Образ Петра Великого в странах Восточной Азии

429 Overview achieved – he modernized the country that overcame its backwardness – started to crystallize. This view on the functions of a ruler goes along the lines of the Korean tradition and can be found even in the early Korean myths about State-foundation. In the second half of the 20th century, translations of fiction became the principal sources of information about Peter the Great in South Korea. Upon establishing diplomatic relations between the USSR and the Republic of Korea in 1990, the poem ”The Bronze Horseman” gained great popularity in South Korea and, to a great extent, promoted the appearance of ”records of literary journeys” ( munhak kihaeng ), published by South Korean tourists visiting St. Petersburg. Korean scholars carry out comprehensive studies of Peter’s epoch which are published not only in academic journals but are also popularized by the mass media. The figure of Peter the Great is not left without attention by numerous bloggers, either. The spread of information about the Russian tsar and his ruling invokes parallels with various events and personalities of Korean history and also serves as a background against which the present- day Russia is viewed. Therefore, the understanding and estimates of Peter the Great’s activities together with the way the information about him is presented are chiefly defined by the Korean culture peculiarities, from some historical preconditions to the prevailing literary tradition, all of which are given special attention in this Chapter. Chapter 7, “The Image of Peter the Great in Vietnam” (by A. Kharitonova), deals with the key issues relevant to the process of forming the image of Peter the Great in Vietnam. The introductore part of the Chapter gives a scientific substantiation for including Vietnam into the East Asian cultural areal on the grounds of its historical and cultural features. The first references to the name of the Russian emperor can be found in the works of Vietnamese enlighteners who were at the forefront of the national liberation movement and fought against the colonial domination of France at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. Vietnamese public figures like Phan Boi Chau, Phan Chu Trinh, Nguyen Lo Trach, Tran Quy Cap turned to other nations’ experience which could be applied to the Vietnamese setting and could catalyze modernization of the Vietnamese society. One such example was set by the reforms of Peter the Great. Peter’s activities found their reflection in the works of reformers, in the poem ”The Song of Asia” and verses “The Talk of Five Continents”. The 20th century acquainted the Vietnamese reader with Russian classical literature, including the works of A.S.Pushkin (“The Arap of Peter the Great”, ”The Bronze Horseman”, ”Poltava”), which, among other characters, include the figure of emperor Peter I, a prominent statesman who shaped the development