YT YouTube2Text

YouTube2Text → Transcripts → Why It Sucks to Be a Breeding Slave (in Joseon Korea)

Why It Sucks to Be a Breeding Slave (in Joseon Korea) — Transcript

by Backstory Of History · 2,454 words · 439 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

Open in transcriber Summarize with AI Download SRT/VTT

Full transcript

0:00You're 13 years old, standing barefoot
0:02on cold stone in a yangban compound's
0:04outer courtyard. A man you've never met
0:06tilts your jaw with two fingers.
0:09He checks your teeth, presses his thumb
0:11against your lower belly, runs his gaze
0:13down your hips the way a farmer sizes up
0:15livestock at market. Your mother is
0:18standing three steps behind you.
0:20She went through the same inspection 15
0:22years ago.
0:23Same courtyard, same hands on her face.
0:26She doesn't look at you.
0:27She already knows what comes next.
0:30You've just been assessed for your value
0:32as a breeding slave in Joseon Korea.
0:34Over the next 10 years, your body will
0:36produce four children for this estate.
0:38Each one worth the price of an adult
0:40slave at market. The master's wealth
0:42will grow by four entries in a ledger.
0:45You won't raise any of them. You won't
0:47hold them long enough to learn their
0:49faces. [screaming]
0:50Your feet hit the dirt floor of the nobi
0:52quarters that first night.
0:54Cold rises through the straw mat.
0:56No ondol heating out here. That's for
0:58the yangban family in the main house.
1:01You rank somewhere between the master's
1:03dog and the kitchen scraps it eats. The
1:05dog sleeps inside.
1:07The head kitchen nobi is a woman in her
1:0940s who has survived 30 years by knowing
1:12exactly which orders to follow. She
1:14assigns you water hauling before dawn,
1:17latrine cleaning after.
1:19She doesn't bother learning your name.
1:21An older girl, maybe 16, slaps your hand
1:24away from a blanket on your first night.
1:26That's hers. You sleep on bare floor.
1:29>> [cough]
1:30>> She whispers at once, close enough that
1:32you can smell the millet on her breath.
1:34Stay quiet. Stay small. Stay alive.
1:38You don't speak unless spoken to. You
1:41don't refuse.
1:43You don't look at the yangban family in
1:44the eye.
1:46Those are the rules. Nobody writes them
1:48down. Everybody knows them.
1:51Three months in, your hands are raw and
1:53cracking.
1:55You haul water from the well before
1:57dawn, and in winter the rope bites into
1:59your palms until they bleed.
2:01You start the ondol fire for the yangban
2:03kitchen, carry rice and side dishes to
2:05the main house, and eat what's left.
2:08Millet gruel, sometimes vegetables. Your
2:11tongue remembers rice from before you
2:13came here.
2:14You haven't had rice in years. You learn
2:17a trick.
2:18After hauling water, you press your
2:20hands against the ondol flue pipe for 30
2:22seconds. Warmth floods through your
2:24cracked fingers before the next task
2:26pulls you away.
2:27It's the best part of your day. By 14,
2:30they put you on textile work, spinning
2:32cotton thread, beating fabric, hunching
2:35over the spinning frame until your lower
2:36back locks in a permanent curve.
2:38[laughter]
2:39Your fingertips split from the fibers
2:41and heal and split again.
2:44The afternoons blur into a rhythm of
2:46cotton dust and aching shoulders,
2:48body bending into the shape the work
2:50requires.
2:51One morning, you drop a ceramic water
2:54jug.
2:55The head kitchen nobi hits you across
2:57the back with a wooden paddle, three
2:59times. You don't drop anything again.
3:02The food doesn't change. Millet gruel, a
3:05handful of greens if the harvest was
3:07good.
3:08The yangban family eats rice, meat,
3:11pickled vegetables brought in ceramic
3:13jars. You prepare it. You serve it. You
3:17eat what sticks to the bottoms of the
3:18pots after everything has been carried
3:20to the main house.
3:21The constant background sensation is not
3:24pain. It's hunger.
3:26A low hum that never stops.
3:2815 months in, you start to understand
3:30why they brought you here. Not for
3:32kitchen work. Not for textiles.
3:35A nobi woman on the estate, maybe 19, is
3:38visibly pregnant. She is the fourth this
3:41year. You watch her haul water with her
3:43belly pressing against the frame of the
3:45well, and something cold settles in your
3:47stomach.
3:48She delivers on the floor of the
3:49outbuilding three weeks later, back at
3:52work within days. The yangban master has
3:5412 nobi women on this estate. Five are
3:57of childbearing age. Under the yangban
4:00law, every child born to any of them
4:03belongs to him.
4:04Every surviving baby is worth the price
4:06of an adult slave at market.
4:09You're not here to spin thread.
4:11You're here because your hips passed
4:12inspection.
4:14By 15, they pair you.
4:16A male nobi, 22, assigned to your
4:20sleeping space.
4:21Nobody asked either of you.
4:23A straw mat in a storage room beside the
4:25grain shed.
4:26He doesn't speak to you. You don't speak
4:28to him.
4:30The overseer checks the room in the
4:32morning.
4:33You heard what happened to the nobi
4:34woman who refused her pairing, beaten
4:36and sold within a week, separated from
4:38her child. The head kitchen nobi told
4:40you the story during textile work, not
4:42as gossip, as instruction. You learn to
4:45spin thread. You learn to start fires.
4:48You learn to haul water before your
4:49hands go numb. And you learn that the
4:51skills they're really training you for
4:53have nothing to do with any of those
4:55things. There is no ceremony, no debut,
4:58no silk, no makeup, no parade. You are
5:01not a gisaeng being presented to a
5:02patron. You're not a concubine being
5:04dressed for the court. Your clothes
5:06don't change. Your hemp garment, plain
5:09and stiff, designed for hauling and
5:11kneeling.
5:12Same unadorned appearance tomorrow as
5:14yesterday.
5:16Your function has changed, but nothing
5:18about how you look reflects it.
5:20One evening, the overseer tells you
5:22where to sleep. You go.
5:24That's the transformation.
5:26One side of it is a 13-year-old girl
5:28warming her hands on the ondol pipe.
5:31The other side is a body the estate has
5:33decided to use. The other nobi women
5:36watch you cross the courtyard toward the
5:37storage room that first night. Some look
5:40at you. Most don't. They've all walked
5:43this path.
5:44The preparation was nothing more than
5:46slightly larger portions of millet at
5:48evening meal for a few weeks.
5:50Someone decided your body was ready. You
5:52weren't consulted. The overseer
5:54inspected you beforehand. The same
5:56hands, the same tilt of the jaw.
5:59"Wide enough," he said. "She'll carry
6:02well."
6:03The words hang in the air like a verdict
6:05delivered to livestock.
6:08You stand there while he finishes
6:09[laughter] his assessment and moves on
6:10to the next task on his list.
6:13The storage room smells like grain dust
6:15and damp earth.
6:16The straw mat is thin enough that you
6:18feel the cold floor through it. There is
6:20no privacy.
6:22The walls are paper and wood.
6:24You can hear the other nobi quarters,
6:26children crying, someone coughing, the
6:29sounds of the compound settling in
6:31tonight.
6:31>> [gasps]
6:32>> Your sleeping partner says nothing. You
6:34say nothing.
6:35The overseer knocks at dawn. To the
6:38estate ledger, you're an investment
6:39entering its productive phase.
6:42To yourself, you're still the girl who
6:44pressed her palms against the ondol pipe
6:46and counted to 30.
6:48But that girl doesn't exist in any
6:49record. The investment does.
6:52You look like every other nobi woman
6:54walking across a courtyard at dusk. You
6:56feel like something has been taken that
6:58you didn't know you still had.
7:00You're 17 when the first pregnancy
7:02takes.
7:03Same labor schedule. Same dawn water
7:06haul. Same textile work.
7:08But now your belly pulls against the
7:10spinning frame and your ankles swell
7:12against the cold floor in the head
7:13kitchen. Nobi gives you an extra handful
7:16of millet at evening meal. Not for you.
7:19For what's inside you. A daughter. Born
7:22on the floor of the outbuilding.
7:24An older nobi woman held your shoulders.
7:26No physician. No clean cloth. The baby
7:29is taken within weeks and assigned to
7:31another household. You don't know which
7:33one.
7:34At 19, you've delivered twice. Two
7:36daughters. Both taken.
7:38>> [crying]
7:38>> Born on the same outbuilding floor, held
7:40by the same older woman's hands, and
7:43gone within weeks to households you'll
7:44never visit. Each one inherited your
7:47nobi status the moment she was born.
7:49Each one is worth the price of an adult
7:51slave at market.
7:53The master's wealth grows by two.
7:55Yours does not change.
7:58You learn to count the days between your
7:59bleeding.
8:01When the count reaches a certain number,
8:03you know before anyone else.
8:05Those few days of private knowledge are
8:07the only thing about your own body that
8:09belongs to you before the system finds
8:12out.
8:13That winter, the head kitchen nobi tells
8:15you a story. A yangban two provinces
8:18over freed a nobi's son because the boy
8:21learned to read and the master had no
8:23legitimate heir. She tells it the way
8:25you'd tell a fairy tale,
8:27improbable, warm for exactly as long as
8:30the telling lasts. But she tells it.
8:33You're 22 when the third pregnancy
8:35delivers a son,
8:36and the master keeps the boy.
8:39He stays on the estate, assigned to
8:41field training, carrying kindling,
8:43learning to work the land.
8:45You can see him sometimes, across the
8:47courtyard,
8:4850 steps away.
8:50He is three, and he does not know you
8:52are his mother.
8:54To the estate records, you've produced
8:56three units of property. To yourself,
8:58you've lost three children.
9:00But one of them is still here. You teach
9:03yourself to look at him without stopping
9:04your work. A glance during water
9:07hauling.
9:08A half second across the courtyard as he
9:10struggles with a bundle of kindling too
9:11big for his hands.
9:13Nobody helps him.
9:14>> [screaming]
9:14>> You can't either.
9:16At 24, your fourth pregnancy.
9:19And the master's legitimate wife still
9:21has no surviving sons. The household
9:24whispers. You've heard the stories.
9:26Yangban men have freed nobi sons before.
9:29Yu Hui-chun freed four daughters by his
9:31nobi concubine, gave horses to buy their
9:34freedom.
9:35It happens.
9:37Not often.
9:38But it happens.
9:40Your son is strong.
9:42The master watches him work.
9:44The wife has no heirs. One more year.
9:47Maybe two.
9:49Something has to give.
9:51You let yourself believe it.
9:53You're 25, spinning thread in the
9:55textile workroom, afternoon light coming
9:57through the paper screen when the
9:59overseer enters.
10:01He doesn't look at anyone.
10:02He reads from a list. Names. New owners.
10:06The master is selling the estate.
10:08All property. All nobi.
10:11Debts from a failed venture. The whole
10:13compound dispersed.
10:15Your son's name is read third on the
10:17list.
10:18Different buyer. Different province.
10:21Three days walk south.
10:22A provincial estate you've never heard
10:24of.
10:25The buyer paid for a boy who can carry
10:27and dig.
10:28He doesn't know the boy has a mother on
10:30this estate. He doesn't care. Your name
10:32is read fifth. Different buyer.
10:35Different direction.
10:36The calculation you'd been running for 7
10:38years.
10:39The master will notice the boy.
10:41The wife has no sons.
10:43Maybe he'll free him. Maybe he'll let
10:45you raise one. It was never yours to
10:47run.
10:48You were doing arithmetic in someone
10:50else's ledger.
10:51And the ledger just closed.
10:53Every glance across the courtyard. Every
10:56half second watching your son carry
10:58kindling.
10:59You thought you were building something.
11:01You were watching through a window that
11:02was always going to close.
11:05The new estate is 40 li east. Different
11:07master. Different kitchen. Same
11:09dawnwater hall.
11:11Your body has delivered four children in
11:13eight years.
11:15The new master pairs you within months.
11:17The first miscarriage comes at 26.
11:20You bleed on the sleeping mat and keep
11:22working.
11:23The second comes at 27.
11:26Three days of bleeding on the
11:27outbuilding floor.
11:29An older nobi woman brings you water.
11:32No physician.
11:33>> [laughter]
11:33>> No rest day.
11:35Your body is telling you something the
11:36master will take another year to accept.
11:39By 28, he stops pairing you.
11:41Your reproductive function is used up.
11:44The word goes through the nobi quarters
11:46without anyone saying it directly.
11:48You can see it in how the overseer's
11:50eyes pass over you now.
11:52You are reassigned to full-time field
11:54labor. Dawn to dusk. Planting season in
11:57the heat without shade.
11:59Harvest season bent double cutting grain
12:01until your fingers lock.
12:03Winter hauling with hands that split and
12:04never fully close anymore.
12:07Your abdomen aches in cold weather.
12:09Loose and scarred from four pregnancies
12:11on a millet diet.
12:12Three teeth gone from calcium depletion.
12:15Your back won't straighten.
12:17Your body has been keeping its own
12:18ledger the whole time. And it's calling
12:20every debt in at once.
12:23Two new nobi girls arrive at the estate.
12:2513 and 14.
12:27The overseer inspects them in the
12:29courtyard.
12:30Same hands.
12:31Same tilted jaw.
12:33Same calculation behind the eyes.
12:36You know what comes next for them.
12:38You don't warn them.
12:40There is nothing to say that their
12:41bodies won't teach them soon enough.
12:44Your son would be 10 now.
12:46Somewhere south.
12:48You don't know if he's alive.
12:49You don't know if your daughters are
12:51alive.
12:52Four children scattered across estates
12:54you can't name. In provinces you'll
12:56never visit. Belonging to masters who
12:58don't know you exist.
13:00There is nothing left to calculate.
13:02No more math. No more maybe.
13:05You die at 38. Accumulated damage.
13:09The uterine infection came first.
13:11Untreated because no one sends a
13:12physician for a field nobi.
13:14Then the fever.
13:16Then your body, which had been held
13:17together by nothing more than routine
13:19and millet gruel, simply stopped.
13:22They bury you at the edge of the
13:23agricultural land where the field meets
13:25the tree line.
13:27No marker. No ceremony.
13:29The estate records note the loss of one
13:31nobi woman, age approximately 40, cause
13:34unrecorded.
13:35They got your age wrong. Nobody corrects
13:38it.
13:39You were 13 when they checked your hips
13:41and your teeth in a courtyard in autumn.
13:43You were 15 when they assigned a
13:44stranger to your body.
13:47You were 17 when you delivered the first
13:49child they took from you.
13:51You were 22 when you saw your son across
13:53a courtyard and learned that 50 steps is
13:55as close as a mother gets in this
13:57system.
13:58You were 25 when they sold him.
14:0125 years.
14:02Four children you never raised.
14:04A son you watched from 50 steps.
14:07A grave with no name in land that was
14:09never yours. On an estate that counted
14:11you the same way it counted its oxen.
14:13Your name appears in one place. A
14:15property ledger. Entry and exit. The
14:18space between those two marks is your
14:20entire life. And it fits on a single
14:22line.
14:23You think breeding slaves had it rough
14:25because they never left their province?
14:27The tribute girls of the Qing Dynasty
14:29were shipped across an international
14:31border into the Forbidden City.
14:33Dressed in silk.
14:35Given a palace room.
14:36And they were still property.
14:39The difference is that they got to watch
14:41their cage get decorated. Check out your
14:43life as a tribute girl right here.
14:46Because at least you knew what your
14:47prison looked like.
14:48They had to learn it was one.

About this transcript

This page contains the full transcript of Why It Sucks to Be a Breeding Slave (in Joseon Korea) by Backstory Of History, generated from the public captions YouTube serves with the video. The transcript has 2,454 words across 439 segments, with the original timestamps preserved so you can click any line to jump to that moment in the embedded player.

What you can do with it

Use the transcript to take notes, quote the speaker, build a study guide, generate a summary with ChatGPT or Claude via the YouTube Summary tool, or export it as a timed subtitle file with YouTube to SRT. You can also re-open it in the transcriber to translate the transcript into 100+ languages.

Free YouTube transcript tool

YouTube2Text is a free YouTube transcript generator — no signup, no daily limit. Paste any YouTube link and get the full transcript instantly, with timestamps, click-to-jump, translation to 100+ languages, AI prompts for ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini, and exports to TXT, SRT, VTT, or Markdown.