Paekche

Paekche

One of three kingdoms into which Korea was divided before AD 660. It is traditionally said to have been founded in 18 BC by the legendary leader Onjo. In the 3rd century AD Paekche emerged as a fully developed kingdom, and by the 4th century it had extended its territory from the southwestern tip of the Korean peninsula to the whole Han River basin in central Korea. By then it was a centralized aristocratic state. Confucianism and Buddhism flourished, and Paekche's visual arts revealed technical maturity and warm human qualities. In the 5th century it was pushed back south by the northern Korean kingdom of Koguryo, and in 660 it fell to an alliance of the southern Korean state of Silla and the Tang-dynasty China.

---

Paekche 

a Korean state that, along with Koguryo and Silla, emerged at the beginning of the Common Era. Paekche formed as a result of the disintegration of primitive clan relations among the Mahan tribes, which inhabited the central and southwestern Korean Peninsula.

According to Korean chronicles, judicial regulations, for example, for the protection of private property, first appeared in the third century, as did official ranks. The formation of a state superstructure was probably completed during the second half of the fourth century. Also at this time Buddhism was introduced as the official religion (384). The socioeconomic nature of the Paekche state is disputable. Evidently, state ownership of land existed, and the state machinery exploited the direct producers, who were obligated to pay taxes and perform labor and military obligations and were subjected to requisitions in kind. Apparently, some sort of role was also played by the exploitation of slaves, usually prisoners of war.

From the end of the fourth century, Paekche engaged in a conflict with Koguryo, which was striving to seize the southern lands. Paekche’s brief military successes gave way to crushing defeats, and Paekche lost its possessions in central Korea. Its capital was moved from Hansong (now Kwangju) to Ungjin (now Kongju) in 475 and to Sabi (now Puyo) in 538. Wars in the fifth to seventh centuries with powerful neighbors, especially Silla, exhausted Paekche. The armies of Silla and the Chinese T’ang dynasty captured Paekche’s capital in 660. Paekche then came under the power of the T’ang conquerors. At the end of the seventh century, it became part of the unified Silla state.

The culture of Paekche exerted a notable influence on the development of early feudal Japanese culture.

REFERENCES

Istorii Korei, vol. 1. Moscow, 1960. (Translated from Korean.)
Istoriia Korei: S drevneishikh vremen do nashikh dnei, vol. 1. Moscow, 1974.

M. N. PAK