When Hyeon Go was describing to Damdeok about how Baekje was divided into East and West Baekje in Episode 13 of Tae Wang Sa Shin Gi before their attack, I couldn’t help but wonder after they showed a map of Bakeje territory. Grabbed a screenshot of the clearest frame I could get.
The map as shown in the screencap shows the map that we knew all along, Baekje bordered by Shilla, Kaya and Goguyreo. What is weird is West Baekje is actually across the sea and occupies parts of East China.
And being the history buff that I am, I went and wiki information on Baekje and got the map below which showed that Baekje only had territory on the Korean penisular. Similar searches for information about West Baekje and maps yielded the same results. Everything was similar but West Baekje was not reflected.
Although controversial, some Chinese and Korean records indicate that Baekje territory included parts of present-day China, across the Yellow Sea. You can read about the history records on this in Wikipedia.
After defeating Goguryeo in 371, Baekje had become a dominant power in East Asia, whose influence was not limited to the Korean peninsula. That state’s King Geunchogo seized several coastal cities of China, notably in Liaoxi and Shandong, to retain its superiority over Goguryeo and a variety of southern Chinese dynasties, which had arisen within the context of extended civil wars caused by the fall of the Han Dynasty in 220 CE and the concomitant invasions of foreign tribes, including but not limited to the Xiongnu and Xianbei (Wu Hu). This was from Gwanggaeto the Great of Goguryeo Wiki.
I also posted the question on forums and this was the answers I got.
Answered by dramaok @ soompi forums
YES you’re right. this is controversial, but as is according to TWSSG, there is indeed West and East Baekje, which are divided by Bohai/Balhae sea. West Baekje (better known as Dae-Ryuk Baekje for Continent Baekje) would be present day Hebei, China (you know, Qingdao beer ^^). because China denies this, and Korean records that directly link to it are destroyed or missing it is very controversial and most ppl only refer to Baekje as just that, the kingdom near present day Seoul and Incheon of South Korea.
However, on closer examinations of both Chinese and Korean records, and Western scholarship, there has been many indirect links to the existence of a West Baekje, which was even greater in geography and population.
For example, Chinese scholar/librarian 宋書 recorded “Baekje is west to Yo-Ha river”.
This is another map which I got from jebusrocks @ China History Forum.
And this map clearly shows that Baekje did indeed split into West and East Baekje at the peak of its powers. So regardless whether they established permanent settlements or a few military outposts since no Baekje artifacts were found from there or not publicised by the Chinese authorities, it is true that Paekche did exert some control over parts of China sometime in the 4th century.
So despite Tae Wang Sa Shin Gi being a pure fantasy television drama, it does have some merit in not twisting history in this area. History is fascinating.
wow. Im chinese and have no idea about this =D
very interesting, but I don’t agree with you
Idetrorce
Idetrorce, you have a different opinion? what’s your take, i am interested to know…
[...] like the inclusion of China’s Shandong Peninsula into Baekje, too. I can’t wait until I see the Chinese [...]
Ha, that last map is a riot. Shouldn’t really trust sources that have “Sea of Korea” or divide Japan up as a Korean colony. Seems like nothing more than a PC banger’s fantasy.
No as a korean it’s not right to say sea of japan
it is right to say sea of korea. and baekje colonized japan
even western china korea was a very great country in ancient world, Japan? nothing to us. even China, by King Gwanggeto
they were beaten up and lost manchuria so sea of japan is not correct it is sea of korea. I just hate Japanese
I found some information on wikipedia.
(Baekje / presence on continent)
According to the Book of Song, “Goguryeo came to conquer and occupy Liaodong, and Baekje came to occupy Liaoxi (遼西) (in modern Tangshan, Hebei); the place that came to be governed by Baekje was called the Jinping District, Jinping Province.”[6] The records of Book of Jin on Murong Huang states that the alliance of Goguryeo, Baekje, and a Xianbei tribe took military action.[7] The Samguk Sagi records that these battles occurred during the reign of King Micheon of Goguryeo (309-331).
According to the Book of Liang, “during the time of Jin Dynasty (265-420), Goguryeo conquered Liaodong, and Baekje also occupied Liaoxi and Jinping, and established the Baekje provinces.”[8]
The Zizhi Tongjian, compiled by Sima Guang (1019-1086) of the Song Dynasty (960-1279), states that in 346, Baekje invaded Buyeo, located at Lushan, and as a result the people of the country were scattered westward toward Yan.[9] That year was the first year of the King Geunchogo’s reign (346-375) in Baekje.
*Yawn* Half of your sources is from wikipeidia, which I have to say is not very reliable. I remember reading about how silk was invented in Korea on the wiki.
Also that last map, I can even make a map like that now on photoshop, how is that proof? Like you said, no artifacts were found. Also, it only seems to be the Koreans that are saying all of this and backing it up. I’ve heard nothing outside of Korea. There’s also tons of speculation and assumptions derived from these texts people are quoting.
I’m not saying it’s not true. It could well be that the Chinese are not publicizing it. It’s just that there aren’t any good, reliable, UNBIASED and concrete evidence. Unless there’s some concrete proof I’d have to dismiss it.
You are right, it is “just” wikipedia.
But I wonder if the sources “Book of Jin”, “Book of Song”, “Book of Liang” and “Zizhi Tongjian” are reliable.
The author quotes them, but they are only in chinese.
I just watched this last night and I looked it up too.
While I do not trust wikipedia or majority of websites that do not have published credits to back up on information, you need to remember that the winner writes the history.
Very often, the conquers destroy history.
While I ponder about this history, I do know that a few Chinese Dynasties are established by people referred as Korean descendants (or simply Mongolians).
I believed that Japan actually accepts the fact that their royal bloodline does not Baekje blood in them
Yes, very interesting indeed. I think if you study Baekje’s history and their artifects, you will be surpirse how advanced they were. It’s sad to see they are just part of the history books.
Don’t forget, Baekje came from early days of Koguryo royal line (aka Jolbon-Buyeo), first capital of Baekje was called Buyeo. So you know how important Buyeo for Koguryo & Baekje. In native words, Koguryo is aka as Kuri or Kori and Baekje is kura or Kuda, and Shilla is aka as Silla, Sinna, Seola, hence today’s Korean capital is named Seoul from Seolabol (This is also name of Silla’s capital).
Some Koreans scholars believe Korea should adopt native Korean names for these ancient states: Kori, Kura, Kara (karak or Kaya) & Silla.
And for the Baekje’s territories that once existed on Eastern China (Shandong) isn’t just myth, but it was only very short lived territory as it quickly fall to Chinese dynasty. Just think of as like temporary port trading colonies.
When i see a conflict over history between Korea and Japan/Russia/China, i usually tend in favor of Koreans. But, trust me, this map is just a HUGE joke.
I’m not saying Baekje didn’t have any territories in China but it is clearly oversized, as is Koguryo here. And the most incredible part is the way they divided Japan. There was no Korean colonies in Japan. I know Koreans suffered from Japanese colonies but changing history this way is just nonsense.
I didn’t know buyeo occupied that much space.