A model for Love of Neighbor

With the onset of winter in December, many people and organizations in Korea engage in charity movements to extend a warm helping hand to neighbors in need. When the Salvation Army rings a bell on the streets, numerous citizens are willing to give money to the red donation kettles. Traditionally, Korean people have helped one another especially in times of difficulty. Here is a family that has long been respected and acclaimed for its generous giving and sharing.


Choi Guk-seon Shows a Path of Genuine Wealth

The Choi family of Gyeongju is known for its admirable ancestor Choi Chi-won, a genius scholar from the Silla Kingdom. The family made its fame when general Choi Jin-lip became a war hero during the second Manchu invasion of Korea in the 17th century.

But it was the time of Choi Guk-seon, the 19th generation descendant of Choi Chi-won, when the family earned nationwide respect. Succeeding his father Choi Dong-ryang, who accumulated wealth through land development, Choi Guk-seon was able to join the ranks of rich people who owned fields yielding ten thousand seok of rice, thanks to his diligent efforts and thriftiness. After that, however, Choi no longer sought to increase his fortune. He instead began to put the love of neighbors into practice.

In 1671, the third year of King Hyun-jong’s reign, the nation was plagued by severe crop failure. Choi installed a large cauldron in his yard and opened a storehouse. He said, “What’s the use of making a fortune, while people are starving to death out there? Boil rice porridge in the cauldron and let starving people eat it. Make clothes for those who were poorly dressed.” From that day on, porridge was boiled in the cauldron every day, with starving people from near and far flocking to the Choi’s house.

Even in the years of poor harvest, when tens of thousands of people died of hunger per year, people in the Gyeonggju area could survive as long as they visited the wealthy Choi family. They found hope in sharing something with one another.
Based on his values in life, Choi created ‘six principles’ as the family code of conduct.

1. Do not take up a government post higher than jinsa (someone who passed the primary state exam only).
2. Do not pile up a fortune larger than ten-thousand seok of rice. If the property exceeds that amount, return the remainder to society.
3. Never purchase land from farmers during a year of bad harvest.
4. Treat passers-by well.
5. Daughter-in-laws must wear cotton in the first three years of marriage.
6. Let no one within your sphere starve to death.

The tenets were to encourage the family to be humble enough to live with neighbors in harmony and to take care of needy people, rather than pursuing high government posts for family reputation or individual glory.

On the eve of his death, he ordered his son to bring all due bills specifying debts to be collected. He decided to return real estate-related documents to their original owners and burn IOUs for money. Advocating a path of ‘clean wealth,’ Choi practiced the spirit of sharing until his last moment.

As Choi’s last wish became generally known, people lined up in front of his house hoping to be tenant farmers on Choi’s land. The farmers were eager to work, resulting in high productivity. Of 3,000 seok of rice the Choi family produced each year, the family spent 1,000 seok for passers-by and distributed another 1,000 seok to neighbors in need. Even so, the family was able to accumulate wealth over 12 generations for some 300 years.


Choi Family Voluntarily Gives up Status as Privileged Rich Class

However, the family’s fame as the privileged rich class ended in the 20th century. The last member of the rich Choi family was Choi Joon, who used up all the family property. He took bank loans, keeping his farmland as collateral, to provide funds for independence activists during the Japanese colonial period.

Choi Joon even set up a store as a means of helping fund the interim government in Shanghai. In ten years, his debt snowballed to 1.3 million yen, worth 30-thousand seok of rice. Learning about that fact, Japan tortured him severely but he never gave up on his will. After Korea’s liberation from Japanese colonial rule, he poured all the remaining properties into the establishment of universities. As a result, he had no money or farmland to pass down to his children.

Yet, the descendants of the noble family take pride in their ancestors who didn’t even apply for the Order of Merit for National Foundation after Korea’s liberation. They say sharing is the largest fortune they have. The Choi family did demonstrate how the social elite should live. If asked to cite the most honorable family that followed the spirit of noblesse oblige, people will surely list the famed and wealthy Choi family of Gyeonggju.