The Meaning of Family and Community for Intellectuals in Exile in Manchuria: Focusing on Baekha diary

Han, Eui-soong

This paper examines the meaning of family and community for exiled intellectuals, focusing on Baekha Kim Dae-rak’s Baekha diary. In Baekha diary, he records a wide range of emotions felt by an exiled intellectual. This is understood to stem from the basic property of a diary as a private record of one’s inner thoughts. However, the content of Baekha diary is different in that it is based on the special environment of exile life rather than listing daily life like other diaries. In this respect, we can see that, for the exile intellectual, the family community was portrayed as a non-subjective object of care that obeyed the decisions of the head of the household. This is confirmed through the depiction of the family suffering from illness and hunger in exile, which is linked to Baekha’s own weakness and powerlessness to resolve it properly. On the other hand, the family is depicted as a source of expectation that sustains the lonely and difficult life of exile, and as a place where new hope, represented by descendants, is conceived. This shows that the sacrifice and dedication of the family was the basis of the consciousness that practiced the independence movement for the survival of the community as a nation under the harsh conditions of the Japanese occupation. Through this, we need to examine the conditions and meaning of community, which connects individuals, families, and the nation, in the contents of Baekha diary. We can approach this in two ways: first, we can see that community is realized through mutual solidarity based on benevolence(仁). Community is centered on collective, not individual, dispositions, and it is important to have a strong central force that can bind them together. This is what is highlighted by benevolence(仁), which creates the solidarity of community through unconditional help and comfort that transcends age and nation. We can also see that community is united through the orientation of equality that transcends status and institutions. Through these points, we see how individuals, families, and nations can be closely connected in the process of community cohesion. This means that it’s not so much about the completion of a community as it is about the factors that allow it to form spontaneously. This is particularly relevant today, as it relates to the underlying factors that allow communities to develop into collective action and affirmation of a shared will through shared emotions in particular, unintended circumstances. The quest for the roots of community remains challenging.

Kim Dae-rak, Baekha diary, Manchurian, Exiled intellectuals, Family, Community, Solidarity, Care

https://www.kci.go.kr/kciportal/ci/sereArticleSearch/ciSereArtiView.kci?sereArticleSearchBean.artiId=ART003116064