughts disappear easily.
Memories change.
Lessons from failure can be forgotten.
But writing gives ideas form.
It makes them available for review.
It allows others to learn from them.
This is true not only for scholars.
A developer can keep technical notes.
A business owner can record customer feedback.
A manager can document why a decision was made.
A student can summarize what was learned.
Writing turns temporary experience into a lasting resource.
✅ Key Takeaways
✅ Jeong Yak-yong was one of the major Silhak scholars of the late Joseon period.
✅ He was exiled to Gangjin in 1801 and remained there until 1818, for nearly eighteen years.
✅ During exile, he continued studying, teaching, and writing across many fields.
✅ In Mokminsimseo, he emphasized integrity and responsibility as essential qualities of public officials.
✅ Even when circumstances cannot be changed immediately, people may still be able to choose what they learn, build, and record.
Today’s One-Line Lesson
“If you cannot change your circumstances right now, you can still choose what you leave behind from that time.”
All of us experience periods when life does not go according to plan.
You do not have to pretend those periods are meaningful while you are suffering through them.
You do not have to force yourself to feel grateful for every difficulty.
But you may still be able to do one small thing.
Study.
Write.
Practice.
Build.
Prepare.
What looks insignificant today may become valuable years later.
Jeong Yak-yong’s years in exile became some of the most important years of his intellectual life because he continued turning experience into knowledge.
What Do You Think?
If you knew that your current situation would not change for the next year, what is one thing you would want to learn, build, or leave behind during that time?
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