Approximate content of Native China

Native China is a work of Ri Min-yong, born in 1895 and died in 1984, who was one of the outstanding representatives and founders of modern and proletarian literature in the DPRK. Hometown, a masterpiece reflecting the highest achievement of "Kapu" literature, is also the foundation work of Korean socialist realist literature and occupies an important position in the history of Korean literature.

"Hometown" is based on the real life of the Korean countryside around the 1930s. The writer said in his article "To the Readers of 'Hometown'":

In this work, the struggle of the sharecroppers, the peasants of Wondeok village, against the landlords' vicious exploitation is the basic storyline. At the same time, I combined the struggle of this peasantry with the workers' movement in the silk-weaving factories in the city in an attempt to reflect the idea of an alliance between workers and peasants.

At the forefront of their struggle is their organizer and leader, Kim Hee-jun. I attempted to create a new type of intellectual of rural origin through the image of this protagonist, and also attempted to depict how the peasants of Wondeok village correctly recognized their situation and strength under his leadership, and how they threw themselves into the fiery struggle.

In "Hometown", the author realistically shows the national contradictions and class struggles of the Korean society in the 20s and 30s through the contradictions and struggles in Wondeok village. On the one hand, it angrily exposes that the Japanese imperialists, in collusion with the feudal landlords of Korea, forcibly adopted "land survey", "rice multiplication", "grain supply" and "expropriation of the people's labor".

The crimes of political persecution and economic plundering of the Korean people by such criminal means as "land survey", "rice multiplication", "grain supply" and "requisitioning" mercilessly exposed the hypocritical face and wolfish nature of the pro-Japanese landlords and their agent, the second landlord, Ahn Seung-hak.

On the other hand, it extensively depicts the great changes in the Korean countryside - the deepening of the revolutionary ideology, the rapid awakening of the peasant masses, and the development of the labor-peasant alliance - and enthusiastically praises the anti-imperialist and anti-feudalist struggles of the Korean peasants. The victory of the organized anti-rent struggle led by Kim Hee-jun with the support of silk weavers is an artistic reflection of the great situation of the growing industrial and peasant revolution in Korea at that time.

The protagonist prominently depicted in "Hometown" is the revolutionary intellectual Kim Hee-jun. He is the image of a new type of revolutionary intellectual who worries about the country and the people with advanced ideas. After graduating from a school in Tokyo, he returns to his homeland with patriotic fervor. When he witnessed the plight of the peasants in Wondeok village, who were being oppressed and exploited, he felt that Korea was lagging far behind other countries, and his blood boiled with the desire to "do something" with the people in his hometown. He was determined to awaken the peasants to join the anti-imperialist and anti-feudalist struggle.

When he found out that the "YMCA" he had contacted was an organization of self-interested people promoting national reformism, he was once in a state of disappointment, uncertainty and bitterness; however, he was convinced that "light has the power to repel darkness, and even if it is just a single star, darkness does not dare to offend it. However, he was convinced that "Light has the power to defeat darkness. He resolutely broke with the YMCA and went to the peasants.

In order to get close to the peasants, he learned from them all kinds of farm work, such as shoveling and rice-planting, and did his best to establish night schools and bands for the peasants, and tried his best to unite and inspire the masses, and to raise the consciousness of the peasants. He was good at uniting the young peasants and patiently inspired the older generation of peasants, constantly developing and expanding the ranks of the revolutionary peasants. However, he was never superior, always humble and prudent in solving the peasants' problems, thus gaining their trust and support and building up their prestige among the masses.

He was able to seize the opportunity of the struggle, wisely and courageously mobilized and led the peasant's anti-rent struggle and the reeling workers' strike and donation activities, which strongly supported the peasant's struggle in Yuande Village, forcing the second landlord, An Chengxue, to accede to the peasants' demands, so that the anti-rent struggle was victorious.

Kim Hee-jun's revolutionary experience vividly demonstrates that the combination of revolutionary intellectuals with the struggles of the masses of workers and peasants produces an invincible force and shows the vanguard role of the revolution.

Of course, the shaping of this image is not perfect, such as: personal power is depicted more, less organizational power; proletarian temperament is insufficient, petty bourgeois feelings have more; the roughness of XueSan is contradictory to some of his humble character, and so on. These shortcomings are due to both subjective and objective reasons that could not be overcome at the time, and cannot be demanded of the writer.

An Seung-hak, the second landlord, is the representative of reactionary forces in Hometown. He is the loyal lackey of Japanese imperialism and the vicious steward and henchman of landlord Min Judge. He has become a thug in the village by usury and rent collection. When he first came to Wonde Village, he was a penniless vagabond with no possessions. Thanks to his cunning and skill, he got a job as an employee in the county.

Then, this villain, who was scorned by everyone, gained the favor and trust of the landlord, Min Zhanshu, who made him the landlord's agent. He went around collecting rents and forcing people to pay debts, and he was a monster. He recognized the thief as his father, and hooked up with the Japanese police, another national scum who was willing to be a foreign slave with a slavish face.

The artistic achievement of "Hometown" is also very outstanding.

First of all, he molded a typical image of Kim Hee-jun, a new type of intellectual who meets the requirements of the times, which is of pioneering significance. Kim Hee-jun is the continuation and development of the revolutionary intellectuals of the same kind created by the writer in his early days. The writer once said, "The creative method of socialist realism gave 'kapo' writers the honorable task of creating a protagonist in line with the new situation of the movement. The Homeland is the answer to this subject." This glorious task, it should be said, was first accomplished triumphantly by Lee Ki-yong.

Secondly, the folklore of the Korean countryside is vividly displayed in "Hometown". For example, the songs and dances of farm bands, the joyous celebration of weddings and birthday congratulations and other folk customs are depicted in a way that exudes a strong local flavor and shows distinctive national characteristics.

Once again, good use of scene description to show the inner world of the characters, through the scenery, the character's mental outlook and emotional activities, through the natural scenery vividly and imaginatively displayed in front of the reader. For example: the dawn of the chapter of the victory of the anti-rent struggle description:

...... gray-black clouds have begun to gradually disperse in the corner of the sky, it is as if to people to foretell: the light is coming ......" This kind of Scenic description is allegorical and profound, so that people clearly realize: the victory of the struggle is at hand.