Chapter 4 Korean Revolutionary Spirit

I live in the International Hall of Ewha Womans University. There are scholars and teachers from many countries in the East and West living here. They are all far away from their motherland, and most of them don’t know Korean, so they inevitably encounter many difficulties in life.Because these scholars are not in a good mood, they often criticize South Korea for being barbaric and backward.I also have my own opinions on South Korea, but in the face of "imperialism", I always feel that I should speak from the standpoint of the oppressed nation.I just said that although South Korea’s economy is not as developed as the West’s and its culture is not as deep as China’s, the revolutionary spirit of the Korean people is currently the best in the world. This is not only something you “imperialists” must learn from, but also our “great socialist China” Also learn.

Korea also had a splendid ancient culture, but Korea's modern history has suffered so much that it is rare in the world.After almost half a century of Japanese rule, the country was finally restored, and the entire peninsula was cut in half by the Cold War regime.Under special historical conditions, South Korea has experienced decades of military dictatorship.Longing for peace, longing for democracy, and longing for reunification can be said to be the eternal complex that Koreans have longed for and cannot get rid of.Where there is oppression, there is resistance.A history of suffering in South Korea is also a history of resistance of the Korean people.With their unyielding resistance, they ushered in the recovery of the land of Samhan, and with successive uprisings and revolutions, they ended the military dictatorship and ushered in the era of democracy.I was in the "5.18" cemetery in Gwangju, looking at the layers of tombstones and said: "The blood of Korean youth is not shed in vain after all." Men have not abandoned their revolutionary traditions.In South Korea's academic circles, many outstanding scholars still maintain a revolutionary sentiment and think about the issue of world revolution.In China, Japan and other countries, with the prosperity of the economy, many people have forgotten that revolution is the nurse of today's economic prosperity, and they began to liquidate the revolution and curse the revolution.Academics have become a bunch of nonsense, and professors have become an unbreakable rubber rice bowl.Just as Chinese Go and Japanese Go are less and less vigorous and full of high-spirited fighting spirit than Korean Go, Chinese and Japanese academics are also becoming more and more old-fashioned, and they regard showing off materials and textual research as the first-rate realm And the vocation of a scholar was thrown out of the sky.

When it comes to the revolutionary spirit, the most interesting are South Korean college students.A few of my friends introduced me to the smell of various tear gas bombs with relish, but I, a self-proclaimed "old revolutionist", was like a book from heaven.College students in South Korea can really be said to be "injustice".Their resistance, experienced and well-organized, is both explosive and persistent.This year, because of tuition fees, colleges and universities all over the world have launched protracted student protests.The college students occupied the office area, set up tents and camped out, marched and demonstrated, and gave speeches in series, showing the spirit of never giving up until they reached their goals.Yonsei University has taken the lead in winning.I went to Yonsei University to see their anniversary performance, and it was like a dress rehearsal for the revolution.In the open-air theater built on the hillside, tens of thousands of young men and women were excited, shouting in unison with the conductor on the stage, singing and dancing, and everyone put themselves into the huge group.We bystanders felt that it was not tens of thousands of people, but one person, a huge life roaring.There is a song in China that says: "Love once, forget yourself." However, the reality is that we pay too much attention to ourselves.For our own extremely humble existence, we have given up too many truths.

If it is said that in the revolutionary era, too much passion could easily lead to extreme leftism, then in this "improved" era, passion can be said to be an extremely valuable "conservative".Without the spirit of revolution, neither freedom, democracy nor economic development will be possible.The professors of Chosun University in Gwangju drove away the consortium that controlled the school and realized real professorial governance.Yonsei University and Korea University have been unconvinced by each other for decades. Every year, they hold a big competition between the two universities, which makes each other's revolutionary "rank" rise steadily.Even the Ewha Womans University, where I am, which is ridiculed by Yonsei University as the "Women's Make-up Academy", is a school dedicated to noble ladies. It is a group of female porridge all day long. Their student leaders shaved their hair almost bald. It is quite the spirit of Liu Hezhen and Yang Dequn.Of course, these specific student movements have their own background in South Korea, and they don't necessarily need to "imitate others" indiscriminately.But this revolutionary spirit is the guiding light of the vast 21st century.While most Koreans still blindly worship the United States, sober intellectuals in South Korea continue to expose the killing of Korean civilians, the plundering of South Korean resources, the control of South Korean politics, and the obstruction and destruction of the great cause of North-South reunification by the United States.The revolutionary spirit of the Korean people is a shining sword against the heinous United States and the ulterior motives of Japan, and it will definitely give a positive impetus to world peace in the 21st century.Recognizing this, then this revolutionary spirit should become the common wealth of the Asian people.

(After this article was published, Korean rightists were very dissatisfied, while leftists felt a little ashamed.)