농민공 자녀를 바라보는 아동문학의 시선

Abstract

One cannot realize that the most important part of one’s body is the part that it hurts until one is sick. One of the most important problems of China nowadays can be the problem of migrant workers’ children, very large group of people who are exposed to danger and many difficulties. The problem of migrant workers’ children lies where realistic absurdities of the gap between rich and poor or of the gap between urban and rural area get together, and where post-socialism reveals its ugly nature. This paper attempts to find out how Chinese writers have dealt with the problem of migrant workers’ children. In a tension between autonomous artistic viewpoints and socialist ideology, some writers have advocated and trusted socialist system attempting to give hope to migrant workers’ children. There have been positive ways to look at an urban myth by otherizing migrant workers in the viewpoints of urbanites. There also have been negative ways to see the problems of migrant workers in the viewpoints of children by raising fundamental questions. Some writers have seen the dead-end problems of migrant workers in a self-depreciating way. Migrant workers’ children have been described in a realistic way mostly, however, I hope they can be the characters in fantasy literature which helps them overcome hardships of their lives through experiencing catharsis. I also hope not only children but also adult readers can come across various stories and viewpoints of migrant workers’ children and we can find out better solutions for the problem.