09/04/28 23:18:10 vC/L0zgs
But their occupations presumably contributed to mark them as menial outcasts in Buddhist
Koryo and Confucian Choson societies. Their agony lasted for centuries, even up to the early
twentieth century. Even though Choson government proclaimed to abolish social discriminations
related to the shinbun in the late nineteenth century, the humiliating and discriminating
customs against lower people did not easily disappear in everyday life. This situation
undoubtedly fomented the outbreak of the Hyongpyong Movement in the 1920s.
The Hyongpyongsa, founded in Jinju in 1923, had successfully spread out its organizations
and activities across the southern part of the Korean peninsula. Within several months,
the number of local branches reached 80. There were its local branches in major towns and
cities in the southern areas, especially in Kyongsang, Cholla, and Chungchong provinces.
Along with geographical spread, the number of its local branches had steadily increased
until the early 1930s, as shown in Table 2. Since then, the organizations had begun to
decline in their activities.