在唐 新羅人社會의 硏究現況과 課題

On the Present Research State and the Point at Issue of Silla Residents Communities in T’ang Region

From the mid-seventh century downward, many Silla people emigrated to T’ang China and formed their communities on the coast of the Yellow Sea. That is so called Silla town(新羅坊) or Silla village(新羅村). But historians did not pay attention to this fact until early in the 20th century. That is to say, the study of Silla residents community in T’ang China was made a start in the early part of the 20th century. Since then many scholars made a study of this subject and obtained excellent results. Above all they found out Silla communities which had located on the coast of Yellow sea and around canal by means of referring to sundry records and archaeological investigation. After normalization of diplomatic relations between Korea and China which concluded in 1992, inquiry into Silla community has been accomplished actively by Korean historians. On the bases of these efforts, historians took a social character and construction of Silla community in consideration. So the greater part of researchers including Edwin O. Reischauer concluded that Silla communities in T’ang China had enjoyed a certain degree of extraterritorial privileges and allowed to manage own affairs autonomously. Not only that but they made researches in a life style of Silla residents in T’ang region. According to their studies, Silla residents were engaged in various fields of work, especially in maritime trade with Japan. In spite of abundant fruits in study of Silla community in the meantime, we can take up many points at issue. First of all it is necessary to put a definition on a notion of Silla residents community in T’ang China. And we must reexamine the social character of Silla community that was perceived as a certain degree of extraterritorial privileged society before. Except these problems, in order to gain a better understanding of Silla community, we have to inquire into disorganization of Silla community and social role of its members.