Are Koreans descendants of China?

The ancestors of Koreans were farmers in the Central Plains of China?

--------------------- -------------------------------------------------- -----

"The ancestors of Koreans were farmers in the Central Plains of China." This amazing "discovery" came from the Department of Biology of Dankook University in South Korea.

Kim Wook, a well-known biology professor at the school, proposed a new "Korean origin theory" in mid-May. After being reported by the Korean mainstream media "Chosun Ilbo", it has spread in the country and its neighboring countries. The country is concerned.

Recently, on China's portal news websites, relevant news reports have been hotly commented by netizens and have a high media reprint rate.

According to Li Dunqiu, a historian of the Korean Peninsula, the issue of national origin has increasingly become a sensitive topic among Korean people. Jin Xu's new theory is bound to arouse strong resonance. Previously, among the many theories on the origin of Koreans, the assertion that "ancestors were Mongolians" had the greatest recognition.

The new theory began with discoveries in biology.

What evidence supports "the ancestors of Koreans were farmers in the Central Plains of China"?

In an interview with South Korea's Chosun Ilbo, Professor Kim Wook said that this is a scientific research result based on genetics - Koreans are close to the Han Chinese.

"We used the anthropological classification method to analyze the mitochondrial DNA base sequences of 185 unrelated Koreans. The results showed that 4 out of 10 Koreans had the same base sequence. The sequence is similar to that of farmers in the Central Plains of China," said Professor Jin Xu.

So, based on this result, he came to this research finding: "The ancestors of our nation are farmers in the Central Plains of China. Genetically, Koreans are closer to the Han and Japanese in China, and Not what we call Mongolians now."

A powerful weapon for collecting characteristics - DNA base sequence.

What is "DNA base sequence"? What are "mitochondria"? These biological concepts must be unfamiliar to many people. In this regard, biological researchers gave a vivid explanation.

The reason why someone's eyes are that color, why they are so tall, etc., these visible or invisible characteristics are all determined by genes. Each gene means a piece of genetic information. When parents give birth to a child, they pass some invisible genetic information - genes to their offspring, so that they have some characteristics similar to themselves.

So are genes illusory? No, it has its own physical manifestation, which is the DNA molecule we often hear about.

DNA molecules carry genetic information. Their structures are very simple: they are double helices consisting of two strands intertwined around each other.

Each chain is a long polymer composed of single components connected end to end and arranged vertically. These single components are bases.

There are four types of DNA bases - A, C, G, and T. These four bases can be combined in any way. Just these four bases can constitute at least tens of millions of different base sequences. And these base sequences determine the information content of DNA. In this way, it is possible to confirm whether the two species are homologous by examining the base sequences.

In this case, why are mitochondria the target of "investigation"?

Mitochondria are an important tool for studying human evolution from the perspective of maternal inheritance.

Mitochondria exist in cells and are the "energy factories" of cells. They contain a small amount of genetic material - DNA.

When a woman’s egg cell and a man’s sperm combine, the fertilized egg acquires the mitochondria from its parents. The fertilized egg continues to divide and grow, and the mitochondria also continue to divide and grow. So inside human cells, mitochondria provide energy to human cells day and night through oxidation.

Scientists generally believe that everyone’s mitochondria come from their mother, so mitochondria are an important tool for studying human evolution from the perspective of maternal inheritance.

Mitochondrial DNA molecules are relatively stable and do not exchange DNA fragments with each other. The only factor that causes them to change is spontaneous mutation. This mutation proceeds and accumulates at a relatively stable rate and can serve as a "molecular clock." The degree of difference in the mitochondrial DNA of two people determines how many years ago their most recent maternal ancestor lived.

Perhaps it is based on these theoretical foundations that Professor Jin Xu would consider starting with mitochondrial molecules.

UNESCO once determined that the ancestors of Koreans were nomadic people.

Li Dunqiu is an associate researcher at the Institute of World History, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, and a well-known contemporary expert on North Korea in China. Recently, in an exclusive interview with our reporter, Dr. Li Dunqiu introduced the origins of his nation on the Korean Peninsula.

"North Korea and South Korea belong to the same nation. The origin of Koreans is actually the origin of the Korean Peninsula." Li Dunqiu said, "In South Korea, there are many debates about the origin of our ancestors, and it is also a common concern among the people. , the most recognized theory is that the ancestors of Koreans are nomadic people, or directly Mongolians. This statement is also recognized by UNESCO. ”

Why are Koreans said to be nomadic? What about nation? Li Dunqiu said that these are mainly conclusions drawn from various aspects such as archaeology, living habits, personality, language, etc., because in these aspects, today's Koreans are very similar to the Mongols.

Li Dunqiu, who has visited South Korea several times for academic inspections and has frequent exchanges with Korean academic circles, said that regarding South Korea, we can cite many examples to prove this similarity.

"For example, in terms of character, Koreans are very bold and bold. They like to eat barbecue, often sit cross-legged, and generally drink alcohol. The amount of Jinlu they drink is unmatched by the Chinese. This is very similar to the Mongolians," Li Dunqiu said. "In addition, linguists have also compared the languages ????of Asian countries and found that the grammatical habits of Korea, Japan and Mongolia are the closest, and they all belong to the agglutinative language family. When a Korean or Japanese learns the languages ??of other ethnic groups, they will always master Mongolian easily."

"It is the similarities in many social lives that make Korean academics and people generally believe that Mongolian is the earliest. The Mongols migrated to the Korean Peninsula, and after a long evolution, they gradually changed from a nomadic lifestyle to a farming lifestyle, and even formed today's Koreans."

It is also possible that they came from the southwest and southeast of China. People from coastal areas migrated there.

Research has found that South Korea has many similar characteristics to the residents of southwest and southeast China, which are thousands of miles away. However, it is untenable to explain this similarity by "coincidence".

"Researchers found that the current architectural style in South Korea is very similar to that in Guangxi and Yunnan. For example, the doors are push-pull. And the burial method - branch stone tombs are similar to those in Zhejiang, China. "

These phenomena that are difficult to explain by "coincidence" make Mao Zhaoxi, a professor of history at Zhejiang University, believe that in ancient times, people from the southwestern and southeastern coastal areas of China may have drifted to the Korean Peninsula from the waterway. , and then there were Koreans.

The third theory is formed by the migration of multiple ethnic groups.

"For a long time, South Korea and Japan have insisted that the country is composed of a single ethnic group, not composed of many ethnic groups like China and Russia, nor is it composed of different races like the United States, like white people , Indians, etc.” Li Dunqiu said, “This is not difficult to understand, because no matter what different ethnic groups there are in history, due to such a long period of integration, the differences between the ethnic groups have gradually disappeared, and they have finally assimilated into the same nation. They are the Koreans today.”

However, according to Dr. Li Dunqiu, there is also controversy on this issue. There is another view in the academic circle that believes that, like other countries, South Korea will not be a single nation now.

Under the premise of this view, another theory about the ancestors of Koreans is that multiple ethnic groups may have migrated to Korea in history.

According to Li Dunqiu, in today's South Korea, at least 150,000 people claim to be descendants of Confucius, and tens of thousands of people claim to be descendants of Zhu Xi. There are also Koreans surnamed Liu who claim that their family originates from the Three Kingdoms of China. Liu Bei at that time. This has shown that people from many provinces, including Shandong, China, the hometown of Confucius, may be the ancestors of Koreans. And probably the largest of these immigrants were nomads.

Whether the ancestors were farmers in the Central Plains of China is still under debate.

"In fact, the base sequence alone is not enough to explain the problem. Because the base sequence can only prove that Koreans may be homologous to people from the Central Plains of China." Li Dunqiu said.

According to his introduction, historical records show that on the territory of ancient China, there was an ancient nation in the northeast. During the Western Han Dynasty, Zhu Meng, a Fuyu man, established a local ethnic minority government there. They were mainly engaged in agriculture, good at making wine, good at singing and dancing, and had close contacts with the Han people. Around the time of the Tang Dynasty, such a minority group migrated to southern China due to war. The open Tang Dynasty accepted them. One group moved to northern China, another group moved to the Central Plains, and some moved to the Korean Peninsula... After migration, they integrated with the local residents, but still retained some of their living traditions and genes.

"From this point of view, it is not surprising at all that the base sequences of 4 out of 10 Koreans are similar to those of farmers in the Central Plains of China." Li Dunqiu believes.

Li Dunqiu, Ph.D., associate researcher at the Institute of World History, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, legal representative and secretary-general of the China Korean (Peninsula) History Research Association, and director of the Korean Studies Center of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Korean Studies at Fudan University Specially invited researcher of the center, visiting professor at Chung-Ang University in South Korea, and overseas information committee member of the Korean National History Compilation Committee.