The Korea Times begins a three-part series on the simmering dispute between Chinese historians and the Korean government over the former’s claims of a “Chinese” origin to several ancient Korean dynasties. On the HNN website, Yonson Ahn, of the University of Leipzig, gives a full background on the row.
The Korea Times series repeats earlier claims of Chinese self-aggrandizement and chauvinism with the added twist of a possible future border controversy in the event of a DPRK collapse.
“Some Korean analysts warned that the reason for this continuing history spat, which resurfaced recently, is a desire by Chinese officials to put the present border in question in case North Korea suddenly collapses.
Other researchers point to China’s hope to place itself at the center of the world as the real reason for the current controversy, a view similarly expressed in an American newspaper article.
“For China, the answer has long been obvious,” the Washington Post reported in the story in September 2004. “Their culture, they have been taught, radiated far and wide over the centuries, embracing great historical events, ranging from Genghis Khan’s empire to the invention of spaghetti and meatballs.”
According to Chinese history, not only did Koguryo begin as an ethnic minority in the Chinese fold, but neighboring Japanese civilization got started when 1,000 Chinese boys and girls sailed over in 209 B.C. to colonize the islands in hopes of finding immortality pills, the daily reported.”
4 responses so far ↓
1 The Humanaught // Sep 12, 2006 at 8:25 am
Is there any piece of land that China isn’t trying to claim through over-use of their long (and highly fragmented) history?
Personally, Canada’s got a bunch of Greeks … think we could make a case for having rights to Greece… and indirectly (through cultural dispersion) most of Europe and the Western world?
2 J. // Sep 12, 2006 at 2:17 pm
As I said in the original post, it all comes down to what you mean by “China.” Does that mean the PRC is the inheritor of all lands conquered by the Qing Empire (of which the Chinese were one part?) And from there, it gets even messier…
You could argue that the American revolutionaries tried something similar with your great land…after we beat the British, there was some talk that the new United States had therefore ‘inherited’ all former British holdings in North America. It took 30 years and the torching of the White House for us to say we were only kidding.
3 The Humanaught // Sep 12, 2006 at 6:33 pm
haha, yeah. One of the few areas of Canada’s history that has stuck in my mind over the years is the War of 1812 stuff. Being from Niagara (primary battle grounds) helped I guess.
The whole “Qing Empire” mentality gets taken even further when the Han Chinese/CCP attempt to claim the Yuan Dynasty and all its conquorings as theirs as well… bah. Bah! I say.
4 88 // Sep 14, 2006 at 10:08 am
Canada has always been a renegade province. We will reunite her with the glorious motherland soon enough.
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