Man, Past and Present

by A. H. Keane

Korean Origins and Records.

These conclusions seem to be confirmed by what is known of the early movements, migrations, and displacements of the populations in north-east Asia about the dawn of history. In these vicissitudes the Koreans, as they are now called[652], appear to have first taken part in the twelfth century B.C., when the peninsula was already occupied, as it still is, by Mongols, the Sien-pi, in the north, and in the south by several branches of the Hans (San-San), of whom it is recorded that they spoke a language unintelligible to the Sien-pi, and resembled the Japanese in appearance, manners, and customs. From this it may be inferred that the Hans were the true aborigines, probably direct descendants of the Caucasic peoples of the New Stone Age, while the Sien-pi were Mongolic (Tungusic) intruders from the present Manchuria. For some time these Sien-pi played a leading part in the political convulsions prior and subsequent to the erection of the Great Wall by Shih Hwang Ti, founder of the Tsin dynasty (221-209 B.C.)[653]. Soon after the completion of this barrier, the Hiung-nu, no longer able to scour the fertile plains of the Middle Kingdom, turned their arms against the neighbouring Yué-chi, whom they drove westwards to the Sungarian valleys. Here they were soon displaced by the Usuns (Wusun), a fair, blue-eyed people of unknown origin, who have been called "Aryans," and even "Teutons," and whom Ch. de Ujfalvy identifies with the tall long-headed western blonds (de Lapouge's Homo Europaeus), mixed with brown round-headed hordes of white complexion[654]. Accepting this view, we may go further, and identify the Usuns, as well as the other white peoples of the early Chinese records, with the already described Central Asiatic Caucasians of the Stone Ages, whose osseous remains we now possess, and who come to the surface in the very first Chinese documents dealing with the turbulent populations beyond the Great Wall. The white element, with all the correlated characters, existed beyond all question, for it is continuously referred to in those documents. How is its presence in East Central Asia, including Manchuria and Korea, to be explained? Only on two assumptions—proto-historic migrations from the Far West, barred by the proto-historic migrations from the Far East, as largely determined by the erection of the Great Wall; or pre-historic (neolithic) migrations, also from the Far West, but barred by no serious obstacle, because antecedent to the arrival of the proto-Mongolic tribes from the Tibetan plateau. The true solution of the endless ethnical complications in the extreme East, as in the Oceanic world, will still be found in the now-demonstrated presence of a Caucasic element antecedent to the Mongol in those regions.

When the Hiung-nu[655] power was weakened by their westerly migrations to Sungaria and south-west Siberia (Upper Irtysh and Lake Balkash depression), and broken into two sections during their wars with the two Han dynasties (201 B.C.-220 A.D.), the Korean Sien-pi became the dominant nation north of the Great Wall. After destroying the last vestiges of the unstable Hiung-nu empire, and driving the Mongolo-Turki hordes still westwards, the Yuan-yuans, most powerful of all the Sien-pi tribes, remained masters of East Central Asia for about 400 years and then disappeared from history[656]. At least after the sixth century A.D. no further mention is made of the Sien-pi principalities either in Manchuria or in Korea. Here, however, they appear still to form a dominant element in the northern (Mongol) provinces, calling themselves Ghirin (Khirin), from the Khirin (Sungari) valley of the Amur, where they once held sway.

Since those days Korea has been alternately a vassal State and a province of the Middle Kingdom, with interludes of Japanese ascendancy, interrupted only by the four centuries of Koraï ascendancy (934-1368). This was the most brilliant epoch in the national records, when Korea was rather the ally than the vassal of China, and when trade, industry, and the arts, especially porcelain and bronze work, flourished in the land. But by centuries of subsequent misrule, a people endowed with excellent natural qualities have been reduced to the lowest state of degradation. Before the reforms introduced by the political events of 1895-96, "the country was eaten up by officialism. It is not only that abuses without number prevailed, but the whole system of government was an abuse, a sea of corruption, without a bottom or a shore, an engine of robbery, crushing the life out of all industry[657]." But an improvement was speedily remarked. "The air of the men has undergone a subtle and real change, and the women, though they nominally keep up their habits by seclusion, have lost the hang-dog air which distinguished them at home. The alacrity of movement is a change also, and has replaced the conceited swing of the yang-ban [nobles] and the heartless lounge of the peasant." This improvement was merely temporary. The last years of the century were marked by the waning of Japanese influence, due to Russian intrigues, the restoration of absolute monarchy together with its worst abuses, the abandonment of reforms and a retrograde movement throughout the kingdom. The successes of Japan in 1904-5 resulted in the restoration of her ascendancy, culminating in 1910 in the cession of sovereignty by the emperor of Korea to the emperor of Japan.

Religion.

The religious sentiment is perhaps less developed than among any other Asiatic people. Buddhism, introduced about 380 A.D., never took root, and while the literati are satisfied with the moral precepts of Confucius, the rest have not progressed beyond the nature-worship which was the ancient religion of the land. Every mountain, pass, ford or even eddy of a river has a spirit to whom offerings are made. Honour is also paid to ancestors, both royal and domestic, at their temples or altars, and chapels are built and dedicated to men who have specially distinguished themselves in loyalty, virtue or lofty teaching.

The Korean Script.

Philologists now recognise some affinity between the Korean and Japanese languages, both of which appear to be remotely connected with the Ural-Altaic family. The Koreans possess a true alphabet of 28 letters, which, however, is not a local invention, as is sometimes asserted. It appears to have been introduced by the Buddhist monks about or before the tenth century, and to be based on some cursive form of the Indian (Devanagari) system[658], although scarcely any resemblance can now be traced between the two alphabets. This script is little used except by the lower classes and the women, the literati preferring to write either in Chinese, or else in the so-called nido, that is, an adaptation of the Chinese symbols to the phonetic expression of the Korean syllables. The nido is exactly analogous to the Japanese Katakana script, in which modified forms of Chinese ideographs are used phonetically to express 47 syllables (the so-called I-ro-fa syllabary), raised to 73 by the nigori and maru diacritical marks.

The Japanese.

The present population of Japan, according to E. Baelz, shows the following types. The first and most important is the Manchu-Korean type, characteristic of North China and Korea, and most frequent among the upper classes in Japan. The stature is conspicuously tall, the effect being heightened by slender and elegant figure. The face is long, with more or less oblique eyes but no marked prominence of the cheek-bones. The nose is aquiline, the chin slightly receding. With this type is associated a narrow chest, giving an air of elegance rather than of muscularity, an effect which is enhanced by the extremely delicate hands with long slender fingers. The second type is the Mongol, and presents a distinct contrast, with strong and squarely built figure, broad face, prominent cheek-bones, oblique eyes, flat nose and wide mouth. This type is not common in the Japanese Islands. The third type, more conspicuous than either of the preceding, is the Malay. The stature is small, with well-knit frame, and broad, well-developed chest. The face is generally round, the nose short, jaws and chin frequently projecting. None of these three types represents the aboriginal race of Japan, for there seems to be no doubt that the Ainu, who now survive in parts of the northern island of Yezo, occupied a greater area in earlier times and to them the prehistoric shell-mounds and other remains are usually attributed[659]. The Ainu are thickly and strongly built, but differ from all other Oriental types in the hairiness of face and body. The head is long, with a cephalic index of 77.8. Face and nose are broad, and the eyes are horizontal, not oblique, lacking the Mongolian fold.