문화대혁명(文化大革命)에 대한 한국학계의 연구현황과 앞으로의 과제

Abstract

Thirty years have passed since China"s Cultural Revolution broke out in 1966. To assert that research done on the subject by Korean scholars is far behind the quantity and quality of work produced by foreign academe, particularly the West"s, may not be an exaggeration. It is also no hyperbole to think that China studies in general in Korea suffers from the same backwardness. In part, this is caused by the obvious difficulties of studying a closed Communist nation like China of the past, but perhaps the more important reason is the lack of efforts by Korean scholars to do the research. One cursory glance at the bibliographic entries of their publications reveals a glaring lack of primary sources. Recently, China scholars outside Korea have begun to seriously re-examine the Cultural Revolution. New research methods and access to critical research materials since 1979 in China and the promise of better understanding the real causes of the Cultural Revolution have been the intial impetus. Better grasp of the Cultural Revolution is indispensible to understanding today"s China. In this respect, Korean China scholars are advised to seriously rethink their study of the Cultural Revolution.