@Test
  public void testArray() throws Exception {
    Properties props = new Properties();
    props.setProperty(serdeConstants.LIST_COLUMNS, "list,items");
    props.setProperty(serdeConstants.LIST_COLUMN_TYPES, "string,array<string>");
    props.setProperty(serdeConstants.TIMESTAMP_FORMATS, "millis");

    JsonSerDe serde = new JsonSerDe();
    serde.initialize(new Configuration(), props, null, false);

    final String jsonText = loadJson("array.json");

    final Text text = new Text(jsonText);
    final List<?> results = (List<?>) serde.deserialize(text);

    Assert.assertNotNull(results);
    Assert.assertEquals(2, results.size());
    Assert.assertEquals("grocery", results.get(0));
    Assert.assertEquals(Arrays.asList("milk", "eggs", "bread"), results.get(1));
  }
Test suite for the JSON SerDe class.
serde/src/test/org/apache/hadoop/hive/serde2/TestJsonSerDe.java