As highly regarded contemporary novelists in Taiwan and Korea, respectively, Chen Yingzhen and Hwang Sok-yong were not only involved personally in major historical events in their respective countries, but also described social reality amid historical transitions in their literary works. Their achievements in literature are highly praised for creating a classic model for the contemporary era. As a result, these two novelists often become the subjects of comparative studies. Most of the existing studies pertaining to the two novelists and their works focus on the investigation of the content. Based on this background, this study began with an exploration of the characters, their personality traits, the narrative methods and types of discourse, and adopted the textual analysis method to investigate the differences in ways to deliver historical understanding between Hwang Sok-yong’s The Old Garden and Chen Yingzhen’s Park of Loyalty and Filial Piety. While both of the novelists are known for their realist novels in Korea or Taiwan, they also share similar concerns about issues such as civilians and ethnics. Despite the difference in the length, both of the stories reconstruct history through the memories of two characters and are told backwards through flashback. Moreover, similarities can be observed in the narrative structure and methods. These similarities constitute the reasons why these two novels were chosen for a comparison. The findings revealed that Hwang Sok-yong created the opposition to history among the critical intellectuals in The Old Garden, in an attempt to highlight the rejection and critical understanding of Korean history in the eighties. He discussed the meaning of social reform through the eyes of the characters with positive qualities, while pointing out future values and a direction for future thinking. On the other hand, Chen Yingzhen’s Park of Loyalty and Filial Piety unveils the truth behind the colonial experience through the colonially oppressed characters that even go as far as to assist the oppressors in order to become Japanized. Chen also made an appeal in this novel, urging Taiwanese people to honestly face up to history and truly understand the past. The difference in ways to deliver historical understanding between the two novels is also associated with the difference in the understanding of the history referred to in the novels between the two countries. Hwang Sok-yong fully appreciated the efforts made to promote social reform in the eighties, and believed that it is necessary to pursue new values on this foundation, in order to cope with a high-consumption society dominated by capitalism. However, Chen Yingzhen restrained himself from giving any opinions about the past colonial experience while appealing to Taiwanese people to face up to their own history without prejudice.