Parhae, also rendered as Bohai or Balhae, and called Jin early on, was a multiethnic kingdom established in 698 by Tae Choyŏng (Da Zuorong). It was originally known as the Kingdom of Jin (震, Zhen) until 713, when its name was changed to Parhae. At its greatest extent it corresponded to what is today Northeast China, the northern half of the Korean Peninsula and the southeastern Russian Far East.
There are differing accounts of Parhae's founding, but most of them state that when Parhae was founded by Tae Choyŏng in 698, it involved Goguryeo and Mohe people. Parhae's early history was marked by a rocky relationship with the Tang dynasty, characterized by military and political conflict, but by the end of the 8th century the relationship had become cordial and friendly. The Tang dynasty would eventually recognize Parhae as the "Prosperous Country in the East".
Parhae's culture has been described as similar to, derived from, or affiliated with Goguryeo, Mohe, Khitan, and Tang cultural elements. However the exact nature of Parhae's relationship to these cultures is disputed. Parhae adopted some of the Tang's administrative systems like Three Departments and Six Ministries. Parhae was conquered by the Khitan-led Liao dynasty in 926. A significant portion of Parhae's population fled to Goryeo while others remained in Parhae or were deported to other places in the Liao empire. Parhae survived as a distinct population group for another three centuries in the Liao and Jin dynasties before assimilating into other groups and disappearing under Mongol rule.
The history surrounding the origin of the state, its ethnic composition, the modern cultural affiliation of the ruling dynasty, the reading of their names, and its borders are the subject of a historiographical dispute between Korea, China and Russia. Historical sources from both China and Korea have described Parhae's founder, Tae Choyŏng, as related to the Mohe people and Goguryeo.
Name
Parhae was founded in 698 by Tae Choyŏng (Da Zuorong) under the name 震 (진, Jin), read as tsyinH in Middle Chinese. The kingdom's name was transcribed as 振 in Chinese, with the same Middle Chinese reading as 震. This name is presumed to derive from the 'Jin' (震) trigram of the I Ching, which means thunder, movement, change, and corresponds with the East.
In 713, the Tang dynasty bestowed the ruler of Jin with the noble title "Prince of Commandery of Bohai (Parhae)" (渤海郡王). In 762, the Tang formally elevated Parhae to the status of a kingdom. The kingdom's territories did not overlap with the Bohai Commandery. According to the New Book of Tang, the state was referred to as Mohe (靺鞨, Kr. Malgal, name of the ethnic group) before receiving investiture from the Tang in 713 and assuming the name Bohai (Parhae). Historian Jin Yufu also argued that the Tang referred to the state as Mohe until that time and that "Parhae" may have been another transcription of the same name. Linguists Karl Heinrich Menges and Roy Andrew Miller raised another theory, suggesting that the name Parhae had an underlying native name which was cognate to Manchu butha ("hunting").
The transcriptions Bohai (Chinese pinyin romanization), Po-hai (Chinese Wade–Giles romanization), and Balhae (Revised Romanization of Korean) are also used in modern academia. Most Western-language scholarship have opted for Bohai except in the field of Korean studies; however, some scholars have chosen the Korean romanization to avoid a "Chinese" narrative spread by the usage of pinyin romanization. According to Pamela Kyle Crossley, neither Chinese or Korean transliterations can be correct. She chose to use modern Chinese transliteration "to indicate that the only referent we have is Chinese characters". Jonghyun Jee, Byungjun Kim, and Bong Gwan Jun concur with Crossley, noting that no historical accounts provide information on Parhae's pronunciation, and neither modern Chinese or Korean readings accurately represent the pronunciation at the time. The choice of transliteration for 渤海 as "Balhae" or "Bohai" therefore "inevitably entails a degree of modern political projection". Jesse D. Sloane chose to use "Parhae" because it was not covered in depth in the state-mandated curriculum of China, but used Chinese romanization for all other terms related to Parhae that appeared in Chinese sources first. Neither Crossley or Sloane meant to depict Parhae as essentially Chinese but used Chinese romanization out of convenience and to acknowledge the transnational origins of Parhae discourse.
According to the Shoku Nihongi, Japanese diplomatic communications with Parhae recognized it as a "state of Go[gu]ryeo." In a diplomatic mission to Japan in 727 or 728, the Parhae envoy said that Parhae has "recovered the lost land of Goguryeo and inherited the old traditions of Buyeo." Wooden tablets discovered in Nara Prefecture state that an envoy to Parhae in 758 was called a Goryeo envoy. Mun of Balhae referred to himself as "King of Goryeo" but Reisa Shimoda suggests that this was not to restore the old name, as noted in the Dai Nihonshi, but as a means of gaining Japan's favor by invoking Goryeo. Cho lee-ok suggests that Mun's claim to the title of "Heavenly Descendant" was inherited from Goguryeo. Examples of Parhae envoys being referred to as Goryeo envoys and Parhae kings as the king of Goryeo are found extensively in the Nara Period (710–794) but have not been found during the later Heian Period (794–1185).
History
Origin
According to Old Book of Tang, after Goguryeo was defeated by the Tang, Tae Choyŏng (Da Zuorong) led his relatives to settle in Yingzhou (營州, modern-day Chaoyang) until they were disturbed by a Khitan rebellion in 696. The governor-general of Yingzhou, Zhao Wenhui, insulted the Khitan and Mohe chieftains by treating them like servants. Zhao refused to provide aid to their tribesmen when they suffered from famine. Li Jinzhong (Wushang Khan) of the Khitans along with his brother-in-law Sun Wanrong rebelled against Tang (Wu Zetian's Zhou Dynasty) hegemony, killed Zhao Wenhui, sacked Yingzhou, and attacked Hebei. Li died soon after and Sun succeeded him, only to be defeated by the Second Turkic Khaganate.
The population of Yingzhou fled eastward toward the Liao River during the turmoil. The Tang tried to appease Tae Chungsang (Da Zhongxiang), the father of Tae Choyŏng, and another leader named Kŏlsa Piu (Qisi Biyu), by granting them the titles of Duke of Zhen (Jin) and Duke of Xu (Heo) respectively. Kŏlsa Piu rejected the offer but was soon defeated by a Tang force led by Li Kaigu, while Tae Chungsang fled with his followers but also died around the same time. Tae Chungsang's son left the Liao River valley for Mt. Tianmen (in modern Jilin Province). The Old Book states that there, Tae Choyŏng united the Goguryeo and Mohe people to deal a heavy defeat upon the Tang forces led by Li Kaigu at the Battle of Tianmenling (Cheonmunnyeong). Because the route to Tae was cut off by the Kumo Xi and Khitans who had submitted to the Türks, Wu Zetian was unable to attack. Tae led his people east to the former area of Kyeru (Guilou) and built a walled settlement against Mount Dongmo (Dongmou) for protection. In 698, Tae Choyŏng declared himself King of Zhen (Jin).
The Old Book and New Book give different names for the leader that fled Yingzhou with Kŏlsa Piu. According to the Old Book, it was Choyŏng who fled with Kŏlsa Piu while the New Book states that it was Chungsang and his son succeeded him after his death. One theory to explain this discrepancy is that Choyŏng and Chungsang are actually the same person. Tae Chungsang's other name was Kŏlgŏl Chungsang and he may have taken Tae Choyŏng as a more Sinitic name after he became king of Parhae. According to this theory, the New Book confused the two names and assumed that Choyŏng was the son of Chungsang.
Other sources provide different accounts of Parhae's origin or differ in the details. According to Crossley, there was no rebellion at all, and the leader of the Sumo Mohe (Songmal Malgal) assisted the Tang by suppressing Khitan rebels. As a reward the Tang acknowledged the leader as the local hegemon of a semi-independent state. According to Wang Zhenping, Mohe people and Goguryeo loyalists were deported to Yingzhou after the fall of Goguryeo. They waited there for an opportunity to strike back. In 696, three Mohe chieftains took advantage of the Khitan rebellion to move further east. Kŏlsa Piu was defeated while Tae Chungsang died around the same time, leaving Chungsang's foster son, Tae Choyŏng, in control of the group. Choyŏng defeated a Tang punitive expedition and led his people to live in Dunhua.
In diplomatic communications between Silla and Jin, Silla attempted to confer investiture to Tae Choyŏng with the title of a fifth rank official: "Dae achan". Silla conferred this mid-ranking investiture partially out of a sense of superiority, but also because Parhae was a relatively new kingdom whereas Silla had been centuries old. The people of Jin did not know the system of ranks used in Silla and thus accepted the title. After a while, Tae Choyŏng realized the meaning of the title and sought to change Parhae's international status. In 713 or 714, the Tang dynasty recognized Tae Choyŏng as the "Prince of Bohai (Parhae)", the name for the sea surrounding Liaodong and Shandong.
According to Alexander Kim, neither the Tang or Silla recognized Parhae as the successor of Goguryeo. The Tang considered it a dukedom while Silla considered it their vassal. South Korean historians such as Kim Eng Gug, however, believe that the Tang viewed Parhae as Goguryeo's successor. Between 713 and 721, Silla constructed a northern wall to maintain active defences along the border. The Tang later recognized Parhae as a kingdom in 762 but Silla continued to view Parhae as a rebellious vassal. However, Kim Eun Gug argues that the "bestowal of a fifth-rank position was an expression of Silla's confidence, and such an exchange would have been unimaginable if Silla and Parhae were in a hostile relationship." After Tang recognition of Parhae as a kingdom, Parhae diplomatic missions to Japan began to refer to the Parhae ruler as descended from Heaven. Japanese officials criticized these letters, revised them, and limited diplomatic missions from Parhae. A royal epitaph and Buddhist scripture confirm this designation for the ruler of Parhae.
Ethnic identity
The ethnic identity of Parhae's founder is controversial and disputed. Many Chinese, Korean, Russian, and Japanese scholars of Parhae believe its population was composed of Goguryeo remnants and Mohe tribes. Chinese scholars consider the Mohe people to have formed the ethnic majority of Parhae, and arguments for this opinion are also viewed positively in Russia and in the West. Korean scholars and history texts generally hold that "the ruling class of Parhae were persons of Koguryŏ origins and that the people over whom they ruled were the Malgal, a people whose ethnic origins were different from Koguryŏ". While modern Korean scholars usually consider Parhae a Korean state and one of the Northern and Southern States of Korea, Russian and Chinese scholars reject this notion, echoing the position of historical Korean scholars such as Kim Pusik, author of the Samguk sagi.
Some historians view this dispute as the polemics reflecting modern politics rather than historical evidence.
The problem about Parhae history is that many questions are beyond a simple answer. Different, nearly contemporary, sources represent fundamental questions in very different ways with different possible interpretations.
— Johannes Reckel
Historical sources give different accounts of Tae Choyŏng's ethnicity and background. Among the official dynastic history works, the New Book of Tang refers to Tae Choyŏng and his state as Sumo Mohe (related to Jurchens and later Manchus) affiliated with Goguryeo. The Old Book of Tang also states Tae's ethnic background as Mohe but links him with Goguryeo via the term biezhong (gaoli biezhong ; 高麗別種). Literally speaking, biezhong means "separate kind." The term is interpreted as meaning "a branch of the Goguryeo people" by South and North Korean historians, but as "distinct from Goguryeo" by Japanese and Chinese researchers. The Old Book also states that the social customs of Parhae were the same as Goguryeo and the Khitans, and that after 699, the dispersed Goguryeo people joined the Turks and Mohe people.
According to Sloane, Tang sources divided Parhae's population into two categories, Goguryeo and Mohe. The royalty and upper class were composed of Goguryeo remnants while the majority of Parhae's population were Mohe. In a diplomatic mission to Japan in 727 or 728, the Parhae envoy said that Parhae has "recovered the lost land of Goguryeo and inherited the old traditions of Buyeo." Some consider this divide to be a cause of tension that contributed to Parhae's eventual downfall. Other scholars suggest that the Mohe people had been assimilated into Goguryeo culture to some extent, ranging from complete assimilation to at least applying to Parhae's founder. A minority of Korean scholars believe that the Mohe mentioned were not a distinct ethnic group but simply another term for Goguryeo's lower class, and that Parhae's population was composed entirely of Goguryeo descendants. Chinese scholars have made claims that Han Chinese were a part of the Parhae population, but apart from Goguryeo and Mohe, no other group is associated with the foundation of Parhae in Chinese, Korean, or Japanese sources.
According to Mark E. Byington, Chinese communications tended to refer to the state as either Parhae or Mohe with the exception of the Wujing Zongyao, which described Parhae as an offshoot of Buyeo. The Old Book referred to the Sumo Mohe as the Fuyu (Buyeo) Mohe in an entry dated to 690.