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The chungin () were the upper middle class of the Joseon in medieval and early modern Korea society. This privileged class of commoners consisted of a small group of petty Bureaucrat and other highly educated skilled workers whose technical and administrative skills enabled the yangban and the royal family to rule the lower classes. Chungin were the lifeblood of the Korean Confucian agrarian bureaucracy, on whom the upper classes depended on to maintain their vice-like hold on the people. Their traditions and habits are the forerunners of the modern Korean administrative systems in both North Korea and South Korea.
In everyday life, the chungin were below the aristocratic yangban but superior to the lower middle and working class sangmin. Their roles were minor technical and administrative officials who supported the structure of the government. The highest-ranking chungin, local functionaries, administratively enabled the yangban to oppress the lower classes, especially the total control they had over the sangmin. The chungin functioned as the Middle class and were essentially petty bureaucrats particularly in the rural areas.
Although inferior to the aristocracy in social standing, the highly educated chungin enjoyed far more privileges and influence than the lower middle and working class commoners. For example, the chungin were not taxed nor subject to Conscription. Like the yangban, they were allowed to live in the central part of the city, hence the name "middle people". Also, the chungin tended to marry within their own class as well as into the yangban class. In addition, since they were eligible to enter the palace as Gungnyeo, it was possible for a chungin girl, if her father had a clean reputation or good connections and she was able to catch the King or Queen Dowager's eye, to become a royal consort or even a Royal Noble Consort, the second highest level in the hierarchy of the king's harem, after the Queen. An example is Royal Noble Consort Hui of the Indong Jang clan, personal name Jang Ok-jeong, was a consort of King Sukjong of Joseon and mother of Gyeongjong. She was the Queen of Joseon from 1689 until her deposition, in 1694.
However, to become a chungin, passing the Gwageo examination, which tested their practical knowledge of certain skills, was usually required. The chungin besides being known as a section of the middle-class, they were the smallest social class in dynastic Korea.
The Korean chungin, as a social class, were roughly analogous to the middle-class in Europe. Local functionaries in the rural areas were basically equal to petty bureaucrats.
A literature collection, Recitation of Miscellanies by Six Poets, talks about the level of the poet’s literary talents compared to their place in society. Despite their differences, development of The Songsogwon Poetry Society led to a closer interaction between the yangban and chungin societal classes. During the late seventeenth century many chungin gained a bit of popularity by writing poetry. They would write poetry about their lives as poets and sometimes the people in the higher society would spread their poetry among the others. Even though they shared these poems and were liked by others, it still did not allow them to gain more favor in society and they remained as chungin. Remaining Pearls of Korea was a set of poems put together by a chungin who was encouraged by a yangban to get it together.
, a notable sijo author during the Joseon period, was a Pogyo constable during the reign of King Sukjong. Kim compiled the text and was known for memorizing hundreds of works from Sigyeong. Kim was a highly skilled singer with great knowledge in arts who touched the nation's people to tears with his singing. As a member of the chungin class during his period, he was not able to advance in society therefore choose to live with nature. Kim knew this because of the social stratification in the Joseon Dynasty, and settled to live amongst what nature had to offer most chungin people. In his sijo, Kim incorporated elements of nature; in his sijo about a white seagull (english translation below) he expresses that as a member of the chungin class, he will live with nature.
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