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Perceptions of modern and contemporary East Asian knowledge flows and the Peking Mandarin phonological system as seen through Chinese textbooks

  • Journal of Chinese Language and Literature
  • 2024, (95), pp.251-297
  • DOI : 10.15792/clsyn..95.202404.251
  • Publisher : Chinese Literary Society Of Yeong Nam
  • Research Area : Humanities > Chinese Language and Literature
  • Received : March 20, 2024
  • Accepted : April 13, 2024
  • Published : April 30, 2024

KHOO HYUN AH 1

1용인대학교

Accredited

ABSTRACT

The great wave of "Westernization" and subsequent "colonization" of East Asia in the modern era created a structure of "knowledge producers" who were the most academically modernized and "receivers" who had no choice but to accept it. As a result, knowledge about Chinese was first described by Westerners in China, and then actively adopted by Japan, which sought to modernize and colonize at the same time, before being introduced to Korea. Re-examining the flow of knowledge in East Asia during the modern era based on 'Chinese textbooks' is a new research method that has not been attempted in academia until now. Whereas previous studies have focused on the nature and details of the texts themselves, this study enables a more multifaceted and in-depth study of a text or linguistic phenomenon through an understanding of its historical context. After Thomas Wade's book, Yü yen tzu êrh chi, was recognized as a representative textbook of Pekingese, many textbooks based on Wade's system and Pekingese were compiled in China. Japan, which realized the necessity of Pekingese in diplomatic negotiations through the signing of the Treaty of Qing-Japanese Defense and Protocol in 1871, and was eager to learn Pekingese for military activities to invade the Chinese continent, compiled the Yaxiya Yanyuji, a translation of the Pekingese Language Collection, and books such as Huayu Kuibu and Sisheng Lianzhu were compiled by imitating the Pekingese syllabary. In Korea, the government foreign language schools were the first to provide Chinese education for the civilian population and came into contact with Chinese textbooks imported from Japan, such as Yaxiya Yanyuji, Zhengding Yaxiya Yanyuji, and Guanhua Zhinan, and after Korea became a colony, Chinese was strategically taught in order to mobilize the Korean people for the colonial project of China's expansion into the continent, and a vast amount of Japanese Chinese textbooks were imported. Korea also recognized the existence of Pekingese syllabary through the Yaxiya Yanyuji, and Pekingese syllabary was recorded in the Huayu Jingxuan, Suxiu Hanyu Zitong, Zhinayu Jicheng, but when compared to Yaxiya Yanyuji, the Pekingese syllabary was modified in the early 20th century to fit the Pekingese phonological system, such as the addition of the u initial in Danjiang She entering tone, and the deletion of syllables with /io/ or /yo/ final. This study examined the process by which the Beijing Mandarin Chinese syllables appearing in Chinese textbooks, especially the Yü yen tzu êrh chi, were translated from Japan and introduced into and transformed into Korea. Since the number of Chinese textbooks compiled by Westerners residing in China and those compiled in Japan and Korea during the modern and contemporary period is so vast, in order to comprehensively examine the flow of Chinese language knowledge through Chinese textbooks among Westerners residing in China, Japan, and Korea, this study is required. A comprehensive comparison of all data will be necessary. In addition, facts other than the content, such as the network of intellectuals at the time, publishing industry, and bibliographic information, should also be studied to further clarify the path and transmission pattern of knowledge. I conclude this article with the hope that this study will serve as a small starting point in clarifying the flow of knowledge in modern and contemporary East Asia through a closer look at more textbooks and related historical backgrounds in the future.

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This paper was written with support from the National Research Foundation of Korea.
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