Gija

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Gija
Korean name
Hangul:	기자
Hanja:	箕子
McCune-Reischauer:	Kija
Revised Romanization:	Gija
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese:	箕子
Simplified Chinese:	箕子
Hanyu Pinyin:	Jīzǐ
Wade-Giles:	Chi-tzu

Gija is an ancestor of Gihu (기후,箕詡) who was an emperor of Beojoseon. His family name was Gi (箕) and given name was Seoyeo (胥餘/서여 xūyú). "Ja" means a Viscount appointed by a king. It is said that the tribal name of him is Suyu (trachi=須臾, hangul=수유, py=xūyú). Since the title of Viscount of Gi was bestowed on him, he is usually called Gija. Thus, if someone was appointed as a Viscount who has family name of Gi, it is very hard to differentiate from each other. Actually, there were another person in Shang dynasty who has the same family name and was appointed as a Viscount (Hereafter, this person will be called Jizi because it is Chinese pronunciation of "Gija"). The confused name Jizi or Viscount of Ji was a semi-legendary Chinese sage who was said to fled toward Beonjoseon in the 12th century BC.

[edit] Legend and analysis

As time has passed, legends about Jizi have become more and more numerous, leading many to argue that much of his story is fictional.

It is very interesting that the tomb of Jizi is found in Shandong province in China, which demonstrates that the records about Jizi in Chinese history books are not true.<ref>infobase.gov.cn – The tomb of Jizi is currently found in China</ref> If Jizi were sent to Gojoseon, and the Jizi is really the same person with Gija, the Shandong peninsula must have been occupied by Gojoseon. However, the Shandong province had never been the territory of Gojoseon. Thus, the records that Jizi went to Gojoseon is generally negated in Korean history because of its lack of evidence.<ref>dbpia.co.kr</ref> It is generally exaplained that, after Han dynasty unified China, Chinese historian fabricated that Jizi went to Gojoseon. This can be proved by the book titled Chu-shu chi-nien (竹書紀年) and Confucian Analects (論語), which firstly describes Jizi, do not say anything about going to Gojoseon.<ref>100.naver.com</ref>

Archaeological evidence suggest that a state in Liaoning was ruled by Gihu, and Gihu may be the model of Jizi. Joseon-sango-sa written by Che-ho Shin and Hwandan gogi say that Gija was an ancestor of the Beonjoseon's king Gihoo (기후,箕詡), and archaeological evidence such as Jizi's tomb suggests that the Gija of Beonjoseon is different person from Jizi because the tomb of Jizi is found in Shandong of current China. In history books, Gi or Ji (箕) is to represent the family name of Sooyoo(수유,須臾) tribe who lived around Liaoning, and ja or zi (子) is to represent a Viscount. Thus, the Jizi who is descrbied in Chinese history books is different from Gija who is described in Korean history book.

A Pre-Han-Dynasty document simply says that he was a virtuous man of the Shang royal family who was an uncle of and served as Grand Tutor (太師/태사) and of Zhou, last king of Shang. As Confucius said, he was highly admired as an ideal ruler in ancient China.

Chinese document during the Han Dynasty or later add another record. According to Sima Qian's Shi Ji, he is said to have fled to Joseon when Shang was overthrown by Zhou. King Wu of Zhou appointed Gija to Joseon, thus he was not a vassal of Wu (於是武王乃封箕子於朝鮮而不臣也). Chinese historian exaggerate the interpretation of "appoint" or "封." The character of 封 means the appointing someone as a vassal. But, Chinese historian interpreted the character of "封" or "appoint" as appointing someone as a king. It is very strangely that Shi Ji by Sima Qian put this story at the section of the Song ruling family but does not mention it at section of Joseon, leading to suggest that Joseon of Wi Man, recorded by Sima Qian, was not the state established by Jizi.

Weilue, which was complied during the Kingdom of Wei (220-265) or later, inserts a record about Jizi's descendants. According to it, Jizi's descendants remained in Chaoxian and referred themselves as king after the Zhou Dynasty declined. Last king Joon (준, 準) was expelled in 193 B.C. by Wiman, who was a Yan Chinese and had fled to Chaoxian. Joon fled to the south and proclaimed himself heavenly king of Mahan. This story seems to have spread to China because of the implication of a Chinese rule of the Korean peninsula. Some in China trust it while others think it is a fiction, due to the record in Geography of Hanshu from Han Dynasty that Jizi settled in western part of Manchuria west of Liao River.

Therefore, documents before Han dynasty say that Jizi is a man of integrity, moral principle and profound learning, but do not say that he ruled Joseon. Korean historians have three main arguments. They are positive, negative, and partial positive arguments. Positive arguments are based on Yi Seung-Hyoo's Jewang-unki which was published in 1287. He assumed that Dangun founded pre-Joseon and Jizi founded post-Joseon which symbolize more civilized. This led to strong positive recognition later in Joseon Dynasty(1392-1910) among trucklers, who admired that a Chinese wiseman civilized the ancient Joseon, whose name is same as the dynasty. Negative arguments are based on modern views which came out with necessity of a close examination of Jizi Joseon. These argues that there was a kind of interchange of ruler families inside of Joseon and are pointing out the last king Zhun's last name "Han"(한) which is not "Ji"(Gi, 기). Partial positive arguments claimed that Ji family who had been the feudal lords of Shang was one of Dongyi family which moved from near Shanxi to near Pyongyang, and founded an independent nation later. There are more arguments, and Jizi Joseon is now considered to be a hypothesis.