Wi Man (in Korean) or Wei Man (in Chinese) was a Chinese military general and monarch. He was originally a military leader of the Chinese Kingdom of Yan. * :"The term was used again by a refugee from the Han dynasty named Wiman, who about 200 B.C.E. set up a kingdom in Korea called Wiman Choson." * :"The earliest documented event in Korean history involves China. After an unsuccessful rising against the first Han emperor Gaozu, the defeated rebels sought refuge beyond the imperial frontier and one of them Wiman, took control of Choson, a Korean state in the north of the peninsula." * :"For instance, Wiman, a refugee from the Yan dynasty, which then existed around present-day Beijing, led his band of more than 1,000 followers into exile in Old Chosŏn in the early second century bc." * :"Retaliation by the Han then brought in refugees from Yan, the most notable of whom was a war lord, Weiman ('Wiman'in Korean), who somewhere about 200 BC led his followers into the territory held by Choson." * :"Here, Wiman was described as a "Gu Yanren 故燕人"or a person from former Yan. It is confusing because there were two Yans around this period. The first was the Yan state, which was one of the seven states during the Warring States period, and the second was the vassal state of Yan of the Han dynasty." When king Lu Wan of Yan was defeated by the Han in 195 BCE, Wi Man fled to

Gojoseon Gojoseon (; ), contemporary name Joseon (; ), was the first kingdom on the Korea, Korean Peninsula. According to Korean mythology, the kingdom was established by the legendary king Dangun. Gojoseon possessed the most advanced culture in th ...

in north-western

Korea Korea is a peninsular region in East Asia consisting of the Korean Peninsula, Jeju Island, and smaller islands. Since the end of World War II in 1945, it has been politically Division of Korea, divided at or near the 38th parallel north, 3 ...

and later usurped power from its king in 194 BCE, establishing

Wiman Joseon Wiman Joseon (194–108 BC) was a dynasty of Gojoseon. It began with Wiman's (Wei Man) seizure of the throne from Gija Joseon's King Jun and ended with the death of King Ugeo who was a grandson of Wiman. Apart from archaeological data, the ma ...

. Recorded in the ''

Records of the Grand Historian The ''Shiji'', also known as ''Records of the Grand Historian'' or ''The Grand Scribe's Records'', is a Chinese historical text that is the first of the Twenty-Four Histories of imperial China. It was written during the late 2nd and early 1st ce ...

'' and the ''

Book of Han The ''Book of Han'' is a history of China finished in 111 CE, covering the Western, or Former Han dynasty from the first emperor in 206 BCE to the fall of Wang Mang in 23 CE. The work was composed by Ban Gu (32–92 CE), ...

'', Wiman was the first ruler in the history of Korea to have been recorded in documents from the same time period.

Biography

After

Emperor Gaozu of Han Emperor Gaozu of Han (2561 June 195 BC), also known by his given name Liu Bang, was the founder and first emperor of the Han dynasty, reigning from 202 to 195 BC. He is considered by traditional Chinese historiography to be one o ...

suppressed the rebellion of

Zang Tu Zang Tu (died October 202 BC) was a Chinese military general, monarch, politician, and warlord who lived during the late Qin dynasty and early Han dynasty of China. Biography Zang Tu was originally a military general serving under Han Guang, ...

, king of Yan, he appointed general Lu Wan as Yan's new king. In 196 BC, Emperor Gaozu suspected Lu Wan of plotting rebellion and ordered an attack against Yan. Lu Wan fled to the

Xiongnu The Xiongnu (, ) were a tribal confederation of Nomad, nomadic peoples who, according to ancient Chinese historiography, Chinese sources, inhabited the eastern Eurasian Steppe from the 3rd century BC to the late 1st century AD. Modu Chanyu, t ...

while his general Wiman (Wei Man) led a thousand followers east to

. He was initially ordered to fortify Gojoseon's northwestern border by King Jun of Gojoseon, however with the help of Yan refugees, Wiman usurped the throne (194~180 BCE). King Jun fled to Jin and called himself the "King of Han (韓王)". Wiman's capital of Gojoseon was Wanggeom-seong, generally identified as

Pyongyang Pyongyang () is the Capital city, capital and largest city of North Korea, where it is sometimes labeled as the "Capital of the Revolution" (). Pyongyang is located on the Taedong River about upstream from its mouth on the Yellow Sea. Accordi ...

. Since the

Han dynasty The Han dynasty was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China (202 BC9 AD, 25–220 AD) established by Liu Bang and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–206 BC ...

was not completely stabilized yet, the governor of

Liaodong The Liaodong or Liaotung Peninsula ( zh, s=辽东半岛, t=遼東半島, p=Liáodōng Bàndǎo) is a peninsula in southern Liaoning province in Northeast China, and makes up the southwestern coastal half of the Liaodong region. It is located ...

appointed Wiman as an outer subject, provided that he did not prevent natives going up to the empire. The appointment is dated at 191 or 192 BCE.(Ibaragi:1984) Having superior military strength,

was able to subjugate the state of Jinbeon () and Imdun (), vastly extending its borders. His kingdom was eventually conquered by

Emperor Wu of Han Emperor Wu of Han (156 – 29 March 87BC), born Liu Che and courtesy name Tong, was the seventh Emperor of China, emperor of the Han dynasty from 141 to 87 BC. His reign lasted 54 years – a record not broken until the reign of the Kangxi ...

in 108 BCE during the reign of

Ugeo of Gojoseon Ugeo (, died 108 BC) was the last king of Wiman Joseon, the last remnant of Gojoseon. He was a grandson of Wi Man. Ugeo was killed by an assassin sent by a faction advocating surrender. Even after the death of Ugeo, Gojoseon resisted the Ha ...

Family

*Son and successor: name not recorded, second king of Wiman Joseon **Grandson: Ugeo (右渠), last king of Wiman Joseon ***Great-grandson: Wi Jang (衛長),

References

Notes

Sources

* Mikami Tsugio 三上次男: ''Kodai no seihoku Chōsen to Ei-shi Chōsen koku no seiji, shakaiteki seikaku'' 古代の西北朝鮮と衛氏朝鮮国の政治・社会的性格, Kodai Tōhoku Ajiashi Kenkyū 古代東北アジア史研究, pp. 3–22, 1966. * Ibaragi Kazuo 荊木計男: ''Ei Man Chōsen ō Sakuhō ni tsuite'' 衛満朝鮮冊封について, Chōsen Gakuhō 朝鮮学報 (Journal of the Academic Association of Koreanology in Japan) Vol. 113, pp. 1–25, 1984. * Tani Toyonobu 谷豊信: ''Rakurō-gun no ichi'' 楽浪郡の位置, Chōsen shi kenkyūkai ronbunshū 朝鮮史研究会論文集 (Bulletin of Society for Study in Korean History), No 24, pp. 23–45, 1987. {{s-end 2nd-century BC Chinese military personnel 2nd-century BC Korean people 2nd-century BC monarchs in Asia Chinese emigrants to Korea Early Korean history Han dynasty generals Korean generals Wiman Joseon rulers