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The Goguryeo controversies refers to the disputes between China and Korea on the history of Goguryeo, an ancient kingdom located mostly in the present day Northeast China and North Korea.

Background

Goguryeo has been conventionally viewed as a Korean state, more specifically as one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea. Before Goryeo was founded (year 918), the Chinese characters referring to Goryeo were used to refer to Goguryeo in canonical Chinese history records.

During the 1980's, Chinese research in the history of Manchuria (modern northeast China) began to re-identify Goguryeo , especially the first half of Goguryeo's history before it moved its capital to the Korean peninsula, as a part of the regional history of China rather than of Korea. More recently, this effort has been evident in the Northeast Project. The rationales for the revision includes:

• that Goguryeo was established in Northeast China, now a part of China;
• that Goguryeo actively sought a tributary relationship with successive Chinese empires. This relationship is supported by some international scholars.
• that after the end of Goguryeo, a substantial portion of its people were assimilated into Han Chinese
• the claim that the Goryeo Dynasty and hence, the Korean nation, descends mostly from Samhan and Silla, not Goguryeo; and that Goryeo appropriated the name from Goguryeo when in fact the two were established by different ethnicities.
• Research conducted by a Japanese scholar shows that from 32 BC to 666 AD Goguryeo paid 205 tributes to the Central Plains dynaties. From 32 BC to 391 AD, Goguryeo paid only 17 tributes, but between 423 AD and 666 AD, 188 tributes were paid.

By contrast, Korean historians dispute the legitimacy of the Northeast Project, generally making these arguments:

• A state established in what is now China does not necessarily mean it is Chinese.
• Goguryeo's second capital was located at Pyongyang, North Korea. Before the capital city was moved, Goguryeo territory comprised what is today North Korea and parts of Manchuria.
• Goguryeo lasted about 900 years while no Chinese Dynasty concurrent with Goguryeo's rule lasted for more than 400 (although Goguryeo remained a tributary state of various Chinese dynasties).
• That large numbers of Goguryeo people were assimilated into China does not make Goguryeo Chinese.
• Only Southern Koreans from the Jeolla and Kyongsang regions were descendants of Samhan, which is south of the Geum River. There are more Koreans descended from inhabitants outside Samhan and Silla, i.e., north of Geum River. North Koreans are descendants of Goguryeo , and North Korean shares the same languange and culture with the South Koreans.
• Goguryeo ended tibutary relations with China by 106 AD.
• Many cultures in Asia had a tributory relationship with Chinese Dynasties for political reasons including Yamato Japan, and yet the Chinese are not claiming Japan as Chinese territory.

The Northeast Project also involved writing history textbooks and restoring important Goguryeo sites in China, which many historians and political analysts question the motives thereof, believing the Northeast Project to be an attempt to establish historical justification for possible takeover of North Korea. There are also many others who believe this is a defensive policy by China, preparing for possible land disputes with a unified Korea. Still others believe this is in reaction to Korean historical revisionism which in at least one book claimed that ancient Korea ruled over vast territories of Northern and Eastern Asia including Shanghai. In 2004 this dispute threatened to lead to diplomatic disputes between the China and the Republic of Korea, although all governments involved seem to exhibit no desire to see the issue damage relations.

The PRC's revision to Goguryeo history has received international criticisms came from numerous scholars from other countries such as the United States, Russia, Mongolia, and Australia, including prominent Goguryeo experts such as Mark Byington of Harvard University Korea Institute, and R. Sh. Djarylgashinova of Russian Academy of Science Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography.

The Northeast Project is not universally accepted in the PRC. In 2006, a senior Han Chinese scholar of Beijing University affirmed Goguryeo as a part of Korean history and denied Chinese connections. He has expressed disagreements with the CASS institute, the PRC government institution running the Northeast Project, and indirectly criticized the project on behalf of the Peking University Department of History. On the other hand, the opinion of the related Chinese minority group, Mohe-Jurchen-Manchu ethnic group, is so far ignored in the controversy.

Chinese claims on Goguryeo

• Explanation of the two connections: one between "Wuji 7 tribes" and two "Mohe"s; another between "Mohe" and "Jurchen Jin".

Canonical History Records of Jurchen Jin Dynasty, Volume 1:"金之先，出靺鞨氏。靺鞨本號勿吉。勿吉，古肅慎地也。元魏時，勿吉有七部：曰粟末部、曰伯咄部、曰安車骨部、曰拂涅部、曰號室部、曰黑水部、曰白山部。隋稱靺鞨，而七部並同。唐初，有黑水靺鞨、粟末靺鞨，其五部無聞。"(Jurchen Jin's ancestor is Mohe, which is originally Wuji. Wuji located in ancient Sushen lands. At the time of Northern Wei, Wuji had seven tribes: Sumo, Boduo, Anchegu, Funie, Haoshi, Heishui, Baishan. At the time of Sui Dynasty, Wuji was renamed as Mohe, but the seven tribes stayed as usual. At the early time of Tang Dynasty, only Heishui Mohe and Sumo Mohe survived, the other five tribes were gone.)

• Explanation of the two connections: one between "Goguryeo" and "Sumo Mohe"; another between "Sumo Mohe" and "Balhae".

Canonical History Records of Jurchen Jin Dynasty, Volume 1:"粟末靺鞨始附高麗，姓大氏。李績破高麗，粟末靺鞨保東牟山。後為渤海，稱王，傳十餘世。"(Sumo Mohe joined Goguryeo, its leader's surname is Dae. When General Ji Li of the Tang Dynasty destroyed Goguryeo, Sumo Mohe guarded Dong Mou Mountain, later became Balhae, and there was a king, lasted for more than ten generations).

• The red "Conquered" lines can be easily seen from the related Misplaced Pages main articles of those dynasties.
• The age of every dynasty can also be found in the related Misplaced Pages main article of the dynasty.

This Jurchen Jin's view is supported by multiple Han Chinese people's official records.

1. First Canonical History Records of Tang Dynasty, Volume 199-2:"渤海靺鞨大祚榮者，本高麗別種也。"(Dae Jo-yeong of Balhae Mohe, was a descedent of Goguryeo). Here Dae Jo-yeong is the indisputable founder of Balhae.
2. Second Canonical History Records of Tang Dynasty, Volume 219:"渤海，本粟末靺鞨附高麗者，姓大氏。高麗滅，率衆保挹婁之東牟山，地直營州東二千里，南比新羅，以泥河爲境，東窮海，西契丹。築城郭以居，高麗逋殘稍歸之。"(Balhae's founder, whose surname is Dae, was originally Sumo Mohe joining Goguryeo. When Goguryeo was destroyed, he led his people to guard Dong Mou Mountain, located to the very east of YinZhou, with southern border touching Silla separated by River Ni, eastern border at sea, western border touching Khitan. They built cities to reside in, and Goguryeo remnants joined them.)
3. Canonical History Records of Song Dynasty, Volume 491:"高麗別種大祚榮走保遼東，睿宗以爲忽汗州都督，封渤海郡王，因自稱渤海國"(Dae Jo-yeong of Goguryeo escaped and guarded the land to the east Khitan. Emperor Ruizong of Tang assigned him to be the commanding officer of HuHanZhou and King of Balhae, thus his land was called Balhae.)

See also

• South Korea-China Relations

Notes

1. "Twenty-Four Histories"
2. See Byeon Tae-seop (변태섭) (1999). 韓國史通論 (Hanguksa tongnon) (Outline of Korean history), 4th ed.. ISBN 89-445-9101-6, p. 40. See TANAKA Toshiaki:"The Rise of Goguryeo and Xuan-Tu Shire" 田中俊明:《高句丽的兴起和玄菟郡》, from 32 BC to 666 AD Goguryeo paid 205 tributes to the Chinese Central Plains dynasties. From 32 BC to 391 AD, Goguryeo paid only 17 tributes, but between 423 AD and 666 AD, 188 tributes were paid.
3. http://www.asiaquarterly.com/content/view/174/43/
4. Baidu Baike, a Chinese online and 💕, http://baike.baidu.com/view/5801.htm, s.v. “高句丽.”
5. 동북공정과 고대사 왜곡의 대응방안. 서울: 백암. 2006. ISBN 89-7625-119-9. {{cite book}}: |first= missing |last= (help)
6. "Guardian Protector of Silla", KoreanHistoryProject.org. Retrieved on 30-01-2007.
7. Bae, Young-dae (2004-09-16). "Korea finds some allies in Goguryeo history spat". JoongAng Daily. Retrieved 2007-03-12. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
8. Mark Byington (2004-01-01). "[KS] Koguryo part of China?". Newsgroup: koreanstudies_koreaweb.ws. Retrieved 2007-03-12.
9. "한-러 학계 동북공정 공동대응 한다" (HTML). Navier.com. 2006-10-31. Retrieved 2007-03-12.
10. "Chinese Scholar Slams Co-opting Korean History". The Chosun Ilbo. 2006-09-13. Retrieved 2007-03-12.
11. "Chinese Scholar Slams Co-opting Korean History". The Chosun Ilbo. 2006-09-13. Retrieved 2007-03-12.