, Japan. The inscription in
Literary Chinese contains a description of the artifact's making in 834 AD, and a poem honoring the
dharma.|alt=
Origin According to
Old Book of Tang, after Goguryeo was defeated by the Tang,
Tae Choyŏng (Da Zuorong) led his relatives to settle in Yingzhou (營州, modern-day
Chaoyang) until they were disturbed by a
Khitan rebellion in 696.
Li Jinzhong (Wushang Khan) of the Khitans along with his brother-in-law
Sun Wanrong rebelled against Tang (Wu Zetian's
Zhou Dynasty) hegemony, killed an abusive Tang commander, and attacked
Hebei. Li died soon after and Sun succeeded him, only to be defeated by the
Second Turkic Khaganate. The population of Yingzhou fled eastward toward the
Liao River during the turmoil. The Tang tried to appease
Tae Chungsang (Da Zhongxiang), the father of Tae Choyŏng, and another leader named
Kŏlsa Piu (Qisi Biyu), by granting them the titles of Duke of Zhen (Jin) and Duke of Xu (Heo) respectively. Geolsa Biu rejected the offer but was soon defeated by a Tang force led by
Li Kaigu, while Tae Chungsang fled with his followers but also died around the same time. Tae Chungsang's son left the Liao River valley for Mt. Tianmen (in modern
Jilin Province). The
Old Book states that there, Tae Choyŏng united the Goguryeo and Mohe people to deal a heavy defeat upon the Tang forces led by Li Kaigu at the
Battle of Tianmenling (Cheonmunnyeong). Because the route to Tae was cut off by the
Kumo Xi and Khitans who had submitted to the Türks,
Wu Zetian was unable to attack. Tae led his people east to the former area of
Kyeru (Guilou) and built a walled settlement against Mount
Dongmo (Dongmou) for protection. In 698, Tae Choyŏng declared himself King of Zhen (Jin). Other sources provide different accounts of Parhae's origin or differ in the details. According to Crossley, there was no rebellion at all, and the leader of the
Sumo Mohe (Songmal Malgal) assisted the Tang by suppressing Khitan rebels. As a reward the Tang acknowledged the leader as the local hegemon of a semi-independent state. According to Wang Zhenping, Mohe people and Goguryeo loyalists were deported to Yingzhou after the fall of Goguryeo. They waited there for an opportunity to strike back. In 696, three Mohe chieftains took advantage of the Khitan rebellion to move further east. Kŏlsa Piu was defeated while Tae Chungsang died around the same time, leaving Chungsang's foster son, Tae Chungsang in control of the group. Chungsang defeated a Tang punitive expedition and led his people to live in
Dunhua. In diplomatic communications between
Silla and Jin, Silla attempted to confer investiture to Tae Choyŏng with the title of a fifth rank official: "Dae achan". Silla conferred this mid-ranking investiture partially out of a sense of superiority, but also because Parhae was a relatively new kingdom whereas Silla had been centuries old. The people of Jin did not know the system of ranks used in Silla and thus accepted the title. After a while, Tae Choyŏng realized the meaning of the title and sought to change Parhae's international status. In 713 or 714, the Tang dynasty recognized Tae Choyŏng as the "Prince of Bohai (Parhae)", the name for the sea surrounding
Liaodong and
Shandong. Between 713 and 721, Silla constructed a northern wall to maintain active defences along the border. The Tang later recognized Parhae as a kingdom in 762 but Silla continued to view Parhae as a rebellious vassal. However, Kim Eun Gug argues that the "bestowal of a fifth-rank position was an expression of Silla's confidence, and such an exchange would have been unimaginable if Silla and Parhae were in a hostile relationship." After Tang recognition of Parhae as a kingdom, Parhae diplomatic missions to Japan began to refer to the Parhae ruler as descended from Heaven. Japanese officials criticized these letters, revised them, and limited diplomatic missions from Parhae. A royal epitaph and Buddhist scripture confirm this designation for the ruler of Parhae. Among the official dynastic history works, the
New Book of Tang refers to Tae Choyŏng and his state as
Sumo Mohe (related to
Jurchens and later
Manchus) affiliated with Goguryeo. The
Old Book of Tang also states Tae's ethnic background as Mohe but links him with Goguryeo via the term
biezhong (
gaoli biezhong ; 高麗別種). Literally speaking,
biezhong means "separate kind." The term is interpreted as meaning "a branch of the Goguryeo people" by South and North Korean historians, but as "distinct from Goguryeo" by Japanese and Chinese researchers. The
Old Book also states that the social customs of Parhae were the same as Goguryeo and the Khitans. Japanese diplomatic communications with Parhae recognized it as a "state of Go[gu]ryeo" and that envoys to Parhae were Goryeo envoys. In the early 12th century, the
Jurchen leader
Aguda sent ambassadors to the Liao dynasty to call on the Parhae people there to rebel against the Liao by appealing to a common origin between the Jurchens and Parhae. According to the appeal, both the Jurchens and Parhae people descended from the seven Wuji (Mulgil) tribes. However, according to Alexander Kim, this applied only to the Mohe portion of Parhae's population and not the Goguryeo people, who were not included in the seven Wuji tribes. The
Samguk sagi, written in the 12th century by
Kim Pusik, did not consider Parhae a Korean state, but it contains an excerpt of a letter from the Tang Grand Preceptor describing remnants of Goguryeo forming a country which they named Parhae. Kim considers this unlikely since Goguryeo fell in 668 while Tae died in 719, and young men could not receive the rank of general. The
Tongmunson (Selections of Refined Literature of Korea), a 15th century compilation, contains an excerpt from a letter sent by Ch'oe Ch'iwŏn to a Tang official stating that "In the past, Emperor Gaozong of Tang destroyed Goguryeo, but that Goguryeo is now Balhae". Dengzhou was the center of maritime trade routes in East Asia and the site where both Silla and Parhae envoys stayed when coming to pay tribute to the Tang Emperor. As a result, Parhae's attack on Dengzhou was not merely motivated by geopolitical retaliation against the Tang but also out a of a desire to assert its newfound maritime prowess as well as prevent the Heishui Mohe from establishing trade relations with the Tang, which would have weakened Parhae's dominace of the northern trade routes. Parhae's successful attack on Dengzhou also demonstrates a surprising maritime prowess for a thirty-year old state, which had military naval vessels that could cross the sea as well as merchant vessels that could carry out trade activities. In response to the attacks, the Tang ordered Kim Chungsin, the nephew of
Seongdeok of Silla and courtier in the Tang court, to return to
Silla and organize an attack on Parhae. Chungsin excused himself from the request by asking to remain in China as the emperor's bodyguard. In his place, the Tang sent Kim Saran, a low ranking diplomat from Silla, and a Tang eunuch. Munye was also recalled to recruit soldiers in Youzhou. In the meantime, Parhae struck again, sacking the town of Mt. Matou (northwest of modern
Shanhaiguan), and killing 10,000 Tang soldiers. The Parhae force raided and pillaged along the Liao River and the coast of the
Liaodong Peninsula. In 733, Tang and Silla's forces attempted a joint attack on Parhae but were accosted by a blizzard that blocked all roads and killed half of the 100,000 Tang-Silla army, forcing them to abort the invasion. Muye continued to try to kill his brother. He sent an agent to
Luoyang to plot the assassination of his brother. Munye was attacked in broad daylight near the Tianjin Bridge outside the imperial palace but escaped unharmed.
Reconciliation with the Tang In 734, Silla attacked Parhae with no success. In an effort to curb Parhae's ambitions, the Tang granted Silla's request to place troops in the
Paegang region in 735. The strategic landscape began to turn on Parhae in 734–735, when the
Khitan chieftain, Ketuyu, and his Turkic allies were defeated by Tang forces. In addition a force of 5,000
Kumo Xi cavalrymen surrendered to the Tang. The defeat of the Khitans and
Turks, and the submission of the Kumo Xi removed the buffer zone that had formed between Parhae and the Tang. Sensing the change in strategic developments, Muye decided to reconcile with the Tang. In 737, Tang sailors and civilians detained in Parhae were repatriated. In 738, an envoy from Parhae requested Tang ritual codes and dynastic histories in a symbolic gesture towards peace. Muye died soon after.
Relations with Japan Japanese records indicate that Parhae and Japan enjoyed very amicable relations. When King Mu sent Parhae's first envoy delegation to Japan in 727, the mission was made up of 24 men, which included high-ranking generals such as Ko Inŭi and Ko Chedŏk. King Mu had 300 sable furs sent by the Parhae delegation to Japan as both a show of goodwill and a desire to foster friendly relations with Japan. Muye's son and successor,
Tae Hŭmmu (Da Qinmao, r. 737–793), continued the course of reconciliation with the Tang. At the same time, trouble with the
Tibetan Empire to the west forced the Tang to withdraw all military forces from
Korea and adopt a defensive stance. Hŭmmu cemented the geopolitical balance by sending an envoy to the Japanese court, which his father had done as well in 728 to threaten Silla with an ally from the southeast. Parhae kept diplomatic and commercial contacts with Japan until the end of the kingdom. Parhae dispatched envoys to Japan 34 times, while Japan sent envoys to Parhae 13 times. Parhae planned a joint attack on Silla with Japan.
Gyeongdeok of Silla offended Japan twice. In 753 he treated Japanese ambassadors with arrogance and in 758 he refused to meet them. After 758, Japan asked Parhae to attack Silla with them. Parhae and Japan exchanged ambassadors several times in the 750s and 760s to plan for the attack. Silla likely knew of these plans and prepared by building six castles along the border with Parhae in 762. The border region changed hands many times but the losses are not described in Silla's official history, only the dates when an army was sent north. Japan prepared a fleet to invade southern Silla; however the plan never came to fruition. In 755, the
An Lushan Rebellion broke out, causing the Tang to lose control of the northeast, and even after the rebellion's end in 763, warlords known as
jiedushi controlled the former northeastern part of the Tang empire. In 762,
Emperor Daizong of Tang formally recognized Parhae as a state and Hŭmmu as its king. Although China recognized him as a king, Parhae itself referred to him as the son of heaven (emperor) and a king. The consort of the ruler was also called empress. In 771,
Mun sent a letter to Japan declaring himself the "Grandson of Heaven". A record in 834 says that Parhae had both kings and great kings. The epitath of Princess Chŏnghyo (Zhenxiao), daughter of Hŭmmu, states that her father was a "great king." Hŭmmu moved the capital of Parhae several times. He also established
Shangjing/Sanggyeong, the permanent capital near
Lake Jingpo in the south of modern day
Heilongjiang province around 756, stabilizing and strengthening central rule over various ethnic tribes in his realm, which was expanded temporarily. He also authorized the creation of the
Jujagam/
Zhouzijian (), the national academy, based on
Guozijian, the national academy of Tang.
Conflict with Mohe tribes and Silla The bilateral relationship between the Tang and Parhae grew friendlier. From 766 to 779, 25 missions from Parhae paid respect to Daizong. By the end of Hŭmmu's reign in 793, princes from Parhae's royal family were serving as guards at the court of
Emperor Dezong of Tang of their own volition. Peace with the Tang allowed Parhae to further expand its territory. After the death of Hŭmmu, who was
posthumously known as
Mun (Wen, r. 737–793), Parhae experienced a succession crisis. As a result, Parhae lost territory and bordering Mohe tribes rebelled. Both the reigns of
Sŏn (Xuan, r. 818–830) and
Tae Ijin (Da Yizhen, r. 830–857) saw intrusions by Mohe tribes. Sŏn annexed the Yuexi Mohe and other tribes along the Amur valley in the north. In 886, the Heishui Mohe put up wooden signs declaring that they wished to establish peaceful relations with Silla. In 818-820, he also invaded Liaodong and parts of Silla on Parhae's southern border. In 826, Silla mobilized tens of thousands of people to fortify the border with Parhae. In the middle of the 9th century, Parhae completed its local administrative system, which was composed of five capitals, 15 prefectures and 62 counties.
Fall In 907, Parhae came into conflict with the Khitan
Liao dynasty because of the decision of the
Khitans near modern
Chifeng and
Tongliao, who recognized the supremacy of Parhae, to become part of the Liao dynasty. The Liao ruler
Abaoji took possession of the
Liao River basin, which led to a long conflict. Some Parhae aristocrats were forced to move to Liaoyang, but the eastern territory was recaptured by the Parhae nobles as
Later Parhae, which was later renamed to
Chŏngan (Ding'an). The Liao invaded Chŏngan in 975 but failed to conquer them. In 985–6, the Khitans attacked Chŏngan again, this time successfully. The last remnants of Parhae resistance from the former state of Chŏngan were destroyed by 999. Some scholars considered
the eruption of Mount Paektu in the 930–940s to have dealt a final blow to the surviving forces of Parhae based on records of massive population displacement of Parhae people to the Liaodong peninsula of the Khitan empire and the Korean peninsula of Goryeo. However this theory has lost popularity in Korea in recent times and Russian scholars do not consider it a plausible reason for Parhae's collapse. The most paramount reason seems to have been military confrontation with a superior power, the Khitans. The
Old Book of Tang stated that the kingdom originally had around 100,000 households and tens of thousands of soldiers, suggesting a population of around 500,000.
Later history Goryeo Though Parhae was lost, a great portion of the royalty and aristocracy fled to Goryeo, including
Tae Kwanghyŏn, the last
crown prince. They were granted land and the crown prince was given the family name Wang (), the royal family name of the Goryeo dynasty, and included in the royal household by
Wang Geon, who was crowned as Taejo of Goryeo. Koreans believe Goryeo thus unified the two successor nations of Goguryeo. Some other members of the Parhae royalty took the surname Tae (). According to Alexander Kim, Goryeo's statistical information shows that more than 100,000 Parhae people moved to Goryeo at different points in time. As descendants of Goguryeo, the Parhae people and the Goryeo dynasts were related. Taejo of Goryeo felt a strong familial kinship with Parhae, calling it his "relative country" and "married country", and protected the Parhae refugees. This was in stark contrast to Later Silla, which had endured a hostile relationship with Parhae. Taejo displayed strong animosity toward the Khitans who had destroyed Parhae. The Liao dynasty sent 30 envoys with 50 camels as a gift in 942, but Taejo exiled the envoys to an island and starved the camels under a bridge, in what is known as the "Manbu Bridge Incident". Taejo proposed to
Gaozu of
Later Jin that they attack the Khitans in retribution for Parhae, according to the
Zizhi Tongjian. Exodus en masse on part from the Parhae refugees would continue on at least until the early 12th century during the reign of King Yejong, according to Korean scholars. Due to this constant massive influx of Parhae refugees, the Goguryeo population is speculated to have become dominant in proportion compared to their Silla and Baekje counterparts that have experienced devastating war and political strife since the advent of the Later Three Kingdoms. Later Baekje fared only little better than Later Silla before its fall in 936. Meanwhile, of the three capitals of Goryeo, two were Kaesong and Pyongyang which were initially populated by Goguryeoic settlers from the Paeseo Region () and Parhae.
Crossley believes that according to Goryeo records, Parhae refugees only arrived in groups of a few hundred to a few thousand. She suggests that the total number could not exceed 100,000, while millions remained in Liao-controlled territories. According to Crossley, it is also unclear whether they stayed, returned to Parhae, or moved on elsewhere, such as China or Japan. Historian Professor Park Jong-gi estimated that 120,600 people fled from Parhae to Goryeo, and by themselves comprised approximately 6.3% of early Goryeo's roughly 2 million inhabitants. According to Kim, many Parhae refugees fled to Goryeo due to pro-Parhae policies during the mid 9th century. In the first few decades after Parhae's fall, Parhae refugees were welcomed by Goryeo. However, it seems few Parhae refugees retained high positions in Goryeo as service in the Khitan administration offered more benefits. Goryeo annals contain only six names of high-ranking officials who were of Parhae origin. From 1029 to 1030, the Khitan Administration was rocked by a rebellion by Parhae people after the government tried raising taxes on them. The leader of the rebellion was the Liao general
Da Yanlin, a 7th generation descendant of the founder of Parhae. He arrested and killed Khitan leaders and proclaimed the establishment of a new dynasty,
Xing Liao. He sent an ambassador to Goryeo requesting military support. Goryeo sent some military troops against the Liao but the Khitans repelled them and expelled the Goryeo army. Some of Goryeo's officers sought further confrontation with the Liao, but the Goryeo diplomatic corps and nobility asked the Goryeo king to exercise caution. The Goryeo king decided to abandon military activities against the Liao. Despite this, Parhae people continued to send missions to Goryeo requesting assistance. The last mission, led by Lee Kwang Rok, arrived after the destruction of the state, and Kim considers this group as refugees, not members of an ambassadorial mission. Kim believes that in the 11th century, Parhae people under the Liao started viewing Goryeo as a hostile state in which the Parhae people lacked support.
Liao dynasty The Parhae people played a pivotal role in the politics, literature, and society of northern China under the Liao and Jin dynasties. After the dissolution of Parhae by the Khitan empire, the term "Bohai" was used through the fourteenth century to denote a subset of the populations of the Liao, Jin, and
Mongol empires. The Liao Eastern Capital (Dongjing, modern-day
Liaoyang,
Liaoning) served as a base for monitoring the former Parhae territories. The city's residents, over 40,000 in the early tenth century, were primarily Parhae, according to a figure cited by Pamela Crossley.
Tae Insŏn (Da Yinzhuan), the last Parhae king, and other members of the former royal lineage still held considerable authority in
Dongdan and the Eastern Capital after Parhae's fall. Some Parhae elites, on the other hand, were integrated into the Liao aristocracy and often changed their personal identities dramatically. According to Wittfogel and Feng, an undated Liao census puts the number of Parhae households in Liaoyang at around 100,000, which would be around half a million individuals. After the semi-autonomous kingdom of
Dongdan that had been set up in former Parhae territory was abolished in 929 and its ruler,
Yelü Bei, fled in 930, Parhae's territory started to be integrated into the Liao dynasty. A large part of Parhae's administrative structure was dismantled and the Liao sent Han and Khitan settlers, most of whom were soldiers, to colonize former Parhae territory. However, the region was treated as a tributary state for tax purposes. An annual payment of 1,000 horses and 150,000 bolts of cloth was levied on the region, but monopoly taxes on salt and wine did not exist, and there were only minimal taxes on commerce. In the 1020s, the Southern Establishment which administered the settled areas of the Liao dynasty tried to extend its taxation system to the Parhae people of the defunct Dongdan kingdom who previously only had to pay the reduced tribute payment. The Parhae people were ordered to build boats to transport grain to the
Southern Capital. The journey was dangerous and many boats were lost, leading to resentment. In the summer of 1029, a distant descendant of Parhae royalty,
Da Yanlin, rebelled at the Eastern Capital. He imprisoned minister Xiao Xiaoxian and his wife, killed the tax commissioners and chief military commander, and declared his own Xing Liao dynasty (興遼國/흥료국). He requested aid from Goryeo, who sent forces against Liao only to be repelled. Further ambassadors were sent by Xing Liao to Goryeo seeking aid but Goryeo refused to help them owing to the advice of nobles and scholars to the Goryeo king. Four groups of ambassadors were sent but the last group remained in Goryeo rather than return. Other Parhae people serving in the Liao military also refused to join Xing Liao. Instead only a handful of
Jurchens joined his regime. Many participants of the rebellion probably realized the weakness of the new dynasty and fled to Goryeo before its collapse. A year later, one of Da Yanlin's officers betrayed him and opened the Eastern Capital's gates to the Khitans. His short lived dynasty came to an end. The old Parhae nobility were resettled near the Supreme Capital while others fled to Goryeo. In 1114, Parhae descendants took advantage of the Jurchen-Khitan war and rebelled under the leadership of Gu Yu, who commanded 30,000 soldiers. They defeated Khitan armies twice before they were destroyed. In 1116 another rebellion occurred at the Eastern Capital when a Parhae officer named Gao Yongchang declared himself emperor of the Yuan dynasty and requested aid from the Jin. Liao troops sent to quash the rebellion were themselves led by those of Parhae descent. The Jin relief troops to Yuan easily repulsed the Liao troops but then turned on the Parhae rebels and killed Gao Yongchang. The distinction between Parhae and Jurchen rebellions was not always clear to the Liao. In the 1117 epitaph of an officer who died while fighting against Jurchens in 1114, the Parhae and Jurchens were mentioned in connection to each other and placed within a similar category.
Jin dynasty The Khitans themselves eventually succumbed to the
Jurchen people, the descendants of the Mohe, who founded the
Jin dynasty. Jurchen proclamations emphasized the common descent of the Parhae and Jurchens from the seven Wuji (勿吉) tribes. The Jin sent two Parhae representatives to recruit "people from their home area" while bearing a message that "The Jurchen and Bohai are originally of the same family; as we rise in arms to smite the wicked, [harm] will not unjustly reach the innocent." The fourth, fifth and seventh emperors of Jin were mothered by Parhae consorts. Nevertheless, the 13th century census of Northern China by the Mongols distinguished Parhae people who belonged to the Khitan Empire from other ethnic groups such as Goryeo, Khitans and Jurchens. A Song observer notes that during the Liao era, Parhae people were not employed in the government, as a result they were the first to defect to the Jin. The call for Parhae defectors was met with significant success. Aguda was advised by a Parhae man named Yang Pu who aided him in establishing an imperial court. Another Parhae man named Gao Qinyi became the advisor of
Wanyan Zonghan, a Jurchen general and close friend of Aguda. An 1125 embassy noted that Jin protocol officers included Khitans, Jurchens, as well as Parhae. They all spoke Chinese. A descendant of the Parhae royal family, Da Gao (1086–1153), served in the Jin army and was given command of eight Parhae battalions in the war against the
Song dynasty. One Parhae commander, Guo Yaoshi (active 1116–1132) fought in the Liao, Jin, and Song armies at one point or another. The Parhae played a critical role in supporting
Emperor Shizong of Jin's accession to the throne. Families of Parhae descent were able to rise high in the Jin hierarchy, including Zhang Rulin (d. 1190) and Zhang Rubi (d. 1187), who were key advisers of Emperor Shizong, and Li Yin (
jinshi 1194, d. 1214), who died fighting against the
Mongols. Parhae descendants also participated with success in the Jin imperial examinations. Many Parhae literati-officials such as Gao Kan (d. 1167), Gao Xian (
jinshi 1203), Zhang Rulin, Zhang Runeng, Zhang Ruwei (fl. 1150), Zhang Rufang, and Wang Tingyun (1151–1202) were entrusted as arbiters of culture and cultivated taste. Wang Tingyun's family received literary distinctions. His eldest daughter became a
Daoist priestess, named Congqing, and was a poet at the imperial court. Intermarriage between Parhae civil elites in the Jin dynasty was common. In 1190, Wang Ji identified two families he encountered in Liaodong as Parhae. Writing after the fall of the Jin dynasty in 1234, Liu Qi identified the military commander Li Ying as a "Bohai man of Liaodong." There were still limitations on Parhae people in the Jin dynasty. In 1136, the Jurchen official Wanyan Puluhu revoked the pardon of a man when his origin was determined to be Parhae. Policies to restrain and weaken Parhae were increased over time. In 1140, an edict abolished Han Chinese and Parhae hereditary military garrisons but not
Kumo Xi and Khitan garrisons. The Jin government also targeted the Parhae population for relocation. Over the years, groups of Parhae who were once moved outside to areas near the Liao supreme or central capital regions were resettled east of the
Taihang Mountains, which was completed by 1141. Another relocation south of
Zhongdu was planned in 1149, but the Parhae court attendant Gao Shouxing protested to
Empress Daoping, who told the emperor, resulting in the beating and death of the two officials planning the relocation. A substantial Jin military presence was bought to Liaodong in which as many as thirty Jurchen meng'an units (''meng'an
literally means one thousand'' or units composed of one thousand soldiers) and the families of the retinues were moved to garrisons in the Eastern Capital Circuit. The southward migration of Jurchens, especially Jurchen aristocrats, may have contributed to a decline of people who identified as Parhae. In 1177, a decree was passed to abolish the "old Bohai custom" of marriage through mock abduction. Although the Parhae experienced less restrictions under the Jin, there was also less emphasis on Parhae as a distinct group. During the later Jin era, the strong association between Parhae and Liaodong declined as Liaodong became dominated by other identities. As Parhae descendants became firmly incorporated into the apparatus of the Jurchen-led state, many individual Parhae-descended officials willingly chose to self-identify as Chinese. In 1135, Nansali was chosen as an emissary to Goryeo, for which he changed his name to the Sinitic Wang Zheng. Wang Tingyun also invented a genealogy record on his epitaph tracing his lineage to
Taiyuan rather than Liaodong. The epitaph acknowledges that his most recent ancestors were in the employ of Parhae but added that they only "lived dispersed among the eastern barbarians", rejecting his Parhae identity. The practice of inventing fictitious genealogies to hide ancestry outside of the "Central Territories" was widespread from Song times onward.
Mongol Empire The term "Parhae" became noticeably less prevalent under the rule of the
Mongol Empire. There is no trace of Parhae descendants from the defunct Jin dynasty and no epitaphs from the Mongol era claim a Parhae identity. Parhae was only used as a toponym in the early 14th century and Parhae disappeared entirely from historical sources by the late 14th century. Near the end of Mongol rule, the scholar
Tao Zongyi put Parhae alongside Khitan and Jurchen under a subcategory within
Hanren, which is not surprising given that most of them at the time of the Mongol conquest were literati, officials, or attachments to the Jin bureaucracy. Many chose to use Chinese style names, similar to Jurchens, probably for inclusion in the Hanren (Northern Chinese) category under the Mongol hierarchy, rather than the inferior fourth category,
Nanren (Southern Chinese). Aside from legal references to the
Taihe Code of the Jin dynasty, the term "Parhae" is absent from the Yuan legal compendium. The referenced passages have to do with limitations on levirate marriage for Han and Parhae and restrictions on marriage during mourning. Some Parhae adopted Mongol or
Tatar culture rather than Chinese. The biography of You Xingge (d. 1227) identifies him as Parhae. As the Jin dynasty was collapsing from the Mongol invasions, You established an independent fort near Gaozhou (modern
Chifeng). They fought off several military detachments until they were besieged by
Muqali. After You surrendered, Muqali praised him to
Genghis Khan, who bestowed on him the Mongol name Halabadu. He later fought for the Mongols at Taiyuan in 1227. You Xingge's son is only referred to by the name Mangqutai, which denotes him as part of the Mangqutai tribe. The decline of Parhae identity was not a gradual and steady process. According to Toyama Gunji, "the Bohai remained alive and well for three hundred years of history" after the state was destroyed. ==Culture==