Old Chosŏn, also known as Gojoseon (Korean: 고조선; Hanja: 古朝鮮) and its contemporary name Joseon (Korean: 조선; Hanja: 朝鮮), was the first kingdom on the Korean Peninsula. According to Korean mythology, the kingdom was established by the legendary king Tan'gun. Old Chosŏn possessed the most advanced culture in the Korean Peninsula at the time and was an important marker in the progression towards the more centralized states of later periods. The addition of Go (고; 古), meaning "old" or "ancient", is used in historiography to distinguish the kingdom from the Joseon, which was founded in 1392.
According to the Samguk yusa, Old Chosŏn was established in 2333 BCE by Tan'gun, who was said to be born from the heavenly prince Hwanung and a bear-woman, Ungnyeo. While Tan'gun is a mythological figure, some interpret his legend as a reflection of the sociocultural conditions of the kingdom's early development. The account of Tan'gun has played an important role in the development of Korean identity. Today, the founding date of Old Chosŏn is officially celebrated as Gaecheonjeol ('National Foundation Day') in North and South Korea.
Chinese sources such as the Shangshu dazhuan and the Book of Documents claim that in the 12th century BCE, following the establishment of Old Chosŏn, Jizi (also known as Kija), a sage who belonged to the royal family from the Shang dynasty, immigrated to the northern part of the Korean Peninsula and became the founder of Kija Chosŏn. There are many interpretations of Old Chosŏn and Kija Chosŏn as well as debates regarding Kija Chosŏn's existence.
In 194 BCE, the ruling dynasty of Old Chosŏn was overthrown by Wi Man, a refugee from the Han vassal state of Yan, who then established Wiman Joseon.
In 108 BCE, the Han dynasty, under Emperor Wu, invaded and conquered Wiman Joseon. The Han established four commanderies to administer the former Old Chosŏn territory. After the fragmentation of the Han Empire during the 3rd century and the subsequent chaotic 4th century, the area escaped Chinese control and was conquered by Goguryeo in 313 CE.
The capital of Old Chosŏn was Wanggeom-seong (now Pyongyang) from at least the 2nd century BCE. In the southern region of the Korean Peninsula, the Jin state arose by the 3rd century BCE.
Founding myths
There are three different main founding myths concerning Old Chosŏn, which revolve around Tan'gun, Kija, or Wi Man.
Tan'gun myth
The myths revolving around Tan'gun were recorded in the later Korean work Samguk yusa of the 13th century. This work states that Tan'gun, the offspring of a heavenly prince and a bear-woman, founded Old Chosŏn in 2333 BCE, and was succeeded by Kija (Jizi) after King Wu of Zhou had placed him onto the throne in 1122 BCE. A similar account is found in Jewang Ungi. According to the legend, the Lord of Heaven, Hwanin had a son, Hwanung, who descended to Baekdu Mountain and founded the city of Shinsi. Then a bear and a tiger came to Hwanung and said that they wanted to become people. Hwanung said to them that if they went in a cave and lived there for 100 days while only eating mugwort and garlic he would change them into human beings. However, about halfway through the 100 days the tiger gave up and ran out of the cave. The bear, in contrast, successfully restrained herself and became a beautiful woman named Ungnyeo. Hwanung later married Ungnyeo, and she gave birth to Tan'gun.
While the Tan'gun story is considered to be a myth, it is believed it is a mythical synthesis of a series of historical events relating to the founding of Old Chosŏn. There are various theories on the origin of this myth. Seo and Kang (2002) believe the Tan'gun myth is based on integration of two different tribes, an invasive sky-worshipping Bronze Age tribe and a native bear-worshipping neolithic tribe, that led to the foundation of Old Chosŏn. Lee K. B. (1984) believes 'Tan'gun-wanggeom' was a title borne by successive leaders of Old Chosŏn.
Tan'gun is said to have founded Old Chosŏn around 2333 BCE, based on the descriptions of the Samguk yusa, Jewang Ungi, Tongguk t'onggam and the Annals of the Joseon Dynasty. The date differs among historical sources, although all of them put it during the mythical Emperor Yao's reign (traditional dates: 2357 BCE? – 2256 BCE?). Samguk yusa says Tan'gun ascended to the throne in the 50th year of the legendary Yao's reign, Annals of the King Sejong says the first year, and Tongguk t'onggam says the 25th year.
In the 7th century BCE, the Yan pioneered the Northeast regions. According to The Growth of Yan and The Context of Guanzi, it can be presumed that Old Chosŏn grew through trade in this era. It is estimated that Old Chosŏn developed so far as to be able to wage war against the Yan in the 4th century BCE.
Kija myth
Kija, a man from the period of the Shang dynasty, allegedly fled to the Korean peninsula in 1122 BCE during the fall of the Shang to the Zhou dynasty and founded Kija Chosŏn. Kija Chosŏn is recognized and mentioned in the earliest surviving Chinese record, Records of the Three Kingdoms. No contemporary Korean sources existed for Kija Chosŏn, and the oldest sources produced in Korea were from the Goryeo dynasty. The earliest Korean record about Kija Chosŏn can be seen from Samguk Yusa.
By the middle of Goryeo dynasty, a state cult had developed around Kija. The Dongsa Gangmok of 1778 described Kija's activities and contributions in Old Chosŏn. The records of Kija refer to Eight Prohibitions (범금팔조; 犯禁八條), that are recorded by the Book of Han and evidence a hierarchical society with legal protections of private property.
In pre-modern Korea, Kija represented the authenticating presence of Chinese civilization. Until the 12th century CE, Koreans commonly believed that Tan'gun bestowed upon Korea its people and basic culture, while Kija gave Korea its high culture, and presumably, standing as a legitimate civilisation.
Many modern experts have denied Kija Chosŏn's existence for various reasons, mainly due to contradicting archaeological evidence and anachronistic historical evidence. They point to the Bamboo Annals and the Analects of Confucius, which were among the first works to mention Kija, but do not mention his migration to Old Chosŏn. Kija Chosŏn might have just existed as a symbol of the pre-Qin dynasty migrants who escaped the chaos of the Warring States period.
Wi Man
Wi Man was a military officer of the Yan of northeastern China who fled to the northern Korean peninsula in 195 BCEfrom the encroaching Han dynasty. He founded a principality with Wanggeom-seong as its capital, which is thought to be in the region of present-day Pyongyang. The 3rd-century Chinese text Weilüe of the Sanguozhi recorded that Wi Man usurped King Jun and thus took over the kingship of Old Chosŏn.
Academic perspectives
Old Chosŏn mythology and history can be divided into three phases, Tan'gun, Kija Chosŏn, and Wi Man Joseon.
Kang & Macmillan (1980), Sohn et al. (1970), Kim J.B. (1980), Han W.K. (1970), Yun N. H. (1985), Lee K.B. (1984), Lee J.B. (1987) viewed the Tan'gun myth as a native product of proto-Koreans, although it is not always associated with Old Chosŏn. Kim J.B. (1987) rejected the Tan'gun myth's association with Old Chosŏn and pushes it further back to the Neolithic period. Sohn et al. (1970) suggested that the Tan'gun myth is associated with the Dongyi, whom they viewed as the ancestors of Koreans. Kim C. (1948) suggested the Tan'gun myth had a Chinese origin, tracing it to a Han dynasty tomb in the Shandong peninsula.
Gardiner (1969), Henderson (1959), McCune (1962) considered the Kija myth to be a later conflation. Sohn et al. (1970) dismissed the Kija story as a Chinese fabrication. On the other hand, Hatada (1969), gave Old Chosŏn a Chinese identity, exclusively ascribed it to the Kija myth, and moved it to the 3rd century BCE. Shim Jae-Hoon (2002) accepted the eastward migration of Kija, but denied the relationship between Kija and Joseon, suggesting that the existence of Old Chosŏn could not be extended to the second millennium BCE.
Kim C.W. (1966), Han W.K. (1970), Choi M.L. (1983, 1984, 1985, 1992), Han W.K. (1984), Kim J.B. (1987), Lee K.B. (1984) accepted Wi Man as a historical figure. Gardiner (1969) questioned authenticity of the Wi Man myth, although he mentioned there were interactions between Old Chosŏn and the Han dynasty and social unrest in the area during that time period.
Controversies
The first extant Korean text to mention Kija (the Korean pronunciation of Jizi) was Kim Pusik's Samguk sagi (completed in 1145), which claimed that Kija had been enfeoffed in Haedong (海東: Korea) by the Zhou court, but commented that this account was uncertain because of the brevity of the sources. Only in the thirteenth century did Korean texts start to integrate Kija more fully into Korean history. The Samguk yusa (1281) explained that after being enfeoffed by King Wu of Zhou, Kija replaced Dangun's descendants as the ruler of Old Chosŏn, whereas Jewang Ungi (1287) identified Tan'gun and Kija as the first rulers of former and latter Joseon respectively. Most premodern Korean historians after that accepted that Kija had replaced another indigenous power (represented by Tan'gun) in Old Joseon.
In 1102, during the Goryeo period, King Sukjong built a mausoleum to Kija in a place near Pyongyang that had been identified as Kija's tomb.Sadang for Kija called Kijasa (箕子祠) was also built in Pyongyang. The mausoleum was rebuilt in 1324 and was repaired in 1355, but the cult of Kija spread most widely after the establishment of the Joseon Dynasty in 1392. Because Joseon's state ideology was Neo-Confucianism borrowed from China, Joseon intellectuals promoted Kija as a culture hero who had raised Korean civilization to the same level as China.
By the mid-Joseon dynasty, the established view among historians traced Korean origins to Chinese refugees, considering Korean history that of a long series of kingdoms connected with China. As such, the Kija Chosŏn and Silla states were valorized, while the Old Chosŏn and Goguryeo states were not considered as important. According to this view, the first state in Korea, Kija Chosŏn, was founded by Jizi in 1122 BCE, who was a disgruntled Chinese advisor to the Shang dynasty. The story of how he brought poetry, music, medicine, trade, and a political system to the Korean peninsula was conceived similarly to the proposed Founding of Rome by the Trojan refugee Aeneas. But by the 1930s, under the influence of Shin Chaeho's histories, the Jizi Korean founding story became less popular than that of Tan'gun, the son of a tiger and a bear – the latter being common in Japanese folklore – who brought civilization to the Korean peninsula. Shin and the other historians who promulgated this myth had been influenced by Daejonggyo, a new religious movement which worshipped Tan'gun, but attacked pre-annexation textbook narratives of Tan'gun which portrayed him as the brother of the Japanese god Susanoo. To Shin, Tan'gun was both the founder of the Korean minjok and the first Korean state (kuk), and thus the necessary starting point for Korean history. In response to a challenge by the Japanese scholars Shiratori Kurakichi and Imanishi Ryū of Tan'gun as a fabrication by the author of the Samguk yusa, nationalist historian Choe Nam-seon attacked Japanese mythology as being built upon fabrications.
By focusing on a mythological god which founded a "sacred race" (shinsŏng chongjok), Korean nationalist historiography aims to portray ancient Korea as a golden age of "gods and heroes" where Korea's cultural achievements rivaled those of China and Japan. Accordingly, Shin Chaeho elevated Tan'gun to play a similar role as did the Yellow Emperor in China and which Amaterasu does in Japan. Choe Nam-seon, according to his Purham culture theory, places Tan'gun even above the Chinese and Japanese emperors, because those rulers were supposedly Shamanistic rulers of the ancient Korean "Părk" tradition. The Tan'gun story also lends credence to claims that Korean heritage is over 5000 years old. According to Hyung Il Pai, the popularity of Tan'gun studies can be said to "reflect the progressively ultra-nationalistic trend in Korean historical and archaeological scholarship today". Shin Chaeho named Mount Paektu in the Changbai Mountains on the Sino-Korean border as a part of Korean heritage, by virtue of connection with the mythical Tan'gun. The mountain, however, was also claimed by the Manchus of the Qing dynasty as part of their origin myth at least since the 17th century, and the mountain range is considered sacred in Han Chinese culture as well. This nationalist identification of Baekdu with Koreans was cemented by the operation of Korean independence movement partisans operating from the Chinese border and legitimized with associations to the history of the Old Chosŏn and Balhae states. The Chinese civilizational connection to ancient Korea continues to be attacked by North Korean historians, who allege that the history of Kija Chosŏn was "viciously distorted by the feudal ruling class, the sadaejuui followers, and the big-power chauvinists".