earticle

영어

The purpose of this study is to approach “the characteristics of collectivism and consciousness of rights in Koreans and Chinese” from the perspective of culture theory grounded on the literary text of Lao She (老舍)’s full-length novel, 󰡔Camel Xiang Zi󰡕, and Hyeon Jin-geon’s short story, ｢A Lucky Day｣. With comparison on Xiang Zi and Kim Cheom-ji from the lowest social class, it is possible to extract clues about the personality characteristics of Koreans and Chinese as well as the social atmosphere of the time. Both are within the vertical social structure of collectivism. While Xiang Zi is not conscious of rights and cannot make any voice to others’ abuse, extortion, or deception properly, Kim Cheom-ji is active about expressing his own suppressed feelings with no hesitation even if the person he is fighting with is from the lower group than the one he belongs to. Nowadays, Korea and China still adhere to collectivistic culture in a larger frame, but in Korea, vertical collectivism is gradually changing to horizontal collectivism due to the rapidly developed Westernized democratization, capitalistic individualism, and Westernized education system. Also, newer generations tend to be more positive about recognizing or pursuing the value of individualism. In China, after the Cultural Revolution, they hardly rely on Confucian tradition any longer but are sticking to even more powerful socialistic collectivism under the rule of the communist party. However, individualism supporting the ideas of individuals is still the object of criticism, and it is implicitly tabooed to express one’s emotion or voice recklessly. There is no big difference between 100 years ago and now. The differences can be also found in the personality characteristics of Xiang Zi and Kim Cheom-ji created by Lao She and Hyeon Jin-geon in the 1920’s.