HELLO from KOREA

uling class of Balhae consisted
mostly of Goguryeo (i.e.
Korean) people. Balhae
declared itself the successor to
Goguryeo, and sometimes
called itself Goryeo-guk (state
of Goryeo).
Balhae's political system
resembled that of Tang, and its
capital, Sanggyeong, was modelled
on the Tang capital,
Chang-an. Its distinctive culture
drew from both Tang and
Goguryeo . When Balhae was
overrun by the Khitan in the
beginning of the 10 th century, its
ruling class took refuge in the
newly established state of
Goryeo .
Dabotap Pagoda in Bulguksa Temple (Silla)
23 _ History
Goryeo
The founding monarch of Goryeo (935~1392), Wang Geon, was a general
who had served under a rebel prince of Silla. Choosing his native
town Songdo, the present-day Gaeseong, located about 60km north of
Seoul, as the seat of his kingdom, he proclaimed a policy to recover the
lost territory of Goguryeo in Manchuria. He therefore named his kingdom
Goryeo, from which the modern name Korea is derived.
From the outset, the royal court of Goryeo adopted Buddhism as the
state religion. It flourished greatly, stimulating temple construction and
the carving of Buddhist images as well as icon paintings, but temples and
monks came to wield excessive power, and during the kingdom's later
years, conflicts between scholar officials and warriors and between
Confucianists and Buddhists weakened it. The Mongol incursions which