Korean Confucianism - Acknowledgments II

Understanding Korea Series No.3
← Previous	Korean Confucianism	Next →
Acknowledgments I	Acknowledgments II	Note on the Citation and Transliteration Style

I wish to express my gratitude and thanks to those institutions and people who have assisted my book project from May 2013 to February 2015. Most of all, I would like to thank the national Academy of Korean Studies (AKS), South Korea for initiating this project; I am honored to acknowledge that this book was supported by the Academy. I am grateful to the AKS President and the Center for International Affairs (CEFIA) at the Academy for giving me such an opportunity to write a new introductory book about Korean Confucianism. It was the invitation from the Center’s Division of Understanding Korea Project that motivated me to consider this interesting project. Frankly, I initially hesitated a little bit after going over several possible examples of topic coverage because I quickly thought how challenging this work will be for any scholar in Confucianism and Korean Studies to handle in terms of tradition and modernity pertaining to its various aspects such as history, philosophy, spirituality, education, family, society, political culture, national identity, and so on. This basic issue was complicated also by the breadth and depth of research, interpretation, and writing one might have to do. I ultimately felt honored to accept the invitation after realizing the distinctiveness and significance of Korean Confucianism not only as a relevant living tradition regionally and globally but also for the Center’s academic mission “to promote a better understanding of Korea to the world” and “to improve Korea’s image while promoting mutual understanding and friendship.” I hope to contribute to the better global understanding of Korean Confucianism by writing this book.

My warm thanks also go to my institution, the University of Prince Edward Island (Charlottetown, PEI, Canada) for granting me a full-year sabbatical, July 2011-July 2012 (together with an internal research grant), during which time I was able to visit Korea and the University of Toronto for research and consultation on several aspects of Korean Confucianism. Furthermore, my writing also draws upon my previous scholarly works on these topics, most of which were funded by research grants and conference travel grants which I had received from UPEI from 1992 to 2011. Without this research support by my university, my work on this book would have been a difficult and less fruitful project.

On a related note, I am also pleased to acknowledge that several chapters in this book are facilitated by research and writing I did for my previous publications and conference papers. I therefore thank the following publishers and scholarly associations. Chapter 3 partly grew out of the substantially re-written, combined, and updated version of my two previous works: some sections of the Historical Background chapter in my book, The Korean Neo-Confucianism of Yi T’oegye and Yi Yulgok: A Reappraisal of the Four-Seven Thesis and Its Implications for Self-Cultivation (SUNY Press, 1995), and “Yi Yulgok’s Practical Learning and Its Influence on the Sirhak School in Korea,” Korean Studies in Canada (University of Toronto), vol. 3 (1995). Chapter 5 is generally based on the integrated and revised version of my journal article, “Confucian Ethics in Contemporary Korea: A Common National Discourse,” Korean Culture 16 (1995), and my conference paper, “Confucian Influence on the Korean Language: Some Reflections on the Dynamics of Confucian Humanism and Cultural Transformation,” presented at the International Conference on “Translation and Cultural Transformation in Korea,” York University, Toronto, 1994. Chapter 7 draws upon my two conference papers: “Tradition and Globalization: Comparative Reflections on Confucian Values,” presented at the Biannual Meeting of the Canadian Asian Studies Association (CASA) at the University of Montreal, 2003, and “Globalization and Cultural Identity: Conflict or Assimilation in Korea,” presented the 25th Anniversary of CASA Conference, Marriott Château Champlain, Montréal, 2005. I prepared Chapter 8 by substantially shortening, combining, revising, and updating my journal article, “Confucianism and Women in Modern Korea: Continuity, Change and Conflict,” in Arvind Sharma and K. Young, eds. The Annual Review of Women in World Religions, 3 (1994), and my conference paper, “Modernity and Traditional Values in South Korea: Confucian and Comparative Reflections on Moral-Cultural Identity and Perplexity,” presented at the Fourth Pacific Asian Conference on Korean Studies, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, 1998. Chapter 9 partly comes from the shortened and re-written version of my two conference papers: “Confucian Li (Ritual) and Family Spirituality: Reflections on Ancestral Rites in Contemporary Korea,” presented at the 2006 Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Religion, Washington, DC, and “Confucian Ancestral Rites and Christian Inculturation in Modern Korea: Toward a Confucian-Catholic Spirituality,” presented at the 1999 Annual Meeting of AAR, Boston. Finally, I prepared Chapter 10 by assimilating, shortening, and updating my two conference papers: “Confucianism and Cultural Integration: Reflections on the Korean-Canadian Experience,” presented at the Conference on Canadian-Korean Relations, UBC, Vancouver, 2003, and “Educating Non-English Speaking Immigrant Newcomers (Koreans) In PEI, Canada: Facts, Challenges, and Opportunities,” presented for a special panel, Academic Services for Newcomers to Canada: High Schools and Universities Adjust, at the 35th Conference of Atlantic Association of` Registrars and Admissions Officers/Interchange Conference, UPEI, Charlottetown, 2009.

For some scholarly advice I received for my research on Korean Confucianism while visiting South Korea a few times since 1998, I sincerely thank my senior colleagues at the Department of Religious Studies, Seoul National University, Korea, especially Professor Emeritus Jangtae Keum, a leading eminent scholar in the study of Korean Confucianism.

Lastly, I am also grateful to those people at the AKS for their great work in dealing with administrative work and publication information for this book project. In particular, I would like to thank Dr. Hyeon Kim, CEFIA Director; I am also grateful to So-young Park and Jae-Yun Jeong, researchers and administrative assistants in the Center’s Division of Understanding Korea Project, who have communicated effectively with me for about two years. Finally, my warm thanks go to Dr. Philip G. Davis, my senior department colleague at the University of PEI, Canada, who kindly assisted me in copyediting the manuscript for English style.

Edward Y. J. Chung

Charlottetown, Canada

Understanding Korea Series No.3 Korean Confucianism

Foreword · Acknowledgments I · Acknowledgments II · Note on the Citation and Transliteration Style 2. Korean Confucianism: A Short History 3. Eminent Korean Thinkers and Scholars 4. Self-Cultivation: The Way of Learning to be Human 5. The Ethics of Human Relationships: Confucian Influence on Korean Family, Society, and Language 6. Education, Confucian Values, and Economic Development in Twentieth-Century Korea 7. Confucianism and Globalization: National Identity and Cultural Assimilation 8. Modern Korean Women and Confucian Values: Change and Assimilation 9. Ancestral Rites and Family Moral Spirituality: A Living Tradition in Today’s Korea 11. The Relevance and Future of Korean Confucianism in the Modern World Selected Bibliography · About the Author