I was doing some research into the history of the Korean peninsula and some things deeply surprised me. In america we often get the impression that koreans, japanese, chinese etc are ethnically homogenous compared to many societies in the world, but seeing whats written on these steles has me doubting that. For example, the tomb steles of the founding family of Unified Silla clearly states that they descend from a freed Xiongnu slave of the Han dynasty (dubious on how likely it is that this is true, because of the multi century time gap) and were given their name (kim) or “jin” by the chinese emperor Han Wudi. How likely is this? Idk, but apparently recent archaeological research done in Seoul has concluded that the tomb furnishings of Silla kings is indeed very similar to nomadic styles and differs significantly from what came before them and their neighbor baekje and that genetic testing on some of the neighboring graves reveals nomadic ancestry as well.
Digging deeper I looked into the genealogies of other korean dynasties to see if they would have anything similar, and I found that Goryeo in their official genealogy claims paternal (well grandfather or great grandfather) inheritance from the Tang Emperors of China…This seems even more unlikely, so I’m wondering why they make these claims since China is across the sea from them.
Also, around half the “clans” in Korea of prestige or note seem to be from “overseas China” but these I mostly disregarded because of less meticulous proof considering many claim to be descended from emperors or high ministers.
Just some interesting thoughts on east asian history if anyone has any insights to share. Maybe East Asian royal families intermarried something like the way we see with European nobility? I also heard that the Japanese emperor has some maternal descent from Baekje.
submitted by /u/Top_Material8886
[link] [comments]
