What year is 2020 according 단기?

We’ve received many requests for ancient Korean date calculations throughout this year, and figured that this post would be helpful.

First of all, it would be best to briefly explain what “단기” means.

Without going to deep into the specific historical background, the year 단기 1년 (Dangi Year One) is 2,333 B.C., and is known as the time that founding father Dangun (단군) formed Gojoseon (고조선 古朝鮮) .

Therefore to convert from 2020 A.D. to Dangi (단기) you can simply add 2,333 years (2020 + 2333 = 4353).

2020 A.D. is Dangi Year 4353.

서기 2020년 = 단기 4353년

A Korean word that’s helpful to know is “서기” which appears before a year date and means A.D.

In many family register documents and genealogical records years are often calculated in Dangi years rather than A.D. years. Using the formula above you can easily convert Dangi dates to A.D. dates by subtracting 2333 years. For example, Dangi year 4,283 is 1950 A.D (4283 - 2333 = 1950). However, most family register documents and genealogical records will record the numerical year in Chinese characters (Hanja), so it can be somewhat difficult to discern the year you need to make the calculation. Documents that contain many records may use a mixture of Dangi years and A.D. years if there is a mixture of newer and older records, of if there were multiple authors.

The historical record is somewhat dubious regarding the establishment of Gojoseon, but the Dangi year of counting is imperative to be aware of when working with older documents.