Baksuryang Baek Stele, Jangseong

Standing before the grave of Park Su-ryang is a hopae-shaped memorial stone — a 'blank stele' (baekbi) bearing no inscription. Park Su-ryang entered government service in 1514, the ninth year of King Jungjong, and held a number of posts; in 1546, the first year of King Myeongjong, he was named one of the Cheongbaekri, officials renowned for their incorruptibility. When he died in 1554, he left instructions not to petition for a posthumous title and not to erect any stele before his grave, so austere was the integrity by which he lived as a Cheongbaekri. It is said that his family were too poor to hold a funeral after his death. The state therefore arranged his funeral, and it is said that, since praising his lifetime of integrity in writing might itself have seemed to tarnish it, no inscription was written, and a blank stele was erected instead as a symbolic gesture. This blank stele carries deep significance as a symbolic relic of the spirit of incorruptibility embodied in Park Su-ryang's life and conduct, a model of integrity for his own time and for generations after.

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Where it is

Region

Jangseong, Jeonnam & Gwangju

Designation

Provincial Monument · 시도기념물