Ancient History of Northeast Asia Redefined: ??? ??? ??

By Don S. Lee

My acquaintances raise the question: Why does a medical doctor write a historiography? My answer is still the same as I provided in the past couple of times. Because of geopolitics and unique Korean culture, they couldnt envision the way I set the premises. Classic Chinese character interpretation has to be based upon reasoning. Traditional type of simple logic wouldnt work. Series of syllogism is needed to get the bottom out. The most reliable source of information is the logograms, its advancement, and the Shijing. Under the new study method, the legendary Dangun Wanggeom was unveiled.

The Eurasian nomads moved to east, settled in the birth place of Yellow River Valley Civilization, controlled the epic flood, and set the capital of Dangun Joseon around the Xiechi pool. The mob killed Wanggeom, set the Xia dynasty ()of China, chased out the Dangun followers to the north. The Wanggeom followers ended up in the Xiongnu territory and left Donghu culture. They spread out to the north and also through the sea of Hahn to Japanese archipelago to Okinawa. Baekjae even had the Chinese Imperial Seal for awhile. Constant struggle of two groups is the History of Northeast Asia. This New Theory needs to be assessed by others.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Jul 23, 2018
• ISBN: 9781984539113

Book preview

Copyright © 2018 by Mosol, Don S. Lee.

Library of Congress Control Number:   2018907877

ISBN:                  Hardcover                       978-1-9845-3913-7

                            Softcover                         978-1-9845-3912-0

                            eBook                              978-1-9845-3911-3

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Rev. date: 08/29/2018

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PREFACE

A good number of my acquaintances raises the question as to why a medical doctor writes a historiography. My answer is still the same as I provided in the past couple of times.

This book couldn’t be published by anyone living in Manchuria or the Korean peninsula.

Because of geopolitical reason and unique Korean culture, none of the historians in the Korean academic circle could envision the way I set the premises. Even today, the geopolitics works the same way as it had been over two thousand years ago. It is the major dilemma for the scholars in the Korean peninsula to study the ancient history of Korea. Any historian who studied Korean history would realize that whatever they have said before appears to be different, depending on a certain character or phrase being interpreted, as a combination of phonetic loan character (PLCs) or phono-semantic matching character (PSMCs) comes up with a very different outcome. Studying the history of Northeast Asia is a process. As a result, my third book was necessary to correct mistakes that I have made in the past two books.

In academic sense, it is very difficult to interpret the ancient Chinese ideogram. Without knowing the whole evolutionary process of the Chinese character and culture, it is impossible to provide clear and right explanation by one party. Yet the history of Northeast Asia is projected by one side only. The worldwide scholars accepted it as the final word. It needs to be explored by other scholars. It is a huge subject. Readers’ interests could be variable, depending on their stance in the academic world or in the society they live. For those reasons, I chose to make two sections: one in English and another in Korean language, inserting lots of original logograms in the scriptures for the readers to compare to the works of other scholars.

The time, place, resources, and current social setting allow me to stand up and make an opposing view against traditional interpretation.

First, I am providing as a benefit the freedom that the founding father of this great nation provided to the future generation. Had I been living in Northeast Asia, this writing wouldn’t be possible. Once again, I am grateful to the founding father of this great nation on earth—America. They promised freedom of speech and left all the law of nature as the law of the land. Without any fear, I am speaking what I believe in the truth being extrapolated through the ancient scriptures.

Second, without the current technical advancement (namely, the internet) to search through various websites—such as Google, Baidu, and Yahoo—it would be impossible to get some rare old scriptures that Korean scholars couldn’t read in the past. I deeply appreciate the program developer, owner, and director of the Chinese Text Project (http://ctext.org/zh. 中國哲學書電子化計劃), Mr. Donald Sturgeon. Majority of the cited references came from his program. This essay contains lots of Chinese ideograms with different tones. Most of the phrases and clauses that needed to be quoted came from the Chinese Text Project. Pronunciation of logograms in different times and places were considered based on the http://ctext.org/zh, 漢典, and Daum dictionary.

This essay is a very unique historiography based on the new concept about the ancient history written by Chinese scholars under Confucian value. It is my argument that the ancient scriptures had been misinterpreted. I assert that English translation (accurate in tone, meaning, and content) of any and all foreign-language text in book 1 is my personal view for academic discussion.

Bernie J. Bae in St. Paul Minneapolis designed the book cover. Dr. Unchul Lee, who teaches Confucian classics in Northern Virginia for several years, provided important suggestions in English translation. S. J. Kim in Korea and Michael Che-Kwang Ryoo in Queensland, Australia, provided an idea for the maps. It is a multilingual text of two sections, mainly because two distinctive groups of people would be interested in this subject with different stance. They could have different interpretation of Chinese logograms. Lastly, it is difficult for the publishing company for editing. I am glad that I met the right one—Xlibris. I owe a debt of gratitude and appreciation to all of them.

Romanization of the Names in the Scripture: Romanization of Chinese scriptures has been an issue for a long time. Since the modern era of scientific and technological advancement, the academic society made guidelines based on the Western pioneer of Far East Asia, which formulated the romanization of foreign language. They have adopted a few versions, which are ignored by the current internet news and reports as seen in Google and Wikipedia. By studying the ancient history of Northeast Asia, it is apparent that the ancient Chinese scriptures are compiled with lots of PLCs and PSMCs. Northerners spoke Tungusic languages. Hence, good numbers of ancient logograms are still pronounced as Korean does. Also, certain sentences were written with the current Korean syntax. For those reasons, the author boldly adapted to romanize a good number of proper names in the scriptures primarily under the Korean way of pronunciation and considered romanization in Wikipedia as secondary.

Historiography is dealing with vast territory and long period of time, and maps are very important for the readers to comprehend the textural message. To avoid many maps in the book, the following master map is edited from the Google Maps for the readers: https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=1kp4uwMdafuDAid2jWgBKSW956OOuyqsb

This essay—titled as Ancient History of Northeast Asia Redefined —is an ongoing process. For that reason, the author set up this website to communicate with other scholars: Ancient History of Korea (http://www.ancienthistoryofkorea.com/삼한-三韓의-후예-後裔들/). The author also set up a Facebook page for this:

I assert that my manuscript contains an accurate English translation (accurate in tone, meaning, and content) of any and all foreign-language text that is included in my manuscript.

June 21, 2018                                                Mosol, Don S. Lee,

McLean, Virginia, USA                              MD, MPH

In memory of my parents, who had suffered throughout their short lives

Dedicated to my wife, Jane, and my children

Contents

PREFACE

PART 1: DAWN OF CIVILIZATION IN NORTHEAST ASIA

Unique Nature of the Yellow River Valley(YRV) Civilization

The Mystical Unicorn

The Epic Flood Control

Hongshan Culture Sites

Location and Size of the Nine Provinces

Four Seas (四海) Before the Grand Historian

Mystery of Guzhu Guk (孤竹國)

The First Map, Shan-Hai Ching (山海經)

We Have Heard Only One Side of the Story

Unique Nature of Chinese Characters and Scriptures

Ancient Scriptures Had Been Tampered

Liùshū (六書) Fallacy

Evolution of Dictionaries

Method of the Northeast Asian History Study

Etymology of a Few Words

Dongyi (東夷) and Donghu (東胡)

Wuhuan (烏丸, 烏桓) and Xianbei (鮮卑)

Buyeo (夫餘) and Goguryeo

Yemaek (濊貊) People Left Hongshan Culture

Revolt of Nine Ryeo Tribes (九黎之亂) Is the Battle of Zhuolu

Etymology of Bohai (渤海)

Boyi Invented the Go (圍棋) Game

PART 2: BIRTH OF WANGGEOM JOSEON

Boyi (伯益) Is the Wanggeom

Mystery of Boyi (伯益) Unveiled

Gojoseon Moved the Capital

The Old Shanxi People Spoke the Tungusic Languages

Gojoseon History in the Shijing

PART 3: GOJOSEON HISTORY IN THE HOUSE OF JIN (晉)

Chinese Logograms Keep the History

Discovery of the Bamboo Annals

Tale of King Mu, Son of Heaven (穆天子傳)

Bal Joseon (發朝鮮) and the Feudal State Jin (晉)

Gojoseon Divided

PART 4: OLD KOREA DIVIDED (CA. 300–208BC)

Goguryeo and Buyeo Started from Shanxi Province

Vagabonds Roamed over North China Plain

Fallacy of General Qin Kai

Eastern End of the Great Wall

Knife Money Is the Evidence of Buyeo Golden Era

Etymology of Lelang (樂浪) and Daebang

Etymology of Manchu (滿洲)

Etymology of Yiwulü Mountain (醫巫閭山)

The Northern Extra State Was Divided

Origin of King Bi (朝鮮王否)

The Liaoning Bronze Dagger Is the Gojoseon Culture

PART 5: MANCHURIA: THE FARAWAY PARADISE

Northern Boundary of the Feudal State Yan

Bal Joseon (發朝鮮) to Gyi Joseon (暨朝鮮)

Faraway Paradise, Land of Sage without Dictators

PART 6: THE HAN (漢) INVASION AND BIRTH OF THREE HAHNS

Radical Neo-Confucianism

The Reason of the Han Invasion

Citadel of King Ugeo (王險城)

History of Buyeo (夫餘) Concealed

Four Commanderies of Han

Two Founding Legends of Baekjae

Yiwulü Mountain, Fushan (富山), and Xianbei Mountain Are the Same

PART 7: LOCAL REVOLT (魏晋南北朝, AD 220–589)

Relationship of Nam Lu, Balgi (發岐), SajaWeegudae, and Gongsun Du

Wei Queen Bimiho (倭女王卑弥呼)

Time and Place Do Not Fit the Old Theory

Source of Dispute about the Gwanggaeto Stele

PART 8: BAEKJAE HOLDS IMPERIAL SEAL

Confusing Names of Rulers and Countries

Primary Sources to the Continental Baekjae

Trail of the Imperial Seal

PART 9: NORTH AND EAST OF HAN HAE (翰海)

Series of Wars Broke Out between Goguryeo and Sui

Hahn Guk (狗邪韓國) was the Han Citadel (漢城) of Baekjae

Silla from Manchuria to Korean Peninsula

Birth of Nihon Koku (日本國)

Mystery of the Seven-Branched Sword

Demarcation of Period in NEA History

Gojoseon Revived as Khitan Empire

Zen Buddhism (禪宗) Originated from Taoism

PART ONE

Dawn of Civilization in Northeast Asia

Unique Nature of the Yellow River Valley(YRV) Civilization

A ncient civilizations flourished in an ideal terrain to live and accommodate a large community. Since the written scripture is the pillar of history, the YRV civilization represent as the birth place of Northeast Asian history. It was unique in a few aspects:

1. It emerged far away from the other three ancient civilizations over the huge mountain range and was in a rather small, confined, yet flood-prone place far away from the sea.

2. They struggled to control the flood for a long time and emphasized the need for a fortress.

3. Once the flood controlled, details about and surroundings were recorded

4. The small salt lake in the west of Hangu Pass (函谷關) was the pillar for the YRV civilization.

5. It had similar function as the water hole in the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania for the human to get the essential ingredient to live.

6. Many tribes speaking different dialects or languages came to the lake for the salt.

They were nomadic people from the Eurasian Steppe, speaking Tungusic languages.

Legend had it that their ancestors came from the east of Ural Altaic mountain range known as the Kunlun Mountains (崑崙山), which is also known as Taebaeksan (太伯山) by Koreans. Ural means fenced around. It is the phono-semantic matching characters (PSMCs) of Khan Tengri Mountain, the mystical high mountain where the high priest (昆侖) with a mystical animal unicorn lives.¹ They called him Hwanung (桓雄), who is the son of Hwanin (桓因), the lord of heaven. Although a group of Korean scholars believed the logogram (the 因 of Hwanin is a typo of similar logogram Guk [國]), the essence of mythology was the logogram Hwan (桓), which is the combined logogram of two pictograms: the tree (木) and early dawn (亘) before the sun (日) comes up through the horizon (一).

The dictionary had it that the logogram Geng/Gen (亘) had been used as a simplified word of the foreign country Wu-Geng (烏亘). The logogram tree (木, mù) is a phonetic loan character (PLC) representing the herders as Mu (牧). Tribes living around the birthplace of the YRV civilization were the descendants of Hwanin (桓因) from the west. They flip-flopped the logogram Geng/Gen (亘) to Hwan (桓) and Hwanin (桓因) to 西傾因桓是來 as seen in the book of Shangshu and other scriptures. According to the Kangxi Dictionary, the noun phrase 亘彝，亘溫, which is supposed to be in the Book of Jin