梁啓超의 「秋風斷藤曲」 탐구 －안중근 의거를 찬미한 중국 근대 대표 지식인의 노래와 그 속내－

Abstract

A Chinese scholar, journalist, philosopher and reformist during the Qing Dynasty, Liang Qichao (梁啓超) inspired Chinese scholars with his writings and reform movements. He also made a great name as a poet, and there are two Korean-related poems that are often numbered among his masterpieces. “Chaoxianaici” (朝鮮哀詞), written in the fall of 1910 when Korea was already annexed by imperial Japan, is an elegy lamenting the downfall of Chosun. The other Korean-related poem, “Qiufengduantengqu” (秋風斷藤曲), was written right after the assassination of Ito Hirobumi by the radical Korean nationalist, An Jung-geun, in October, 1909. “Qiufengduantengqu” was written from the complex multi-perspectives of the poet as the third party between Chosun and Japan, as the protector of Chosun, and as the competitor of Japan. Although “Qiufengduantengqu” clearly exhibits the poet’s sympathy with the Korean cause and his heartfelt lamentation, Chosun for Liang Qichao was ultimately “the other” through which China could and should imagine itself at the brink of its full insertion into modernity. Therefore, despite the sincerity of its emotional tone, “Qiufengduantengqu” is better understood as a poetic attempt to project onto the historical reality of Chosun’s downfall the Chinese sense of the loss of a tributary and its desire both to learn from Japan and to contain the Japanese influence. Ultimately, the poem is more a enlightened lesson for China than a sincere lament for Chosun.