10～14세기 ‘발해인’ 정체성의 변질과 진화 (Changes in the Identity of the China-based ‘Balhae figures(渤海人),' since the 10th century and through the 14th)

서지정보

· 발행기관 : 한국사연구회
· 수록지 정보 : 한국사연구 / 184호 / 177 ~ 206페이지
· 저자명 : 박순우

초록

‘발해인’들의 중국내 존재양태에 대한 그간의 연구는 요 나라로의 천사 직후 발생한 반요 활동에 대한 검토가 대부분을 차지했다. 그런 이유로 이후의 ‘발해인’들에 대해서는, 시간의 흐름에 따라 그들이 이미 중국의 일부가 돼 갔을 것이라 여긴 통념 때문이었는지 별다른 검토가 이뤄지지 못했는데, 이 논문은 10~14세기 ‘발해인’ 용례의 회자와 변화에 포착하여, ‘발해인’의 정체성의 변질과 진화를 검토하였다.
요 정권 아래의 발해인들의 경우 반요 행동의 적극성, 광범위한 참여 범위 등을 감안할 때 ‘발해인으로서의 자기인식’이 상당정도 온존했던 것으로 생각된다. 반면 금원대의 발해인들은 앞선 시기와 다소 다른 모습이 포착된다. 조정에 적극적으로 사환하며 여러 분야에서 적지 않은 족적을 남기기도 하고, 조정내 권력 투쟁에 깊이 개입하는 등의 모습에서 더 이상 발해인으로서가 아닌, 권력 지향적 인물로서의 모습이 확인된다. 원대에는 이러한 모습이 더욱 강화되는데, 몽골 황제의 각별한 총애를 받거나, 고위 관인을 지낸 발해인이 몽골 조정과 원 황실에 ‘충’을 맹세하는 모습 등이 그러하다. 이들의 모습에서 족적 맥락의 자기의식이 그들의 정체성에 거의 소멸해 가고 있었을 가능성을 강하게 시사하고 있었다.
한편, 발해인을 지칭하는 ‘호명’ 관행의 변화 역시 감지된다. 발해인들을 호칭함에 있어 지명이 갖는 비중이 늘어남과 동시에 ‘발해’칭 자체는 감소하고 있던 정황이 주목된다. 발해유민의 후손이 분명한 경우에도 그를 더 이상 ‘발해인’이라 지칭하지 않거나, ‘발해’와 ‘지명’의 호칭 순서가 불규칙하게 바뀐 점 등이 그를 잘 보여준다. 이러한 추세는 원대에도 지속되었으며, 『원사』에 입전된 발해인 수의 급감이 이를 잘 보여준다고 할 것이다.

영어초록

Examined in this article is how the identity of the Balhae people (as well as their descendants) ‘changed’ as time went on. As their settlement in China became permanent and the regions they were relocated to became their new home (quite possibly for generations to come), their racial identity naturally changed while a new connection with China continued to form.
In the Liao period, people of the late Balhae dynasty, after being forcibly moved to China after Balhae’s fall, maintained a strong sense of loyalty to its lost country and even engaged in fierce anti-Liao movements on more than one occasion. They still viewed themselves as ‘Balhae people,’ and as they were instructed to live in groups it was also possible for them to maintain their traditions and customs -which was also acknowledged by the Sung dynasty leadership- for quite some time.
But coming into the Chin period the situation changed. There were no longer any anti-Chinese insurgences mounted, and the number of ‘Balhae people’ (actually the descendants of the original Balhae refugees) serving in the Chin government increased exponentially. Their actions were no longer driven by the fact that they had some racial connections to the late Balhae dynasty, and their activities as Chin citizens must have helped them define their new identity.
After the Mongol Yuan empire was established, this transformation was sealed apparently even more. The positions they cultivated, the deeds they displayed, and the self-consciousness they exhibited no longer suggest the presence of either memories or connections to the late Balhae dynasty. This kind of change in the Chin-Yuan period can also be seen from modifications in the way they were referred to in Chinese records. At first they were called simply as ‘Balhae people,’ but as they became increasingly affiliated with the regions they were connected to (as a result of a long-term residence there) and less and less associated with their distant racial heritage, they were no longer ‘identified’ as Balhae people but instead recognized as ‘Chinese citizens with particular local backgrounds.’

Key words : Balhae, Balhae refugees, Balhae descendants, racial identity, regional connection These “Balhae people” who lived in China -and the topic of their ‘identity’- certainly deserves our attention, as some of them have once been part of the Korean history, and the life history of their descendants make us understand how the history of Korea and China overlapped in terms of individuals. We don’t have to be protective or exclusive in determining what belongs to the history of Korea and what does not, but we still have to respect the legacy of past people, and the people who were attached to the concept of Balhae, either strongly or weakly. Their lives are most definitely worth examining, not only in the confines of Korean historical studies, but also researches of East Asian history of exchanges.

참고자료

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