Dongfang Shuo is a legendary figure that is both real and illusory. His deeds and works were spread eastward to the Korean Peninsula as far back as during the Silla period. So far, the story of " Dongfang Shuo had lived a long life of 3,000 years" con...
Dongfang Shuo is a legendary figure that is both real and illusory. His deeds and works were spread eastward to the Korean Peninsula as far back as during the Silla period. So far, the story of " Dongfang Shuo had lived a long life of 3,000 years" continues to be well known to the Korean people. The paper focuses on the interpretation of Dongfang Shuo in Korean literature in Chinese classics. It makes it clear at the beginning that texts related to Dongfang Shuo are spread far and wide with an extensive audience in Korea, followed by a specific investigation with three keywords including "funny", "self-effacing courtier" and "stealing peaches of immortality in Chinese mythology". The interpretation of the first two keywords is closely related to the identity and survival strategy of the scholar group which upholds Confucianism and is committed to social progress. The interpretation of "funny" mainly focuses on the judgment of pantomime-related intellectuals; that of the "self-effacing courtier" reflects the deliberation on "elevated to a higher position" and "reclusion" of scholars and the rationalization of their own way of life;while that of "stealing peaches of immortality in Chinese mythology" expresses a person's daily life, desires and feelings.