the three kingdoms crystallised into a definite determination on the part of Koguryu and of Pakche to destroy the other two kingdoms and rule supreme in the peninsula. This was possible only with the help of China. Silla was disposed to go along quietly and let the arts of peace work out their ultimate results, and it was the very superiority of Silla in these arts that excited the jealousy and hatred of the other powers. Time and again Koguryu tried in vain to cement a friendship with one or other of the Chinese dynasties, but always in vain, for her own restless spirit could not endure the restraint necessary for the continuance of such a compact. In time China came to realise that Koguryu was an utterly unreliable ally. Pakche from time to time made flattering appeals to China for aid against Silla and Koguryu, but the Chinese were too sensible to fail to recognise the more sterling qualities of the peaceful kingdom in the southeast, and when it came to the final analysis China sided with Silla against the other two, and the allied armies overthrew both Pakche and Koguryu. This occurred in the seventh century of our era. At first China did not turn the whole peninsula over to Silla; but as time went on Silla worked further and further north, until almost the whole of the present territory of Korea was in her hands.
This was an event of great importance. Now for the first time in Korean history the whole territory was united under a single sway. It was the language, the laws, the civilisation of Silla that welded the Korean people into a homogeneous population and laid the foundations for modern Korea. And at about the same time there began that wonderful influx of Chinese ideas which have done so much to mould Korea to the Chinese type. The introduction and study of the Chinese character began about this time, and the teaching of the Confucian doctrines. The literary life of Korea was begun on the Chinese foundation, and the people were made to believe that there was no intellectual life possible for them but such as sprung from Chinese ideals. A thousand products of the arts and sciences
