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BTW, how would I copyright this?
Copyright Andrew Chung 2004
Could the Father of the Korean People have been a Zhong Guo Ren?
By Andrew Chung
A few days back I was online and talking to a Chinese individual. He was having a conversation with another Vietnamese individual about whether or not the state of Nam Yue/ Nam Viet, was a Vietnamese state. The state was basically an entity that was founded by a general of the Qin dynasty, the dynasty that was the first to unite China. He stated that Nam Viet was a Chinese state and its only connection with Vietnam was the name, which he postulated that the Vietnamese copied. Now whether or not I agree with this verdict, I will not say, as it is not relevant to the topic of this Free Write and could hypothetically constitute a whole other paper. The significance of this seemingly random story is that it raised a very interesting question to me: “What about Gojoseon?” Gojoseon is often attributed to being the first Korean state. Gojoseon was founded by an individual named Dangun, and, depending on whom you believe, was then usurped and ruled by two other “Chinese” lines founded by Gija and Wiman. It is not on Dangun that we are focusing on though, but it is his father, Hwanung. Many of the things stated about him in the Dangun myth point in a very peculiar direction. I then began to wonder, “Could Hwanung have been Chinese?”. What would make Gojoseon Korean then? In this Free Write I plan to explore the hypothesis that Hwanung, if not Dangun himself, may have been Chinese. *(I do not necessarily agree that Hwanung was Chinese, nor am I 100% sure that he was Korean)
To begin to understand this interesting question, one must first know the basis of the hypothesis, the Dangun myth. I was able to procure a copy of it from here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dangun. This in turn is taken from the Samguk Yusa, a text on Korean history, which was written in the thirteenth century. It proceeds as follows, “Dangun's ancestry begins with his grandfather Hwanin; (桓因
, the "Lord of Heaven" (a name which also appears in Indian Buddhist texts). Hwanin had a son Hwanung who yearned to live on the earth among the valleys and the mountains. Hwanin chose Mount Taebaek (태백산; 太伯山) for his son to settle down in and sent him with 3,000 helpers to rule the earth and provide humans with great happiness. Hwanung descended to Mount Taebaek and founded a city, which he named Sinsi (神市), or "City of God." Along with his ministers of clouds, rain, and wind, he instituted laws and moral codes and taught the humans various arts, medicine, and agriculture.A tiger and a bear living in a cave together prayed to Hwanung to become human. Upon hearing their prayers, Hwanung called them to him and gave them 20 cloves of garlic and a bundle of mugwort. He then ordered them to only eat this sacred food and remain out of the sunlight for 100 days. The tiger shortly gave up and left the cave. However, the bear remained and after 21 days was transformed into a woman.
The bear-woman (Ungnyeo; 웅녀; 熊女) was very grateful and made offerings to Hwanung. She lacked a husband, however, and soon became sad and prayed beneath a sandalwood tree to be blessed with a child. Hwanung, moved by her prayers, took her for his wife and soon she gave birth to a son, who was named Dangun Wanggeom ; 檀君王儉.
Dangun ascended to the throne in the 50th year of the reign of the Emperor Yao (a legendary Chinese sage Yao), the year of Gengyin, built the walled city of Pyeongyang, and called the kingdom Joseon. He then moved his capital to Asadal on Mount Baegak (or Mount Gunghol). 1,500 years later, in the year Kimyo, King Wu of the Zhou Dynasty enfeoffed Jizi (Gija) to Joseon, and Dangun moved his capital to Jangdangyeong. Finally, he returned to Asadal and became a mountain god at the age of 1,908.”
Now that we know the story, we can begin with the analysis. For one thing, we know that this " Hwanung " fellow, whatever his ethnic makeup, essentially consolidated his power by claiming to be, "The Son of God". This is because Hwanin is known to have been “God” at this time, as can be inferred by his title “Lord of heaven”. This is basically the same concept of “The Divine Right of Kings” in European countries except instead of receiving God’s permission to rule, Hwanung claimed to be God. The two creatures, the Bear and the Tiger, hypothetically could represent two proto-three kingdoms tribes of Korea, namely the Bear and Tiger tribes. There is no evidence that these tribes were in any sense Korean, but for the sake of the argument we will assume they are. These tribes would have consisted of clans or many clans living together that worshipped a certain totem, in this case the bear and the tiger. This is not on uncommon phenomenon in early shamanistic cultures that worship figures in nature. Hwanung’s marriage to the Bear woman could be interpreted as him marrying into the powerful Bear tribe and thus consolidating his power within the area. The shame of the Tiger could signify that the Tiger clan was an enemy of the Bear tribe and could just be a tool to further degrade them. What strikes me the most though is the line, “…he instituted laws and moral codes and taught the humans various arts, medicine, and agriculture.” The various technologies listed in the story can only be found in one place in that specific area and time, China. All these aspects of the myth, although still pure speculation, seem to infer to the reader that Hwanung was Chinese.
The story, in its current light, also provides the shocking idea that Chinese culture and technology may have come to Korea during the time of Gojoseon. Most historians have theorized that the influence of Chinese culture on Korean culture came with the establishment of the Han Commanderies, which came after the fall of Gojoseon, but this story seems to infer that that influence came much earlier, during the time of Gojoseon itself. This would in turn infer that Koreans have been influenced by China a lot longer than was normally believed, or more than what is barely comfortable with Korean ultra-nationalists.
On the other hand though, no one really is really sure when the Dangun myth was actually created. Japanese scholars have postulated that it was invented during the Goryeo dynasty with the writing of the Samguk Yusa, as the Samguk Sagi, a text that predates the former, has no mention of it. In addition to this, Chinese sources do not even mention Hwanung or Dangun at all in their texts.
Samguk Sagi, though, only covers the 3 kingdoms period of Korean history and thus does not mention any states that came before the 3 kingdoms period such as Buyeo and Jin. Therefore naturally, there would be no mention of Hwanung or Dangun. In the book, Sources of Korean Tradition Vol. 1, by Peter H. Lee and Theodore de Bary though, the book speaks of an inscription of some sorts about the Dangun myth located in Shandong (Shantung), China at the Wu family ancestral shrine. Who speaks the truth? I don’t know.
Although it is still highly debatable that whether Hwanung was Chinese, one can see that there are some signs pointing in that direction and some pointing the other way. The lesson to be learned from this study is not a matter of nationalistic pride, but that it is often foolish to trace a people’s ancestry linearly. There is truly no such thing as a homogenous people. Whether or not Hwanung was Chinese or not is not important. What is important is the significant roles that Hwanung, and more importantly his son Dangun, play in the concept of the Korean identity.
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