Asian Millenarianism: An Interdisciplinary Study of the Taiping a ...

was later called Cha-i-na or China. In the ancient millenarian period, Korea was the mother of the Chinese and Japanese civilizations; the Chinese were viewed as a branch state of the Chosn (Korean) empire. The Chinese recently changed the name Chi-na to Zhongguo, which means “center-state.”

The majority of Korean experts not only in Korea but also in the United States and other countries have not overcome the trappings of colonial legacy. There are two main reasons why we have not overcome this legacy yet. One is because many Korean historians studied under Professor Yi Pyng-do, who worked with Imanishi Ryu, a former professor at Tokyo Imperial University, for Japan on the Korean History Compilation Committee (Chosnsa P'ynch'an Wiwnhoe). This committee was established in 1910 by the Japanese colonial government to oversee the production of Korean history. In reality, it distorted ancient Korean history by making Korea a younger brother of Japan. This made Japanese rule over Korea easier because it was considered unethical for younger (Japan) to rule over older (Korea) according to Confucian ethics. Yi Pyng-do worked as a court clerk before working for Japan and had good proficiency in reading Chinese characters. Prominent Korean scholars Ch'oe Nam-sn and Yi Pyng-do were pressured to destroy and distort ancient Korean history. Ch'oe refused to perform this work because of his scholar's conscience, forcing him to leave Korea for China. Only Yi Pyng-do succumbed to Japanese pressure.¹⁰ Japan tried to justify her expansion into Korea and Asia in the name of exporting civilization and peace. Japanese activities to destroy Korean history are beyond most scholars' imaginations. Even after Korea was liberated from Japan in 1945, Yi Pyng-do and the colonial legacy remained the most powerful influence on Korean historians. Many Korean scholars who have been influenced by him have been working as history professors at universities in Korea and in many other countries. His influence on Korean historians and Korean experts is still considerable. For instance, A New History of Korea, written by Professor Ki-baik Lee, published by Harvard University, argues that the Tonghak founder's doctrine included elements from Catholicism and also embraced features of