Parhae

Parhae, state established in the 8th century among the predominantly Tungusic-speaking peoples of northern Manchuria (now Northeast China) and northern Korea by a former Koguryŏ general, Tae Cho-Yŏng (Dae Jo-Yeong).

Parhae was the successor state to Koguryŏ, which had occupied most of northern Korea and Manchuria before being conquered in 668 by the kingdom of Silla, with the aid of the Chinese Tang dynasty (618–907). The Tang administration took power in the region after the fall of Koguryŏ. Tae Cho-Yŏng led a rebellion against it with a group made up of members of Koguryŏ’s former ruling class and people from the northern Malgal (Chinese: Mohe) tribe. He established the new state of Chin (Chinese: Zhen), later called Parhae, in the Sungari (Songhua) River valley in what is now China’s Jilin province and became its king.

By 705 China and Parhae had established friendly relations, and by 712 the Tang had formally recognized Tae Cho-Yŏng as Parhae’s king. Parhae’s government administration was modeled after the Tang bureaucracy, and the two states were close allies. Parhae’s ruling class consisted largely of the former aristocrats of Koguryŏ. Culturally, the kingdom bore a strong resemblance to Koguryŏ. Surviving Buddhist images and stone lanterns suggest that Buddhism played a predominant role in the life of the Parhae people.

The state of Parhae grew powerful and wealthy. It was a hostile rival to Silla, the most significant power on the Korean peninsula, and Silla built a defensive wall along its northern border. Like Silla, Parhae was among the states that offered tribute to the Tang. Its trade and cultural relations were largely with the nomadic tribes of the north and with Japan and China. Its territory eventually extended southward from the Sungari and Amur rivers in northern Manchuria to the northern half of Korea.

After the death of Tae Cho-Yŏng in 719 and the succession of his son, Tae Muye (King Mu), Parhae began to distance itself from Tang influence. To guard against the growing power of Parhae, Tang established alliances with Parhae’s neighbouring tribes. The two states launched military attacks against one another several times during the 730s, but in 734 they reestablished their alliance amid the threat posed by the expansionist Khitan tribes of Central Asia. Parhae’s rule was ended in 926 when it was conquered by the Khitan, who had established the Liao dynasty (907–1125) on China’s northern borders.