Образ Петра Великого в странах Восточной Азии

428 European state and the world’s largest empire. In general, the image of Peter I basically relies on the texts of the first half of the 19th century, and, with the deepening attention to the personal qualities of the Russian ruler, this tsar’s “humanization” started to develop, which became even more pronounced towards the end of the period. Peter the Great began to serve an example not only for state leaders but also for ordinary Japanese. At the same time, in the context of intensifying confrontation between Japan and Russia in East Asia in the late 19th century, Japanese writers turned their attention back to the roots, underlying reasons and aims of the expansionist policy of the Russian emperor. In the last part of the Chapter the author appeals to the works by Shiba Ryotaro, the most popular Japanese writer of the second half of 20th century. Shiba’s texts attribute two main functions to Russia: the function of a factor in the history of Japan and the function of the “Other” for Japan in its formation of national identity. The image of Peter the Great in Shiba’s books is also shown as an ambivalent personality: on the one hand, Peter appears as the initiator of modernization and the creator of a new Russia, on the other, he is still considered the embodiment of the Russian autocracy with all its negative features. Chapter 6, “The Image of Peter the Great in Korea” (by A. Guryeva) centers around specific features of Peter the Great’s representation in Korea in the first half of the 20th century and, later, in the Republic of Korea up to the present time (with the DPRK left out) on the basis of a wide scope of texts: publicistic, translations of fiction, the mass media, blogs, scientific and educational literature. The name of Peter the Great was first mentioned in the diaries of Korean diplomats, Min Yeong-hwan and KimDeuk-ryeon, who visited Russia to celebrate the coronation of Nicolas II (in 1896). These diaries included not only the name of the Russian emperor but also poems dedicated to him. As for wider circles of Koreans, they got acquainted with the figure of Peter the Great thanks to the Enlightenment movement and activities of its members. These people, seeking for a new way to enlighten the nation, saw an exemplary ruler in the figure of the Russian tsar who succeeded in modernizing his country through borrowing outstanding achievements of the western culture. The first issue of the first Korean journal Sonyeon (“Youth”) (11.1908) starts a series of articles about this Russian tsar. Of importance is the choice of their genre – the articles are written in the form of biography jeon, quite popular with Korean readers and, besides, this genre traditionally sets a model to be emulated. During the colonial period (1910–1945), the perception of Peter the Great as a tsar-reformer whose strict reforms can be justified by the results The Image of Peter the Great in the Countries of East Asia