COMMUNITY MEDIATION IN CHINA AND KOREA - SOME SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES

Despite their geographic proximity and centuries of interaction, China and Korea are markedly different nations with distinctive cultures an d traditions. Community mediation, which has a centuries-old base in b oth nations, reflects some of the similarities and differences of thes e neighbors. For the most part, Chinese and Korean mediation followed parallel courses until 1910-1911. Following the 1911 overthrow of the Qing dynasty in China and the 1910 Japanese invasion/occupation of Kor ea, these countries began to exhibit distinctly different patterns. Ch inese community mediation became formalized and its Korean counterpart veered toward informality. We have studied community mediation in the se two systems and here report - from four studies - some current simi larities and differences. But first, a brief historical overview.