ABSTRACT
The Spread of Modern New Chinese Characters on the Korean Peninsula
Modern times is not only an era when China，Japan，and South Korea experienced the invasion of Western powers，it is also an era when a new cultural system collides with traditional Confucian social and cultural systems. From the perspective of sociolinguistics，and on the level of linguistic and cultural exchanges among modern China，Japan，and South Korea，this paper studies how new Chinese characters originated in modern China are introduced into South Korea and the accepting processes of these words in Korean.
More than 300 years ago，from the end of the 19th century to the beginning of the 20th century，while Western missionaries carried out missionary activities in China，they also imparted new knowledge in geography，humanities，and natural sciences to China. It has had a huge impact on the modernization of Japan，South Korea，and other countries in the Chinese character cultural circle. The mediator that transmitted these new knowledge was the “Chinese version western books”. In fact，apart from these books，the spread of some Chinese scholars’ books in Korea and Japan also played a huge role in helping these countries absorb new western knowledge during the mid-19th century，such as Hai Guo Tu Zhi by Wei Yuan，Ying Huan Zhi Lue by Xu Jishe，and Yi Yan by Zheng Guanying. These books have delivered new western knowledge，and the new Chinese words created in these books which record new knowledge also had a huge impact on the formation of modern vocabulary systems in countries such as Korea and Japan. However，judging from the related studies of modern new Chinese characters，the Chinese academic community prefers the issue of vocabulary flow between China and Japan，and the Korean academic community prefers the issue of vocabulary exchange between Korea and Japan. Biased studies show that Japanese borrowed words are closely related to the generation and spread of modern new Chinese characters，but people ignore the influence of modern new Chinese characters on the formation of modern vocabulary systems in Korea，Japan，and other countries.
In chapter three，the relations between modern new Chinese characters and Japanese borrowed words is investigated，and the criteria for determining modern new Chinese characters are proposed. Although there has been a long history of studying modern new Chinese characters in the current Chinese and Korean academic circles，the standard has not yet been established on how they determine and classify modern new Chinese characters. This study selects 20 words that are commonly recognized as “Japanese borrowed words” as sample words by Chinese and Korean academic circles from the representatives of modern China and South Korea Bilingual dictionaries and historical materials，investigates the relations between these sample words and Japanese borrowed words in terms of morphology and lexical meaning，and proposes the approaches to determine whether these sample words are Japanese borrowed words from the aspects of the morphology origin and meaning origin.
In chapter four，sample words are selected from the English-Chinese Dictionary （1866-1869） by Western missionary Wilhelm Lobscheid，such as “geographical terms”，“religious terms”，“foreign place names”，“political，legal and diplomatic terms” and “disciplinary terms”. From the perspective of sociolinguistics，this study discusses the issues of language and society，culture and communication，etc.，analyzes the approaches of introducing modern new Chinese characters into South Korea and the impact of these words on the modern Korean vocabulary system.
In chapter five，the word “chemistry” is used as the research object，which examines the origin of the word “chemistry” in China，the introducing approaches of it to South Korea and Japan，and the accepting processes of it in Korean. The investigation of individual vocabulary pedigrees is of great help in studying the problems of vocabulary interference in China，Japan，and South Korea，meanwhile，forming modern Korean vocabulary systems.
The forming process of new Chinese characters in the modern Korean vocabulary system is very complicated. It reflects the evolution of South Korea’s acceptance of western sources since the modern period （after 1876），and reflects the characteristics of that particular era and its governance，therefore，this issue should be analyzed from the perspective of “Northeast Asian Modernization”. The study of vocabulary exchange among China，Japan and Korea is not limited in language and vocabulary，and it is also about how northeast Asian countries use the medium of Chinese characters to access Western modern civilization and the problems arisen in the process of accessing Western modern civilization. From this point of view，the significance of this research is conspicuous.