International Journal of Korean History (Vol.10, Dec. 2006) 25 Popularization of Mongol Language and Culture in the Late Koryŏ Period Peter I. Yun∗ Introduction The Mongol conquest in the thirteenth century was accompanied by great destruction of life and property, but the advent of the Pax Mongolica opened an unprecedented opportunity for open and free exchange of peoples, ideas, and commodities in the Eurasian continent. The Mongol empire brought together many diverse ethnic groups under a single political entity and promoted diffusion of various cultures across Asia. As the ruling group, the Mongols exerted greater cultural impact on conquered peoples, and even the Chinese, who have historically discounted foreign influence and emphasized sinicization of conquerors, were heavily impacted by nomadic Mongol culture.1 Among the states that existed in Northeast Asia in the early 13th century, only the Korean kingdom of Koryŏ survived and maintained some degree of autonomy within the Mongol empire. However, unlike the earlier period when Koryŏ sent “tributes” to the Chinese and Manchurian imperial dynasties in nominal submission, the Mongol Yuan control of Koryŏ was more comprehensive. Koryŏ was subjected to intrusive Mongol political influence for a century. ∗ Assistant Professor, Youngsan University (Korea) 26 Popularization of Mongol Language and Culture in the Late Koryŏ Period As Koryŏ became an integral part of the Mongol empire, Koryŏ was inevitably impacted by Mongol language and customs. This paper will present a brief overview of Mongol cultural influences focusing on the popularization of Mongol language and clothing and hair styles during the period of Mongol Interference in the 13th-14th century Korea. Royal Intermarriages and Mongol Culture at the Koryŏ Court For its fierce resistance against the Mongols for more than three decades, Koryŏ suffered great destruction and loss of life.2 Peace and stability came only after it surrendered to the Yuan during the reign of King Wŏnjong 元宗 (1259-1274). The customary Mongol policy toward surrendered states was to keep local rulers in power,3 and the Yuan court neither forced major overhaul of Koryŏ political institutions nor purged the royal family and aristocracy. At the same time, however, the Mongols did take over and ruled directly some parts of Koryŏ territory, notably the Cheju 濟州Island and a large area of northeastern area around P’yŏngyang 平壤. They also established the Eastern Expedition Field Headquarters [Chŏngdong haengsŏng 征東行省] in Koryŏ to conduct the invasion of Japan, but the agency was later exploited to watch over and interfere in Koryŏ’s internal affairs. The incorporation of Koryŏ into the Mongol empire was formalized by intermarriages between the two courts. The royal intermarriages made Koryŏ the “son-in-law state” (pumaguk 駙馬國), and the Koryŏ royal family was reduced to the status of a minor branch of the Yuan imperial family. The intermarriages began when King Wŏnjong proposed a marriage between his son (later King Ch’ungnyŏl 忠烈王) and the Cheguk Princess 齊國公主, daughter of the Great Khan Kubilai in 1270.4 The king was probably trying to strengthen the power of the throne by borrowing prestige and power of the Yuan imperial court as the reality of his weak position had been made painfully clear when the king Peter I. Yun 27 himself was dethroned in the previous year (1269). As for the Kubilai, the Khan accepted the marriage proposal to fortify his control over the Koryŏ and to enlist active assistance for his planned expeditions against Japan. From that time to the mid-14th century, every Koryŏ king who reached maturity would take a Mongol princess as his primary consort, and princes born of Mongol princesses enjoyed priority in the succession to the throne.5 The successive intermarriages of Koryŏ kings and Mongol princesses were unique and extraordinary events in Korean history as there was not a single intermarriage between Korean and foreign dynasties prior and after the period of Mongol Interference. The only other attempt to arrange a marriage between the Korean heir-apparent and a princess of the Chinese or Manchurian dynasties came during the early Chosŏn period, and the proposal did not materialize.6 Indeed, Koryŏ kings acquired more political and social prestige and exercised greater power as members of the Mongol imperial family than as occupiers of the Koryŏ throne. Koryŏ kings grew up and spent months and even years at Khanbaliq, and their behaviors and preferences often reflected those of the Mongol elites. The kings enjoyed both Mongol music (hoak 胡樂) and dance.7 Hunting and falconry, favorite sports of the Mongol imperial family, became very popular activity at the court, and a special agency called Ŭngbang 鷹坊 was established to oversee activities related to falcons.8 There was even a reappearance9 of the nomadic marriage custom of the levirate10 at the Koryŏ court. King Ch’ungsŏn 忠宣王 had executed a favorite consort of his father King Ch’ungnyŏl, and to placate his father he had presented a widow from the Ŏnyang Kim family to serve Ch’ungnyŏl as a royal consort (Sukch’angwŏnbi 淑昌院妃). However, after the death of Ch’ungnyŏl, Ch’ungsŏn took his father’s consort as his own and bestowed on her the title of Sukbi 淑妃.11 Reflecting the Confucian morality of the Early Chosŏn period, the Koryŏsa strongly disapprove King Ch’ungsŏn’s conduct, but from the Mongol cultural perspective, the king was well within the bounds of his rights and 28 Popularization of Mongol Language and Culture in the Late Koryŏ Period propriety at the time.12 The acceptance and popularity of the Mongol culture at the royal court was a new development as nomadic customs had previously been despised and rejected. Indeed, King T’aejo 太祖, the founder of the dynasty, had specifically admonished his successors not to copy foreign clothing and institutions of both the sedentary Chinese and nomadic Khitans.13 Thus, the popularization of Mongol customs in the late Koryŏ period must be considered in the historical context of the changed nature of the Koryŏ throne. Movements of People in the 13th and 14th Centuries During the protracted war against the Mongol invaders, scores of Koryŏ people had been captured and taken to Manchuria and China.14 The Mongols were said to have captured 206,800 and killed innumerable number of Koryŏ people during the single year of 1254.15 On the other hand, after the peace had been established, many people also moved voluntarily to various parts of the vast Yuan Empire in search of wealth and opportunity.16 The historical records such as the Koryŏsa17 and the Yuanshi 元史 provide glimpses of the extent of Koryŏ population in the Mongol Empire. In 1354, the Mongol chancellor Toghto 脫脫 requisitioned 2,000 troops including forty generals from Koryŏ as he organized a massive expeditionary army to suppress the rebellion of Zhang Shicheng 張士誠 in South China. It was said that the 2,000 Koryŏ troops were joined by more than 20,000 Koryŏ volunteers who resided at the Yuan capital of Khanbaliq.18 As the figure 20,000 indicates only the adult men capable of serving in the military force, the total number of Koryŏ people in the Mongol capital probably exceeded 100,000. The Mongol court also established a general administrative office (Shenyang denglu Gaoli junmin congguanfu 瀋陽等路高麗軍民總管府) to oversee large Peter I. Yun 29 numbers of Koryŏ troops and civilians living in the Liaoyang region across the northern border of Koryŏ.19 On the other hand, many foreigners including Mongols, Central Eurasians (semu), and the Han Chinese also came and settled in Koryŏ. In both quantitative and qualitative terms, the presence of foreigners in Koryŏ during the period of Mongol domination was truly unparalleled in Korean history. 20 The most prominent foreigners in Koryŏ were of course the Mongol princesses married to Koryŏ kings and their private retainers called the qieliankou 怯憐口.21 In addition, there were foreign officials serving as the daruhachi 達魯花赤22 and soldiers attached to the military colonies (tunjŏn 屯田) established in various parts of Koryŏ. It has been estimated that the Cheju Island, which was more or less under the direct control of the Yuan court for a century, had at least 1,400 Mongols residing at the island by the end of the 13th century, and they intermarried with local women extensively.23 There was no doubt many others who passed through open boundary between the two states, and such unprecedented movement of people must have contributed to popularization of Mongol customs in Koryŏ. Popularization of Mongol Language and Customs Mongol Language The nomadic Mongols were ethnically, culturally, and linguistically different from the sedentary Han Chinese. While the Mongols did avail themselves of some aspects of Chinese institutions, they generally refused to adopt the Chinese cultural ways. Indeed, the Mongols implemented a strict discriminatory ethnic classification system that divided the population into four separate groups based on a combination of ethnic, political, and cultural considerations: the Mongols, the semu, hanren 漢 人 (people of Northern China who had been under the rule of the Jurchen 30 Popularization of Mongol Language and Culture in the Late Koryŏ Period Jin) and nanren 南人 (the people who had been ruled by the Southern Song and brought into the new Mongol Empire in 1279).24 Although there is no conclusive proof that the social classifications of the Yuan empire were rigorously enforced, the system had important implications in social and political privileges, application of penal law, official appointments and taxation, etc. For example, the Yuan code specified that only the Mongols and the semu could serve as the daruhachi, and when exercising the protected appointment (yin 蔭) privilege, the semu received posts one grade higher than did the Han Chinese.25 The Chinese were also decidedly in a disadvantaged position in the government service examinations that resumed in 1315.