China's Northeast Project is a five-year research project implemented from February 2002 to the end of January 2007 by the Center for China's Borderland History and Geography Research under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS). Its full name is the "Studies of History and Geography of Northeast Borderland and a Series of Phenomena," but it is widely known as the Northeast Project. The project was launched by the Chinese government for in-depth research on various matters involving the history, geography and people of its three northeastern provinces: Liaoning, Jilin and Heilongjiang. It was designed to systematically study historical events that occurred in the three provinces, the current situation and future prospects for the region.

The center's homepage (http://chinaborderland.cass.cn) introduces the Northeast Project topics that are divided into three sections: research, translation and official documents.

The research section is subdivided into basic research and applied research. The basic research is concerned with academic theories, while the applied research, based on the outcomes of the basic research, deals with the belonging of the history and territory of certain ancient kingdoms like Goguryeo and Balhae, and current issues that are consequently deriving from the belonging like border and territorial disputes, diplomatic relations and cultural tourism strategies. The translation section contains the following topics: translation of relevant research findings from South and North Korea, Russia, Japan and the West; summary of research papers written by Russian scholars on the history and geography of the Far East region; summary of research papers by South and North Korean scholars on the history and archaeological geography of Gojoseon, Goguryeo and Balhae; and translation and commentary of South and North Korean scholars' opinions on the history of Korea-China relations. And the official document section involves compiling official documents and historical records related to the northeastern borderland; listing official documents on Korea-China/China-Russia/China-Mongolia relations; compiling and studying history maps of the northeastern borderland; and collecting and studying photographs of the region.

According to the project implementation guidelines, the project topics include theoretical research into the ancient Chinese territory, research into the history of China's northeastern region, research into the history of peoples of the northeastern region, research into the history of Gojoseon, Goguryeo and Balhae, research into the history of the Korea-China relations, research into the history of political and economic relations between China's northeastern borderland and Russia's Far East region, strategic research into the social stability of the northeastern borderland and an impact that a change on the Korean Peninsula may give to the stability of China's northeastern region. In short, the project encompasses all the matters that are related with Korea's ancient history, present and future.

The project selected 110 topics between 2002 and 2004. And because China produced no relevant data, how the project progressed since 2005 is unknown. Of the 110 topics, two were concerned with the history of Gojoseon, nine with the history of Goguryeo, eight with the history of Balhae, four with Ganto and Korea-China border issues, one with the Korean Peninsula, 10 with translation and others were closely related with the Korean history. Therefore, more than half of the topics involve the Korean history.

So far, research findings from the Northeast Project have been published into a total of 19 books. First, China Social Sciences Press of the CASS issued nine books including "conventional views on the ancient Chinese Goguryeo history" as part of "Northeast Borderland Research Series." Jilin People's Publishing House put out eight books including "simple Goguryeo history." Besides, "Hong Kong azu publishers" published "research on five provinces of Balhae during Tang Dynasty" while "Heilong River people's publishing house" put out "research on the culture of 21st-century Chinese northeast borderland." Although no book has been issued by the Center for China's Borderland History and Geography Research, regional publishers are expected to continue to publish books containing individual scholars' research findings.

China's three northeastern provinces were owned by Goguryeo, Gojoseon, Buyeo, Balhae, Yo, Geum and Qing. The Northeast Project conducts research into the historical events that occurred in this region, thus these kingdoms' histories are all research subjects of the project. It also deals with not only the contemporary history that develops from these histories but also the future history. For instance, it studies how the situation on the n the n the n th affects n the nChinese residing in the northeastern region and how a reuhefier insta wo td influence China. Since the region borders North insta and Russihe the project examines border-northeass how as worl: how borders formed behween China and Russihe and China and North insta; whese r there is no problem with borders; what will happen to the borders; and how the Ganto issue will develop if South and North Korea are reunited. In short, the project is concerned with all the ancient, contemporary, future history of the three northeastern provinces.

However, in South Korea, "China's attempt to steal the history of Goguryeo" or "China's distortion of the history of Goguryeo" are better known than the term Northeast Project. This is because the project heavily focused on the Goguryeo history in the beginning. The history of Goguryeo was not the only research topic of the project, but distortion of the Goguryeo history was the most sensitive issue to Koreans because they have a deep affection toward Goguryeo. It was the most independent and brave kingdom in Korea's history, and possessed a vast territory. That is why Goguryeo comes to Koreans as a dream and fantasy all the time. Goguryeo is a national pride to the Korean people, so Koreans were shocked when China argued that the Goguryeo history belongs to its own history. It was no wonder that all the Koreans made a strong protest against China's such argument.

This incident shook the entire nation and eventually the Korean government lodged an official protest with the Chinese authorities. The Chinese government could not ignore the situation, so the diplomatic representatives of the two countries finally met in August 2004 and exchanged an oral agreement in which they agreed that the two countries do not raise political disputes over the history issues but settle them by academic discussions.

This might have hindered the implementation of the Northeast Project as originally planned. Publishing research outcomes faltered and research on changes on the Korean Peninsular was not conducted in earnest. Nevertheless, research papers shaped by the perspectives of the Northeast Project incessantly came out and the Northeast Project's assertions continued to spread. In the meantime, when Korea protested, the Chinese government replied that it was hard to prevent what regional scholars were doing.

Against this backdrop, South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun raised this issue with China. When he met with Chinese President Wen Jiabao at the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) in Helsinki, Finland on September 10, 2006, Mr. Roh said, "(the Northeast Project issue) can give a negative influence to the two nations' relationship" and urged his counterpart to "take proper measures as soon as possible." Mr. Wen replied, "I respect the agreement between the two nations (in August 2004)." And during the Korea-China summit meeting on Friday, October 13, 2006, President Roh indirectly expressed regret about the Northeast Project to Chinese President Hu Jintao. In other words, Mr. Roh called on the Chinese president to "take considerate measures to prevent this issue from having a negative impact on the Korea-China relations. In response, Mr. Hu promised, "I will make sure that the August 2004 oral agreement should be carried out." However, the Northeast Project issue has never been resolved since then. Rather, Koreans sometimes got nervous at media reports that Northeast Project related books were published, or a sign at Yongdam Mountain Fortress from Goguryeo period, a cornerstone of the Jiban Museum, a panel at the Onyeo Mountain Fortress Museum, a map of Hosan Mountain Fortress Museum, the stone marker of Seongsan Mountain Fortress and some college textbooks contained the historical perspectives of the Northeast Project. And the project ended in 2007.

The Northeast Project allocates research funds among researchers, directs them to conduct research, and then compiles research outcomes and publishes them. The conclusion of the project merely corresponds to the end in the government's financial sponsorship of research; the project essentially remains intact. A history-related research project will never end. As seen in the incident that despite burning books on the Chinese classics and burying Confucian scholars alive by Qin Shi Huangdi, it was impossible to completely remove both Confucian books and scholars, a history book, once out in the world, cannot be removed.

Whether they are criticized or supported by other researchers, these research publications continue to be read as preceding research papers. In history research, preceding research itself is a reference material and basis, so once published, research findings are to be examined. As a result, the research findings affect new researchers or students. Highly praised research publications will be known to the general public and disseminated to other nations.

Whether it was conducted for purely academic purposes or as strategic moves in preparation for the current or future situation on the Korean Peninsular, the Northeast Project has already gone beyond the academic circle. And now irrespective of the authorities' original intention, the project is evolving itself and spreading. This means that problems caused by the project will never end. The Northeast Project cannot but continue in order to sustain China, a unified multiracial country comprising 55 minority races including the ethnic Chinese. Therefore, Korea must keep an eye on the project.

After the Northeast Project finished, the relevant situation has developed as follows. First, its head organization has changed. Instead of the Center for China's Borderland History and Geography Research, a lot of relevant research institutes sprang up in the northeastern region or existing organizations have been expanded and reorganized to conduct relevant research. Among the three provinces, Jilin, which owns the largest number of Goguryeo and Balhae ruins, is playing a leading role in the research. Among the concerned outfits, Tonghua Normal University is carrying out intensive research on Goguryeo. It runs "Goguryeo research base" which was established in July 2003 by the Jilin Academy of Social Sciences as well as "Goguryeo research institution" which was expanded from "Goguryeo research institute" in January 2006. And the "center for Goguryeo and northeastern peoples research" was also founded in October 2006 with the aim of scrutinizing the history of Goguryeo and Balhae, and history and people of the northeastern borderland and was designated as a university base for research on humanities in the Jilin Province. 12 college professors including a representative Goguryeo researcher Geng Tiehua overlappingly belong to these institutes. It can be said that Tonghua Normal University is the hub of research on the history of Goguryeo and China's northeastern region, because it has conducted Goguryeo-related research for a long time due to its close location to the historical sites of Goguryeo.

However, it is no exaggeration to say that the "Chinese northeast history journal“ is currently playing a pivotal role in propagating the Northeast Project's assertions. The academic journal is owned by "Jiang Fuyu" who is also the deputy director of publicity at the Jilin committee of the Chinese Communist Party. Since the project was launched, he has actively written papers on the history and historical sites of Goguryeo and tried to propagate the historical views of the Northeast Project through the "Chinese northeast history journal“. The journal is issued by the "center for Goguryeo research of the Jilin Province" which was newly established by the Jilin government in August 2004. The center is selecting important issues for conducting research on the history of the borderland including Goguryeo and determining important topics.

Besides, the "center for history of China's northeast research" that was established by the Liaoning Academy of Social Sciences at Dalian University in November 2002 is vigorously carrying activities like excavating archaeological sites in the northeastern region and hosting academic seminars on cultural assets and history of Goguryeo, Balhae and peoples of the northeastern region. Furthermore, there are plenty of research organizations in the three northeastern provinces specializing in the history and peoples of the northeastern region and they have conducted a great deal of research on the history of Goguryeo since the commencement of the project. In short, although the Center for China's Borderland History and Geography Research concluded the Northeast Project, relevant research has been transferred to provincial government agencies or universities and continues to this day.

Next, research trends at the Chinese academia have recently changed. Fundamentally, research sticks to the Northeast Project's arguments provided in its beginning, but it is seen to be complemented and intensified. Unlike the past research papers that were organized in a somewhat clumsy way, recent papers contain calm demonstration and analysis. Researchers are coming from more various regions and new researchers are increasing. In the past, Chinese researchers seldom referred to research papers from Korea or other nations, and hardly looked up Korean history books like Samguksagi (chronicles of three kingdoms). But recently, they criticized these books or interpreted and analyzed Korean history documents. That is to say, encouraged by the Northeast Project, research work on the history of the three northeastern provinces including Goguryeo has increased both in quantity and quality, and the number of new researchers has risen.

Moreover, the Northeast Project has also deeply affected the historical consciousness of the general Chinese public. Of course, most Chinese don't know well about the Northeast Project. But people in the three northeastern provinces or netizens who get access to the Internet everyday are increasingly getting to know about historical disputes between Korea and China since the beginning of the project.

"The 11th five-year plan for the national economy and social development of the Jilin Province" that was proposed by Jilin Committee of the Chinese Communist in 2006 and passed by the Central Committee stipulates that China will actively develop its tourism industry by utilizing the province's abundant resources like the "famous Mount Jiangbaek" and "world heritage Jiban Goguryeo relics." When the development of relevant historical ruins into tourist spots accelerates, the historical perspectives of the Northeast Project can be propagated more quickly to more ordinary Chinese.

From introduction pamphlets describing Goguryeo or Balhae relics, information bulletins at museums, tourist guides' explanations at historical sites or relevant articles on the Internet, Chinese people may just accept the historical views of the Northeast Project or know only parts of historical disputes between Korea and China. Accordingly, without knowing the weak historical ground of the Northeast Project's arguments, some people tend to have Sino-centric views and provoke national sentiment against Korea. It is worried that this may add fuel to historical conflicts between the two nations.

The Northeast Project is very likely to change in a unacademic and unreasonable way when it goes beyond the history academia and is disseminated to the ordinary people. And regardless of how discussions are developing in the academic realm, the project can undergo self-disruption, instilling wrong views of the Korean history, East Asian history and world history in the Chinese people. This may cause a lot more serious problems than arguments among history experts. In fact, it can be said that irrespective of its logical ground, the Northeast Project's history perception has already been propagated to the Chinese people, distorting their historical consciousness.