Going Through the Back Door

Am currently reading a book about Chinese folk verses (民谣), and it contained an explanation about how the Chinese expression "走后门" (or "going through the back door") came about.

But first, the folk verse in question:

"看到别人走后门，别生气，
自己没有后门，别丧气，
一旦有了后门， 别客气。"

(民谣下的中国 - 当代顺口溜赏析，聂仁 著， 时代文艺出版社，2001）

("When you see others going by the back door, don't be mad,
When you don't have a back door, don't be discouraged,
When you finally have a back door, don't stand on ceremony.")

The English translation, unfortunately, do not rhyme like its Chinese equivalent.

The expression "走后门" apparently came about during the Northern Sung dynasty during the tenure of prime minister (宰相) Cai Jing (蔡京), who was known for being evil and corrupted, and for persecuting officials loyal to the previous emperor.

Cai was one day informed that a rich landlord had sent a thousand teals of silver "for favors rendered", and the goodies were waiting to be delivered to Cai.

But the problem was, the silver in question were manufactured during the reign of the previous emperor. So what should be done?

Well, fret not. Cai thought for a moment and declared that the silver "should not enter through the main door, but through the back door."

Taro Aso and Korea

Lovely, just lovely, to have another reason (as if more is needed), for Koreans to be reminded about their subjugated past.

Newly appointed Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso's (pictured) family apparently owned a coal mine during World War II where over 10,000 Koreans were forced into hard labor.

Even though Aso was only a child during the war when his family's mining company used Korean forced laborers rounded up by the Japanese army, wire reports suggested that "despite the circumstances and the passage of time, many Koreans are galled by Aso's past."

Ah, so.

The Rebuilding of Pyongyang After the Korean War

Even though this may be North Korean propaganda, there is no doubt that Pyongyang was indeed badly devastated during the Korean War, and had eventually risen from the ashes of war.

According to Pyongyang Review (Foreign Languages Publishing House, Pyongyang, Korea 1995), "the airplanes of imperialist allied forces dropped bombs several times a day" during the War.

"Even under the shower of bombs the workers in the capital worked heroically in the spirit of building ten, a hundred or a thousand for every one the enemy destroyed."

"The US "generals" boosted that Korea had returned to the stone age and that Pyongyang no longer existed on the map."

During the war, the US reportedly carried out 1,431 "indiscriminate bombing raids" and dropped over 428,700 bombs during the three years of war lasting from 1950 to 1953. "This meant over one bomb per head of the citizens."

"Counting the large numbers of bombs which they had dropped, the warmongers in the White House boasted that Pyongyang would not be able to rise again, even in 100 years."

"Already in May 1951 when the war was at its height, a report of the international fact finding group who returned after inspecting the burning streets of Pyongyang said, "in fact, destruction is 100 per cent at present."

"Even our foreign friends said that it would be better to build a new capital in another place, rather than to clear away the debris of the destroyed city."

Regardless of the exact state of Pyongyang in the aftermath of the war, the country had not only rebuilt itself, but also built a fairly impressive city comprising of majestic buildings and magnificent monuments.

An End To Fabricated Heroes

Came across an interesting opinion piece today.

Written by a professor of English from Seoul National University, the article An End to Fabricated Heroes (The Korea Herald, 8 Oct 2008) sort of explains why Koreans are never satisfied with their leaders.

Part of the reason has to do with Koreans turning their public personalities into what Kim Seong-kon called "fabricated heroes."

Kim argued that "Koreans love stories about people who finally become heroes after going through all sorts of sorrow, hardships and ordeals."

"Whenever such a "heroic" figure emerges ... our reporters immediately celebrate the hero by telling inflated tales. When a Korean athlete wins a gold medal in the Olympic Games for example, the medalist is almost always presented to the newspapers as a hero that was so destitute that he or she had to live on ramyun (instant noodles), but finally managed to becomes a successful athlete."

"Likewise, the student who enters Seoul National University with the top entrance exam score is always portrayed by reporters as a genius who has never had private tutors or attended hagwon (tuition academies). Of course, that is highly unlikely, and yet reporters keep dramatizing things and inventing myths in order to suit the tastes of Korean readers."

This "unique Korean sentiment", Kim argued, is the reason why North Korea has made Kim Il-sung a hero, and turned the Great Leader's birthplace into a sacred shrine. It also explained why South Koreans often turn an elected president's or celebrity's birthplace into "a place of pilgrimage."

"Soon our textbooks carry his vastly exaggerated life story, and his embellished biographies sell like mad. Naturally, our former presidents are all characterized as heroes: an ex-army general who worried so much about the future of his country that he had to seize power through a military coup, a high school graduate who endured all the prejudices of society, or a poor boy who used to sell goods on the street but climbed the social ladder all the way to Cheong Wa Dae (the presidential blue house)."

Kim said such exaggerations easily lead to delusions, as "many Koreans seem to fantasize that everybody can have equal status and wealth."

But once the delusion wears off, Koreans become frustrated and start "condemning the unattainable - top universities, wealthy people, and the privileged."

"This is why they perceive the rich as immoral people, and are reluctant to acknowledge the privileges high ranking positions entail. And this is why they are currently against the tax reform bill, which they assume exclusively benefits the rich and the privileged."

But this is where Kim gets a bit murky in his arguments.

He first suggested that "delusions eventually lead to a complex", and when political leaders have a complex, "he inflicts much pain on the whole nation."

Using former president Park Chung Hee (pictured) as an example, Kim argued that since Park was once sentenced to death for purportedly being a Communist during the turbulent years after Korea's liberation in 1945, "he (had) turned into an adamant anti-communist after he seized power."

As for former president Roh Moo-hyun, Roh's "complex presumably stemmed from the fact that he was a high school graduate from a poor family. Thus Roh detested Seoul National University and the rich people in Gangnam."

But Kim's conclusion made up for his earlier murkiness.

"It is about time that we have a "normal" president who was raised in a normal family. We no longer need a fabricated "hero." We urgently need to put an end to the rampant exaggeration, delusions and complexes that have long plagued our society by producing false heroes. We need a normal society now."

Perplexing Korean Editorial

I am perplexed with an editorial titled "Insults on Internet - Cyber Slander Law Has Room for Political Abuse." (6 October 2008, Korea Times)

In it, the editorial noted that current moves by the government to restrict malicious postings by internet users could restrict people's freedom of speech.

Incidentally, the attempt to regulate rumor-mongering on the internet came in light of the suicide of Korean iconic actress Choi Jin-sil (pictured) who had reportedly taken her life after being in a state of depression over what she felt were unfair and malicious rumors about her.

For me, the perplexing bit was when the editorial suggested that Korea "leads the world" in "ending one's own life the easiest, simplest and most irresponsible way."

Ok, leading the world in suicide rates.

The truly perplexing bit - "In addition, Korea is the country of rumors, another shameful remnant from its long experience of colonization and dictatorship."

Huh? How so? How is Korea the country of rumors? And what is the connection and linkage to the country's past history of colonization and dictatorship? And is almost every social ailment linked to colonization and dictatorship?

China-South Korea Discontent

Poor relations between the people of China and South Korea is due to misunderstanding and a misplaced sense of cynicism between the two East Asian neighbors.

So said Shi Yuanhua, director and professor with the Korea Study Center at China's Fudan University in an article titled China-South Korea Discontent: Misunderstanding and Disillusionment (News China, October 5, 2008).

Shi noted that despite the good relations between the two countries at the highest leadership level (pictured), a JoongAng Daily survey revealed that 68 per cent of Koreans surveyed thought that anti-South Korea sentiment among the Chinese were gradually moving from "predominantly young internet users to that of mainstream Chinese opinion."

The change has partly got to do with continuing disputes over historical issues, South Korean World Cultural Heritage application, and Chinese audiences' reported cheers for South Korea's rivals during the recent Beijing Olympics.

Shi noted that China's initial amazement and respect for South Korea's economic miracle were soon overtaken by Seoul's poor economic showing in the aftermath of the Asian Financial Crisis.

"To Chinese observers, their neighbor was no longer a perfect role model. In the past two years many Chinese showed nothing but contempt when scores of South Korean owners closed their factories surreptitiously in China as they fled rising costs, leaving behind embittered workers and suppliers," Shi wrote.

Likewise too for South Korea, who initially saw China as a huge market for its investments, but later feared that the rise of China would pose a threat to itself.

The most heated controversy is over what both countries had claimed as part of their own history - what the Chinese call Gaogouli (37 BC to AD 668) and the Koreans Korguryo.

Shi noted that although both governments had taken action to prevent further conflicts, the controversy continues to be a sore point of contention between the two countries.

"The Chinese Academy of Social Sciences was to have banned any research projects that may create disputes over territory claims. Yet the ROK's government-funded research teams have yet to take similar action."