This study examines how the social status of Hanja 漢字 “Sino-Korean characters” and Hanmun 漢文 “Literary Sinitic” has changed within the history of knowledge formation in Korea, focusing on three interrelated layers: shifts in episteme, the reconfiguration of knowledge baselines, and transformations in curriculum discourse. Hanja and Hanmun were marginalized in the context of modern nation-state language policy and the establishment of disciplinary academic systems, but this did not immediately entail the disappearance of their educational value. Rather, Hanja education came to be assigned new goals, such as deepening vocabulary and literacy, facilitating access to historical texts, and cultivating an understanding of the shared written culture of East Asia. At the same time, the ways in which each country and region evaluated and authorized “valuable” knowledge became a key factor in reshaping the respective status of Hanja and Hanmun. The current state of Japanese Chinese Character 漢字 (kanji) and Classical Chinese 漢文 (kanbun) culture and the surrounding school education, serves as a valuable filter and reference to reflect on Korean linguistic practices and to explore the future direction of Korean Classical Chinese漢文 (hanmun) education. In 2010, for the first time in 29 years, Japan established the “Shin Jōyō Kanji” 新常用漢字 (new regular-use kanji) and revised large-scale educational reforms alongside the Course of Study reforms, bringing significant changes to linguistic practices and written life, as well as Classical Chinese education. This paper follows the author’s work from 2011 that examined the achievements and trends of Classical Chinese education research in Japan from 1945 to 2010. This paper examines the direction of Classical Chinese education and the current state of Chinese Character education research over roughly ten years since 2010. The framework of this research conducted in this paper is as follows. ① The social, cultural, and educational background of the implementation of the “Shin Jōyō Kanji” which has not been covered or sufficiently addressed in previous research, and the content of the 2017-2018 revised Course of Study are analyzed. ② Focusing on high school Classical Chinese, the direction, purpose, and characteristics of Classical Chinese education under the new curriculum are examined, and the trends, content, and questions of recent university admission Classical Chinse examinations are also examined. ③ The achievements related to Classical Chinese education published in the leading specialized journal on Classical Chinese education Atarashii Kanji Kanbun Kyōiku 新しい漢字漢文教育 (Journal of New Kanji and Kanbun Education) are organized by area and topic, and the current status and characteristics of recent research and teaching examples in Japanese Classical Chinese education are reviewed. The world of Classical Chinese in East Asia is not homogeneous. It is important to keep this in mind and apply this point in Classical Chinese education and its research. The differences from Korea allow for a clearer understanding of the diversity of the East Asian world of Classical Chinese, as well as Korea's unique characteristics and position. Meanwhile the similarities or shared aspects with Korea can serve as direct reference for reflecting on and improving Korean policies and practices. The author intends to continue reporting the status of Japanese Classical Chinese education and its research to the academic community roughly every ten years, while further examining the specific topics section described in this paper as necessary.

In the early 20th century, a number of Korean textbooks on Hanmun (Korean Literary Sinitic) were published. These textbooks introduced new ways of understanding and teaching Hanmun grammar. Some of these innovations are highly original and explore experimental ideas. The hŏsa/silsa paradigm (usually translated as “empty” and “full words” in English) forms the basis of many pre-modern and early modern Literary Sinitic grammars, but these concepts are understood in different ways in each of them. The conventional understanding that hŏsa are ‘function words’ does not sufficiently explain their descriptive usage in early modern Korean grammars. This article investigates how the concept of hŏsa/silsa is understood in Korean Literary Sinitic grammars and textbooks from the Late Chosŏn and Colonial periods, and how it is applied in teaching. Although these old grammars are clearly outdated in many ways, the grammatical concepts they present still hold some didactic value. Some of these concepts, particularly the hŏsa/silsa concept, are still useful for teaching basic Literary Sinitic courses.

The utilization and evolution of classical Chinese writing on the Korean Peninsula exhibit distinctive characteristics within the broader East Asian cultural sphere. In ancient Korea, despite the existence of multiple competing states, a shared cultural civilization emerged wherein Classical Chinese writing played a pivotal role. Subsequently, Korean intellectuals actively assimilated and reinterpreted Classical Chinese texts, significantly contributing to developments in literature, history, law, politics, economics, and various scholarly disciplines. Classical Chinese served not only as a medium for intellectual discourse but also facilitated the dissemination and exchange of shared knowledge. Even after the invention of Han’gŭl in the 15th century, Han’gŭl documents primarily remained restricted to personal correspondence, translations of royal protocols, women's writings, and fictional works.
This paper provides an overview of the historical development of classical Chinese literature on the Korean Peninsula, categorizing its progression into three distinct stages: the formative period of classical Chinese textual conventions, the period of expansion, the era of transformation and diversification. During each period, state authorities rigorously upheld established literary genres and hierarchical writing practices, while simultaneously non-political and popular literary traditions emerged and evolved in opposition to state influence. This complex interplay led to a multilayered literary culture in pre-modern Korea. The classical Chinese literary tradition, forged through the interactions and tensions among state power, non political literary hierarchies, and popular literary movements, generated an extensive corpus that includes fictional literature reflecting national sentiments or reality, scholarly treatises, historical documentation, and rhetorical documents employed in diplomatic exchanges and both public and private contexts. Keywords: Classical Chinese with Classical Grammar, hybrid Korean-style Chinese, transformation texts, rhymes, civil service examination composition, public literature, private literature, diplomatic documents

The utilization and evolution of classical Chinese writing on the Korean Peninsula exhibit distinctive characteristics within the broader East Asian cultural sphere. In ancient Korea, despite the existence of multiple competing states, a shared cultural civilization emerged wherein Classical Chinese writing played a pivotal role. Subsequently, Korean intellectuals actively assimilated and reinterpreted Classical Chinese texts, significantly contributing to developments in literature, history, law, politics, economics, and various scholarly disciplines. Classical Chinese served not only as a medium for intellectual discourse but also facilitated the dissemination and exchange of shared knowledge. Even after the invention of Han’gŭl in the 15th century, Han’gŭl documents primarily remained restricted to personal correspondence, translations of royal protocols, women's writings, and fictional works. This paper provides an overview of the historical development of classical Chinese literature on the Korean Peninsula, categorizing its progression into three distinct stages: the formative period of classical Chinese textual conventions, the period of expansion, the era of transformation and diversification. During each period, state authorities rigorously upheld established literary genres and hierarchical writing practices, while simultaneously non-political and popular literary traditions emerged and evolved in opposition to state influence. This complex interplay led to a multilayered literary culture in pre-modern Korea. The classical Chinese literary tradition, forged through the interactions and tensions among state power, non-political literary hierarchies, and popular literary movements, generated an extensive corpus that includes fictional literature reflecting national sentiments or reality, scholarly treatises, historical documentation, and rhetorical documents employed in diplomatic exchanges and both public and private contexts.