[KS] Ancient Korean History

[Richard McBride]

Dear Mr. Jaenam Kim

In answer to your several questions:

>How is the history of anceint Korean is being taught in American colleges.
>Is it being taught at all?
>Is it taught as an extension of Chinese history?
>Is ancient Chosun and Dangun taught as history or as a myth?
>Is Korean history being taught as having started from the colony of Han 
>dynasty?

I cover ancient Korean history in my "Korean Civilization" course at 
Washington University in St. Louis.  Old Choson (Ko Choson) is taught as 
history while the Tan'gun story treated as a later myth.  However, more 
importantly, I try to stress that there are a number of tribal peoples that 
eventually coalesce into what we now call "Korea" (Ko Choson, Puyo, Ye, 
Maek, the three Han states, Kaya, and so forth).  I stress that Old Choson 
was probably the most advanced tribal state of its time due to its position 
relative to China, but that we cannot discount the Puyo peoples whose 
influence can be seen in Koguryo and Paekche.

The reason why dealing, even briefly, with ancient Korean history is 
important is because it provides a basis for understanding traditional 
Korea's socially stratified society.  Being a scholar whose research 
interests lie in the Buddhism and culture of the Silla period, I think that 
students cannot appreciate the significance of the bone-rank system unless 
they know something about the tribal nature of society on the ancient Korean 
peninsula and in Manchuria.  And of course, this provides insights into 
understanding the regionalism that emerges during the Three Kingdoms period 
and later understanding aristocratic continuities into Choson yangban 
culture.

Best
Richard McBride
Post-Doctoral Fellow in Korean Studies and Buddhist Studies
Washington University in St. Louis

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