21세기 중국 신화의 현재성 담론에서 ‘神話資源’ 토론의 발단

Abstract

In its pursuit of present-facing mythology, recent scholarship on Chinese mythology is displaying an inclination to concentrate on the discussion of the transformation of myth resources. Yet, it is in fact from the early 21st century that the concept of “myth resources” appeared and began to be actively discussed. This was around the time Chinese government turned its eyes towards the traditional culture and intangible cultural heritage as the resources for developing cultural industry. New light was shed on folk culture and folk literature as intangible cultural heritage and a form of cultural resources; and it is right about this time that myth was beginning to be viewed as a repository of resources. This paper examines the beginning of the discussion on “myth resources” in the 21st-century Chinese academia, its social background, relationship between academic journals and state policies, and the actual details of the discussion that went on between them, by focusing primarily on the discussion of “myth resources” that took place in the “Mythology” special feature section for the Journal of Yangtze University in 2006. Through this, it could be confirmed that the beginning of the discussion on “myth resources” is closely connected to the logic of cultural industry and explosion of enthusiasm to preserve “intangible cultural heritage” as China engaged in globalization and the system of UNESCO intangible cultural heritage. In addition, what was uncovered in this process is that focus of “myth resources” discussion in this context is not placed on examining the resourcization of myths from a critical perspective, but more on explaining the imperatives for transforming (or utilizing) them. However, scholarship on mythology at this point needs to contemplate more on and caution about the side effects of myth resourcization from a critical standpoint, including the alienation of agent of myth transmission, alienation of myth itself, and the territorialization of academic knowledge.