Gija Joseon

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Gija Joseon
Korean name
Hangul:	기자 조선
Hanja:	奇子朝鮮
McCune-Reischauer:	Kija Josŏn
Revised Romanization:	Gija Joseon
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese:	箕子朝鲜
Simplified Chinese:	箕子朝鲜
Hanyu Pinyin:	Jīzǐ Cháoxiǎn
Wade-Giles:	Chi-tzu Ch'ao-hsien

Gija Joseon (~323 BC-194 BC) refers to the putative period of Beonjoseon, one of the Three Confederate States of Gojoseon, after Gihu (기후, 箕詡) became the king of Beonjoseon. Chinese traditional accounts indicate that Gihu's ancestor, Gija, was the same person as Jizi (both written as 箕子 in Hanzi/Hanja), although such theories are largely considered discredited due to lack of archaeological evidence supporting such accounts, and due to the lack of corroborating textual evidence from relatively contemporary Chinese accounts.

1 Rise and fall of Gija Joseon
2 Controversy on whether Gija and Jizi were the same person
3 See also
4 References

[edit] Rise and fall of Gija Joseon

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According to Sin Chaeho's Joseon Sangosa, Beonjoseon began disintegrating after its king had been killed by a rebel from the Chinese state of Yan at around 323 BC. With this, the five ministers of Beonjoseon began contending for the throne. Gihu joined in this struggle, and emerged victorious as the new king of Beonjoseon, defeating the competitors for the throne. He established Gija Joseon, named after his ancestor Gija. During Gija Joseon, the king enjoyed strong soverign powers. Eventually, in 94 BC, Gija Joseon fell after King Jun was overthrown by Wei Man, who established Wiman Joseon in its place.

[edit] Controversy on whether Gija and Jizi were the same person

Chinese records written before the 3rd century BC made references to Jizi, a paternal uncle of the last king of the Chinese Shang Dynasty, the tyrannical King Zhou of Shang, whom King Zhou imprisoned and who was only released after King Zhou was overthrown by King Wu of Zhou, who ended Shang Dynasty and established Zhou Dynasty in its place. Those records made no references to Jizi being enfeoffed with Joseon by King Wu or his seizing power in Joseon. Records written after the 3rd century BC -- in particular, the Book of Han^[1], in its volumes dealing with geographical features of Han commanderies -- stated that Jizi headed northeast and became the ruler and civilizer of Joseon. Archeological evidence suggests that Chinese bronze cultures were very different from Korean bronze cultures through this period, and Chinese writing system were not used in Korea at this period. Until such evidence put the Gija/Jizi theory into doubt, it was widely believed that Gija Joseon was located in current Korea, replacing Gojoseon of Dangun.

Some scholars, who try to reconcile the Book of Han account with archaeological evidence, believe that Jizi settled west of Beonjoseon based on the Book of Han's assertions and Korean record of Samguk Yusa, arguing that the records suggest that Gojoseon continued to coexist with Gija Joseon after the migration of Jizi. These scholars believe that Jizi's influence was limited to western Gojoseon, west of Liao River.

Historian Kim Jung-bae argues that the association between Jizi and Joseon has generally been disproven.^[2] He believed that the existence of Gija Joseon as a state established by Jizi was fabricated during Han Dynasty. He and historians holding similar views point out that the Bamboo Annals, and Confucius's Analects, which was the earliest extant text that referred to Jizi, did not say anything about his going to Gojoseon.^[3] Similarly, the Records of the Grand Historian, written soon after the conquest of Wiman Joseon by Han, made no reference to Joseon in its discussions about Jizi^[4] and no reference to Jizi in its discussions about Joseon.^[5] Kim, and other scholars holding similar views, believe that the confusion and/or intentional fabrication of the account arose out of the confusion between Jizi and Gihun's ancestor Gija.