A Research On The Idea Of Hua-Yi In Korean Novels Written In Chinese

The traditional idea of Hua-Yi is an important part of Chinese Confucian culture. As the principle for ancient China to deal with relation with other countries, it conveys an idea of “the superiority of Huaxia culture.” Korea, China’s close neighboring country, is deeply influenced by the Chinese idea of Hua-Yi. Such influence is shown not only in ancient official historical documents including Annals of the Joseon Dynasty, but also in Korean fictions written in Chinese.This thesis researches the idea of Hua-Yi in three chapters. In chapter one, based on a brief introduction of the origin and development of Hua-Yi idea in ancient China, it focuses on the analysis of the spread of Hua-Yi idea in Korea during the Ming and Qing Dynasty. This includes ideas of “Muhua psychology and serve the great” and “revere the emperor of Zhou Dynasty and expel the barbarians”. In the second chapter, the key part of this paper, the writer explores the idea of Hua-Yin in specific Korean novels written in Chinese, characterized by ideas including “Muhua and serve the great”, “differentiate between Yi and Xia”, “Revere the emperor of Zhou Dynasty, expel the barbarians” and “use other countries’ contradiction to restrict them”. Chapter three is a comparison between the idea of Hua-Yi in China and Korea. Both sides emphasize the “the difference between China and barbarian countries”, but China especially emphasizes the difference in culture to“assimilate the barbarians with Chinese civilization”; Korea, after the Ming and Qing dynasty change, emphasizes the difference between nations. Although both sides advocate the idea of “Revere the emperor of Zhou Dynasty, expel the barbarians”, China also stresses “the great unification” outlook, while Korea deliberately ignores the unification status of the Qing government and advocates the idea of “revere Ming and depreciate Qing”. Confronted with external changes, the idea of Hua-Yi in both China and Korea changed and the idea of “use other countries’ contradiction to restrict them ” rose, which shows the awaking of national awareness.This paper concludes that Korean novels in Chinese language peaked at the Li Dynasty and these novels reflect the spread and development of Hua-Yi idea in Korean. This research on the Hua-Yi idea in Korean novels in Chinese language has its practical value because it is not only a compliment to research on the influence of Confucian culture on neighboring countries, but also a expansion of materials on Hua-Yi idea researches.