The Balhae controversies involve disputes between China, Korea, Japan, and Russia, countries that have conducted studies on the historical state of Balhae (Bohai, Po-hai, Parhae). The Korean perspective generally considers Balhae to be the successor state of Goguryeo and part of the Northern and Southern States period of Korean history, while Chinese scholars generally consider Balhae to be a state of the Mohe people, a Tungusic ethnic group, and subordinate to the Tang dynasty (618907).冯海英, 肖莉杰, 霍学雷. 20世纪90年代以来中国学者对渤海国民族与政权的研究. 东北史地, 2008(6). In Russian historiography, Balhae is recognized as the first highly organized independent state formation of the Tungus-Manchurian peoples.
Background Balhae (698–926) is a kingdom that has been studied and debated in East Asia since the early 20th century. Central to the issue of scholarship since the 1960s is whether or not Balhae belongs to Korean or Chinese national history. Arguments based on the identity and essential features of Balhae have been made by contemporary states to confirm or question territorial claims by present governments. Academic disputes over the identity of Goguryeo and Balhae are commonly linked to claims in international relations discourse on the legitimacy of the present Sino-Korean border.
The general positions of state actors involved in the Balhae dispute:
Koreas: Balhae was a "Korean" state founded by the descendants of Goguryeo and that Balhae and Unified Silla constituted the "Northern and Southern Dynasties." Korean and Japanese scholars assert that Balhae was the successor state to Goguryeo, continuing its multi-ethnic and multicultural traditions.
China: Balhae was a local polity founded by the "Mohe nationality", subordinate to the Tang dynasty. Both Chinese and Russian scholars agree that the rulers of Balhae were Mohe tribespeople.
Soviet Union/Russia: Balhae was an independent kingdom, referred to as the 'flourishing kingdom of the east'. It was created by a union of Mohe peoples who are the ancestors of tribal groups in Russian territory.
Japan: Early Japanese scholarship in the Empire of Japan placed Balhae within "Manchurian history" with no connection to Goguryeo or Korea, and was independent from the Tang dynasty. Starting in the 1930s and especially after cutting ties with the People's Republic of China in 1949, the view that Balhae was part of Korean history became the dominant position among Japanese scholarship. Since the 1980s, Japan has moved away from trying to identify a single ethnicity in favor of research on Balhae's government. They espouse the view that Balhae was founded by remnant Goguryeo military nobles who dominated a commoner class of Mohe peoples.
Balhae as Korean
Goryeo Goryeo (918–1392) did not write an official history for Balhae, and some modern scholars argue that had they done so, Koreans might have had a stronger claim to Balhae's history and territory. Korea's earliest surviving historical record, the Samguk sagi (History of the Three Kingdoms), was written by Kim Pusik (1075–1151), a direct descendant of the ruling Silla dynasty. Silla was known to have held a hostile attitude towards Balhae, which might explain the exclusion of Balhae from the first complete compilation of Korean History. Although Goryeo did not compile an official history for Balhae, a great portion of the royalty and aristocracy fled to Goryeo, including its Crown Prince Dae Gwang-hyeon.
A text known as the Jodaegi allegedly written by a Balhae refugee contained records of Balhae's history but was lost during the literary purges of Sejo of Joseon in the 15th century and only fragments remain. Snippets of its contents are recorded in the Taebaek Ilsa, part of the Hwandan Gogi compiled by Gye Yeon-su in 1911. However, most scholars from South Korea, North Korea and Japan believe that the Hwandan Gogi is a forgery and that its content is unreliable. The Hwandan Gogi and other texts like the Tan'gi kosa attributed to the brother of the founder of Balhae and the Kyuwǒn sawa attributed to Pug’ae no’in of the 17th century were likely written in the 1920s.
The first inclusion of Balhae in Korean history was in the Chewang un'gi (Songs of Emperors and Kings), a two volume historical saga written in the form of rhyming poetry by Goryeo scholar and court official Yi Sŭnghyu. It was completed in 1287 during the late Goryeo dynasty. Volume one of the Chewang un'gi covers the history of China to the Jurchen Jin dynasty. Volume two is called the Tongguk kunwang kaeguk yǒndae (Founding Era of Eastern Monarchs), covering the history of Korea in two parts. The first part covers the period from the legendary Tan'gun to Balhae while the second part covers the history of Goryeo from its founding to the reign of King Chungnyeol (r. 1274–1298).
According to Myungkyung University Professor Lee Sooyoung, Yi was motivated to write the Chewang un'gi due to both the internal political turmoil of the Goryeo court as well as the Yuan dynasty's interference in Goryeo politics during the period of Mongol rule. Yi wrote the Chewang un'gi in 1280 while he was exiled for criticizing the pro-Yuan clique in court. He sent his work to King Chungnyeol in 1287 hoping that it would cause a change in the king's policies. Stella Xu notes that Yi's work was much more inclusive than his contemporaries in his portrayal of ancient Korean history in an "effort to establish an unbroken lineage of Korean history". In addition to including Balhae, which had been neglected or even held in contempt by his peers, as part of Korean history, the Chewang un'gi is also the first time that the legendary figure Tan'gun was established as the common ancestor of all Korean people despite the existence of separate ancestor myths in Buyeo, Goguryeo, and Silla. The Chewang un'gi is considered important as it is the first history book to record the history of Balhae as Korean history, and has been cited by both North and South Korean scholars.
Joseon A growing interest in Manchuria and Balhae during the middle Joseon (1393–1910) period was caused by increasing concern with territorial issues in the north. Following the Qing invasion of Joseon (1636-1637), Hyojong of Joseon lived as a hostage for seven years in Mukden (Shenyang). He planned an invasion of the Qing dynasty called Bukbeol () during his ten years on the Joseon throne, though the plan died with his death on the eve of the expedition. The northern expedition spurred a rising concern with the northern territory among Joseon literati. The location of the Four Commanderies of Han became tied to support for or against the northern expedition. Scholars who argued against the northern expedition situated all Four Commanderies within the Korean Peninsula while those who argued for the expedition situated them outside the peninsula but still within the former territory of Old Chosŏn. This framework of the Four Commanderies as both outside the Korean Peninsula but within Old Chosŏn's former territory lent support to a possible invasion of Manchuria and Liaodong (Yodong) by justifying it as recovering the lost lands of Old Chosŏn. A nostalgia grew for the these lands covering Manchuria and Liaodong as part of Old Chosŏn. At the same time, the Pukhak (Northern Learning Scholars) discovered on their trips to Qing China that rather than the stereotypical image of a barbarian dynasty, the Qing had continued to refine Chinese civilization. These strands of interest in the north and Manchuria led to new interpretations of ancient history, particularly with regards to the northern lineage of Korean history.
Some scholars such as Seongho Yi Ik (1681–1763) and An Jeongbok (1712–1791) continued to place Balhae outside the confines of Korean history while Sin Gyeongjun, Pak Chiwŏn (1737–1805), Yu Deuk-gong (1749–1807), and Yi Gyu-gyeong (b. 1788) fully incorporated it. Pak denied the fact that the Han dynasty's territories extended south of the Yalu River, and criticized Kim Pusik for excluding Balhae in Manchuria from the history of Korea, arguing that the people of Balhae were "descendants" of Goguryeo. Yi argued that the exclusion of Balhae from Korean history was "a grave error" since "it occupied a vast area". Yu blamed the decline of Joseon on the loss of Manchuria. In Yu's Balhaego (Treatise on Balhae), he argued that Balhae should be included as part of Korean history and proposed a new periodization for Korean history in which the Nambukguk sidae ('South–north states period') replaced the Unified Silla period (668–935). Yu argued vehemently that the founders of Balhae were Goguryeo people and that they inherited the territory of Goguryeo, making it the legitimate successor state. While Yu's emphasis on the north and Manchuria was followed up by other authors such as Yi Chonghwi (1731–1797) in his Tongsa (Eastern History), published in 1803, the idea of a "South-North State" period was ignored until the 1970s.
In Joseon's later years, increasing numbers of Korean historians included Balhae in Korean history, despite acknowledging that the state's founders were the Mohe people and not considered to be "us." A century later, Han Chiyun and Han Jinseo included Balhae as equal in Korean history to such uncontroversially Korean dynasties like Silla.
Colonial period Sin Chaeho (1880–1936) criticized the Samguk sagi for excluding Balhae and Buyeo (Chinese: Fuyu, another state in Manchuria) from Korean history. Sin also criticized the author, Kim Pusik, for claiming that Silla had achieved the unification of Korea because of Balhae's concurrent existence. Writing about Jiandao in the early 20th century, he bemoaned that for centuries, Korean people in their "hearts and eyes considered only the land south of the Yalu River as their home." He interpreted Balhae's defeat by the Khitan-led Liao dynasty (916–1125) as having caused "half of our ancestor Dangun's ancient lands... loss for over nine hundred years". He lionized historical Goguryeo figures like Ŭlchi Mundŏk and Yŏn Kaesomun for defeating Chinese invasions while denouncing leaders in Silla for requesting help from the Tang dynasty to conquer their fellow Koreans in Paekche and Goguryeo. This effectively reframed Korean historical developments based on their contributions to maintaining territory in Manchuria.
Inspired by ideas of Social Darwinism, Sin wrote:
Other individuals in the late Joseon and colonial period were even more expansive in their view of Korean history. Kim Kyohǒn (1868-1923) wrote the Sindan silgi (Veritable Records of the Sacred Sandalwood Tree) and the Sindan minsa (History of the Sacred Sandalwood People) in 1914 under Japanese occupation. At that point Manchuria's importance to Korea had increased even further as it had become the base of the Korean independence movement. Consequently, Kim put forward the idea that all inhabitants of Manchuria were descendants of Tan'gun. In addition to Balhae, Kim also incorporated the Khitan Liao and Jurchen Jin dynasties into the lineage of Korean history. Nationalist historians expanded the ethnic genealogies of Korean people to include Balhae as well as ethnic groups like the Xianbei, Sushen, Mohe, Jurchens, and Manchus.
Modern scholars