This article records the panel presentations at the conference held by the Korean Society of Modern Chinese Literature on March 15, 2014. The panels mainly discuss how Korean writer Cho Chŏng-rae’s 3-volume novel Ten Thousand Miles of Jungle (Chŏn...
This article records the panel presentations at the conference held by the Korean Society of Modern Chinese Literature on March 15, 2014. The panels mainly discuss how Korean writer Cho Chŏng-rae’s 3-volume novel Ten Thousand Miles of Jungle (Chŏnggŭl malli) depicts contemporary China and what this means to Korean readers. Each of the participating panels represents the perspective of a literary critic, a businessman, and a scholar in Chinese culture. The tentative conclusion of the discussion is that although the novel’s depiction of China is sometimes incorrect or even dangerously distorted, and the novel as a literary work falls short of the mastery of the author’s prime, the enthusiastic reception of the novel in Korean society is of profound significance and leaves a lot to reflect on for China specialists in Korea.