NORTHEAST ASIAN HISTORY FOUNDATION 08/2022
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Kwon Eun-joo, Researcher, Research Institute of Ancient and Medieval History of Korea
Going to Dunhua
It has already been 20 years since I visited Dunhua (敦化) in Jilin, China, for the first time. Back then, the place was not appealing as a tourist destination. There were no great mountains, fancy amusement parks, or large shopping malls. However, it was a place quite worthy of visiting for researchers of Balhae’s history because of the tomb of Princess Jeonghye (貞惠公主, 737-777), the second daughter of King Mun of Balhae (who reigned from 737 to 793), was discovered and is also known where Balhae was founded.
Discovery of Princess Jeonghye's Tomb, Confirming Where Balhae was Founded
The tomb of Princess Jeonghye was discovered in 1949 among the ancient tombs of the royal family and aristocrats of early Balhae, located on Liuding Mountain, south of Dunhua. The focal point of this tomb, which follows the Goguryeo tradition of the corridor-style stone chamber tomb with corbeled vaulted ceiling, is the tombstone of Princess Jeonghye. The tombstone contains various information related to Balhae. For example, it wrote King Mun's honorary title as '大興寶曆孝感金輪神法大王,' and used the independent era name and the appellation such as ‘Emperor (皇上),’ which are decisive information for confirming the founding site of Balhae.
Princess Jeonghye died in 777 at the age of forty and was “buried in the hill west of Jinneung (royal tomb) on November 24, the Gapsin Day, in the winter of the 7th year during the reign of Boryeok (780)” three years later. Whether ‘Jinneung’ is the tomb of Dae Jo-yeong (founder of Balhae) or King Mu is controversial. However, the fact that the princess was buried on the hill west of Jinneung indicates that the king’s tomb in early Balhae was prepared among the group of tombs in Liuding Mountain. It was also considered strong evidence suggesting that the Dunhua area was the founding site of Balhae and the early capital. The early capital, including Dongmu Mountain, where the former general of Goguryeo, Dae Jo-yeong constructed as a fortress in 698 and founded as Balhae, is called Guguk (舊國). There were several theories about its location, but when Princess Jeonghye's tomb was excavated, this controversy seemed to have subsided for some time.
Development of Yukjeongsan Cultural Tourism District and Transformation of Balhae’s Historical Space
The Dunhua area, where there was nothing to see except the ruins of Balhae, started to become busy about ten years ago. The 52-square-kilometer area, including the tombs of Liuding Mountain, was developed into a cultural and tourism district. In 2015, it was designated as a 5A-class tourist and scenic area, the highest level officially recognized by the Chinese government. At the time, however, there were concerns in Korea that such development would damage the historical value of Balhae. Such concerns became a reality as China prohibited Korean researchers from accessing the area before and after the development, and you will notice this when you look at the content of facilities installed in tourist areas.
According to the article in the Chinese portal site called Baidu Encyclopedia introducing the Liuding Mountain Cultural Tourism Zone, Zhengjue Temple (正覺寺) at the foot of the mountain across the entrance to the Liuding Ancient Tombs is an important holy site as it is the essence of more than 30 temples in China. Jinding Buddha, built on the mountain behind it and looking at Baekdusan Mountain in the distance, was erected in response to the Tian Tan Buddha in Hong Kong to protect China’s land together. They turned the site of the ancient tombs from early Balhae into a holy site for China's patriotism. In addition, while China views Balhae as a part of Manchu history, they constructed the Ancestral Shrine of Qing (淸祖祠) here, which has nothing to do with the progenitor of Qing, to associate it as the originating place of the Manchus. Also, they constructed Changbaishan Shrine to enshrine the mountain gods of Changbaishan (Baekdusan Mountain) at the entrance of the Ancestral Shrine of Qing. It is true that the Manchus also regarded Baekdusan Mountain as a sacred place, but the act of constructing shrines here makes us think about their true intentions. In other words, they transformed the historical space of Balhae into a historical space of China from ancient times to the present and an actual space to embody patriotism and the ideology of a unified multi-ethnic state.
Debate Rekindled, Where was Balhae Founded, and Where was the Initial Royal Fortress?
What has drawn attention in Chinese academic circles recently is the theory that Dongmu Mountain, the founding site of Balhae, and its early capital, are the fortress in Mopan Village in Tomun, Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture, is gaining strength. The basis for this theory is that Dunhua Chengzi Mountain Fortress, which was considered as Dongmu Mountain Fortress, is small in scale, and the remains of Aodong Fortress and Yongsheung remains, which were strongly considered early royal fortresses sites, were determined as the remains of the Jin Dynasty because no remains or relics of Balhae were found during excavation. Meanwhile, roof tiles and building sites from the early years of Balhae were found in the fortress in Mopan Village, along with many ruins of Balhae in the vicinity.
Korean academia is generally skeptical about these claims. The reason is that the locations of Dongmu Mountain and Guguk in the records are different, and it is unknown whether all the cultural layers of the site have been excavated. In any case, if the Dunhua area is not the initial capital, the meaning of the tombs in Liuding Mountain and the tomb of Princess Jeonghye will change. Also, the search for the tombs of Dae Jo-yeong and King Mu and ‘Jinneung’ will inevitably enter a new phase. Attention is being drawn to how the controversy over the founding site of Balhae and the early royal fortress will develop in the future.
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