Bohai/Parhae Identity and the Coherence of Dan gur under the Kitan/Liao Empire

• Main Author: Pamela Kyle Crossley
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Korea University, Center for Korean History 2016-02-01
• Series: International Journal of Korean History
• Subjects: Bohai; Liao; Dongdan; Dan gur; Gao Mohan
• Online Access: http://ijkh.khistory.org/upload/pdf/ijkh-21-1-11.pdf

The Liao shi [Liaoshi] (遼史) suggests that in 926 the Liao empire destroyed the state of Bohai, and afterward forced the Bohai people into servitude and resettlement across the empire. Modern archaeology together with epigraphical sources in the Kitan language confirm some of this narrative, but suggest a far more complicated story. Researches by scholars such as Aisingioro Ulhicun, Yoshimoto Michimasa, Im Sangsŏn, Sawamoto Mitsuhiro and Wang Shanjun have shed new light on the political circumstances of the Liao invasion of Bohai in 926 and the subsequent status of its inhabitants. A majority of the Bohai population remained in their traditional territories, where Bohai aristocrats, soldiers and high-ranking officials retained distinct roles in local administration. This essay looks at Bohai influence upon Liao administrative practices, the status of Bohai aristocrats of the Da lineage and elites such as Gao Mohan, and the probable outlines of Bohai demography to suggest that the Bohai role in transmission of Northeastern political traditions, in particular, may have been much more important than would be suggested on the basis of standard literary resources. Instead of being a doomed people whose identities and social structures evaporated after Liao resettlement policies stranded them in remote and inhospitable surroundings, the Bohai story may actually be one of political continuity and a seminal influence upon their successors, the Jurchens and ultimately the Manchus.