Chinese Prime Minister of "Korean" origin?

When the  Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao paid state visit to South Korean on 10th of April this year, the Kim clan Association of Korea paid close attention to Wen's visit, because they reckon that Prime Minister Wen Jiabao might share common ancestry with the savior of one of Kim clan's forefather's life.

The 12 century Korean history work 《The chronicle of three Kingdoms》(《三国史记》)recorded a story between Kim Chunchu and a silla man named Wen jun jie.

Kim Chunchu was the King Taejong Muyeol(654-661) , 29th monarch of Silla kingdom.

In the second year of Queen Jindeok of Silla (648), Kim Chunchu went to China as the envoy, on his way back he encountered the Goguryeon naval patrol. One of His retinue Wen jun jie sense the danger, he let Kim Chunchu board a small boat for escape, Wen put on Kim Chunchu's clothing and sit on outstanding part of the ship.Goguryeon soldiers saw Wen and mistook him as Kim Chunchu, they captured Wen and executed him. Because of Wen jun jie's sacrifice, Kim Chunchu returned to Silla unharmed. Kim Chunchu reported the incident to Queen Jindeok, Wen jun jie was honored with title by the Queen, his offsprings also received fair rewards.

Kim Chunjae, the president of Kim clan Association of Korea says:"Kim clan (of Gyeongju) have always regarded the Wen family with gratitude. If Prime Minister Wen share common ancestry with Wen jun jie whom saved general Kim chunchu's life 1379 years ago, we would like to express our gratitude through an appropriate way.

This story of Prime Minister Wen Jiabao's possible "Korean" connection was published on 《Choson Daily》

Korean edition: http://news.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2007/04/10/2007041000038.html

Edited by The Charioteer - 02-Jul-2007 at 13:27

Interesting anecdote.

well they sure look alike

Edited by Siege Tower - 05-Jul-2007 at 18:31

《The chronicle of three kingdoms》does'nt say anything about Wen jun jie's ancestry. The earliest Korean historical figure whom had  the last name Wen was a Goguryeon general named Wen da around 6th century  AD, so Wen jun jie may trace his lineage to him. But its not clear about Wen da's ancestry.

As for the origin of Wen clan in China,

the following is an introduction on this surname from Wen Clan Association of China:

"Origin of Wen clan
Descendants of Huangdi (AKA The Yellow Emperor)

During the reign of king Xiang of Xia dynasty, a branch of the Kun wu clan founded a state at the place of Wen, because the site had hot spring, as hot spring is called Wen quan in Chinese, the state was named the Wen state. According to Ming dynasty's《Local record of Wen county》, the hot spring had dried up by the time of Ming dynasty.

In the 26th year of King Jie(reign 1818-1766 BC, last Xia king) of Xia dynasty, the Shang destroyed the Wen state. In memory of their former home, the descendants of Wen state use the name for their former state, Wen as their clan name. The remains of ancient Wen state was excavated near today's Wen county, relics such as pottery works, tools made of stone and bones etc which belong to Erlitou culture (presumably represent the culture of Xia) have been discovered. The site is the place where Wen clan originated.

Three major branches

The stele of a Tang official Wen xin records him as the descendant of Zhuan xu(grandson of Huangdi), this branch of Wen clan was derived from Ji(己)clan.

The second branch of Wen clan was derived from a branch of Ji clan, the Su clan. The Su clan was also derived from Ji clan, Wu hui is a descendant of Zhuan xu, the son of Wu hui is Lu zhong, the son of Lu zhong is Fan whom was assigned to Kun wu, the son of Kun wu was assigned to a place called Su, which is in today's Lin zhang county of Hebei province.  A branch of the Kun wu clan of Xia dynasty was assigned to there, which became the You su clan. After ancient Wen state was destroyed by Shang, You su clan moved to the area around the place of Wen. The leader of You su clan was the Marquis of Jizhou under the Shang dynasty. During the reign of last Shang king Zhou,

In the second year of King Xiang of Zhou dynasty(650BC), nomadic Di tribe invaded the place of Wen, because there was repugnance between Su state and Zhou king, the Zhou king sit watching the Di destroyed Su state without giving help. The ruler of Su state fled to Wei state, and called himself as Wen zi, his descendants then used Wen as their clan name since.

The third branch came from an official of Jin state named Xi zhi. After Su state was destroyed by the Di tribe, the place of Wen became Xi zhi's fiefdom. Xi zhi belongs to the Ji(姬) clan of Zhou dynasty, as the Jin state was founded by Tang shu yu,

Whether they were descended from the Ji clan of Kun wu, a descendant of Zhuan Xu,

Other branches of Wen

During the Northern Wei dynasty, the Chi wen clan, Wen gu clan, Wen pen clan, changed to Wen. According to 《history of Jin dynasty》, Jurchen clan of Wen di han, its sinicized form is Wen. During the Ming dynasty, a visiting Philippine King(of Sulu) died in China, the King's second son named Wen ha la and third son An du lu remained in China to look after the King's grave, Wen ha la's descendants have sinicized name Wen. Ethnic minority such as Taiwanese aborigines, the Buyi, Li. Zhuang, Yao also have the surname Wen. Furthermore, during the Han dynasty, one of the 36 kingdoms of "western region", the King of the state of Wen su had the surname Wen. During the Tang period, the King of Kangju kingdom also had the surname Wen. They may had connection with migration of ancient Wen people as they were merged with local ethnicities.

Edited by The Charioteer - 07-Jul-2007 at 15:36

Originally posted by jiangweibaoye Possible.  Anything is possible.   As DayI said, if you feel like you are Chinese, then you are Chinese.  If you feel you are Korean, then you are Korean...   Jiangwei

Edited by The Charioteer - 08-Jul-2007 at 05:05

Originally posted by DayI Originally posted by The Charioteer Originally posted by jiangweibaoye Possible.  Anything is possible.   As DayI said, if you feel like you are Chinese, then you are Chinese.  If you feel you are Korean, then you are Korean...   Jiangwei   You are "walking into a minefield" by asserting such notion my friend. I dunno much about Chinese politics or (south) Koreans one but do they research the persons history before or after he/she is elected as a president out there? Like before i said, therefore there was a "huge" discussion out there of the possible chinese origins of south Korean prime minister (or president?). Is that sort of a tradition, or just out curiousity some people research it?

Edited by The Charioteer - 08-Jul-2007 at 20:02

Edited by The Charioteer - 09-Jul-2007 at 10:07

Thanks for your effort and the detailled information/answer you gave. 

Charioteer, for your information, the article does not state that Wen Jiabao, nor the Wen clan is of Korean origin. It only states "common ancestry". This means the hero to the Kyeongju Kim clan could have the same ancestors as Wen Jiabao.

Anyway, the Greeks have Mount Olympus, the Koreans and Manchus have Mount Baekdu/Changbai.


Edited by Penhold - 26-Jul-2007 at 21:54

I wouldn't talk Charioteer. Chinese people believe that all Asians originate from China.

They also think the Korean language is dialects of Chinese.

I once argued with a Chinese guy who grew up on Chinese nationalist education. He thinks China's territory was the same throughout ALL of China's history, including Tibet and regions north of the great wall. He got very upset with me when I told him it wasn't so.

Even if i was not aware of this then i should have became aware of it after reading killabee's reply.

Then you must also be aware that your reading comprehension skills have a problem. You should cease this hostility towards Koreans since it probably the result of your misunderstanding. East Asians are divided enough as it is, you don't have to make it worse.

"Because Shandong has some connection to "Dongyi", and because "Dongyi" has some connection to "Korean", then Shan dong people are actually "the descendants of ancient Koreans"."

Shandong people did not originate from the Korean peninsula. But neither did todays "Koreans". Koreans know this, so when they group together Shandong people and their own people, it is because they believe they share a common ancestry.


Edited by Penhold - 03-Aug-2007 at 11:47