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folklore and art. The tribes represented by the she-bear and tigress were probably native settlers with a Neolithic culture. The bear-woman’s marriage to Hwanung thus signifies the union of two large tribes in Korea. In other words, the Hwanung tribe, believing itself to be descendants of the king of heaven, became the “king tribe,” and the bear tribe defeated the tiger tribe to become the “queen tribe.” Tan’gun’s birth between Hwanung and “
ungny ŏ ,
” or the bear-woman, suggests that a migrant tribe with a Bronze culture united with a native tribe with a Neolithic culture to form a walled-town state named “Chos ŏ n.”
    The mugwort, the 20 pieces of garlic, and the gods p’ungbaek, ubaek, and unsa all suggest that Old Chos ŏ n was an agricultural society. The term tan’gun means shaman, or religious leader, and wangg ŏ m means political leader, and so the name Ta’gun Wangg ŏ m implies that Old Chos ŏ n was a theocratic society. Thus Old Chos ŏ n was an agricultural theocracy.
Tan’gun Chos ŏ n and Kija Chos ŏ n
    There is no archeological or anthropological evidence to support the legend that Tan’gun Chos ŏ n (Old Chos ŏ n) was founded in 2333 BC , but archeological finds suggest that because Bronze culture appeared in southern Manchuria in the fifteenth century BC , small-scale walled-town states, or tribal states, such as Tan’gun Chos ŏ n, probably did come into existence. Some Chinese documents, written in the early seventh century BC , recorded that a Chinese kingdom of Qi (Che in Korean) traded with Chos ŏ n, suggesting that Old Chos ŏ n was an internationally known, commanding state. Then, in the sixth century BC , Chos ŏ n was so well known among the Chinese that the famous sage Confucius was said to have wished to go to Chos ŏ n to lead a life there. This tale indicates that the ancient Chinese saw Chos ŏ n as a “utopia,” where life was far better than in China, a place infested with constant warfare and turmoil.
    After the Han empire was founded in 206 BC , references to the existence of Chos ŏ n became more obvious in Chinese records. For instance, the Chinese historian Sima Qian’s
Shiji,
or Historical Records, described that when the Yin dynasty fell to the Zhou dynasty in 1122 BC , Jizi (Kija), a member of Yin royalty, with 5,000 intellectuals and technicians in tow, migrated into Chos ŏ n to ascend the nation’s throne. Considering that the first Chinese historical documents describing Jizi, such as
Zhushu jinian,
or the Bamboo Annals, and
Lunyu,
or the Analects, made no mention of Jizi’s supposed migration to Chos ŏ n, this legend of “Kija Chos ŏ n” suggests that not Jizi himself but his descendants might have come to Chos ŏ n in succession in the fifth and fourth centuries BC . Wielding highly advanced iron implements, these people became the new ruling class in Chos ŏ n, which was still then in the Bronze culture. These Yin people also migrated to Chos ŏ n, as Chos ŏ n was considered the native state of the dongyi people. Because their own country was also founded by the dongyi people, they may well have felt that the Zhou, established by the Chinese, might not suit them well. When the Han dynasty was later at war with Chos ŏ n, Chinese historians embellished Jizi as the progenitor of Old Chos ŏ n.
    Kija’s descendants succeeded the throne until the early second century BC , when, as mentioned above, Wiman, a political exile from the Yan dynasty, usurped the throne. King Chun, the last king of Kija Chos ŏ n, is said to have fled southward to the state of Chin, where he called himself the “Han King.” Since the period of the Three Kingdoms, Chun’s descendants seem to have had such family names as “Han,” “Ki,” and “S ŏ nu.”
    With the advent of Bronze culture, several walled-town states began to appear in Manchuria and the Korean peninsula. Around 450 BC Puy ŏ arose in the upper reaches of the Songhua River in Manchuria, Ye