Abstract
This study aims to present concept of "gong" which was shared by traditional East Asian societies (Korea, China and Japan) and to identify how it has been developed through their respective process of modernization and industrialization. Despite the territorial proximity of the three countries, their industrial and technological development followed different patterns, and the notion of engineering from the Occident was also accepted and reconstructed with a certain difference in each country. Japan had developed its own concept of engineering as part of industrialization in Western style and in the context of establishment of an imperialist nation. What was important for Japan was how engineering could contribute to the national development of technology and industry, and to the development of Imperial Japan. For China, which attached importance to resistance to Western civilizations and to strengthening the competitiveness for and which needed to resolve domestic political conflicts, engineering constituted more than a simple issue on technological and industrial dimension; it was also associated with obtaining ethical and political legitimacy which would allow the nation to gain support from the working and peasant classes. Though belated, Korean attempted to build an independent modern state, yet experienced a considerable nuisance from the invasion of Japan and the protracted colonial period. Engineering of Korea had to take a long time before emerging from backwardness especially because of Japanese policies which tended to restrict technological development and avoid fostering qualified engineers in the colony. Therefore, engineering in Korea started to contribute to the nation's development and the improvement of technological competitiveness only after it was combined with modern higher education after liberation, under the name of engineering science (工學, gong-hak). This study argues that our recognition of what engineering was for and who engineers were in East Asia will allow us to evaluate current status of engineering education and provide us with significant insight which will be useful when we imagine the future society. Identity of engineering in Korea, China, and Japan has been developed along with historical contexts such as clash of civilizations, wars, recovery of sovereignty and obtaining of national competitiveness; now, what will be combined with engineering in the next generation? This question will lead and motivate engineering students to think and imagine about what future engineering should be and how they respond to it.
