『紅樓夢』에 나오는 本貫의 의미 분석

Abstract

Many Korean scholars understand a word of Benguan in a Chinese novel Hongloumeng as the same as that of Korean lineage system. And, this view is not only limited to the study of Hongloumeng, but also the same in understanding the Chinese historiography. However, as can be seen in the case of Hongloumeng, a word of Benguan means ‘where the person was born’ or ‘where the person's household register is listed’ in Chinese society. And this meaning of Benguan in Chinese society is different from that in modern Korean society, which means the hometown of the ancestral seat who lived hundreds or thousands of years ago. The reason why the same word, Benguan, was used in different meanings in both Korean and Chinese societies is because Benguan in Korean society has changed to fit the Korean lineage system rather than the original meaning, whereas Chinese still use the word as same as original meaning. Also, many Chinese people used Yuanji, Jiguan, Xiangguan, Benji, Zuji, Jiguan as the same sense as the Benguan. All of those words means the person’s hometown, not their ancestral’s hometown. The novel, Jinpingmei, which was published in the late Ming dynasty and is known as the origins of Hongloumeng in Qing dynasty, also used Benguan, Xiangguan, Zuji, Yuanji to express the hometown of their characters. This points of Jinpingmei suggest that Benguan meant the person’s hometown in Ming society, just like that in Qing society.