Reconstructing Ancient Korean History: The Formation of Korean-ness in the Shadow of History

Stella Xu

doi:10.5771/9781498521451

Summary

This book examines the contested re-readings of “Korea” in early Chinese historical records and their influence on the formation of Korean-ness in later periods. The earliest written records on “Koreans” are found in Chinese documents produced during the Han dynasty, from the third century BCE to the third century CE. Since then, these early Chinese records have been used as primary sources for writing early Korean history in Korea, China, and Japan. This study analyzes the various reinterpretations and utilizations of these early records that became more diverse by the late nineteenth century, when the reconstruction of ancient history became a crucial part of the formation of Korean national consciousness. Korea’s modern historiography was complicated by a thirty-five year colonial experience (1910–1945) under Japan. During this period, Japanese colonial scholars attempted to depict Korean history as stagnant, heteronymous, and replete with factional strife, while Korean nationalist historians strove to construct an indigenous Korean nation in order to mobilize Koreans’ national consciousness and recover political sovereignty. While focused on Korea and Northeast Asia, the links between historiography and political ideology investigated in this study are pertinent to historians in general.

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Bibliographic data

Edition: 1/2016
Copyright year: 2016
ISBN-Print: 978-1-4985-2144-4
ISBN-Online: 978-1-4985-2145-1
Publisher: Lexington, Lanham
Language: English
Pages: 233
Product type: Book Titles

1. Table of Contents No access
2. Acknowledgments No access
3. Notes on Romanization No access
4. Maps No access
1. Notes No access
1. The Formation of Chinese Views on the Others No access
2. Managing Frontiers, Embracing Others: Xiongnu, Nanyue, and Chaoxian in Han Foreign Policy No access
3. The Interdependent Formation of Chinese-ness and Korean-ness No access
4. Notes No access
1. The Three Chosŏn and Three Kingdoms Framework in the Koryǒ Period (918–1392) No access
2. Stability after the Dynastic Transition from the Early to Mid-Chosǒn Period (1392-1600) No access
3. Rethinking the Sino-centric World Order and Repositioning Chosǒn—Later Chosǒn Period (1600-1905) No access
4. Notes No access
1. Colonial Legacy: Japanese Scholarship on the Ancient History of Korea (seventeenth century-1945) No access
2. Korean Historiography from the Late Chosǒn to Colonial Period (1900-1945) No access
3. Post-1945: Studies on Korean Ancient History in the South No access
4. Unresolved Issues That Still Matter No access
5. Notes No access
1. Flourishing Period in the 1950s-1960s No access
2. Relative Dormancy and Reorientation in the 1970s–1980s No access
3. Turning to a New P’yǒngyang-Centered Korean History No access
4. The International and Inter-Korea Relationship in History Studies No access
5. Notes No access
1. Manchuria in the Pre-nineteenth Century No access
2. Research on Manchuria since the Nineteenth Century No access
3. Climax of Controversy: Dispute on the History of Koguryŏ No access
4. Clash of Historical Views No access
5. Notes No access
1. Notes No access
1. Primary Sources No access
2. Secondary Works No access
Index No access Pages 221 - 232
About the Author No access Pages 233 - 233