東아시아 諸國의 13～14세기 歷史像과 민족주의

Abstract

This essay critically reviews recent historical accounts of the Great Mongol Empire by historians in Japan, China, Korea and Mongolia. Its main theme is how their nationalistic accounts distort the salient features of the Yeke Mongol Ulus. Although nationalist historiography can contribute to national integration and nation building, especially of former colonies, it also instills expansionism. Recent revival of strong national sentiments in East Asia seems to make this issue more relevant. Japanese historians pioneered modern scholarship in Mongol history in the first half of the 20th century. They developed the framework of the Great Mongol Empire by releasing it from the narrow frame of the Yuan dynasty. In the second half, they enhanced their scholarship with archeological excavations and use of relevant historical literature in Persian. However, they seem to approach the Yuan from the Persian perspective, relegating this central Ulus to a regional one in East Asia. In the first half of the 20th century, Chinese historians actively studied the Mongol history, heavily relying on their historical records. Then there followed a long intermission caused by the Cultural Revolution. Since the 1980s, a new generation of historians revived Mongol historiography, but with a twist. They approach it from Chinese perspective, portraying the Yuan as a Chinese dynasty founded by an ethnic minority, not as part of the Yeke Mongol Ulus stretching all over Eurasia. Korean historians can be divided into two groups. In the last two decades or so, there emerged a handful of specialist in Mongol history, improving Korean scholarship remarkably. They regard the Great Mongol Empire as the history of all the ethnic groups involved, not as the monopoly of a particular nationality. Specialists in Korean history, on the other hand, are preoccupied with the Yuan-Koryo relations and show little interest in the unique Mongol system of ulus. In Mongolia itself, historiography changed over time. In the 1920s, men of letters pioneered national historiography in the wake of the socialist revolution, but they were purged in the 1930s. Since the 1950s, a new generation of Soviet- educated historians rewrote the Mongol history along socialist internationalism. Since the 1990's, the taboos on nationalism and the national hero Chinggis Khan were lifted, and we can see a surge of nationalist historiography and Chinggis Khan cult. However, it 'nationalized' the history of the Mongol steppes, sucking up all the activities of various ethnic groups there over two thousand yeast past.