410 Yongzheng They emphasized the proper rites and rituals of ancestor worship, filial piety, loyalty, proper social relationships, the patrilineal line of descent, and proper relationship between men and women The union between a husband and wife was regarded as the mainspring of a stable society Whereas upper-class men previously could have several wives, who were not subject to a specified ranking order, under Confucian teachings, only one woman could be wife and mother of her husband’s heir, relegating other women of the household to concubines and their children to lesser importance Though subject to her husband, the wife had charge of the domestic sphere, and responsibility of providing the government with loyal subjects and the family with devoted sons The public sphere was the husband’s domain In science and technology this era saw the invention or refinement of the sundial, the automatic waterdriven clock, armillary spheres (miniature representations of the Earth, Moon, and planets in the form of skeletal globes), and the rain gauge Medical books that included new knowledge were published and made widely available Since Confucians honored farmers as the backbone of society, farming was encouraged Land reform and redistribution and the introduction of new agrarian methods from China greatly increased food production Innovations included the introduction of new manure, crop rotation instead of letting fields lie fallow, irrigation, and autumn plowing Commerce played a decidedly secondary role in the early Yi era Attempts by the government to introduce paper money and copper coins proved unpopular and people preferred the old method of using a type of cloth and grain as mediums of exchange This remained true until the early 17th century, when increased commerce led to the acceptance of metal coins The policies and practices instituted by the founders of the Yi dynasty established the firm foundations that led to a period characterized by brilliant cultural and technical achievements They also explain its longevity despite later setbacks Further reading: Choy, Bong-youn Korea, a History Rutland, VT: Charles E Tuttle Company, 1971; Lee, Ki-back A New History of Korea, trans Edward W Wagner Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1984; Lee, Peter H., ed Sourcebook of Korean Civilization, Vol 1, From Early Times to the Sixteenth Century New York: Columbia University Press, 1993 Jiu-Hwa Lo Upshur Yongzheng (Yung-Cheng) (1678–1735) emperor of China Yongzheng (r 1723–35) was born as Yinchen (Yinchen), the fourth son of the emperor Kangxi (K’anghsi) and not his father’s original heir After removing his original choice for gross misconduct, Kangxi did not name a new heir, and no one knew that Yinchen would succeed Kangxi until his will was read aloud on his deathbed Yongzheng was stern, hardworking, and extremely capable He consolidated imperial power and made many reforms Yongzheng began his reign by eliminating possible challengers He removed princes from military commands and took personal control of all eight Manchu banner army units (whereas his father had only commanded three) He was indefatigable, personally reading and responding to reports and memorials sent by officials Assisted by spies, he checked on the performance of officials, punishing those who were corrupt and derelict and rewarding upright ones To ensure that officials were not tempted by graft, he granted them additional stipends to their salaries from an anticorruption fund.” He also rationalized and simplified the taxation system In a humane move, he abolished hereditary servitude and the designation of persons of certain professions such as beggars as “mean people.” He promoted learning and supervised education by issuing textbooks that promoted orthodoxy and correct historical interpretations as he saw them Despite Kangxi’s efforts, problems persisted with Russia because of an undefined border area that allowed the Olod Mongols to raid Chinese lands and then take refuge in Russia Thus Yongzheng sent a diplomatic mission to St Petersburg to seek Russian neutrality in his quest to deal with the Olod and to fix the MongolianSiberian border between the two empires Extended negotiations between them produced the Treaty of Kaikhta in 1737 Besides delineating the border the treaty opened a new trading station at Kaikhta and defined the terms of trade, provided for the extradition of deserters and criminals, and allowed Russia to maintain an Orthodox church and religious mission in Beijing (Peking) The treaty with Russia allowed Yongzheng to continue prosecuting the war with the Olod, but they were not finally defeated until the reign of his son Qianlong (Ch’ien-lung) Yongzheng made two institutional changes in government Because the Manchu rulers did not practice primogeniture in the selecting of a successor (as had the Ming), and rivalry between brothers could be destabiliz-