King Gyeongdeok attempted further centralization of Korea through organization of government and post naming conventions. King Gyeongdeok tried to establish a government system similar to the Chinese system of governing, where regions were governed by court-appointed officials rather than local nobles. The standardization of naming conventions happened across multiple levels during King Gyeongdeok's reign. The
Gongbang class, or artisans, offices were renamed using the suffix "
bang" from "
jeon" during his reign. A similar change was that of forge workers' titles, from Cheolyujeon (鐵鍮典) was changed to Chukyabang (築冶房), which have the same essential meaning. Locations were standardized as well under King Gyeongdeok. Records in the
Samguk sagi show a list of toponyms from Silla and Korea's conquered kingdoms of
Goguryeo and
Baekje that were standardized to Chinese names in 757. The records contain both the new standardized Chinese name and a phonetic Chinese transcription of the original name of each location, which were generally similar to the semantic meaning of the Chinese name. Sanum, a county in modern
South Gyeongsang Province. Called Chip'umch'on in the Silla period, the province was renamed Sanum and incorporated into Kwólsóng
gun. == Death ==