Korean Studies

Part III Nation

Lecture 6 Three Kingdoms

Study Plan & Content

Study Plan
- The Korean three kingdoms period has been often misinterpreted and biased b
y the modern imperialism of Japan in the 20 th century and the recent expansion
ism of China in the 21st century.
- Mimana fallacy suggested by the early 20 th-century Japanese imperialist histor
ians is still effectual in history textbooks in English-speaking world while the
Northeast Project of the current Chinese government and Chinese Communist
Party does not convince global academe.

Study Content
- Wa in the sea
- Mimana (Gaya) fallacy
- Three kingdoms period
- Northeast History Project
- Silla-Tang alliance

Wa in the Sea
Wa (Kr. Wae) in Chinese and Korean historiographies
- Han-Ye-Maek people from the Korean peninsula
- Migration during the 1st-7th centuries

Yayoi period (300 B.C.E. ~ 300 C.E.)

[Storage jar, Yayoi

pottery, Ca. 4th C
B.C.E.-3rd C C.E.]

- Yayoi pottery and bronze mirror

- Migration from Yangzi delta in China and the Korean peninsula

Kofun period (250~538)

- Burial mounds of the rulers of clan chiefdoms,
later tribal statelets
- Doraijin: Yamato clan from the Korean peninsula
vs. from China

Mimana Fallacy
Japanese Military Outpost
- Nihon commandery in Mimana, or Gaya (369-562)
- Nihonshogi, the 8th-century Japanese historiography
- Gwanggaeto stele, the 5th-century proto-Korean historical document

Questions on Mimana Theory

- Mimana, or Gaya, more advanced kingdom than Yamato Wa

Kim Seokhyeong (1915-1996), North Korean historian

- A Study on Early Korea-Japan Relations
- Rebut of Mimana fallacy with analyses myths and kofun relics

Cheon Gwanwu (1925-1991), South Korean historian

- The 8th-century Yamato Wa historians, the descendents of Baekje
- Comparative analyses of Nihonshogi and Samguk sagi

Three Kingdoms Period

Nation consciousness in Korean historiographies
- East Asian historiography Biographic-thematic style: Samguk sagi, Gory
eosa, Joseon Wangjo Sillok
- Other historiographies: Samguk yusa, Jewang wungi, Dongguk tonggam

Three Hans
- Unification of the three Hans: Community consciousness of the Three H
ans
- From statelets to territorial kingdoms

Three Kingdoms
- Goguryeo, Baekje, and Silla
- Unification of the three kingdoms Silla

Northeast Project
Chinese Academy of Social Sciences
- The serial research project on the history and current state of the northeast
borderland (20022007)
- Peoples Republic of China: A unitary multinational state built up jointly
by the people of all its nationalities

Zhoubian countries
- Goguryeo and Balhae in Manchuria and the northern part of the Korean pe
ninsula
- Northwest Project for Xinjiang; Southwest Project for Tibet

Diplomatic disputes
- Conflict with Korean nationalism: South Korea, North Korea, Russia
- Historical revisionism, political expansionism

Silla-Tang Alliance
East Asian world order
- Barbarian dynasties in Central Plain after collapse of Han dynasty empire
- East Asian world order under Tang

Tang dynasty
- Buddhist dynasty in China mainland
- Chinese civilization molded in the multi-ethnic empire

Implication of Silla-Tang alliance

- Betrayal of Silla to the Han-Ye-Maek kingdoms?
- Silla diplomacy in the East Asian world order