[KS] Official end of WWII in Asia

Frank Hoffmann hoffmann at koreaweb.ws
Mon Sep 6 17:12:42 EDT 2010


Just a brief note to Jim's below quoted remarks:


>(...) This is because, over the years, numerous 
>Chinese colleagues have remarked positively on 
>the bravery of Korean risistance fighters and 
>their willingness to die for the cause (of 
>independence, liberation, freedom, etc.), which 
>make them and other Chinese envious of the 
>Korean resistance movement and the nationalist 
>cause. So even if Korea did not "win its 
>independence" on its own, it did mount a 
>resistance and does have a pantheon of heroes 
>who did resist and have now been canonised in 
>the ROK and the DPRK--in a way that perhaps 
>early resistance (ie 1931-1945) Chinese figures 
>have not been canonized. It seems that this sets 
>Korea and China apart--at least among Koreans 
>and Chinese. (...)


The PRC has, just like the ROK, also published 
biographical lexica (or lexica-like publications) 
on Chinese anti-Japanese fighters in China and 
its three North Eastern provinces--at least since 
the mid-1980s. I am only aware of these as many 
of those volumes also include Korean-Chinese and 
Korean independence activists (usually marked 
with their ethnic affiliation). But for obvious 
reasons--Communist historiography--in all the 
histories of the anti-Japanese (anti-Imperialist) 
movements the focus is never on the individual 
but on the Party and/or military unit or group.


Best,
Frank



-- 
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Frank Hoffmann
http://koreaweb.ws




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