2006, Vol., No.4

Journal of Manchurian Studies 2023 KCI Impact Factor : 0.33

pISSN : 1738-3668
https://journal.kci.go.kr/manchuria

Korean Chosun vs Japanese Manchukuo sports games were held first as an athletic meeting and later as all-around events. At first, Korean athletes participatedfor Chosun team, but later there were some Korean athletes wearing the uniform of Manchurian team. In the last Chosun-Manchukuo sports matches held in 1940, the Chosun team consisted of almost Koreans. This study examined how the scores of Korean athletes had improved. The reason for this was suggested as follows: Koreans, whose nation was colonized by Japan at that time, could not use various indexes representing a country as those of its community. In this situation, the scores of Korean players were the index representing the Korean community. This was how a sports community was formed among Korean athletes and Korean spectators, developing sports nationalism. In this context, Korean athletes gradually got good marks. Chosun vs Manchkuo sports maches progressed in two ways: one as sports games, the other asits representation. Whereas the state(the organizational committee) tried to make the sports games represent 'state(Japan Empire)*, the Korean community wanted it to represent ’nation(Korean People)*. These games were folded again by newspapers which delivered the meanings of sports matches inside the stadiums to the outside. For the newspapers, which required the support of readers, had to convey the symbols of sports to the readers as they wanted, while making propaganda for the state and trying to avoid the censorship. This process was not simple conveyance, but 'the representation of representation'. In this way, sports community which was formed inside the stadiums spread to the outside, continuing to be reproduced as 'social memory1.

This study interpreted the thesis of Choi, Nam Seon, a scholar from the Joseon Dynasty, in relation to the foundation of [Geonguk University] in Manchuria and its ideologies. Based on his texts, I focused on relating his efforts to emerge ‘Joseon Cultural Nationalism’ and the ideologies of the time. The purpose was to examine how a scholar was influenced by or related to contemporary ideologies within a social system to select and exclude certain logics and to create his independent ideologies. In other words, it was reading the historical context of Korea’s domination by Japanese Imperialism and possible scenarios within the plurality. Even in such arbitrative position, Geonguk University of Manchuria, at which Choi, Nam Seon presented his thesis, showed that the ideologies cannot be interpreted from a single perspective. Choi, Nam Seon published [Sacred Ideas of Ancient Eastern Culture] as a mem ber of Geonguk University’s Research Institute. It was an edited version of rThe Theory of Bulham Culture (Manchria, Korea, and Japan)j and started from the significance of the Myth of Dangun. The culture of Manchuria-Mongolia particularly emphasized the importance of the Myth of Dangun and presented the origin of the Myth of Manchuria. They needed a new myth to establish the foundation ideology of Manchuria and collaboration of its people and chose Dangun, the shaman of Manchuria, Japan, Siberia, and China, to play a major role in the myth. However, Choi, Nam Seon actively reacted to the ideologies of his time in relation to the Japanese Government-General in Joseon, the Japanese Troops, the Joseon Dynasty, and Japan. This is one of the major reasons why Choi, Nam Seon is still known as a pro-Japan. Considering the logic of colonialism, Choi, Nam Seon corresponded to the Japanese Imperialism and stood for the Myth of Dangun for Joseon. In the contradiction of two op posing ideologies - acceptance of colonial ideology and the emergence of nationalistic cul ture based on Dangun - Choi, Nam Seon made efforts to combine the two. As he absorbed the logic of modem Japanese scholars based on his identity in the Japanese Colonialism, we might be able to connect this study to examining his idea of modernity in the future.

Except for a few regions in the Northwest in Xinjiang and Tibet, China’s ethnic minority policy has been implemented relatively well based on the principles of minority self-rule and equality and unity. However, in a long-term perspective, the policy is that of gradual and in direct assimilation. On top of the limits of the ’’minority,’’minority ethnic groups living most ly in agricultural and border regionsare threatened by capitalist trends such as the economic reform and opening, rapid economic growth, wide-ranging industrialization and urbanization, and adoption of the market economy. In particular, the Korean nationality in China’s Northeast (Manchuria) faces a serious crisis of dissolution due to the North Korean crisis and refugees since the 1990s, illegal immigra tion to the Republic of Korea, movement to urban and central Chinese regions due to in dustrialization and the open policy. Moreover, the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture faces a predicament of Korean population decrease, lowering of education quality, family cri sis, dissolution of the agricultural social structure, and assimilation to Han Chinese culture. The time requires a many-sided strategy to solve the problems. The ethnic Korean society in China is affected by the adoption of the capitalist system and the decrease in the state support as much as the policies and influences of the Chinese Communist Party and government. The trends of a high degree of assimilation into Han Chinese, rapid urbanization and globalization have more effect on Korean society in China. The solution to this crisis depends on Korean nationality’s correct analysis of the crisis and finding an effective measures and strengthening community’s capability. A few scholars explain the current situation as the pains of the shift from the agricultural to urban social setting. However, without strong ethnic identity and education and formation of new centers of community, dissolution of Korean society and assimilation into the main stream Chinese society will only accelerate. Toovercome these problems, it requires for mulation and implementation of a multifaceted development plan based on particularity of the Korean ethnicity and generality of the Chinese society.