Koreana Summer 2015 (English)

summer 2015

korean culTure & arTs special FeaTure

TradiTional MarkeTs

ISSN 1016-0744

vol. 29 no. 2

Their History and Evolution

Korea’s Traditional Markets: Remnants of Romance of Yore; People Who Break the Dawn: My Market Story

Traditional Markets

iMaGe oF korea

samgyetang in the Heat of summer

Fight Fire with Fire kim Hwa-young literary Critic, Member of the national Academy of Arts

A

long line of people, most of them office workers in short sleeves, advances two-to-four-deep up an alley to the entrance of a capacious traditional-style house. The line moves slowly, but they stand and wait patiently under the blazing sun. Is there something special going on?

The big neon sign rising above the roofline gives a clue to the crowd’s palpable anticipation. This is a restaurant specializing in samgyetang. A square plaque with a Rose of Sharon seal of approval beside the door says that it is a government-recognized “Good Restaurant.” It’s not only good, it’s very popular. But aside from this restaurant, there are countless others that specialize in samgyetang all over Korea, and this is their season to shine.

Samgyetang is exactly what the name says it is: ginseng (sam) chicken (gye) soup (tang). That is, a whole young chicken is boiled with ginseng in a hearty soup. It is a bit more elaborate than that, actually. Aside from the chicken and ginseng, other ingredients such as glutinous rice, dried jujube fruit, whole fat garlic cloves, ground perilla seeds and more are added to make this signature Korean summer dish.

Samgyetang is one of those dishes rooted in the age-old Korean tradition considering food as a form of medicine that can keep you healthy. Chicken is rich in essential amino acids. Ginseng, one of Korea’s most prized products, is known to activate enzymes in the body, hence boosting metabolism and bringing fast relief from fatigue. Garlic is considered an aphrodisiac, while chestnuts and dates protect the stomach and help to prevent anemia. So in the hot, sweltering summer when the body begins to droop, Koreans relish a bowl of steaming hot samgyetang as an aid to counter the debilitating heat. nowadays, thanks to well-developed poultry farming, the young chickens required for samgyetang are readily available year-round. But in the past, the chickens hatched in spring would grow to around 500 grams — the ideal size — by summer. With these “soft chickens” (yeongye) with their tender meat, a wholesome, one-serving dish would be prepared and eaten to help beat the summer heat. The custom of eating samgyetang on the dog days of summer, the hottest days of the year, arose in the 1960s after the introduction of refrigerators. nutrient-packed samgyetang, now available at any time, is one of Koreans’ favorite dishes in all four seasons.

The Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami wrote in one of his works, “Samgyetang is Korea’s greatest food.” Thereafter, many Japanese tourists have made sure they enjoy a bowl of samgyetang during their trips to Korea. now, growing hordes of Chinese tourists are doing the same. So in summer the lines in front of samgyetang restaurants grow longer and longer.

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Yu Hyun-seok Yoon Keum-jin lee Kyong-hee Bae Bien-u Choi Young-in Emmanuel Pastreich Han Kyung-koo Kim Hwa-young Kim Young-na Koh Mi-seok Song Hye-jin Song Young-man Werner Sasse Dean Jiro Aoki Kim Jeong-eun Teresita M. Reed Cho Yoon-jung Kim Sam noh Yoon-young, Park Sin-hye lee Young-bok Kim Ji-hyun, lee Sung-ki, Yeob lan-kyeong

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TranslaTors

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Price for issue in Korea 6,000 won Elsewhere US$9 Please refer to page 104 of Koreana for specific subscription rates. suBscripTion/circulaTion correspondence

Editor’s letter

universal and Timeless stories “nay, I couldn’t dare to come out here to sell anything when I was young,” said an old woman vendor at Gurye Market, in South Jeolla Province, while waiting for her first customer of the day. only after she had become “old enough,” with all her children grown up and probably married off, did she start to bring the wild greens that she had gathered from the mountains and fields to the market to sell.

“Here, you can meet and chat with friends, and make a little pocket money, too.

Isn’t that great?” she says, smiling. Her tanned, wrinkled face beamed proudly as she explained how to prepare the diverse fresh greens displayed in small piles in front of her. Women vendors like her, though not part of itinerant merchant groups, constitute a quintessential market scene in rural Korea.

Markets everywhere abound with stories. The special feature of this issue, “Traditional Markets: Their History and Evolution,” was intended to dig up some of those stories — about people, goods, places, and the markets themselves that are ever changing — for our readers.

It was no small task to produce this feature. Much effort was needed at every stage, from finding the markets to visit and the authors to contribute articles to selecting the accompanying photos. But as with all the efforts required for the production of Koreana, our guiding principle is to “avoid self-complacency” and depict the vivid reality of our subjects. It is because we believe that, in cross-cultural communication, what is most local is often the most universal, and also timeless.

Then, it is quite a daunting task to deliver these stories to our readers across the world in nine different languages. Here, our objective is to provide “the most accurate translation possible,” despite any cultural and linguistic differences. In this regard, every issue of Koreana is a huge challenge for everyone involved, as well as a rewarding endeavor.

Hopefully, our readers will find the accounts about Korea’s storied traditional markets, and the regular articles, to be entertaining and perhaps even heartwarming.

THe u.s. and canada Koryo Book Company 1368 Michelle Drive St. Paul, Mn 55123-1459 Tel: 1-651-454-1358 Fax: 1-651-454-3519 oTHer areas includinG korea The Korea Foundation West Tower 19F Mirae Asset CEnTER1 Bldg.

26 Euljiro 5-gil, Jung-gu, Seoul 100-210, Korea

lee kyong-hee Editor-in-Chief

korean culTure & arTs summer 2015

prinTed in suMMer 2015 Samsung Moonwha Printing Co. 274-34 Seongsu-dong 2-ga, Seongdong-gu, Seoul 133-831, Korea Tel: 82-2-468-0361/5 © The Korea Foundation 2015 All rights reserved. no part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without the prior permission of the Korea Foundation.

The opinions expressed by the authors do not necessarily represent those of the editors of Koreana or the Korea Foundation.

Koreana , registered as a quarterly magazine with the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (Registration no. Ba-1033, August 8, 1987), is also published in Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Indonesian, Japanese, Russian and Spanish.

Published quarterly by The korea Foundation 2558 nambusunhwan-ro, Seocho-gu Seoul 137-863, Korea http://www.koreana.or.kr

“Market day” Hwang Young-sung oil on canvas, 38 x 45.5cm, 1982 A warm, colorful depiction of a country market’s outdoor stalls covered with sunshades.

inTerview

34

Seung Hyo-sang Plans a City of Regeneration and Solidarity

22

an incisive look at a society obsessed with Beauty

“Korean Heritage”

38

Language of the Body Retrieved in ‘1 Minute 59 Seconds’

44

In Search of the Vanishing Sounds of Korea Chung Jae-suk

ArT review

20

Quarterly Webzine about korea’s cultural Heritage

“Hors les Murs” French edition of ‘Who ate up all the shinga?’

“Koryosa choryo II”

Park Byung-sung

guArdiAn oF HeriTAge

Historical account of Goryeo

“Sketches of Korea: An Illustrated Guide to Korean Culture” korea through the eyes of Two French expats Charles la Shure, lee Woo-young

50

A Ritual of Forgiveness and Reconciliation, ‘Mother’ Stars Son Sook

71

Kim Su-mi

special FeaTure

Traditional markets: Their History and evolution speciAl FeATure 1

04

Korea’s Traditional Markets: Remnants of Romance of Yore

in love wiTH KoreA Darcy Paquet

on THe roAd

60

Damyang, Where Life and Legend Come Together Gwak Jae-gu

gourmeT's deligHT

12

Along THeir own pATH

Allure of Specialty Markets

The Consummate Barber Lee Nam-yeol

lee Yun-jeong

Kang Shin-jae

speciAl FeATure 3

54

Annaliisa Alastalo’s Art of Living

lee Chang-guy

speciAl FeATure 2

68

Park Chan-il

enTerTAinmenT

22

Wee Geun-woo

liFesTyle

Home Food is All The Rage

80

Kim Yong-sub

28

journeys in KoreAn liTerATure

Old Markets Reborn as Local Cultural Centers

60

The Light Beyond Unbearable Sadness Chang Du-yeong

Winter Beyond the Window Choi Eun-mi

56

78

Can Web Dramas Become Mainstream?

lee Myoung-lang

Park Eun-young

74

Muk : A Food of Patience and Memory

People Who Break the Dawn: My Market Story

speciAl FeATure 4

72

“Pavane for a Dead Princess”

Park Seong-tae

Focus

BooKs & more

84

Moran Market in seongnam is a big five-day market that opens on dates with the numbers 4 and 9. close to seoul, it is popular with visitors from the city. The sprawling outdoor market has 950 stalls, and attracts up to 100,000 shoppers even on weekdays.

4 KOReANA summer 2015

special FeaTure 1 Traditional Markets: Their History and Evolution

Korea’s Traditional Markets

remnants of romance of Yore

lee chang-guy Poet and literary Critic ahn Hong-beom Photographer

korea’s traditional markets linked one village with the next, bringing people and goods together. at the marketplace one could hear the news of a daughter who had married and gone to live far away and trade painstakingly grown crops for household necessities. These markets which were such an essential part of social and economic life are now disappearing. instead we now go shopping at spotless and orderly stores and large supermarkets. But can these modern retail spaces evoke such cherished memories and sentiments?

A

ll traditions have an expiration date. Korea boasts an ageold history and civilization of five thousand years, but the cultural traditions that we have inherited and seek to maintain have not been around for all that long. of course, the way of life of the neolithic people is not part of our traditional ways, and no one thinks about donning the feathered caps favored by the people of Gorguryeo, which were also popular in the Tang Dynasty of China. The traditional cuisine (hansik) that Koreans enjoy today dates back no more than a century, while the traditional dress (hanbok) and tiled-roof homes (hanok) are largely from the latter part of the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910). Such being the case, what are the notable characteristics of a traditional Korean market? The following two quotations could help find the answer.

“on market days, all the village squares are filled with fruits and vegetables while loads of garlic and onions are piled up any old how. All day long the people shout, and gossip and sing.

Sometimes they end up fighting, and endlessly they shout and laugh. Thanks to the mild climate and cheap food, their lives are easy and everything they need can be found outside their doors.”

“At the weekly market, the usual melancholy dullness of a Korean village is exchanged for bustle, color, and crowds of men. From an early hour in the morning the paths leading to the officially appointed center are thronged with peasants bringing in their wares for sale or barter, chiefly fowls in

coops, pigs, straw shoes, straw hats, and wooden spoons … A few put up stalls, especially those who sell silks, gauzes, cords for girdles, dress shoes, amber, buttons, silks in skeins, small mirrors, tobacco-pouches, dress combs of tortoise-shell for men’s topknots, tape girdles for trousers, boxes with mirror tops, and the like.”

local Markets in Travelers’ eyes The first excerpt comes from the book “Italian Journey” by the German literary giant and statesman Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832), and is dated “September 17, 1786. verona.” (verona, the very town of Romeo and Juliet!) The second excerpt is from the book “Korea and Her neighbors” by the English explorer, naturalist and writer Isabella Bird Bishop (1831-1904), who visited Korea in the late 19th century. It is a description of the Bongsan market in Hwanghae Province, which she happened to visit on her way from Kaesong (also Gaeseong) to Pyongyang right after the Sino-Japanese War. What are the similarities and differences between the two accounts?

Both are faithful to the images of market day anywhere, East or West, that are rooted in people’s minds, beckoning to the naturally curious traveler. Today’s travelers who are lured by the spectacular sunset scenery of a holiday resort where the sapphire blue waters meet the horizon or scenes of an urban back alley covered with colorful graffiti, might also hearken to the high-minded advice to take one day out of their busy schedules to visit the local markets.

KOReAN CULTURe & ARTS 5

development of agriculture Boosts Markets If such nostalgic images of abundance are part of their legacy today, then the origin of Korea’s traditional markets should be placed at around the 18th century. Studies indicate that public markets spread throughout Korea from the late 17th century to the early 18th century. This period was when agricultural production increased so dramatically that the handicraft industry emerged, enabling people to earn a living outside of farming. As the frequency and volume of trade increased, a cash economy developed and residential areas expanded around existing villages. The country markets of Joseon, called hyangsi, were located some 30 to 40 li apart [one li equals 0.4 kilometers], based on the round-trip distance that could be covered on foot in one day. By the early 19th century, there were over 1,000 regular markets that opened once every five days, called oiljang , throughout the country. The peddlers’ associations began to emerge around the mid-18th century.

These social changes were brought about by climatic changes in the 18th century when the so-called little Ice Age came to an end. The situation in Korea was similar to that of Europe with serious crop failures causing widespread famine. And it was only later in the 18th century that the production and supply of food could be stabilized. In Europe the spread of new agricultural technology reduced dependence on wheat, as corn and potatoes became new staple crops. Hence, environmental factors brought radical changes to agriculture and various other industries. This also allowed markets to flourish, implanting in people’s minds romantic memories of markets as bountiful places overflowing with myriad goods and bustling with all manner of people.

It has been almost twenty years now since my ludicrous life in Seoul ended in failure and I suddenly ended up in Janghowon, where I had absolutely no connections, and began to live among local farmers as a full-time writer. Gone without a trace now is my

1 The smithy at Gurye Market is as busy as ever, with a blacksmith turning out farm and gardening implements the traditional way: red-hot from the furnace, iron is hammered to shape on an anvil and finished by hand to make tools such as sickles, rakes, and hoes.

2 The fish stalls at Yongin Market.

When big discount markets moved in to the neighborhood, the traditional five-day market began to wane, but thanks to the efforts of local residents the market has come back to life.

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6 KOReANA summer 2015

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former self, who looked every bit the outsider as he walked around “inspecting” the markets. It’s been a long time since I started to wander around the market in my track pants, looking here and there, carrying a black plastic bag with soft mugwort rice cake covered in bean powder or perhaps a big block of fresh tofu. And when I happen to run into the neighborhood women, I can now greet and joke with the best of them, without any awkwardness.

Where land and Water routes Merge Janghowon Market in Icheon, Gyeonggi Province, although it has lost its former glory, survives as a comparatively large market today. It is large not only in the number of stalls with goods laid out for sale, but also in the number of regular customers who come from neighboring regions such as Yeoju, Eumseong, and Anseong. Icheon is the production center of the famed Icheon rice and a distribution center for various grains, such that freight trains

have passed through the town since the 1930s and the operation of banks and grain futures markets continues to this day.

The scale of a traditional country market is determined by a few key factors. First, is the market located by a river? Since Korea is mostly mountainous, it was easier and quicker to travel by water than overland. Hence, the markets located where land and water routes meet are, even today, larger in scale. Anseong Market, some 30 kilometers away from Janghowon market, is found at the end of the waterway of Anseong Stream, which flows out to Asan Bay on the west coast, via Pyeongtaek. It is also located along the major overland route to Seoul and was thus one of the most prominent markets of the past, attracting endless streams of merchants and journeymen. Salt and dried fish from the west coast were supplied to inland areas via Anseong and Juksan. A century ago, Anseong market had more than 50 stores that sold the local brassware for which the city is so well known, giving you an idea

KOReAN CULTURe & ARTS 7

of the market’s overall scale. Janghowon also sits along Cheongmi Stream, a tributary of the Han River. And while their number may seem rather insignificant, sailboats laden with salt and salted shrimp would arrive during the rainy season and then depart with rice and other local produce.

The final inlet that boats can safely reach during the dry season when the river is low marks the end of the marine transport route. Cheongmi Stream makes its way to Mokgye ferry wharf, which is the final stop for water transportation on the Han River. In the old days, Mogye wharf would bustle with the coming and going of numerous sailboats carrying salt, dried/salted fish, and daily necessities from the port of Incheon. From here, the goods were distributed inland throughout the country’s southern region. The Mokgye market was a temporary market that opened about three times a month whenever the salt boats arrived. The market stayed

8 KOReANA summer 2015

open for several days at a time. When hundreds of boatmen arrived with their wares, the wharf and adjacent market always bustled, teeming with people and noise.

Major markets located at intersections of land and water routes included Gurye Market in South Jeolla Province and Hadong Market in South Gyeongsang Province along the Seomjin River; naju Market and Yeongsanpo Market along the Yeongsan River, both in South Jeolla Province; Ganggyeong Market along the Geum River in South Chungcheong Province; and Gupo Market along the nakdong River in South Gyeongsang Province.

The cattle market was another notable feature of Korea’s traditional markets. Merchants would form groups of five to ten cattle drivers, each supplying about five head of cattle. Unlike other merchants who sought shortcuts to reach markets, these groups would avoid shortcuts and steep roads as they traveled from one

1 Ppeong-twigi is puffed rice and other grains made streetside in a machine that makes a loud popping sound when done. These popped grains are a well-loved old-fashioned snack.

2 An old man unpacks his woven bamboo winnows to be sold at the bamboo market in Damyang in this file photo dated 1993.

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I visited Damyang on a day when its five-day market was open. Though no trace of it remains today, Damyang used to have the largest bamboo market in the country kim Hyun-jin Freelance Writer up until the 1980s. In those days, there was virtually no household item that could not be made with bamboo. on market days, people would come from all over the country. Merchants would sleep somewhere nearby the night before to make sure they were at the market when it opened at 7 a.m.

Wares made by the most skilled craftsmen would sell out as soon as the market opened, so the competition to buy the best goods was fierce. In those days, wholesalers buying in large quantities would rent trucks to transport their purchases, so the local freight industry thrived along with the bamboo market. But when plastic items became the norm, the bamboo market disappeared completely.

Baskets and boxes made of thin strips of bamboo made the most perfect storage containers. nothing could be more attractive than the colorful boxes, called chaesang, made with fine strips of bamboo dyed in an array of fanciful colors. Master craftsman Seo Han-gyu, born in Damyang in 1930, started out making bamboo mats, but after he discovered in his attic some colored bamboo boxes that his grandmother had brought with her when she married, he started to re-create the boxes. For his efforts, he was named title holder in the art of chaesang making (Important Intangible Cultural Property no. 53).

Bamboo artisans foresee a bleak future for their craft, however. When compared with the time and effort invested in making each item, the financial rewards are miniscule. The government has proclaimed its intent to preserve the craft, but it seems to be providing too little support. As title holder, Seo receives a government grant but it falls short of the minimum cost of living for a family of four.

Another bamboo craft artisan, Park Hyo-suk, who operates a store near the entrance of the Korea Bamboo Museum in Damyang, has been making bamboo works since the age of five. She and her husband work together, but she has no thought of passing the craft on to her children.

“There has to be a future in the industry if we are to pass it on,” she says. “I don’t mind the backbreaking work for myself but how can I want my children to learn it when there’s no hope of making a decent living?” looking at the bamboo items with their cool elegance, I wondered if beauty is meant to be a passing thing like the once flourishing bamboo market. I couldn’t help but turn my eyes quickly away. [Editor’s note: See page 60 for a travel story about Damyang.]

A DWINDLING CRAFT AND VANISHED MARKET

KOReAN CULTURe & ARTS 9

Only by going out on market days can one hear what’s going on in the world, the news that one cannot see on television … Then, when everyone’s had a bit to drink, they will invariably start to criticize and lament the country’s sorry state of affairs. In this respect, the market’s function as a gathering place has had remarkable social repercussions.

market to the next. For the cattle drivers, it was only worth their while to visit and set up their stalls at the larger markets. A stop at one of the taverns that lined the road near the cattle market would often be a highlight of the market days. The Janghowon cattle market is always teeming with cattle merchants and middlemen who travel here from the Yeongnam (Gyeongsang) region, crossing Mungyeong pass and first stopping by Chungju Market. In the cattle market, you will always find a big iron pot over a fire with beef soup on the boil. The wispy steam and savory aroma arising from the pot whets the appetite of those who have been up and about from the crack of dawn. Most of the cattle markets have since disappeared, but the nearby eateries that offer grilled meat or beef soup and rice are still serving guests today.

The traditional markets continue to lose ground as a place for retail sales, but they maintain their basic function of bringing together people from neighboring areas for social interaction. In the farming off-season, it is still a major event for country residents to head to the market on market days even if they have nothing to buy or sell. Hence the old saying, “When someone says he’s going to market, you pick up a sack of seeds and head off to market too.” only by going out on market day can one hear about what’s going on in the world, the news that one cannot see on television. That news, of course, may simply be that so and so fell down a levee while driving a tractor, or that so and so’s daughter had a baby before getting married. Then, when everyone’s had a bit to drink, they will invariably start to criticize and lament the country’s sorry state of affairs. In this respect, the market’s function as a gathering place has had remarkable social repercussions.

Venue for communal Gatherings Malmok marketplace, located between Jeongeup and Sintaein in South Jeolla Province, is famous as the site of an uprising in 1894, which was led by Jeon Bong-jun (1855-1895) to bring attention to the plight of local farmers suffering under corrupt government officials. This uprising, later known as the Donghak Peasants’ Revolution, ended in failure and left much unresolved, but Koreans remember it as an important step forward in the nation’s tumultuous evolution into a modern state.

Aunae marketplace in Cheonan (a.k.a. Byeongcheon) is one of the historic sites where, in response to the Declaration of Inde10 KOReANA summer 2015

pendence in Seoul on March 1, 1919, crowds gathered to shout for independence from Japanese rule. The Japanese police used gunfire to kill and wound many people. Yu Gwan-sun (1902-1920), a local schoolgirl who participated in the March 1 demonstration in Seoul and helped to rally protesters in Cheonan, was arrested and tortured. She died in prison. Today, she is honored as Korea’s Joan of Arc and a heroine of the nation’s struggle for independence from Japan. The Yu Gwan-sun Memorial Hall and Independence Hall in the city of Cheonan commemorate her patriotism and the valor and sacrifices of other participants in the resistance movement.

The marketplace was also a playground for the common people. When a market was newly opened or moved to another location, this would be celebrated with a song and dance performance called nanjangpan, which today refers to “turmoil” or “commotion.”

A variety of folk games like wrestling, tug-of-war, and yut (a board game) as well as performances by itinerant entertainers took place at the market, attracting crowds of spectators.

Due to irrigation projects and the opening of highways, the old sailing routes are no longer operational, while modernization and sanitary regulations have led to the demise of the cattle markets.

Gatherings and demonstrations also have moved away from the marketplace to the town squares and plazas in urban centers, while such entertainment acts as acrobatics and mask dances are now staged in modern theaters for audiences who cherish their value.

To appeal to today’s consumers, traditional markets have improved noticeably in terms of cleanliness and parking availability.

However, the variety of things to see, hear, and taste has declined, while the diversity and quality of goods are not what they used to be. Markets located near tourist sites or those noted for popular local specialties are obviously faring better than others, suggesting that there are ways to keep traditional markets alive. old ladies, carrying on their heads baskets laden with wild greens from the mountainside in spring and crops from their household garden in fall, take their place in a corner of the market, crouching down side by side with their cronies and humble wares. Their small pleasures in watching people pass by, and perhaps earning a little money as well, look destined to disappear one day. How can we hold on to such sights as these old women who, in the eyes of young drifters tasting the freedom of wandering for the first time, appear as wise as ancient sages as they casually toss out a joke?

An old woman selling greens at Jincheon Market, a common sight in spring, when women take to the nearby fields and mountains to gather greens to sell at the market.

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special FeaTure 2 Traditional Markets: Their History and Evolution

AllurE of SpEciAlTy MArkETS lee Yun-jeong Reporter, Weekend Feature Desk, The Kyunghyang Shinmun shim Byung-woo Photographer

Traditional markets that offer specialty goods abound with stories of the common people that are universal and timeless.

For those seeking a bona-fide journey into the heart of a community, traditional specialty markets are the “it places.�

12 KOReANA summer 2015

“H

oney, they say centipedes are good for a bad back. let’s go to the market and get some.” Thirty years ago my uncle badly injured his back while fixing a broken down fence. Even after being treated at the hospital, he still couldn’t get up out of bed. My grandmother scoured the city looking for the medicines that people said were good for a bad back. I was only ten when my grandmother first took me to Kyungdong Market.

The Medicine Market of seoul The market was a bustling place. like any other market there was a spider’s web of countless stores big and small with a cornucopia of goods to sell. The central area was home to the medicine market, Yangnyeongsi. An amazing array of herbal medicine ingredients of all kinds, shapes, and sizes were laid out according to kind. Among the myriad piles, my grandmother managed to find dried centipedes. With their countless hairy legs, the centipedes had been dried exactly as they looked in life, and the medicine merchant took the ones my grandmother had selected and carefully ground them up in a mortar. Then the centipedes, now turned into powder, were placed inside capsules. Who knows whether it was the result of grandmother’s tender loving care or the effect of the centipedes, but a few months later my uncle recovered his health and returned to work.

Propelled by old memories, I made a trip back to Kyungdong Market. over the past few decades, traditional markets have been slowly declining. Big retail stores and supermarkets have become entrenched in every neighborhood, and with online shopping you can get anything delivered to your door with a click of the mouse. I wondered how Kyungdong Market was faring.

Taking Subway line no. 1, I got off at Jegi Station in northeastern Seoul. As soon as I stepped out onto the street, a cacophony of smells tickled my nose. A grand traditional gate bearing the sign “Seoul Yangnyeongsi” (Seoul Medicine Market) marks the entrance to the biggest herbal medicine market in Korea. The traditional market area here covers around 10 square kilometers, stretching from Jegi-dong to the Yongdu-

Kyungdong Market, the traditional medicine market of Seoul, harks back centuries in its beginnings and a more recent history of several decades in its present size and expanse, encompassing some 1,000 shops and clinics. Here it is possible to buy almost any ingredient used in traditional Korean medicine.

KOReAN CULTURe & ARTS 13

dong and Jeonnong-dong neighborhoods of Dongdaemun District, munseok is a compound of hwa for “flower,” mun for “pattern,” and encompasses the Seoul Medicine Market, the old and new and seok for “mat.” These charmingly named rush mats were Kyungdong Markets, Kyungdong Building, and Hansol Donguibomade on Ganghwa Island in the mid-Goryeo period and developed gam Tower. into a major local handicraft industry. During the 39 years that the The history of the medicine market goes back to the days of King island served as a temporary capital due to the Mongol invasion of Hyojong (r. 1649-1659) of the Joseon Dynasty. It was a seasonal Goryeo in the 13th century, the finest mats were produced for the market which, under royal edict, opened in spring and fall to offer royal household and high-ranking officials. medicinal herbs from all over the country. More than just a market The flower mats of Ganghwa are cited in several references for medicinal items, it also served as one of the four royal institufrom the Joseon period, including “The Annals of King Sejong” tions in the capital that provided relief and medical services for the (Sejong sillok ), “Treatises on Economy Written in Retirement” general populace. Here, food and clothing were distributed to the (Imwon simnyuk ji ), and “Gyodong County Gazette” (Gyodong-gun hungry and impoverished, while the ill received medical treatment. eupji). In “Miscellaneous Records of the Capital” (Gyeongdo japji), other relief centers are said to have been located just outside the the scholar Yu Deuk-gong (1748-1807) noted, “Hwamunseok are east gate of the city (today’s Anam-dong) and in Hongje-dong outfound in the homes of all affluent officials.” During their occupation side the west gate, but only the Yangnyeongsi site retains its funcof Korea, even the Japanese, who had implemented a policy of cultion as a medicine market. tural assimilation, extolled the quality of Gwanghwa Island’s flowToward the end of Japan’s colonial occupation (1910-1945), hower-patterned mats. In summer, the mats provide a cooling effect ever, the medicine market faced the danger of losing its original and in winter they absorb the cold. They do not lose their natural function. In a bid to suppress the independence movement of Koresheen even after long use and are highly durable as well. ans, the Japanese authorities closed down the market because it served as a venue for The history of the traditional medicine market goes back to active exchange of information and goods. In the 1960s, the market naturally returned to the reign of King Hyojong (r. 1649-1659) of the Joseon Dynasty. life when medicine merchants began to gather Then, it was a seasonal market which, under royal edict, again in the area between Cheongnyangni Staopened in spring and fall to offer medicinal herbs from all over tion and the Majang-dong inter-city bus terminal. Today, it is the distribution center for twothe country. More than just a market for medicinal items, it also thirds of all traditional medicinal products and served as one of the four royal institutions in the capital that ingredients traded in Korea. provided relief and medical services for the general populace.

As I came upon the market for the first time in 30 years, I found it just as lively as it was famed to be. It was filled with a fascinating array of ingredients, In search of traces of the old market, I headed to Ganghwa from the dried centipedes that my grandmother had bought when Island. I visited Dangsan-ri, which has been turned into a hwaI was young, to bullfrogs, chestnut peelings, prickly ash bark and munseok theme village, and Yango-ri, where there is an exhibition berries, and various parts of evening primrose. “Business isn’t as hall dedicated to the flower-patterned mats. Some 130 years ago, good as it was in the old days,” said one merchant. “But this is still a craftsman named Han Chung-gyo in the village of Yango-ri was the largest medicine market in the country. You could say that all commissioned by the royal court to develop various designs for the the finest medicinal ingredients are gathered right here.” There is rush mats, such as Mandarin ducks, landscape scenes, the wan an impressive museum devoted to the history of traditional medicharacter (卍), and diverse folklore motifs. In the mid-Joseon pericine in the basement of Donguibogam Tower, while the maze-like od, the most popular mat designs were dragons, tigers, and the ten alleys run onto a general market selling fruits and vegetables, fish, symbols of longevity. In ordinary homes, plain undecorated mats and everyday goods. At Kyungdong Market, the body seems to grow were commonly used. stronger just from inhaling the aroma of varied medicinal ingrediUp until the 1980s, some 49,000 of these beautifully decorated ents while the heart quickens at the colorful sights. rush mats were produced annually on Ganghwa Island. In those days, 400 households, or one-third of all farming households on the island, were engaged in the manufacture of the mats. disappearing specialty Markets Going into the 1990s, however, the number of households conlike Kyungdong Market, some traditional markets retain their tinuing to practice the craft noticeably declined. “It was easier to old glory, but many others have disappeared, going down in history. make a living by getting a wage-paying job in the city than by making one such example is the market for handmade flower-patterned these mats, so people stopped making them. In the past, a hwamunmats, called hwamunseok, which disappeared in the 1990s. Hwa14 KOReANA summer 2015

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1 From the 1980s, antiques stores that used to be scattered in various parts of Seoul began to gather in Dapsimni, forming an art and antiques market of some 140 stores.

2 The bookstore alley in Bosu-dong, Busan first emerged during the Korean War and has now become a major cultural spot and tourist attraction of Korea’s second largest metropolis. various cultural events are held here every october.

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seok market opened as part of the Ganghwa five-day market but when the sales volume continued to slump, the market disappeared altogether,” explained Goh Mi-gyeong, who operates a hwamunseok-making experience center in Dangsan-ri. Currently, 10 or so households continue the tradition of making flower-patterned mats.

Traditional “theme markets” that focus on local specialties have gone through many ups and downs. Hemp cloth from the village of Jukgok in Jeonju, still regarded as a finely-crafted luxury product, used to be traded at the local five-day market. But these days, it can only be found at the exhibition hall in Jukgok. village craftsmen take orders and deal directly with individual customers. The history of hemp weaving dates back to 1590 in Jukgok, where the tradition has continued for four centuries. The entire painstaking process, from making thread from hemp stalks to weaving the cloth and dyeing it, was the work of the village women. Just 30 to 40 years ago, practically the whole village was involved in the hemp fabric industry, but as of 2015 this longstanding tradition is kept alive by less than 20 households.

Elderly women, some well over the age of 80, vow that they will not pass on this grueling and tiresome work to their descendants. But as she gently smoothed down the fine fabric, one woman said, “When we dress our grandsons and granddaughters in hemp clothes they all like the feel of it. That’s why it’s hard to give up this work, though it is so hard.”

Cattle markets have experienced a similar fate. A survey conducted in 1918 shows that 655 livestock markets were in operation around the country. But these markets have been reduced to relative insignificance or disappeared altogether, so it is now hard to find a typical traditional cattle market anywhere. The Cheongdo cattle market, once famous nationwide, does remain open but only as part of the Donggok five-day market. The Donggok market, which was once the major commercial center of Cheongdo County in the province of north Gyeongsang, flourished in the 1960s and 1970s. opened in 1959, the cattle market operation was taken over by the Cheongdo livestock Cooperative in 1998, but after an electronic auction sys1 The livestock martem was launched in 2010, the old market ket operated by the scene disappeared. In the alleys left vacant, Hapcheon livestock restaurants specializing in beef soup and Cooperative of South Gyeongsang Province. rice and other eateries remain as remindTraditional cattle ers of the old cattle market in its heyday. markets have all but Specialized markets are not in a total disappeared following the introduction of decline. After the Korean War, new marmodern management kets began to emerge. Busan was a haven systems. for many South Koreans during the war.

2 The hwamunseok market on Ganghwa Refugees from all over the country fled to Island. Made of dyed the relative safety of the crowded coastal woven strips of rush, these mats have long city on the southeastern tip of the counbeen a beloved part of try. Military supplies for the U.S. Army and Korean life. other goods arriving at Busan Port gave

rise to a brisk trade. In the nampo-dong area appeared the socalled Kukje Market (“international market”), an open-air market where everything from electronic goods to clothing could be found.

new Market Themes after the korean War A fisheries market emerged near the mouth of Bosu Stream in Chungmu-dong. The area was known for its plentiful gravel, called jagal, and the market eventually became known as Jagalchi Market. Though the market has now been moved into modern facilities and the sight of the tough fishwives, the “ajime” dressed in baggy pants and aprons who loudly hawked their wares from shabby stalls, is a thing of the past, Jagalchi Market still remains a landmark of the city of Busan. nearby Bosu-dong is famous for its old bookstores. This market began to form during the war when people bought and sold second-hand books from apple boxes laid out near the Kukje Market.

Bosu-dong today, featuring cozy little book cafes and colorful graffiti, is a popular photo spot.

Then, there are the markets that go against the flow of time. The art and antiques market in Dapsimni, Seoul, remains unchanged since the time of its establishment in the 1980s. Just a few steps away from the main road, after emerging from exit 1 or 2 of Dapsimni Station on line no. 5, one is greeted by the sight of items of the kind usually found in museums, including traditional black horsehair hats (gat), ceramics, woodcrafts, folk items, old paintings and calligraphy, and antiques that have made their way to Korea from auctions abroad. To enjoy a long-ago ambience, people often make their way to Insa-dong, but anyone interested in things that are really old should head for Dapsimni instead. Gathered here are some 140 second-hand goods dealers, which used to be located at Cheonggyecheon, Ahyeon-dong, Chungmu-ro, and Hwanghakdong until the 1980s, accounting for 15 percent of antique dealers in the country. Walking around these shops is like taking a journey back in time.

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SEOUL MARKETS: MORE TO ENJOY THE MORE YOU KNOW kim Hyun-jin Freelance Writer

namdaemun Market naemdaemun Market (“South Gate Market”) was formed around 1414, in the early days of the Joseon Dynasty, at its current location adjacent to the main gate of the old city wall that surrounded the capital. Then, in 1911, at the outset of Japanese colonial rule, the pro-Japanese official Song Byeong-jun (1858-1925) established the Korea Agricultural Corporation, which became the foundation of the market in its current form. The market went through various changes thereafter, with the ownership transferred to Japanese hands in 1922 and its name changed to Central Produce Market in 1936 under a decree by the Japanese government-general. In those days, there were few Korean merchants in the market because of its monopolization by high-handed Japanese merchants. The few that remained were eventually driven out to the area around Yeomcheon Bridge (near today’s Seoul Station). Korean merchants moved back in when the Japanese returned home upon the liberation of Korea in 1945. The market thrived but then the Korean War broke out in 1950, and all regular business was suspended. on two occasions, in 1968 and in 1975, huge fires destroyed central areas of the market.

Today, namdaemun Market covers an area of 42,225 square meters and comprises 58 buildings with 9,265 stores. It is difficult to describe exactly what it sells since the variety of goods on offer there is so vast.

From clothing stores specializing in children’s, women’s, and men’s clothing, to those carrying kitchenware, electronics, accessories, folk arts and crafts, imported goods, eyeglasses, and cameras, the market, 18 KOReANA summer 2015

as the joke goes, “has everything except what it doesn’t have.”

After giving the eyes a treat by looking at the dizzying array of goods on sale, it’s time to look after the stomach. The most popular foodie haunt, always crowded at night with Korean shoppers and foreign tourists, is the area known for its galchi jorim (hairtail and radish braised in hot sauce). When one restaurant in the market first offered this dish 30 years ago, it became a big hit, so other restaurants began to follow suit until the whole alley became known as the “galchi jorim alley.” The alley attracts an endless stream of people wanting to taste this famous specialty of namdaemun Market. located in the middle of Seoul, close to Myeong-dong and lotte Department Store, the namdaemun Market with its long and colorful history is expected to remain one of the most popular local markets among foreign visitors in the years ahead.

dongdaemun Market Fashion leaders on a budget will head for Dongdaemun Market (“East Gate Market”). This is not an ordinary retail market. The fashion wholesale outlets open at 8 p.m. and close at dawn. Around midnight, you can see merchants from all parts of the country haggling over prices with outsize bags stuffed with clothing slung over their shoulders, while the buses that brought the merchants here line the streets, waiting to make the return trip before the day breaks. Such scenes make this market look like it’s the only part of the city that is awake in the wee hours of the morning. The market is famous not only with clothing

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retailers around the country but also attracts fashion buyers and tourists from Southeast Asia, Central America, Europe, Russia, and other countries.

Dongdaemun Market today comprises the traditional market area extending from Jongno 4-ga and Cheonggye 4-ga to the old capital’s east gate, Dongdaemun, and a cluster of high-rise shopping complexes.

Although it was called Baeogae Market during the Japanese occupation period, 1910-1945, it had been registered as Dongdaemun Market in 1905 and is known as Korea’s first modern market. From 1996, a number of large fashion shopping complexes opened up and formed an area that came to be known as Dongdaemun Shopping Town, or Dongdaemun Fashion Town. not only is all manner of clothing sold here but everything needed to make clothes, including endless varieties of fabrics, trimmings, and accessories. This is also where young designers work with a passion to realize their dreams of advancing into the global fashion scene.

Gwangjang Market officially named Jongno Gwangjang Traditional Market, this market was owned and operated by Gwangjang Corporation, which was founded in 1904 as one of Korea’s earliest modern businesses. The name comes from the market’s location at Cheonggye 3-ga to 4-ga between two bridges, Gwang Bridge and Jang Bridge. once famed for its vintage clothing, Gwangjang Market’s reputation today is mostly about its food. Among its most popular offerings are mung bean pancakes (bind-

1 A hanbok store at namdaemun Market.

The traditional Korean dress has seen changes in its colors and design over time.

2 Dongdaemun Fashion Town is a huge clothing retail and wholesale complex with more than 30,000 stores employing about 100,000 people, which has become an internationally renowned tourist attraction.

3 The food alley in Gwangjang Market is famous for its diverse array of street foods loved by Koreans.

4 Bangsan Market specializes in DIY craft materials. The popularity of scented candles has led to rising numbers of stores selling candlemaking materials.

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aetteok), noodles, pan-fried meat in batter, beef tartare, spicy fish stew, and the famously habit-forming mayak gimbap , (addictive rice rolls), which draw crowds of shoppers and tourists throughout the week. visit the market for a taste of the food enjoyed by ordinary Koreans. Don’t raise your expectations too high and you’ll have a unique and enjoyable experience.

Bangsan Market located in the old center of Seoul, right across the Cheonggye Stream from Gwangjang Market, this market sells everything needed for baking, DIY tools and materials, and wrapping/packaging materials.

It offers home baking fans all sorts of ingredients and materials that are cheaper than anywhere else so they invariably return home with both arms full and sweet dreams in their heads. on occasions like Christmas and valentine’s Day, the atmosphere of this normally drab old market is suddenly energized with the arrival of high-spirited schoolgirls in uniform and young women. The market is also known for the ingredients needed to make scented candles, which are currently in vogue among young women.

Most of the varied bags, boxes, and paper used to wrap and carry food come from this market. nearby Eulji-ro is a flourishing base for the printing industry and stores that specialize in printing goods are also found in this market. Aside from selling packaging materials, stores here produce on-the-spot printed business materials, custom plaques, and sales promotional materials almost instantly, as if by magic.

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Peddlers Travel from Market to Market

When the BuckWheat Blooms Following are excerpts from “When the Buckwheat Blooms,” a short story by lee Hyo-seok (also Yi Hyo-sok, 1907-1942), which depicts the life of rural peddlers.

The story is from “a ready-Made life: early Masters of Modern korean Fiction,” selected and translated by kim chong-un and Bruce Fulton, and published by the university of Hawaii press, Honolulu, in 1998.

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very peddler who made the rounds of the countryside markets knew that business was never any good in the summer. And on this particular day, the marketplace in Bongpyeong was already deserted, though the sun was still high in the sky; its heat, seeping under the awnings of the peddlers' stalls, was enough to sear your spine. Most of the villagers had gone home, and you couldn’t stay open forever just to do business with the farmhands who would have been happy to swap a bundle of firewood for a bottle of kerosene or some fish. The swarms of flies had become a nuisance, and the local boys were as pesky as gnats.

“Shall we call it a day?” ventured Heo Saengwon, a left-handed man with a pockmarked face, to his fellow dry-goods peddler Cho Seondal.

“Sounds good to me. We’ve never done well here in Bongpyeong. We’ll have to make a bundle tomorrow in Daehwa.”

“And we'll have to walk all night to get there,” said Heo. “I don’t mind — we'll have the moon to light the way.”

Cho counted the day’s proceeds, letting the coins clink together. Heo watched for a moment, then began to roll up their awning and put away the goods he had displayed. The bolts of cotton cloth and the bundles of silk fabrics filled his two wicker hampers to the brim. Bits of cloth littered the straw mat on the ground.

The stalls of other peddlers were almost all down, and some groups had gotten a jump on the rest and left town. The fishmongers, tinkers, taffymen, and ginger vendors — all were gone.

Tomorrow would be market day in Jinbu and Daehwa, and whichever way you went, you would have to trudge fifteen to twenty 20 KOReANA summer 2015

miles through the night to get there. But here in Bongpyeong the marketplace had the untidy sprawl of a courtyard after a family gathering, and you could hear quarrels breaking out in the drinking houses. Drunken curses together with the shrill voices of women rent the air. * In the two decades that Heo had been peddling dry goods at the rural markets, he had rarely skipped Bongpyeong in his rounds. He sometimes went to Chungju, Jecheon, and neighboring counties, and occasionally roamed farther afield to the Gyeongsang region. Otherwise, unless he went to a place such as Gangneung to stock up on his goods, he confined his rounds to Pyeongchang County. More regular than the moon, he tramped from one town to the next. He took pride in telling others that Cheongju was his hometown, but he never seemed to go there.

To Heo, home sweet home was the beautiful landscape along the roads that led him from one market town to the next. When he finally approached one of these towns after trudging half a day, the restive donkey would let out a resounding heehaw. In particular, when they arrived around dusk, the flickering lights in the town — though a familiar scene by now — never failed to make Heo’s heart quicken.

Heo had been a thrifty youth and had put away a bit of money.

But then one year during the All Souls’ Festival he had squandered and gambled, and in three days he had blown all of his savings. Only his extreme fondness for the donkey had restrained him from selling the animal as well. In the end, he had had no choice but to go back to square one and begin making the rounds

Illustration by Kim Si-hoon

of the market towns all over again. It’s a good thing I didn’t sell you, he had said with tears in his eyes, stroking the donkey’s back as they fled the town. He had gone into debt, and saving money was now out of the question. And thus began a hand-to-mouth existence as he journeyed from one market to the next.

In the course of all his squandering, Heo had never managed to win a woman. The cold, heartless creatures — they have no use for me, he would think dejectedly. His only constant friend was the donkey.

Be that as it may, there was one affair, and he would never forget it. His first and last affair — it was a most mysterious liaison.

It happened when he was young, when he began stopping at the Bongpyeong market, and whenever he recalled it he felt that his life had been worth living.

“For the life of me, I still can’t figure it out,” Heo said to no one in particular. “It was a moonlit night ...”

This was the signal that Heo would begin yarning again about that night. Being Heo’s friend, Cho had long since had an earful of what was to come. But he couldn’t very well tell Heo he was sick of the story, and so Heo innocently started in anew and rambled on as he pleased.

“A story like this goes well with a moonlit night,” said Heo with a glance toward Cho. It wasn’t that he felt apologetic toward his friend; rather, the moonlight had made him feel expansive.

The moon was a day or two past full, and its light was soft and pleasant. Twenty miles of moonlit walking lay before them to Daehwa — two mountain passes, a stream crossing, hilly paths along endless fields. They were traversing a hillside. It was prob-

ably after midnight by now, and it was so deathly still the moon seemed to come alive; you could almost hear it breathe, right there in front of you. Awash in moonlight, the bean plants and the drooping corn stalks were a shade greener. The hillside was covered with buckwheat coming into flower, and the sprinkling of white in the gentle moonlight was almost enough to take your breath away. The red stalks seemed delicate as a fragrance, and the donkeys appeared to have more life in their step.

The road narrowed, forcing the men to mount their animals and ride single file. The refreshing tinkle of the bells hanging from the donkeys’ necks flowed toward the buckwheat. Heo’s voice, coming from the front, wasn’t clearly audible to Dong-i at the tail end, but Dong-i had some pleasant memories of his own to keep him company.

“It was market day in Bongpyeong, and the moon was out, just like tonight. I’d taken this tiny little room with a dirt floor, and it was so muggy I couldn’t get to sleep. So I decided to go down and cool off in the stream. Bongpyeong then was just like it is now — buckwheat everywhere you looked, and the white flowers coming right down to the stream. I could have stripped right there on the gravel, but the moon was so bright, I decided to use the watermill shed instead. Well, I want to tell you, strange things happen in this world. Suddenly, there I was in the shed, face to face with old man Song's daughter — the town beauty. Was it fate that brought us together? You bet it was.”

Heo puffed on a cigarette, as if savoring his own words. The rich aroma of the purple smoke suffused the night air.

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special FeaTure 3 Traditional Markets: Their History and Evolution

People Who Break the Dawn

My Market story

lee Myoung-lang novelist ahn Hong-beom Photographer

Buzzing with activity in the gloom of dawn, the market is home to many people with diverse histories; they live here in ways that seem similar but are as distinctive as their backgrounds and personalities.

The merchants in the fruit market, who observe the seasons by the kinds of fruit on sale, are competitors as well as friends who find comfort and strength in each other.

i

was born in Yeongdeungpo and grew up in the local fruit and vegetable wholesale market. As an adult, I sold fruit there for some time. one day, a man came to my stall and stood in front of me. His threadbare khaki jacket was stained on the sleeves, and the soles of his faux leather sneakers were tattered. He asked me how he could become a wholesaler. The sellers around me rushed to give their own answers.

“It’s quite easy. It doesn’t matter if you’re illiterate!”

“You need a college education to have a wholesale business here. It’s very difficult.”

The man was left bewildered. later on, this funny exchange became a staple for jokes and gossip among the merchants in the market.

Indeed, the Yeongdeungpo Fruit and vegetable Wholesale Market, my childhood home, is a community of people from various backgrounds. Some have never received any formal education, and others even have doctoral degrees. As such, they create a variegated society with different ways of living. However, there is one common rule: every one of their days is controlled by what kinds of fruit come into the market. no one is exempt. If strawberries come in, they have to sell them. on a day of peaches, they have to handle the delicate peaches with care, while a watermelon day requires considerable physical strength to stack the heavy fruit for display. Consequently, the merchants’ prime concern is what kinds of fruit are received that day.

Here, the seasons are perceived in different ways, too. no spring comes without strawberries filling the display stands, no summer without watermelons, and no winter without tangerines. This way, the seasons come and go, and the merchants grow old together, drinking makgeolli from the same bowl.

‘all our kids’ As a child, I was a daughter to all the merchants in the market. When I got the top score in an exam, the regulars in my mom’s diner used to give me some pocket money, delighted by my achievement as if I were their own child. When I played in the park late into the night, the neighbors would scold me and tell me to go home.

22 KOReANA summer 2015

At a fruit wholesaler at Gangseo Agricultural Wholesale Market in northwestern Seoul, merchants sort watermelons just received from the growers according to the thickness of the rind and the degree of ripeness.

KOReAN CULTURe & ARTS 23

When it came to caring for their children, the market people did not distinguish between “yours” and “mine.”

The children of the merchants come to the market with their parents very early in the morning. Infants who cannot walk spend all day in fruit crates, crying, laughing, or shaking their heads to please their parents, until the day’s work is done. Toddlers and young children roam the market all day long. A child who was sitting here beside his mother minutes ago is spotted over there going into the banana store and then running all over the adjacent snack bar. The adults are always on the alert for these rascals may get in trouble at any time. Sometimes, they lift a peach from a basket and scamper away, or take an expensive greenhouse tangerine and eat it up before anyone can scold them. In spite of their mischief, the merchants do not look at the kids’ grimy faces or skinny backs with scorn. Rather, they will hug their tiny shoulders, knowing that most families are in a similar situation, selling fruit to earn a living and raise their children.

Unable to receive proper attention from their parents, the children run around the market as if it is their playground. When tired, they creep into the apple crates scattered inside their parents’ stores and quietly fall asleep.

This is how the children of the market spend their days.

In my childhood, when I tore off plastic bags in the packaging store or ate up expensive greenhouse tangerines, the market women would give me a fierce look and pretend to scold me. But when I made signs that I needed to go to the toilet, it was one of these women who would take me to the restroom, and when I fell down and cried, one of these women would pick me up and buy me an ice cream, and

Gangseo Agricultural Wholesale Market runs separate auctions for fruit and vegetables. The bidding opens every 30 minutes from 2:30 a.m. for fruit and from 8:30 p.m. for vegetables.

24 KOReANA summer 2015

THEIR MARKET STORY When the morning sky is still dark, wholesalers crowd the cooperative market where the produce auctions will take place. Boxes of apples are stacked as high as an average man’s height. Merchants gathering in front of them are busily moving around, rehearsing hand-bidding signals and calling out “one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, and ten!” or closely examining the items on offer. With the wholesalers up on a platform looking down on the boxes of apples, the arrangement means today’s first auction will be stationary.

Produce auctions are divided into stationary and ambulatory types. In the former, the bidders stand on the auction platform and survey the samples passing by on the moving display stand. This method is used for more durable fruits with a longer shelf life, like apples, pears, and sweet persimmons. For an ambulatory auction, the bidders and the auctioneer move around the produce gathered in one place, because fruits like strawberries, soft persimmons, and grapes are perishable and less portable. “out of the way!”

“Why do you always go for the ones that I want?”

The wholesalers in front of the apple boxes create a ruckus, some squeezing their way into the crowd, others opening the boxes to examine the apples inside. After some pushing, shoving, yanking, and treading, some of them give up and step back from the confusion.

“Ten boxes of 50 green apples grown by Yi Boksun in Yeongcheon!”

The bid caller yells out the details of the products.

Today’s caller is a man named Park from the loading department. Before the formal auction begins, the caller announces the details, including the cultivars, the place of origin, the grower’s name, and the number of fruit in each box. This type of work may not seem to require any particular skills, but it’s not a job for just anyone. The job of caller is assigned to experienced senior members of the loading department with loud voices and quick minds who rank higher than supervisor. Three or four callers take turns to look after each auction.

“Ah! Ten boxes of 50 green apples grown by Yi Bok-sun in Yeongcheon!”

The auctioneer on the platform reiterates the details given by the caller, and the wholesalers standing behind the apple boxes fasten a small

screen on their hands with a wrist band to hide their hand signals from other bidders.

“Ah! Thirty thousand! Ah! Thirty-one thousand!

Ah! Thirty-two, thirty-three, thirty-five, thirty-eight, thirty-nine! Forty thousand!”

The auctioneer starts at thirty thousand won for a box of 40 apples, and the merchants, determined to purchase good products at a low price, hold their hands up to bid.

“Anyone? nobody for forty thousand? Then, it goes to no.702 at thirty-nine thousand!”

The auctioneer stamps his foot on the platform to announce that the deal has been done. This auctioneer always stamps his foot at the end of each sale. other auctioneers have their own ways of calling out the prices. Some say, “Ah! Thirty thousand!” like the auctioneer mentioned above, while others say, “now, again, thirty thousand!” and yet others utter something like “Hi, hi, hi” before calling out the price.

“Thirty boxes of 80 green apples grown by Yi Boksun in Yeongcheon! Ah! Seven thousand! Ah! Eight thousand! Ah! nine thousand!”

The quick succession of calls from the auctioneer makes the merchants busy in their minds, bidding or waiting for the exact types of products that they need to purchase. Based on the kind of products they’re after, fruit wholesalers can be divided into three types: some put quality before price, others are only interested in the medium-quality range, and for the rest low price is their major concern as they scramble to find the cheapest products. now, let me ask you a quick question.

Which of these three types of merchants has the most regular customers?

The answer is all three.

In the wholesale business, quality is not the sole factor in attracting customers. Retailers who carry only the best-quality fruit naturally go to the wholesalers who have such products. And there are restaurant and bar owners who drive their vans to the wholesale stores that sell medium-quality fruit at reasonable prices. Meanwhile, roadside fruit vendors never buy anything costing more than 30,000 won a box, regardless of item or market price, and all year round park their carts in front of the stores that sell only the least expensive products.

Day after day, the market at dawn is teeming with people. As the auctions end, merchants who have procured their daily stock of fruit to sell return to their respective stores, buoyant with hope.

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26 KOReANA summer 2015

The merchants grow old together, drinking makgeolli from the same bowl… A place where people completely unrelated by blood get along as if they were one large family — this is Yeongdeungpo Market, the home of my soul.

another of these women presented me with a yellow T-shirt with my name printed on it and helped me put it on. All the market women were mothers to me, and I was a daughter to all of them. Even now, the market children might be as busy as I used to be on Parents’ Day, making a lot of carnation corsages and going from this “aunt” to that “uncle” to pin the flowers on their chests.

A place where people completely unrelated by blood get along as if they were one large family — this is Yeongdeungpo Market, the home of my soul. Affected by the waves of change, however, my home has been forced to leave Yeongdeungpo and find a new shelter in Gangseo Market. The cooperative wholesale market where the merchants used to buy and sell their products was transformed into the headquarters of a political party, and is now being redeveloped into a shopping mall.

Yeongdeungpo Fruit and vegetable Market opens early in the morning for wholesale auctions and stays open in the afternoon for retail sales. A constant stream of people come to the market to buy good, fresh fruit.

‘You never know What Will Happen’ Though at a new location, the merchants are still at the market early in the morning to sell fruit, make a living, and raise their children, repeating their favorite aphorisms: “At the end of the day, we accept what’s given to us,” or “You never know what will happen.” These sayings, which may sound a bit trite, can be understood in their deepest sense if their lives are looked into more closely. one of the merchants, Mr. Choe, looks like someone who has had bad luck with money, but his store is the most prosperous in the market. A former electrician, Choe lost his job during the 1997 financial crisis. one day, he was roaming around the market looking for discarded fruit when one of the wholesalers offered him a spot in the front part of his store, suggesting that he start his own retail business there. His subsequent success has led Choe to keep saying, “You never know what will happen.” He is not talking about living any old how because life is unpredictable, but about the importance of being prepared for whatever may come your way.

There is another legendary figure in the market, an elderly woman who preaches her own words of wisdom, “At the end of the day, we accept what’s given to us.” nicknamed the “Cardboard lady,” she makes a living by collecting the empty cardboard boxes littering the market. Politely, she always asks permission before picking up the empty boxes, inquiring, “May I take this, please?” She removes any garbage or spoiled fruit left in the box, putting it in a garbage bag that she always carries with her. Her every movement is so decorous. When I commented that she seemed to deserve better, she just smiled and said, “At the end of the day, we accept what’s given to us.”

People who accept their lot in life, people who are seasoned to the unpredictability of human affairs and strive to make the most of every single day, and people who start their days earlier than most others — the market is a place created by such people.

With the breaking dawn, another new day begins for these people.

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special FeaTure 4 Traditional Markets: Their History and Evolution

old Markets reborn as local cultural centers

park eun-young Freelance Editor shim Byung-woo Photographer

rows of disorderly stalls under dim lights on either side of a narrow passageway — this is the typical image of a traditional market. With the number of customers steadily decreasing, traditional markets no longer function as the focal point of a local community. recently, however, the lights are being turned on again at these declining places as young artists and merchants work together to breathe renewed life into them. Their youthful passion and dazzling ideas have helped to restore a number of traditional markets to their former glory.

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rom 2008 to 2013, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism carried out a project to revive traditional markets under the theme of “Munjeon seongsi ,” referring to a state of prosperity attracting a large crowd of people. The project sought to increase the public’s awareness of the significance of traditional markets in Korean society and introduce programs to revive markets nationwide.

According to the ministry, the project has helped to transform otherwise declining marketplaces into centers of art and culture for local communities, which bring together old-time customers and young consumers. on the other hand, some are critical of the project for its “focus on superficial display and quantitative results.” notwithstanding such criticism, the revitalization initiative has encouraged young consumers to develop an interest in traditional markets and bring along their own culture.

Markets revived as cultural spaces one notable success case is Youth Mall at nambu Market in Jeonju, north Jeolla Province, which has undoubtedly become the city’s “hot spot.” Until quite recently, the market was practically deserted, as the merchants left one after another due 28 KOReANA summer 2015

to a lack of business. But slowly the lights were turned back on, starting on the second floor, where spaces were rented out at lower rates to young entrepreneurs who sought to attract young customers. Currently, the mall houses a home design accessories shop whose proprietor studied plastic arts in France, a gift shop that sells souvenirs collected by the owner on monthly trips abroad, and an alternative medicine clinic, as well as cocktail bars, taquerias, Korean restaurants, and various other shops.

The popularity of Youth Mall has meant a boost for the market overall, generating a 10 to 20 percent increase in sales.

The night market event, on every Friday and Saturday (from 6 p.m. until midnight), offers an abundance of things to see and do for all ages with stalls carrying snacks and handmade goods as well as small-scale exhibitions and performances. Along with the nearby Hanok village, nambu Market has now become one of the major attractions of Jeonju.

As in Soho and Chelsea in new York, and the 798 Art Zone in Beijing’s Dashanzi District, young artists with limited budgets have been attracted to factory districts or housing development areas where rents are cheaper. They in turn attract shops,

1 The workshop of a craftsman in Sindang Creativity Arcade. Formerly an underground shopping center, the arcade was renovated by the Seoul Metropolitan Government to provide workshops for artists and craftsmen, bringing new life to the once declining market.

2 A shop at Youth Mall on the second-floor area of Jeonju’s nambu Market. The unique articles are popular among young people who want something original.

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KOReAN CULTURe & ARTS 29

galleries, and streams of visitors, as well as cafés, restaurants, and other entertainment establishments, creating a distinctive local culture. In Seoul, similar developments have occurred in Hongdae, Garosugil, and Itaewon. It seems to be a kind of rule that the influx of artists’ studios turns a neighborhood into a “hot spot.” So, what happens if this rule is applied to traditional markets?

Merchants and Young artists The basement level of Seoul Central Market in Hwanghak-dong is the headquarters for a community of craftsmen and designers known as Sindang Creativity Arcade. once a flourishing underground shopping center, which was established in the 1970s, the market suffered an everdwindling number of customers and only a few stores remained open. To reverse the decline, in 2009 the Seoul Metropolitan Government renovated the shopping center into workshops for craftsmen and designers. Although the workshops are small rooms of 6.6 square meters each, the resident artists have been able to concentrate on their work without worrying about rents and maintenance fees.

The artists did not lock themselves in their underground workshops. They ventured above ground and mingled with the merchants, the market’s original inhabitants. They designed signboards for stores and coordinated market-wide festivals to advance their mutual interests. In this sense, their activities are unlike most traditional market events, which largely aim at attracting visitors.

Daein Market in the city of Gwangju has also been invigorated by the collaborative endeavors of artists and merchants. At the helm of this undertaking was Park Sunghyen, a lead curator of the 7th Gwangju Biennale in 2008. Believing that art should reach out and become part of everyday life, he suggested that young artists use the empty spaces in the market as their workshops. The merchants cooperated by lowering the rents. Thirty artists moved in, and 30 KOReANA summer 2015

The artists did not lock themselves in their underground workshops.

They ventured above ground and mingled with the merchants, the market’s original inhabitants. They designed signboards for stores and coordinated market-wide festivals to advance their mutual interests.

the greatest outcome of this mixed habitation is the Star Market, a nighttime event that has been held twice a month since 2010. In a neighborhood where opportunities to enjoy culture are rather limited, news of the market quickly spread. offering fun for everyone, decorated stalls and a variety of hands-on experiences, the night market soon grew to twice its original size.

In the summer of 2013, a cooperative gallery named Dada Creative Studio opened in the market to support art fairs, artwork auctions, exhibitions, and other creative activities of young artists. The market is being actively utilized as their studio and venue for debut exhibitions.

Contrary to expectations, however, there has been no notable gain in the merchants’ profits. Although the market attracts more than one thousand people a day on weekends, most of them are there to enjoy the events and performances, with few actually buying anything. nevertheless, the merchants are happy with the presence of young artists and more customers and the vitality they bring to their market that had been nearly abandoned.

Another example, Dongjin Market in Yeonnam-dong, Mapo-gu, Seoul, was a desolate place that had been used as warehouses after losing its original function.

This marketplace, so small and quiet that it was easy to miss, has been revitalized by young planners and designers who are interested in both culture and traditional markets. Since last year, the market has offered a variety of weekly cultural workshops and events, such as a session on furniture making with discarded wood scraps.

Thanks to these attractions, nearby alleys have come alive with thriving small businesses, including cafés, restaurants, bookstores, handicraft workshops, and galleries; the place has emerged as one of the trendiest neighborhoods in the already popular Hongdae area.

Historic Market spruced up with new design The successful revitalization of Bongpyeong Market in Pyeongchang County, Gangwon Province, was made possible by the collaboration of the local government, the merchants, and a corporate sponsor.

Bongpyeong Market was one of the largest markets in the country for hundreds of years. It still has a permanent market with over 70 stores, and a five-day market that opens on the dates ending in 2 and 7, drawing nearly a hundred or so merchants and vendors.

Bongpyeong is a rural town which is

1 An accessories shop at Gwangju’s Daein Market.

As the workshops at the market serve as a place for both creation and sales for the young craftsmen, they have attracted more young people to the market itself.

2 An artistic touch has been added to Seoul Central Market in Hwanghak-dong as the resident artists of Sindang Creativity Arcade started to contribute their talent to the traditional market.

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renowned as the setting for lee Hyoseok’s short story “When the Buckwheat Blooms,” which portrays the life of itinerant vendors, their joys and sorrows. Partly for this reason, the town is packed every September with visitors who come to see the buckwheat fields in full bloom. However, few people visit its historic market just a few hundred meters away from popular tourist attractions and the lee Hyo-seok Memorial Hall. (Editor’s note: See page 20 for excerpts from “When the Buckwheat Blooms.”)

To find a way to save the declining traditional markets, the provincial government of Gangwon consulted with Hyundai Card.

It hoped to utilize the company’s Dream

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32 KOReANA summer 2015

Realization Project, which offers space design renewal and service programs to small businesses. Hyundai Card’s Design lab worked with the provincial government to establish a self-sustaining system that would enable traditional markets to continue to operate without external assistance. For this, a focus was placed on “things that can be done without building or adding anything,” and the overall environment of Bongpyeong Market was improved by introducing design elements mainly to the store awnings. Each store now reveals its identity with the color of its awnings — green for agricultural products, blue for marine products, purple for clothing, and orange stripes for prepared food — and a

small signboard with a photo of the proprietor and details of the items for sale.

At the same time, the local government provided design education to the merchants on how to arrange colors, set up appealing displays, and post prices and places of origin. A few education sessions have not been sufficient to change the merchants’ decades-old habits and ways of doing business. Also, unlike other markets that have been renovated with the help of artists, Bongpyeong Market has few promotional or cultural events. However, its historic significance and the artless appeal of the local people add to the charm of this age-old market.

‘BIG CAPITAL BEGAN TO CREEP IN WHEN THE MARKET ATTRACTED PEOPLE’

‘FUSED WITH ART, WE ARE ONE OF A KIND’

kim chae-ram Head of Boddaridan at Youth Mall, Jeonju nambu Market

Jung sam-jo Star Market General Manager at Daein Market, Gwangju

Boddaridan (“The Packers”) at Youth Mall is a group of planners who organize events to revitalize nambu Market. To make it “a cultural hub of the local community,” we carry out diverse activities: planning and managing flea markets, operating select shops that offer local brands, and holding inspirational workshops. As the market began to attract more and more people, big capital started to move in. Franchise stores have taken over the market’s ground level and adjacent areas, driving out the longtime merchants and businesses. like a double-edged sword, the whole process might have been inevitable, but I can’t help feeling sorry about this aspect of transition.

Currently, Daein Market rents out 20 spaces to young entrepreneurs.

Thanks to their presence and activities, the market began to attract younger customers and its fame has now spread nationwide. The original merchants are positive about this change. The young members of the market take pride in creating “a market fused with art.” They now strive to gain the competitiveness to remain as an artistic market marked by the coexistence of tradition with art, and merchants with emerging artists and young entrepreneurs.

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‘FOR NEW DESIGNERS, FLEA MARKETS ARE A GREAT WAY TO START’ song Yoon-gi CEo and Designer of Susurrus

I launched my own brand after coming back from the U.K., where I had studied fashion accessory design. I made my first inroads into the flea market scene at an event held at the Digital Media City in Sangamdong, Seoul, last year. Afterwards, I participated in many flea markets all over the country, including Seoul and Busan, to promote my brand more widely. Six or so months later, I got a call from a merchandiser at Hyundai Department Store who asked me to take part in a pop-up store for emerging designers. now, Susurrus is a permanent brand at major department stores in Seoul and Daegu. For new designers, flea markets are not just a place where goods are sold and bought, but a great way to start.”

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1 An artist works at her studio in Sindang Creativity Arcade.

A small room of 6.6 square meters, the studio may be the perfect place for the young artist to concentrate on her work.

2 Youth Mall at Jeonju’s nambu Market. Coordinated by the planning group Boddaridan, a variety of events take place here every weekend.

3 The arcade at Gwangju’s Daein Market. The illustration at the entrance of each store was created by the resident artists.

4 Marché, a well-known flea market in Seoul, opens on the streets of Daehangno.

This biweekly market provides young farmers with a valuable opportunity to promote their produce.

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KOReAN CULTURe & ARTS 33

inTerVieW

seung Hyo-sang 1

plans a city of regeneration and solidarity

park seong-tae General Secretary, Junglim Foundation

pursuing the “beauty of poverty,” which emphasizes the importance of usage more than possession, sharing more than accumulating, and emptying more than filling, seung Hyo-sang (a.k.a. seung H-sang) gives material form to his beliefs through architecture. He seeks to communicate with people through architecture, showing how wonderful it is to share roads and land, without losing sight of humanity’s roots in nature, and to create places where people can communicate with each other. as seoul’s first “city architect,” he intends to bring the city closer to us — but in what form or appearance?

34 KOReANA summer 2015

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eung Hyo-sang is a leading architect and intellectual of Korea. Few in Korea’s architectural community are as broadly educated and deeply knowledgeable as Seung. By forming Group 4.3 to develop a new discourse for Korean architecture that rejects school relations and adopts the “beauty of poverty” as its guiding ethos, Seung has established himself as one of Korea’s most influential architects in the past two decades. Putting his own work aside, however, since September 2014 he has been serving as Seoul’s “city architect,” in which capacity he advises the metropolitan government on the selection and evaluation of urban planning and development projects. These days, he oversees such urban renewal projects as the expansion of Gwanghwamun Square, renovation of Sewoon Shopping Mall, and creation of the “Garden in the Air” atop the Seoul Station overpass. What is his specific role in Seoul’s urban planning policy, and what does he hope to achieve?

seoul’s First ‘city architect’ park seonG-Tae You’ve now given yourself over to your role as Seoul’s city architect. This is as yet an unfamiliar position in Korea. seunG HYo-sanG This is the job I consider the most important for now. I could easily complain, “oh no, it’s too complicated, too many opinions, let’s leave it.” But that would be disastrous. I have to engage in politics, which I truly hate, and which really stresses me.

But I can endure it better now that I’m older. In the past . . . it would have been impossible. park You have committed yourself to social roles before, such as coordinator of Paju Book City and commissioner of the Ven-

1 Seung Hyo-sang, Seoul’s first “city architect,” dreams of a place for people communing with each other and with nature.

2 Welcomm City (2000).

The headquarters of the advertising agency Welcomm, located in Jangchung-dong, Seoul, is one of Seung Hyo-sang’s major works.

©osamu Murai

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ice Biennale. The city architect job sounds bigger altogether, with more burdens and difficulties. What would you like to change in Seoul, despite such difficulties? seunG Would things change greatly because I want to change them? I’m not changing things. I am just trying to meet the demands of the times. This is an era of low growth. I can really feel it. During the good times, indiscriminate all-out development was possible. But today, the paradigm of development is shifting toward improving small things in cooperation with the citizens and then waiting for the next step. Although it takes time, people would rather see wiser methods of city regeneration that can save costs and reduce trial and error. Development is moving toward a method called “urban acupuncture.” park You mean that you’re trying to change Seoul by locating precisely its weak points, such as the Seoul Station Overpass, Sewoon Shopping Mall, and Gwanghwamun Square, which are under the city government’s development plans to invigorate the city, but with limited architectural intervention? seunG Development of the city so far has cut off the community from nature, and human beings from each other. The time has come to gradually restore these connections. The city needs to be revitalized by connecting potential public spaces with each other rather than creating yet another glamorous and spectacular space.

So, the renovation of Sewoon Shopping Mall, creation of the “Garden in the Air” atop the Seoul Station overpass, restoration of the Seoul City Wall, and creating connections among them, are projects demanded of our times.

regeneration of community, nature, and Human relations park What is the most difficult project you’re now working on?

I personally think it’s the Gwanghwamun Square expansion, which will require reduction of five traffic lanes. In fact, there is a lot of debate on this matter. seunG Gwanghwamun Square is actually one of the easier projects. We have conducted various experiments. one weekend, we blocked some of the lanes, but there was no big problem in the traffic flow. The square can be expanded gradually, and along with that we plan to expand cultural facilities there as well. It will be a leisurely space where people can see a performance or exhibition, or simply enjoy chatting over a cup of tea when the weather is nice. park You seem to be changing the city into a better place for pedestrians. Some people are opposed to the Gwanghwamun Square project because of potential traffic jams, but I understand you’re trying to solve the problem by limiting the traffic entering the city center. seunG That’s right. The area bounded by the Seoul City Wall is the old town. Most historical cities in other countries clearly distinguish the old town from the new town. In Seoul, that distinction has disappeared. We demolished the borders to imitate modern cities overseas. last year, the Seoul Metropolitan Government proposed KOReAN CULTURe & ARTS 35

a new vision for the capital, called the “Seoul 2030 Plan.” Under this master plan, the mountains will finally appear. Earlier, the mountains were of no concern in such plans and were not even represented in drawings. The emergence of the mountains at this point means that we have started to see the city three-dimensionally. If an urban policy is established according to the structure of the city, it may be possible to turn the old town into a “slow city,” with more emptying than filling.

old Town revival and small neighborhood projects park You said that when the center changes, the peripheries also change. Seemingly you were thinking of the communities with their own small centers outside the four main gates of old Seoul. seunG In the big picture, Seoul should be turned into a city of 36 KOReANA summer 2015

open spaces, a slow city inside the four main gates of old Seoul, and about 150 communities outside the gates. Mayor Park Wonsoon made a campaign pledge in the last election that he called the “10-Minute neighborhood Project.” He planned to expand libraries, parks, and welfare and cultural facilities within a 10-minute walking distance from everyone’s home. Such a neighborhood has the character of a small community that is self-sufficient and also compatible with other communities. park The 2017 General Meeting of the International Union of Architects (UIA: Union Internationale des Architectes) is taking place in Seoul, right? seunG There are no international cultural events in Seoul.

International events take place in other Korean cities, including the Busan International Film Festival, the Tongyeong Internation-

“Up till now, development has cut off the community from nature, and human beings from each other. The time has come to gradually restore these connections, step by step. More work is now needed to revitalize the city by connecting potential public spaces with each other rather than creating any more glamorous and spectacular spaces.”

four. It’s a size where you don’t have to worry so much about running an office. And they also have enough time to reflect on one project, making a lot of sketches and plans. I envy them. They seem so happy. I’d like to work exactly that way. (laughs)

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1 “Seoul Arboretum,” by the Dutch architect Winy Mass, selected as the winning design for the Seoul Station 7017 Project. The design depicts a “garden in the air,” lining the overpass with various trees and plants.

2 “Sewoon Greenbelt Garden” is Seoul City’s project to regenerate the sagging Sewoon Shopping Mall area by creating green space.

al Music Festival, and the Gwangju Biennale, but not in Seoul. So, we are preparing the first architecture biennale in 2017 to coincide with the UIA Seoul General Meeting. This year, we will have a pre-biennale. I have participated in the venice Biennale several times and found it to be a totally West-centered event. last year and three years ago, when David Chipperfield was the commissioner, I was invited to take part in the main exhibition. Among the one hundred or so people involved, Kazuyo Sejima and I were the only Asians. Such being the case, I thought it was necessary to hold a biennale in Asia. park When your term as city architect is over, do you have any special plans as an architect in your own right? What would you most like to do? seunG European architects work together in teams of three or

Who is seung Hyo-sang?

Architect Seung Hyo-sang was born in Busan in 1952. He graduated from the Department of Architecture and the Graduate School of Architecture at Seoul national University and went on to study at the vienna University of Technology. Returning to Korea, he went to work at the studio of Kim Swoo-geun (later SPACE Group) for 15 years, participating in the design of such landmark buildings as Yangdeok Catholic Church in Masan and Kyungdong Presbyterian Church in Seoul. He opened his own studio, IRoJE, in 1989.

Among his representative works are Sujoldang (1993), Subaekdang (1998), Welcomm City (2000), and the grave site of the late President Roh Moo-hyun (2010). In 2002, he became the first architect to be named “Artist of the Year” by the national Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea (MMCA). He has served as a commissioner and general manager for the venice Biennale and the Gwangju Design Biennale. His publications include “old Things are All Beautiful,” “Tomb of Roh Moo-hyun,” “Art Travel at 50 Degrees north latitude,” “The Pattern of the Earth,” “Architecture, a Sign of Thought,” and “The Beauty of Poverty.”

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KOReAN CULTURe & ARTS 37

Focus

1 MinuTe 59 seconds’ Language of the Body Retrieved in

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park Byung-sung Editor-in-Chief, The Musical choe Young-mo Photographer

ahn eun-mi immerses herself in works that erase the conventional boundaries in dance. Through “community dance” she motivates people to look at their lives and use their bodies to express what they have found. Their body movements, casting aside the various restrictions that confine them, are exhilarating and even touching. our eyes are opened to the language of the body, which is imbedded in human nature, and the range of emotions visualized through that language leads us to a world of true freedom.

Scene from a performance of “Pina Ahn in Seoul” (2014). This dance was performed by 100 ordinary people who had watched “Pina,” a documentary movie about German choreographer Pina Bausch, and shared their feelings and thoughts.

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KOReAN CULTURe & ARTS 39

A

remarkable performance was staged at Gyeonggi Creation Center, located on Daebu Island off the west coast, in october 2014. An awkward dialogue between a father and his grown-up daughter was heard over speaker phone. A casually clad middle-aged woman kept chasing a character who was the personification of money; she performed a theater of situations, muttering, “I used to run after money, but at some point money was chasing me. Then I found it wasn’t money, it was debt.” A girl stood doing nothing in silence then finally started to wail. Each scene took one minute and 59 seconds.

These are scenes from a community dance project organized by the contemporary dancer Ahn Eun-mi, titled “one Minute Fifty-nine Seconds.” The performers are not professional dancers but ordinary people — students, middle-aged women, and young men — easily encountered in our everyday lives. The performances might not be artistically refined, but they are intriguing, and at times quite touching.

The audience Becomes the subject In the community arts movement, the audience, the heretofore consumer and viewer of art, becomes the subject. Though now involving various genres, including theater and dance, this movement first started in the fine arts by taking art out of its usual confines of appreciation in the gallery and into the life of the community. More than making art a part of everyday life, the movement sought to make members of the public the subject of art so that art and life could coexist in a manner that inverts the relationship between art supplier and consumer.

The community arts movement started in America and Europe in the 1960s when young people sought to achieve democracy in the arts. Rebelling against cultural elitism, they pursued cultural democracy, first in the fine arts and later varied art genres. “100 Percent Gwangju” by Rimini Protokoll, a documentary theater group that visited Korea last year, is a good example of community theater. one hundred Gwangju citizens went onstage to enact the history and locality of their city through their personal stories.

Dance is the genre in which the community arts movement is most active. This is because dance focuses on body expressions, relying little on other elements. Community dance takes on most varied expression in the U.K., where policy measures encourage participation in community dance and programs affiliated with educational institutes in order to cultivate the cultural creativity of students. The programs are also used for healing purposes by providing those in ill health with a psychological boost.

Community dance first appeared in Korea around 2010, and has since been featured in art festivals and public theaters organized by the cultural organizations of local governments. It became more widely known through Pina Bausch (1940-2009), the choreographer who shocked the dance world with her Tanztheater, which broke the traditions of dance by mixing it with music, fine art, and video. Her interest was always focused on people. She explored the origins of dance, asking what made people move, and in her works dealt with the antagonism and conflict among people as well as alienation and isolation.

In 2008, Bausch worked with amateur teenagers from Germany to stage “Kontakthof” (1978), which had previously been performed by professional dancers. She was curious how teenagers, just beginning to learn about the world, would express their emotions. The entire process was documented in a film by Anne linsel under the title “Dancing Dreams.” The film was released in January 2011, which inspired a rush of various community dance works in Korea. Besides “Dance Dedicated to the Ancestors” (2011) by Ahn Eun-mi, other works featuring the performances of ordinary people included “The Pretty Middle-Aged Folks Project” (2012) by Kim Yoon-jin, “Movements of Hesitant Dreaming” (2012) by Ddongjaru (“dung sack”) Dance Group (director and choreographer lee Sung-jae), and “The First Thinker — Prometheus’s Fire” (2012) by Jung Young-doo.

The Body as living Memory Ahn Eun-mi had consistently worked on erasing boundaries in dance, so community dance naturally came to her as an important issue. Beginning with “Dance Dedicated to the Ancestors” in 2011, featuring old women as performers, she has staged various community dance works: “Selfless Dance” (2012) with teenagers, “Irresponsible Dance” (2013) with middle-aged men, and “Spectacular lively Dance” (2014) with all generations.

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Away from the sight of others, one can concentrate on self and become one with the world. Then the self disappears, and one arrives at the realm of selflessness. This is an exhilarating experience, which can be compared to having God enter one’s being.

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1, 2 Scenes from a performance of “Pina Ahn in Seoul” (2014). In this work Ahn Eun-mi focuses on breaking daily routines and recovering the body’s language.

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Ahn got involved in community dance by chance when she developed an interest in the bodies of old women. Considering it important to document the bodies of elderly women, she traveled the countryside where she asked old women and men to dance for her camera. In this way she discovered movements she had never seen before. “Most of the women were over 60 and had given birth at least a few times. Their bodies may not have been beautiful but they were a testament to many years of living,” Ahn noted. She was amazed by the energy emanating from their bodies and the idea of putting them on stage was the start of her community dance project.

“Dance Dedicated to the Ancestors,” “Selfless Dance,” and “Irresponsible Dance” all adopted a similar approach but with different groups of performers — old women, teenagers, and middle-aged men, respectively. While each person reveals uniqueness and energy, they are bound by a sense of history and time shared by members of their own generation. Ahn found it fascinating to watch the members of different generations, who were different but similar, and similar but different. She observed the memories of different bodies, from old women to teenagers, and middle-aged men to unspecified individuals. Audiences were moved as they watched the bodies of the old women, which revealed the history of their lives, and touched by the lucid and pure bodies of youth. The movements of the middle-aged men were rather crude and stifled, but nevertheless conveyed their own histories.

While these works focused on the physical vitality of ordinary people, by the later part of 2014 Ahn’s interest had shifted from the body to thought, as evident in her works such as “Body Game Factory for Adults 3355,” “Pina Ahn in Seoul,” and “one Minute Fifty-nine Seconds.” In “Body Game Factory for Adults 3355,” the performers were left to create their own movements after reflecting on the topic of “sexuality.” They were free to experience the stage in their own way, telling their own stories. Then, lectures on the humanities were given. Whether the lectures were of any real help in creating the work is not clear, but discussing art theory and various other humanities subjects did seem to stimulate the creativity of the performers.

For “Pina Ahn in Seoul,” the 3D documentary film “Pina” by Wim Wenders, who worked with Pina Bausch for the film, took the role of a lecture. A hundred citizens participated in the program, watching the film together, sharing their thoughts and feelings, and then presenting their own creations. Fascinated by the vitality expressed by each generation, Ahn concentrates on the process of recovering the body’s language by breaking away from daily routines. “one Minute Fifty-nine Seconds” exemplifies Ahn’s shift in perspective from the human body to thought and emotion.

From Body to Thought — in search of True Freedom The “Pina Ahn in Seoul” project was planned to expound on Pina Bausch’s notion that dance is a language that enables you to express yourself without any special training. “one Minute Fifty-nine Seconds” builds on this belief. like Pina Bausch, who was interested in the question of what it was that makes people move, Ahn explored the process by which thought is expressed in dance through the body, which is without prejudice. Her work is about retrieving the lost language of dance and awakening our instincts, breaking through the thick oblivion of daily life.

In “one Minute Fifty-nine Seconds,” each participant performed his or her own work, lasting one minute and 59 seconds, following a three-month workshop. During the preparation period, the participants had time to train their bodies to respond in sync with the powerful rhythms of percussion instruments. The humanities lectures gave them an opportunity to look into their inner selves. Each individual was free to decide the story he or she would tell and the way to convey their message. Indeed, the ultimate goal of the project was to awaken the senses and to find and deliver a story of one’s own. Away from the sight of others, one can concentrate on self and become one with the world. Then the self disappears, and one arrives at the realm of selflessness. This is an exhilarating experience, which can be compared to having God enter one’s being. Ahn teaches neither theory nor techniques, but encourages people to express themselves without embarrassment. The participants cried out freedom in their own way without reservation.

The final result of the project is not for aesthetic evaluation. More important than the end result is the process. While the performance might lack the technical refinement of professional dancers, it is emotionally touching. It is more refreshing than any other dance, for it is free and honest.

42 KOReANA summer 2015

1 “Dance Dedicated to the Ancestors” (2011). Before the old women begin, young performers dance enthusiastically to enliven the atmosphere.

2 “Irresponsible Dance” (2013). Middle-aged men between 40 and 60 dance freely to a medley of Korean “trot” music in the background.

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KOReAN CULTURe & ARTS 43

Guardian oF HeriTaGe

in Search of the Vanishing Sounds of korea chung Jae-suk Editorial Writer and Senior Reporter, Culture Desk, The JoongAng Ilbo cho Ji-young Photographer

choi sang-il’s 25-year career as a radio producer at MBc has turned him into a collector and connoisseur of korean folk songs. For two and a half decades, he has traveled all over the country searching for the “sounds of korea.” His endeavors have culminated in recordings of some 18,000 folk songs. With just one year ahead of his time for retirement, choi is happily preparing to embark on the second act of his life as a collector of folk music — not only from korea but from all of asia.

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Choi Sang-il has turned the master bedroom of his apartment into an archive of folk song recordings. Surrounded by his collections, he said he was most happy when listening again to the songs recorded on his latest trip.

KOReAN CULTURe & ARTS 45

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1 After having their songs recorded, elderly women of Baksil village, Goryeong County, north Gyeongsang Province, enjoy themselves, some playing a drum or a gong and others singing or dancing. In the villages which the recording team from MBC has visited, the recording sessions were always accompanied by such merrymaking.

2 on a hillside field in Samcheok, Gangwon Province, the “straw-cutting song” is being recorded with the singers working the straw cutter just the way it was done in the old days. The straw cut this way and piled in the fields used to serve as organic fertilizer, but the time-old practice disappeared as agricultural chemicals were introduced.

3 Standing on a meadow, a woman from Khovd Province in western Mongolia sings her nomadic tribe’s songs that are recorded by Choi Sang-il, whose dream is to travel all over Asia to collect regional folk songs.

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©MBC

46 KOReANA summer 2015

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egular radio listeners in Korea would instantly recognize the sonorous, avuncular voice of the producer, Choi Sangil, who has been introducing folk songs on the brief spots aired by MBC, several times each day, since 1991. For 24 years, the producer has opened his program over 8,160 times by announcing, “This is ‘Searching for our own Tunes,’” followed by snippets of information about the singer and the song’s provenance: “The following song is performed by an elderly gentleman named soand-so from so-and-so village, as sheaves of rice are taken down from piles of the harvest.” Had it not been for his familiar voice, this 40-second program introducing traditional folk songs, one piece at a time, might not have survived for so long, the message and the messenger leaving an indelible impression on the listeners.

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©MBC

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love for Things disappearing founding.

“My family moved to Seoul when I was a fifth grader, a counChoi described the discovery as a “moment of awakening,” saytry boy from Yeoju, Gyeonggi Province,” recalled Choi, 58. “The ing, “It seemed that I finally found what I truly wanted to do. So, I left busy and competitive life in Seoul didn’t suit me, and I liked to shut my temporary stint at the company’s labor union to return to promyself up in an attic or spend time alone under candlelight in a ducing, and made a proposal for a new program. The ‘Arari’ song cozy room.” His first meaningful encounter with native Korean from long ago was ringing in my ears. My proposal was for a regufolk songs occurred in the late 1970s in Wonju, Gangwon Province, lar program to introduce Korea’s indigenous folk songs that were where he went for volunteer activities as a college student. “An disappearing. The first program was the weekly ‘Korean Folk Song elderly woman was singing a song while weeding a patch of beans, Festival’ aired on weekends.” and the tune lingered in my head for a long time. A while ago, I With growing confidence in the content, he hoped to produce learned that it was a folk song called ‘Arari,’” said Choi. another new program on folk songs with broader appeal. one of After joining the Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation (MBC), he his colleagues suggested a campaign-type program with corporate found its fast-paced daily schedule to be quite stressful, and had sponsorship. A pharmaceutical company came forward to support difficulty adapting to the production cycles structured down to minthe new program, entitled “Searching for our own Tunes.” As the utes and seconds. He liked building things up and deplored the program’s writer, presenter and producer, he was in full control of ephemeral nature of broadcasting. longing for work with longer its production, pepping it up with humorous remarks and improtime horizons and more lasting value, he managed to find his place visations. Acclaimed for its social value, the program climbed up as a librarian at the audio source library of MBC’s FM radio station. the ratings and the frequency of its airing increased to three or four Back then, lPs were being gradually replaced by CDs. He listened times a day. Before long, he started to donate CDs of the program’s to anything he could get his hands on, including an extensive array content to public institutions and universities, which encouraged of world music albums as well as all the hundred or so records of the corporate sponsor to offer additional support to the program. traditional Korean music in the library. During this time, he came across a marvelous collection with 50 CDs of American folk songs, a rich audio source that Simple but poignant, homely but suggestive, they are spirited resulted from an early project to document the cultural traditions of America’s diverse immisongs to cheer up the people doing hard work, alone or with grant population. He was deeply impressed by their neighbors, in the fields. While recording these songs, the thoroughness of Americans who had recogChoi often noticed how weariness would give way to delight nized the value of keeping records so early on, in just two hundred years since the country’s on the singers’ faces.

priceless Vestiges of Traditional life There followed days of traveling to every corner of the country to record the folk songs performed by ordinary people. An avid hiker, he loved being outdoors and did not find it a burden to be away from home on frequent assignments around the year. He also had an affinity for gadgetry, an inclination perhaps inherited from his father who ran a clock and watch shop. Since the recordings were mainly conducted outdoors or in places with poor acoustic conditions, he developed a keen desire for high-fidelity recording equipment. He purchased every new model of recorders, and adapted microphones to suit his needs. on the trips to collect folk songs, a team of seven people traveled in a van: the producer himself, two sound engineers, a note-taker, a photographer, a researcher, and a driver.

Confessing his obsession with gadgets, Choi said, “I often joke to my family that after death I’d want the latest recorder and fully charged batteries as an offering at my memorial service. I still have nightmares in which I realize just minutes before the program goes on air that the song to be presented had not been properly recorded on the site.”

In a way, collecting indigenous folk songs is similar to archaeological excavation. The songs released from the memory of the elderly would tell stories of their times, revealing what everyday life was like in the past. In some larger villages where many folk songs are handed down, some 20 to 30 elders who filled the village hall would take turns singing the songs they could remember. Their collective singing was akin to telling age-old stories of their community’s everyday life and culture. The lyrics of the songs described details of the communal lifestyle of by-gone days: workers in the fields sharing snacks and rice wine, inviting other people passing by to join them, and getting together again after work for more enjoyment with singing, drinking, and even wrestling matches.

Drums, bells, gongs and other percussion instruments used in traditional folk music are displayed in Choi’s archives. He feels more intimate with the acoustic world than with the visible one.

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Unlike the folk songs performed by professional singers (tongsok minyo ), the local folk songs of ordinary people (tosok minyo ) are mostly work songs that commoners would sing in their daily lives. orally handed down, the songs have undergone little change, maintaining their regional characteristics intact. Simple but poignant, homely but suggestive, they are spirited songs to cheer up the people doing hard work, alone or with their neighbors, in the fields. While recording these songs, Choi often noticed how weariness would give way to delight on the singers’ faces.

“In the 1990s, when I started to travel around to collect folk songs, the elders in the rural areas who had inherited the songs began to pass away, one by one,” Choi recollected. “I became increasingly impatient because when they died the songs in their heads would be lost forever. I did some rough calculation later and found that I had visited over 900 villages in 120 cities and counties, recording around 18,000 songs by 20,000 singers. More than half of them would have been lost had I begun the project a little while

later, since most of the people I met were in their late 70s or even older. Sometimes, I’d find on my return visit to a village that the singer I’d intended to meet again had passed away.”

expanding his Mission to all of asia Taking a sabbatical leave with a year ahead of his retirement, Choi is busy preparing for the second act of his life. While giving a series of lectures at Sungkonghoe University on the topic “Potential of Traditional Korean Culture,” he is gathering materials for a book, a compendium of biographies of folk singers in the form of stories told in their own voices. He also appears on stage as a commentator for a musical performance, “Joy of Music: Man Talks about His Records,” which is presented regularly by the Korea Culture House (KoUS). His home at the foot of Mt. Bukhan has been transformed into an archive of tape recordings that the broadcasting company had to dispose of due to lack of space in its library. one of his wardrobes is now occupied by these old materials of folk songs, leaving

no room for his clothes. Just like a crockery terrace where various sauces and condiments ferment, his wardrobe archive serves as storage to ripen the burgeoning collection of old records. This includes his first compilation work, “Complete Edition of north Korean Folk Songs,” which he managed to produce from around 3,000 painstakingly collected specimens of folk songs from the northern half of the peninsula.

Choi said, “In the near future, I plan to visit remote corners of other Asian countries to collect their folk songs and traditional music.” He went on, “I’m worried that the loss of ethnic music is just as prevalent in many minority groups around Asia. Someone must do something to document them. Given how fast the loss has occurred in those regions, their music will fade away forever just as quickly as a great portion of ours did. But this is not a job that can be done by any individual alone, so I want to form a team to carry out the project together.”

A newly paved provincial road never fails to worry him, said Choi.

He has witnessed how new roads and the rush of cars into outlying areas of Asia have destroyed traditions and obliterated folk songs.

Based on his awareness that the loss of traditional culture is not distinguished by national borders, Choi maintains that Korea, as a member of the Asian community, needs to make more efforts to understand and promote the cultural heritage of its neighbors.

He explained: “Chinese people, including their youth, still enjoy singing indigenous folk songs at local festive events. Those in their 20s will perhaps continue to sing these songs for several more decades. The Miao, a Chinese minority, has a song called ‘Flying,’ usually sung by young girls, which depicts the sound of birds flying up into the sky. In laos, people still sing work songs while grinding grain with a treadmill. I feel happy recording these songs. I wonder why there aren’t more people wanting to do this fascinating work.”

He also plans to catalogue the extensive collection of materials stored in his house to create a database accessible by anyone.

Based on the systemized information, he intends to compile a dictionary of folk songs with words and expressions from the lyrics. Imagining how the Korean language will be enriched by the restored vocabulary and dialects, most of which are now hardly found even in dictionaries, Choi feels his heart swell.

Summing up his life devoted to folk songs, he said, “Documenting ethnic music on the global level — this is what I dream of now.

Whenever I listen to music, a smile spreads on my face almost automatically. I can imagine the face of the person who sings the song. There is no such thing as a meaningless life, and this is what I’ve learned from folk songs — the timeless words of wisdom from ordinary people.”

KOReAN CULTURe & ARTS 49

Stage actress Son Sook has a career of more than 50 years behind her. For 15 years she has played the lead role in “Mother� by playwright and director lee Youn-taek.

a Ritual of Forgiveness and Reconciliation

arT reVieW

‘Mother’ kim su-mi Theater Critic

Stars Son Sook The play “Mother” depicts the life of a woman who confronts and embraces

korea’s modern history through her life over 70 years. it gives the audience a chance to think about love and obsession between man and woman, forgiveness and reconciliation in the family, and the meaning and value of life and death.

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n the Korean theater world, playwright and director lee Yountaek’s long-running play “Mother” is often compared to Bertolt Brecht’s “Mother Courage and Her Children” or Maxim Gorki’s “The Mother.” After its premiere in 1995, the play was staged again in 1999 by the Street Theatre Troupe (Georipae), and has since been performed almost every year. The play has added meaning in that Korea’s leading stage actress Son Sook, who first took the lead role in her 50s, is still playing it in her 70s.

real life as a Motif All mothers around the world have the common traits of showing masculine strength to safeguard security and peace in the family, as well as boundless femininity in making never-ending sacrifices for the family. That is why mothers are often considered gender-neutral. In “Mother,” however, lee Youn-taek starts with the mothers’ maiden days, long before they began to lose their feminine side when their identity was clearly a woman. At that time, they must have been happy, carefree girls who were called by their own names instead of their children’s and who freely expressed their likes and dislikes. But those days were lost when they took on the huge and heavy responsibilities of motherhood.

The writer reminds us that the mother in this play, a grumpy and typically blunt woman from the Gyeongsang region, once used to be a shy 17-year-old girl and that she still treasures the bittersweet memories of her first love. The play also sympathizes with the circumstances of the mother’s life as a woman who suffered through an era of gender discrimination and never had the chance to learn to read and write. She lost two children to poverty and war, and lived with the angst of keeping the secret about her son born out

of wedlock. Her husband had neglected the family and spent most of his time outside the home. When he passed away, however, his soul lingered nearby, not quite able to leave. As she could not let go of her dead son, the mother filled a rice jar with his ashes and kept it at her bedside. The day she made peace with her husband, who had appeared in her dreams every night, and performed a rite to appease her son’s soul, she peacefully passed away. lee modeled the lead character after his own mother, with the other characters and incidents in the play based on the stories that she told him. Born to a poor farming family during the Japanese occupation, his mother lived through colonization, liberation, and war; her family history mirrors the hardships that the Korean people experienced during that period. of his mother, lee once wrote: “Her tales were told in the true mother tongue. She did not know how to read or write, so she was never trapped inside the rigid form of written language. She never received a proper education, which enabled her to retain the imagination, rhythms, and images of Korean traditions” (lee Youn-taek, “Every Day is a Festival as long as We are Alive,” 1999) With no formal education, lee’s mother verbally passed on her stories to her writer son. The stories were, in lee’s words, “nothing extraordinary, just the secrets that she had kept her whole life.”

Growing tired of listening to the same story over and over again, lee presented his mother with an audio recorder. He was listening to the recorder one day when he realized that the stories could make a fine play.

“Mother,” based on these “not so special” tales, premiered in 1995 at Dongsung Hall, directed by Kim Myeong-gon and starring na Mun-hee. Four years later, lee worked up the courage to direct KOReAN CULTURe & ARTS 51

the play himself. He changed the setting to Miryang, where his mother had lived, and cast actress Son Sook, who came from the same town, in the lead role. The play contains various elements of traditional Korean performing arts, with such activities as weaving, spinning, a local wedding ceremony, chomangja-gut (shaman rite to bid farewell to a deceased family member), and samul-nori (traditional percussion ensemble) employed to great effect throughout.

The characters freely transcend time and space, traveling in and out of life and death, past and present. So while the story is about one woman’s life, the play has the depth and breadth to convey a nation’s history and culture.

Toward the end of the century when the air was thick with anxiety and depression, people might have sought comfort in “mother’s strength.” As soon as “Mother” opened at Jeongdong Theater, the seats filled up within a week, and it turned out to be a box-office success for the next two months.

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©Street Theatre Troupe

1 In a scene from a 2004 performance of “Mother” at Coex Art Hall, the daughter-in-law (Kim So-hee) sheds tears at mother's sad tale.

2 Mother talks merrily with her son (Kim Hal-cheol) in a scene from a 1999 performance at Jeongdong Theater.

3 A scene from a 2015 performance at Myeongdong Theater. Grief-stricken mother sobs over her son (Kim Ah-young) in her arms who is dying of hunger in the midst of war.

Why son sook?

Actress Son Sook is of slim build, soft-spoken, and always maintains a straight posture. She is not what you would call the motherhen type but rather has an urban, intellectual look about her. nonetheless, lee cast her as the quick-tempered Gyeongsang woman with a heavy accent. Why? To lee, the lives of mothers who lived through Korea’s modern history were “passive” and “defensive.” The poor, helpless mothers under colonial rule had to beg for tattered blankets and sugared water to raise their children. For these women who had to withstand the harsh winds of war with nothing but their inaudible voices and frail bodies, passive defense was the best strategy. In Brecht’s “Mother Courage and Her Children,” the mother shows stronger determination to go on with her life after her son’s death by becoming more active and resolute. In lee’s play, however, the mother remains passive and defensive. Pitying her son who died in war, she tends to his soul throughout her life.

Son Sook had the right physique and voice to play the part. Her bland tone of voice and gestures ironically amplified the mother’s deep sorrow. The Gyeongsang dialect coming from the lips of an

“I don’t believe in the next world. In whatever form I may be born again, I won’t be able to recognize myself. But I do believe in the previous life. There is something called the before-life. There are secrets that you bury inside and never talk about, and that is the before-life. In that sense, aren’t we all living in the after-life? The broad daylight of here and now, this is the after-life.”

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otherwise elegant actress was unexpectedly endearing. Son, who has performed in some 150 plays during her 50-year career, once joked in an interview, “I never got to play love-struck Chunhyang or Juliet. now that I’m older, the only part I get is the mother.”

After the Jeongdong Theater run, the theater troupe Georipae was invited to perform the play at Moscow’s Taganka Theater. And during the play’s 1999 season, Son was appointed the minister of environment. This did not stop her from appearing in “Mother,” and that year she received the Best Actress Award at the Paeksang Arts Awards. The play gained even greater fame, and Son expressed her special attachment to it as she vowed, “This is the play that I will focus most of my efforts on for the next 20 years.”

in the Beginning, They Were all one Son utters in the play: “I don’t believe in the next world. In whatever form I may be born again, I won’t be able to recognize myself.

But I do believe in the previous life. There is something called the before-life. There are secrets that you bury inside and never talk about, and that is the before-life. In that sense, aren’t we all living in the after-life? The broad daylight of here and now, this is the afterlife.”

It matters not if we go to heaven or hell when we die. But we should know why the present moment shines bright like daylight.

It is because of the painful history of our past and the memories buried in our hearts. As we can recognize light only in contrast to darkness, there is no knowing of joy without pain, no knowing of life without death, and no knowing of birth without extinction. They were all one in the beginning, and in the name of “mother” they forgive and make peace with one another. This is the lesson we must heed from the mother who finally lets her son go, releasing him from his spirit jar into the river, and who worries about the side dishes that she prepares for her dead husband’s snack.

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©MYEonGDonG THEATRE Choi Yong-seok

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in loVe WiTH korea

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Annaliisa Alastalo’s annaliisa alastalo is an accomplished glass

ART OF LIVING

artist whose work has been showcased in several solo exhibitions in korea. But she has also attracted admirers in her adopted country for her relaxed but committed approach to living, raising a family and practicing art. Fluent in korean and evidently comfortable in the home that she and her husband have built for themselves in the countryside, she joined us recently to talk about the important things in life.

darcy paquet Freelance Writer ahn Hong-beom Photographer

“i

feel like I’m living inside my own bubble,” says Finnish glass artist Annaliisa Alastalo, of the uncommon lifestyle she has made for herself in Korea. Indeed, the home and family life she enjoys with her husband — artist and architectural designer Hong Sung-hwan — and two young daughters is something entirely of their own making, and fashioned on their own terms. When one visits their studio/home in Sudong, namyangju, a 45-minute drive outside of Seoul, it is like stepping briefly into a more relaxed, more aesthetic environment.

In a country known for its busy and often exhausting urban culture, Annaliisa Alastalo’s life in the countryside has drawn notice. “Sometimes people will tell me: ‘We’re so glad that you are here to show us this slower lifestyle,’” she says. “Many of my Korean friends feel overwhelmed by work. Perhaps seeing how I live makes them think that there are other ways you can structure your life.”

There are many possible ways to organize our lives, but most people fall into familiar patterns.

Whether consciously or not, we tend to let the demands of work or school take priority. But Annaliisa’s life choices show that it’s possible to sidestep the competitiveness of modern society and prioritize time spent with family members, communing with nature, and pursuing art.

Glass artist Annaliisa Alastalo has been living in Korea for eight years now. Her “slow life,” living and working with her Korean artist husband and raising their two children in the countryside, is attracting increasing attention.

a new life in korea Born in 1984 as the third in a family of 12 children, Annaliisa grew up in a small village in Finland, near Joensuu. In 2003, she moved to Helsinki to study ceramics at Aalto University. She says she loved working with clay, the sense of transferring her feelings through her hands. While at the university, she also learned how to work with glass, which she found to be a different feeling. “Ceramics is all about KOReAN CULTURe & ARTS 55

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“I think if I were to go back to Finland, I might start working with ceramics again. But with such a strong tradition of ceramics here in Korea... I’m not sure where I’d fit in.”

touch, but glass is too hot to touch, so instead you use tools,” she says.

At the university Annaliisa met her future husband, an artist from Korea who had studied ceramics in the Czech Republic before going to Finland and enrolling in the same department. “He made an immediate impression,” she says, smiling. “He was very good looking.”

Her husband says that he was drawn to Finland, like the Czech Republic before that, because of its artistic traditions, so different from those of Korea. “I was really surprised by some of the artwork I came across, and I wanted to learn how to do it myself,” he says. Meeting Annaliisa would prove fateful.

After dating for some time, they were married, and then came two daughters, Saaga in 2005 and Saara in 2006. In 2007, they decided to relocate to Korea.

“When we first came to Korea, I didn’t really expect it to become such a long stay. But I wanted to spend at least a couple years living in my husband’s country, and I thought it would be good for our kids to be exposed to both cultures,” Annaliisa says. They initially settled in Seoul’s Jongno district, but after deciding that their stay would be long term, they moved from the city to namyangju. Their home is situated along a narrow dirt road, with an expansive view of the surrounding hills.

“A lot of people in Korea seem to have a negative view of the countryside as poor and underdeveloped. But for me, Korean nature is really beautiful,” she says. “I’d never even consider raising our children in the city.” They designed their home with studio space on the first floor, including a glassmaking furnace built by her husband, and living quarters upstairs. outside, the trees in the garden they planted when moving in are now well grown.

1 Glass works made by Annaliisa Alastalo, who studied glassmaking at Aalto University in Helsinki, Finland.

These Persian style pieces combine artistry and function.

2 Works inspired by Joseon white porcelain.

self-expression in Glass life in the country has given Annaliisa a chance to focus on her artwork. Glass bowls, plates, jars, and vases of all sizes and colors fill the home, both in the display cases and in the kitchen. “I’ve been doing a lot with semi-opaque glass recently,” she says, explaining the smoky complexion displayed by many pieces. Though delicate and finely shaped, there is a functional quality to all her work. “I’m the practical one; my husband’s art is more abstract,” she says with a smile.

Glassmaking involves the preparation of a hot furnace which is heated over the course of several days, and then kept running continuously at a high temperature. The sand which forms the raw material is melted in the furnace, and then gathered at the end of a long blowpipe. After rolling the glowing substance on a flat steel slab, the glassmaker blows through the tube to form a large bubble inside the molten mass. various tools are then used to shape the glass into the desired shape. “You add other materials to the sand in order to get different colors, and depending on the technique you use, you can get bubbles in the glass, or other effects,” says Annaliisa.

In recent years she has held solo exhibitions at Gana Art Center in Seoul and Gallery Pfo in Busan, among other places. Handmade glassware does not have a long tradition in Korea, and her exhibitions have helped to introduce this lesser-known art to more people. Preparing for the shows was hard work, but it also brought a sense of satisfaction. “I really had no idea how these exhibitions would be received.

But I was surprised and happy that people seemed to like them so much,” she says.

Meanwhile, her home, which also serves as a sales space, has drawn more and more people to namyangju to see her work. once they arrive, visitors are won over by the relaxed atmosphere of her home. Customers sometimes end up becoming friends.

The Korean media has also taken notice of Annaliisa. As far back as 2010, she and her husband were profiled on the popular Tv show “Human Theater” (Ingan geukjang), and it’s no longer uncommon KOReAN CULTURe & ARTS 57

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for her and her family to appear in magazines or other media. In 2011, she published a book of photographs and text about her family life in Finland and Korea. It was titled “Annaliisa’s onnela,” the latter word being a Finnish term meaning “a place where happiness lives.”

1 Annaliisa works in her studio. She devotes most of her weekday mornings to her work.

2 Annaliisa and her children in the garden at their home in namyangju, Gyeonggi Province. In 2011 she published a book titled “Annaliisa’s onnela” about her family life in Finland and Korea.

children of Two cultures Saaga and Saara (“Finnish names often have that double vowel,” says Annaliisa) are now attending a small elementary school not far from home. “There are advantages and disadvantages of being in a small classroom. They receive a lot of personal attention from their teacher, which is good. They’re also learning how to deal with a limited social circle,” she says. More challenging decisions about the girls’ education may lie in the future. “In Finland, we’ve managed to create an educational system that teaches students well but doesn’t put too much stress on the students. I’m aware of the stress that Korean middle and high school students experience, and I’d prefer that Saaga and Saara not have to deal with that.”

The girls enjoy being outside in the natural environment, and they display a confidence that may derive from the unforced, positive style of their upbringing. Fluent in Korean, they also understand when their mother speaks Finnish to them, though to Annaliisa’s slight chagrin they often answer in Korean. “My hope is that if we spend some time in Finland in the future, they’ll start using the language more actively,” she says. She and her husband, meanwhile, speak a mixture of Korean and English.

Both Saaga and Saara have announced that they want to grow up to be artists. Although they’ve shown limited interest so far in glassmaking itself, they have drawn impressive renderings of their mother’s work. Annaliisa bristles somewhat at the comment that many Korean parents would try to steer their children into a more financially stable profession. “I wouldn’t ever put that kind of pressure on them,” she says.

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seeing the World with different eyes living in Korea has inspired Annaliisa in many different ways, and as an artist she holds a deep appreciation for the long history and tradition of Korean ceramics. “It’s really quite amazing what Korea has been able to accomplish in the field of ceramics. Some of the things I see here take my breath away,” she says. Among her own works, one piece that has drawn attention from the public is a vessel in the shape of a white porcelain jar from the Joseon Dynasty. The familiar shape, re-formed into delicate colored glass, feels both traditional and modern, Eastern and Western, at the same time.

“I think if I were to go back to Finland, I might start working with ceramics again. But with such a strong tradition of ceramics here in Korea... I’m not sure where I’d fit in,” she says.

Although raising children can be an all-consuming activity, Annaliisa also finds time to pursue other hobbies, such as photography (she maintains an active Instagram feed, with photos that wouldn’t look out of place in a glossy magazine), sewing (she recently fashioned an elegant wedding dress for a friend), and baking (apple pie is a particular favorite). From her house itself, which was designed by her husband, to the plates on which they eat and the clothes worn by her children, many of the objects used by her family each day are both handcrafted and shaped with a keen aesthetic eye.

“Art can make people think. It helps people to see the world differently.

And I like the way that art brings beauty to people’s lives,” Annaliisa says.

Her own life is a perfect example, and as more and more people in Korea discover her work, and learn about her story, she is increasingly becoming an inspiration for others.

KOReAN CULTURe & ARTS 59

on THe road

Garden of Green Bamboo (Jungnogwon) in damyang on a windy day. korea’s “home of bamboo,” damyang boasts ever-green bamboo scenery all year round.

60 KOReANA summer 2015

Damyang

Where life and legend come Together Gwak Jae-gu Poet lee Han-koo Photographer

Damyang is known for its clear streams and warm sunlight and fresh breezes rustling through bamboo forests. it is a place where bamboo grows in the backyard of every home, where the locals harvest the stalks and use the strips to weave baskets and colorful boxes that are used as bridal chests. Damyang is also famous for its many ancient pavilions. it is a place where one can feel the spirit of scholars of the past who built pavilions here and there in the scenic valley, following the path of the wind, so that the shadows of life could stop and rest for a while.

KOReAN CULTURe & ARTS 61

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fateful moment comes in life when you are standing at a crossroads and have to make a decision. one spring day in 1989, I left the school where I had been teaching for seven and a half years. I intended to devote myself to poetry around the clock. It would have been possible to write poems and continue teaching, but that was not the path of a full-time writer. Handing over my severance pay and savings to my wife, I said, “Just give me three years.” Thankfully, she agreed. My wife did not work. We were one reckless couple who had decided to throw ourselves into the world and take whatever comes our way.

We got by somehow or other for a few months. We even traveled to Dunhuang and loulan, a desert region in the western part of China, so on the surface we were living a life of luxury even though unemployed. But six months passed, and then a year, and everything began to change. The money in our savings account dropped by half and there was only one year left on our apartment lease.

Previously I had published four volumes of poetry, but the number of poems that I could officially release in the literary market was no more than five a year, and the compensation I received for them no more than 200,000 won (about $180). There was nowhere on earth our family of three, including our child, could survive for a year on such a tiny amount. The confidence I had when I first left my teaching job was replaced by a sense of despair, and there was nothing I could do to change things around.

That’s when I began walking. The city of Gwangju, where I was living at the time, is surrounded by mountains. I would take any bus to the end of the line and then walk around the villages on the outskirts of the city. As I walked, the wind blew, the flowers bloomed, and raindrops fell. The time that I spent in such a manner gradually formed a gentle river in my heart. I would sit by the river’s edge and write poetry, read the books I carried with me, and listen to music on a portable recorder. And the days would pass. When night fell I would silently return home.

That’s When i Met the Tree one day I was walking around Hanjae, a tiny village in Damyang with a primary school, embraced by mountains. I heard the school bell ring peacefully, which lured me into the school’s playground.

Blankly I stood there watching the children kick a ball, jump rope, and run around, when my eyes were suddenly caught by action in a corner of the playground. The children were holding hands forming a circle around a tree; they hugged the tree and laughed gleefully, which was so wonderfully heartwarming I wanted to join them.

The children returned to the classroom and, left alone, I hugged the tree. It was a zelkova tree, more than 600 years old, 26 meters in height, with a circumference of 8.3 meters, designated natural Monument no. 284. It was a magnificent tree. More than anything else, the shade under the tree was indeed vast. The moment I hugged the tree, a wonderful sense of peace flooded my heart. later, I would seek out that tree whenever I felt down. one day, an old man from the village told me the legend surrounding it. Yi Seong-gye, the founder of the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910), came to the village one day as he roamed the country in search of a place where the energy of the land was sacred for the founding of a new nation. It is said that he planted the zelkova tree after praying on Mt. Samin at the back of the village.

For those who believe, the legend plants new dreams in their hearts. I liked the old man’s story. This was where one man with the grand dream of building a new nation had paused to gather his thoughts. My impossible dream of making a living by writing poetry seemed to sit somewhere on the edges of this legend.

Three years into my full-time writing career, my bank account was depleted. Spring came, the flowers bloomed, and the wind carried the scent of the flowers here and there. one day, as dusk began to fall, I went to visit the zelkova tree. When I hugged the tree this time, the voice of my mother, who is no longer in this world, came to me. She told me about my maternal grandmother who

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62 KOReANA summer 2015

1 A pavilion in Soswaewon (Garden of the Pure Mind), a quintessential literati garden of the mid-Joseon period. In traditional Korean houses, hatch doors can be opened and lifted up to allow the breeze to circulate through the building in the heat of summer.

2 With a stream flowing from Mt. Mudeung channeled to course through the garden, Soswaewon reflects the ideals of the Confucian scholars of Joseon who sought to learn about life from the laws of nature.

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KOReAN CULTURe & ARTS 63

1

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64 KOReANA summer 2015

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1 A couple walks through the forest at Jungnogwon. The bamboo forest is cool even at the height of summer.

2 Bamboo rice, a favorite of Damyang locals, is made by steaming rice inside fresh bamboo tubes.

3 Seo Han-gyu, holder of an Important Intangible Cultural Heritage title, makes a box with dyed bamboo strips at his workshop.

gave birth to twelve children. My mother was the ninth child. At the height of World War II, the family was scattered to different places to avoid being dragged into the Japanese army. Grandmother went out to pray every morning. on the mid-slope of the village mountain there was a small spring where Grandmother would go every dawn, draw a bowl of clean water, and pray to an old zelkova tree, the sacred tree of the village, for the wellbeing of her children. one day she was drawing water from the spring when two bright lights shone in the forest on the opposite side. It was a tiger. Calmly, Grandmother rose and in her mind began to pray quietly to the tiger: “oh Mountain God, please keep all of my children safe.” Then, as if nothing had happened, she came back to the tree and began to pray as usual. It is said that miracles happen if your wishes are made in earnest. This is the story my mother told me about her mother when I was in primary school.

world. The first trees were planted there in 1648 by the magistrate of Damyang, and a second round of planting was carried out in 1854, again by the local magistrate.

The sight of the broadleaf zelkova, hackberry, and muku trees standing there, leaves stirring in the wind, exemplifies traditional Korean aesthetics. Anyone who has a chance to travel around Korea and take leisurely walks should definitely visit this beautiful town, where people live in harmony with the surrounding forest and nature.

sounds of Wind and snow from the Bamboo Forest Across the stream in front of the forest trail is a bamboo forest named Jungnogwon, or “garden of green bamboo.” In the past, the people of Damyang used to create small bamboo groves in their gardens. They called bamboo sindae , meaning “divine pole.” The sound of the wind whistling through the bamboo leaves can cleanse the mind while on snowy days the sound of large snowflakes swirling down is the epitome of poetry. Through the long winter, people would make all sorts of household items with bamboo as they listened to the snow fall. Thirty or forty years ago, most of the bamboo products made in Korea undoubtedly originated from Damyang.

The local residents like to steam rice inside fresh cut bamboo segments to create their signature dish daetongbap . They pour

That day i Began to Write a children’s story I wrote a story about a little sparrow that grew up to beat down all sorts of enemies and finally set up a kingdom just for sparrows.

The establishment of a new kingdom was a motif borrowed from the legend of Yi Seong-gye, and the big golden zelkova tree was a symbol of the kingdom of sparrows. I finished the story within two weeks and sent the manuscript off to a publisher. our circumstances had not changed when our second child was born, but on that same The sound of the wind whistling through the bamboo leaves day my story, titled “The Baby Sparrow Chiku,” can cleanse the mind, while on snowy days the sound of large was released. The legend and the miracle were true to life — or perhaps it would be snowflakes swirling down is the epitome of poetry. Through the more accurate to say the dreams of life. The long winter, people would make all sorts of household items book went into a second printing and with the with bamboo as they listened to the snow fall. royalties I bought a small apartment. Casting aside my fears, I was able to continue my life as a full-time writer. This all happened after my encounter with the liquor into bamboo stalks to make the bamboo-scented liquor zelkova tree. called daetongsul . There is no better side dish for drinkers than The road running from the village of Hanjae through the vilspring bamboo shoots and mystery snails seasoned with red peplage of Subok and on to Damyang is lined with metasequoia (dawn per paste and vinegar. The World Bamboo Fair 2015, featuring redwood) trees. This tree-lined country road is the symbol of bamboo crafts from around the world, is scheduled to be held in Damyang. A broadleaf deciduous tree, the metasequoia’s appearDamyang from September 17 to october 31 this year. ance closely resembles that of the needle fir that grows at the At this point, I have to mention the simple pleasure of enjoying a base of the Himalayas, but its leaves fall in winter and grow back in bowl of noodles after walking about the forest, in a corner of which spring. In autumn, when the leaves turn golden, crowds of people you can find an alley of noodle bars. noodles are a favorite dish come to the road to take photos and stroll along at a snail’s pace, of all Koreans. The savory taste of plain noodles in anchovy broth as couples glide by on tandem bicycles. seasoned with nothing but soy sauce is sublime. Strolling leisurely The forest growing along the stream that passes through through the metasequoia forest after a bowl of noodles and a glass Damyang is called Gwanbang Jerim. Some say it offers the most or two of bamboo liquor might just be the highlight of a walking picturesque scenery of all the forests in Korea. Growing there are tour in the Korean countryside. some 430 ancient trees ranging in age from 200 to 400 years. There Jichim-ri in the town of Damyang was once called Hyoja-ri. long is something heartwarming and wondrous about this large collecago, a young woman in the village from the Han family married a tion of age-old trees, each standing with the dignity of the village’s young man from the Jeong family. Before their child was born, the guardian tree, as they quietly observe the affairs of the human husband died and the wife raised the child alone, doing odd jobs.

KOReAN CULTURe & ARTS 65

The Way to damyang

gimpo international Airport

From seoul to damyang

Samjinae, a village in Damyang that has been designated a “Slow City.” Maintaining its appearance from the olden days, traditional houses line the stone-walled lanes.

yongsan station

seoul

damyang gwangju station

expressway High speed railway Airway

By car: Damyang is about 300 kilometers south of Seoul and takes about 3 hours and 30 minutes to reach by car.

Express buses that depart from Central City By bus: Terminal (www.hticket.co.kr) in Banpo-dong, Seoul, take about 3 hours and 45 minutes to reach Damyang. There are four buses a day, at three-hour intervals, the first bus leaving at 8:10 a.m.

1) KTX: There are 22 high-speed trains per By train: day from Yongsan Station in Seoul to Gwangju Songjeong Station. The trip takes about 2 hours, and trains depart at 30-minute intervals. From Gwangju Songjeong Station, go to Gwangju Bus Terminal and take a bus to Damyang.

2) Mugunghwa, ITX Saemaeul: These trains leave from Yongsan Station in Seoul. The trip takes about 4 hours to 4 hours and 30 minutes depending on the train. Further details can be found on the KoRAIl website (http://info. korail.com/mbs/english/index.jsp). From Gwangju Station catch a bus to Jungnogwon or Soswaewon in Damyang.

By air: Korean Air (koreanair.com) operates two flights per day between Gimpo and Gwangju, and Asiana (flyasiana.com) three flights per day. The fare varies according to the airline and the day of the week. For details and bookings, check the respective websites.

Top attractions in damyang

jungnogwon Hanjae village

metasequoia road

intercity Bus Terminal Korea Bamboo museum

sigyeongjeong soswaewon

66 KOReANA summer 2015

one day at dawn, the son, when he had grown up, saw his mother drying her skirt in the kitchen. The next evening, he secretly followed his mother when she left the house. His mother had been meeting the widowed schoolmaster in the neighboring village and her skirt became wet from the morning dew as she returned home through the forest at dawn. The next day, the son cut all the grass along the forest path that his mother walked so that her skirt would not get wet, and later arranged for his mother and the schoolmaster to live together. When the locals learned about the story, they named the village Hyoja-ri, which means “village of the filial son.”

Samjinae is a village that has been named a “Slow City.” Any visitor stopping by the village because of this designation may be in for a disappointment. Except for the winding stone walls that line the village roads, it’s hard to find any connection with the Slow City movement. The large traditionalstyle houses look a little slapdash and the boarding houses and restaurants seem to have little to do with a slow and quiet lifestyle. If the village had not been named a Slow City and stayed the way it had always been, then it would have been a fine place to stop and stay the night.

pavilions among clear streams Jigok-ri is the southernmost village in Damyang County. With the more appealing former name, Jisil, this village is located at the foot of Mt. Mudeung, and dotting the valley where clear streams of water gurgle endlessly as they flow are a number of pavilions so elegant and lyrical in ambience they seem to have come out of a storybook. When I was roaming aimlessly around the country after giving up teaching, I liked to visit these pavilions in the middle of the day and take naps there, listening to the singing of cicadas. And as I watched the butterflies fluttering around, I would write a few lines of poetry.

Among the pavilions, my favorite was Sigyeongjeong, which means a “pavilion where shadows stop to rest.” All living things cast a shadow. There are no shadows without light or life. This pavilion was built so that the owner could have a place for his ambitions, his impossible dreams, and his very being to take a break from the mundane world. The name reflects the situation in the Joseon Dynasty when scholar officials who had been pushed out of the center

of power would end up in a village like Jilsil, deep in the mountains with clear streams, to write poetry and commune with nature. In those days when I hoped to spend my life writing poetry, perhaps I too wanted to lay down that dream for a while and rest.

The mid-Joseon period statesman and writer Jeong Cheol (1536-1593), lived in the nearby village of Byeolmoe after being exiled. There he wrote graceful poetic songs called gasa , which included “Sa miin gok ” (“longing for the Beautiful one”), which expresses his yearning for the king, and “Seongsan byeolgok ” (“Song of Seongsan”), which describes a mountain made of stars, or byeolmoe, in praise of the beauty of nature. These poems reflected the writer’s inner thoughts as his worries continued to deepen. now, it may be a good time to turn your footsteps toward the famed garden Soswaewon. From Sigyeongjeong pavilion, the garden is no more than an hour away, even when walking at an easy pace.

Soswaewon, or Garden of the Pure Mind, was created by the midJoseon scholar Yang San-bo (1503-1557). The waters running down the slopes of Mt. Mudeung were channeled through the middle of the garden between two structures: Jewoldang, the master’s residence, whose name means “the clear moon after rain,” and Gwangpunggak for guests, which means “wind blowing through sunlight.”

Some fifteen years ago, thanks to the descendants of Yang Sanbo, I was able to spend a night at Gwangpunggak with the novelist Park Wan-seo (1931-2011). The moonlight beamed brightly all night and the sound of the wind passing through the bamboo groves was clean and clear. But the best thing of all was the sound of the stream gurgling down. When I woke up in the morning, I found that Park had already been awake and mesmerized by the song of a bird. When I asked, “Did you sleep well, ma’am?” she replied that the beautiful sound of the stream had kept her up all night and that she had only managed to close her eyes for a bit at dawn. Park is no longer with us. Who knows? Perhaps she too has become one of the stars in the sky with fond memories of the night spent in this beautiful garden.

In the valley, the flowers of the crape myrtle trees bloom from early summer to autumn. The mixture of pink and green gives the flowers an unearthly look of belonging to the land of the immortals.

Jeong Cheol named the stream running through the valley Jamitan, which means “stream of crape myrtle.” How magical it is to think that the single crape myrtle petal quivering before your eyes, as your walking tour of Damyang nears its end, might be from the song of a Joseon scholar from hundreds of years ago.

KOReAN CULTURe & ARTS 67

alonG THeir oWn paTH

The consummate Barber

lee nam-yeol lee nam-yeol, a third-generation barber, has been plying his trade for 50 years. over that time, while mastering his tools and styling his customers’ hair, he has naturally become a keen judge of character. sharpening his razor blades and scissors with his own hands and cutting hair in the traditional way, he insists, “You’ll spoil your work if you take the easy way.” impressed with his unfailing expertise, more than a few well-known politicians and businessmen regularly visit his barbershop to have their hair cut. But the barber himself says this is not the life he wanted and he regrets having lived “without any purpose.” Then, what would his real dream have been?

kang shin-jae Freelance Writer ahn Hong-beom Photographer

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he water trickles out from a blue plastic watering can to soak the customer’s hair. The barber refills the can at the tile-covered washstand. He mixes warm water from a tin sitting on an old stove with the cold water in the can. He swirls the watering can and without testing it he manages to create the temperature that customers find pleasantly warm. Then, he stirs a shaving brush inside the tin to make a soapy foam, which he dabs onto the customer’s face, and picks up a straight razor.

“People say that disposable razors are more hygienic, but they aren’t smooth because the blades are made in one go,” lee explains. “naturally, they can make your face hurt. But look at this blade. It’s over 130 years old. It cuts the hair on the face smooth, like a plane over a board of wood. This is a five-year-old razor. It took me two years to hone the blade. When you polish the blade on a razor strop after sharpening it on a whetstone, it makes a sound like thunder. I can tell how sharp it is just from the sound.”

Sungwoo Barbershop opened at its current location in Manri-dong, Seoul, in 1927.

A third-generation barber, lee nam-yeol is seen inside the barbershop filled with the traces of time.

The Master’s insight lee nam-yeol is the third-generation barber and current proprietor of Sungwoo Barbershop, which has been open since 1927.

He has been in the business for 50 years now. Saying that “the tools are everything when it comes to cutting hair,” he started to discuss his barber tools. These days, few barbers bother to hone their own razors. But lee has never entrusted his razors to a professional knife sharpener.

“Today’s scissors aren’t smooth enough. My hands ache after using them just for a short time. look at this pair of scissors. They cost me only 20,000 won. I’ve honed them to suit my purpose. I sharpened them on a whetstone and polished them on a razor strop. My scissors are like razor blades. They cut hair smoothly.

It’s the weight of the scissors, not my hands, that cuts the hair,” lee says.

What does it mean to have a sharp edge? What does it mean to turn an ordinary piece of steel into a blade? “You know when a blade has been sharpened enough. It’s just like going down a slide in rubber shoes. The blade is slippery if it’s not honed enough. The trick is to stop sharpening the blade at just the right moment,” lee said. “You miss the timing and you’ll spoil the blade. You must not forget the moment that you first mastered this skill.”

You can’t sharpen a razor blade whenever you feel like it. lee decides on his way to work in the morning whether it’s a good day for the job or not, as he sharpens his razors only on days when he doesn’t come across anybody in the morning. “It’s not that I feel bad when I see someone, but I can feel the energy being sapped out of me. The blades that I sharpen with a clear mind on an auspicious day last a long time. I can use them for at least three to six months. But the blades that I sharpen on any other day will last only about two weeks,” he said.

KOReAN CULTURe & ARTS 69

A second customer comes in through the squeaky door. Standing up from his seat after smoothing out the wrinkles on his shirt, lee prepares to cut the customer’s hair. The art of barbering starts with observation and making choices. After draping a white cover over the customer’s shoulders, he narrows his eyes into thin crescents for a moment, preparing four pairs of scissors. He says he chooses his scissors according to each customer’s hair type.

Choosing scissors means choosing the steel with the right hardness. According to lee, fine hair should be cut with hard scissors but wiry hair calls for scissors made from softer steel. This way, the

as an apprentice at the barbershop. Born into a family of barbers, lee was destined to take up the family profession. Then suddenly, the job began to weigh him down heavily. It was when he was barely 18 years old.

a long Journey to the Truth He left the barbershop and wandered around the country for the next 15 years. “I earned my meals by giving people haircuts. I slept where farmers made fodder for their cattle. Sometimes, I visited hotels when their guests needed their hair cut. And I asked myself if being a barber was really my calling. Without going through those hard times, I would “You’ll just spoil your work if you babble about how long you’ve not be here today,” he said.

It’s been 50 years since his return. A numdone your job — whether it be 10 years or 30 years. You can cut ber of CEos of leading conglomerates have someone’s hair with a few scissor strokes just because you’ve had their hair cut at his barbershop, and at got a lot of experience? No way! Barbering is an honest job.” the beginning of each semester he receives phone calls from universities asking him to give special lectures. Some time ago, his barbershop was desighair won’t stick out or slide away from the scissors. As an example, nated by the Seoul Metropolitan Government as a “future cultural he cites his German-made scissors made from hard steel, which heritage” of the city in recognition of its value for preservation. The aren’t suitable for a typical Korean’s hair. project is part of the city’s efforts to preserve landmarks from the The hair gives the barber clues as to which part of the world his early modern era that have not yet been designated as cultural hercustomer is from. “northern Europeans have thin, soft, but stringy itage. hair. You need hard steel to cut such hair. But you only need Japalee never downplays the reputation that he has built on his own nese-made scissors to handle southern Europeans’ hair. These scisefforts by feigning modesty. Asked how he compares with other sors are also good to cut the hair of Koreans and Chinese,” lee said. barbers, he said, “I don’t like being compared with other people.

A barber who has mastered his tools and the characteristics of Why do you compare me with people who give haircuts like those hair, lee talks without restraint. I asked him what it is to cut hair for prison inmates? My barbering style can rarely be found anywell. He answered that it means cutting the hair so that the style where in the world.” will remain in place for one month. Barbering is about cutting the At the same time, lee didn’t try to conceal his difficulties. “Some hair when it grows too long, not about changing the style. He takes people are like monsters. They only care about themselves. The door the flattop as an example. A flattop cut with electric hair clippers to their brains seems to be closed. It’s difficult to deal with people at 180 degrees begins to change in a week. But a different result is whose brain cells are dying with diabetes, liver cancer, or apoplexy. achieved when the hair is cut at 15 or 45 degrees with a pair of scisConversation with them is next to impossible, and it’s difficult for me sors. This is because the style is trimmed and shaped with the scisto please them. They’re relieving stress while letting me cut their sors as it is cut. hair. I can see what kind of person someone is after looking into their The traces of lee’s scissoring do not appear even a few months eyes for 15 seconds. The eyes tell everything,” he said. after a haircut. He says he has no secret. “People go on about His life looks like one that you could only have after dealing with know-how. But there’s nothing like that in cutting hair. You can as many people as you can. He seems to have a lot to say on the never cut hair well if you look for the easy way. You’ll just spoil your matter: “I have a keener nose than a hunting dog. I can sense what work if you babble about how long you’ve done your job — whether kind of disease a man has by his smell. I can distinguish the smell it be 10 years or 30 years. You can cut someone’s hair with a few of the lungs of a person with sick lungs and the smell of the stomscissor strokes because you’ve got a lot of experience? no way! ach of a person with a sick stomach. The most difficult thing is to Barbering is an honest job,” he said. shave the face of a diabetic. Even with the sharpest razor, you can’t It took lee a long time to realize this truth. Before him, his cut the facial hair of a diabetic if his disease is serious. The hair maternal grandfather and his father were barbers. His grandfacomes out rather than gets cut. Do you understand how scary it is? ther was the second Korean to earn a barber’s license. He opened of course, they’re never satisfied... I have to concentrate so hard Sungwoo Barbershop at its current location in Manri-dong, then on that a sweat breaks out on my back even in winter. Really, barbers the periphery of downtown Seoul, where there used to be a hill that deserve to make a lot more money.” was covered with white peach blossoms in spring. His father began 70 KOReANA summer 2015

lee nam-yeol gives a customer a haircut. His old-fashioned barbershop was designated by the Seoul Metropolitan Government as a “future cultural heritage” of the city in recognition of its value for preservation.

The Barber’s real dream?

With no trace of a smile on his face, he spews out stories that seem to leave “room for interpretation.” But what he says reveals what he is. It would be a bit much to depict the master barber who has pursued a single career path all his life as a paragon of virtue.

It seems five decades hasn’t been long enough for this barber to overcome the problem of dealing with people. nor did he bother to distort or beautify his hardships in facing this ordeal. He just added, “The older you are, the more worldly knowledge you have. You can tell what kind of person you’re talking to after a few words. Make a quick judgment and take the long road. You shouldn’t think about it

too seriously. otherwise, you’ll end up with a headache.”

At that point I recalled some of the habits that he had confessed to me. He rinses his underwear and outer clothing in vinegar water after washing them with his own hands. And he has quit eating meat and smoking for fear of ending up with trembling hands.

While I was nodding at his stories, thinking that he has lived exactly as one would expect him to live, he suddenly blurted out, “So far I’ve lived without any purpose! I regret having sacrificed myself for my family and my brothers. I’ve never lived my own life... others think I’ve fulfilled my dreams. But I’ve never done what I’ve wanted to do. That’s life.”

I left his barbershop without asking what he really wanted to do.

What dream has he turned his back on for the past half century?

The slate roof of his barbershop is sunken and dilapidated. The layers of old paint are peeling off the wooden door. The letters on the barbershop sign look somehow heavier than before.

KOReAN CULTURe & ARTS 71

charles la shure Professor, Department of Korean language and literature, Seoul national University lee Woo-young Staff Reporter, The Korea Herald

BooKs & more 72 KOReANA summer 2015

An Incisive Look at a Society Obsessed with Beauty “pavane for a dead princess”

By Park Min-gyu, Translation by Amber Hyun Jung Kim, 262 pages, $15.95, Champaign/london/Dublin: Dalkey Archive Press (2014)

Park Min-gyu’s 2009 novel “Pavane for a Dead Princess” takes aim at some fundamental issues in Korean society — and hits its marks with unerring accuracy. obsession with beauty, lust for privilege, and the contradictions of love are all targets for Park’s pen, which proves not only mightier but far more cutting than any sword. our narrator is a young man from a broken family; his mother, whom he describes as “rather plain looking, to put it kindly,” was abandoned by his father, a handsome and popular stunt-man-turned-actor, who then married a younger and more beautiful woman. Driven in part by this experience, he befriends and later dates a girl who is so extraordinarily ugly that he is stunned into silence when he first lays eyes on her. Filling out the cast is their mutual friend Yohan, who acts as a conduit through which the relationship between the narrator and the girl becomes possible; he is the glue that holds them — and the story — together.

Through the narrator’s relationship with the girl and his talks with Yohan, the novel dissects the ills of modern Korean society, and the worship of beauty spends quite a bit of time under the knife. In a poignant and painful letter to the narrator, the “extraordinarily ugly” girl laments that her life was determined from the moment she was born. As unfair as it may be, Korean society is one in which the beautiful are upheld as ideal, while the ugly are shunned and shamed. Such ruminations on beauty naturally lead to an examination of the nature of privilege. As Yohan explains, it is only the most beautiful and the wealthiest who rise to the top. The idea that the top one percent holds almost all of the power is, of course, one that is not limited to Korean society, but the novel argues that the lust to join that one percent is particularly endemic here. The only way to make it to the top of the heap, though, is by climbing over the rest of the hapless ninety-nine percent, and thus the rat race is born. Yet as a friend of the narrator points out: “no matter how much the rats compete, they’ll always be rats.”

As cutting as Park’s criticisms of Korean society are, he is not one to settle for easy answers. To take one example, love is an important and largely positive theme in the work; when the narrator falls in love with the girl, Yohan proclaims that she “is now a light bulb that has been turned on,” shining with a new-found beauty. But this positive image of love is challenged when the narrator claims that all love is founded on mistaken beliefs, and when Yohan declares that “love is imagination.” As in life, in “Pavane for a Dead Princess” there are no right answers. Every time we think we have things figured out, Park pulls the rug out from underneath us, refusing to let us stop questioning. After all, if we did stop, it would be too easy to fool ourselves into thinking that things are not so bad after all.

This is both a compelling story and incisive social commentary. The echoes that remain when the last page is turned will bring us back to the beginning, ready to question everything that we had so far held to be true. like Yohan, Park does not offer us the answers — just the opportunity to seek those answers for ourselves.

Quarterly Webzine about Korea’s Cultural Heritage “korean Heritage” www.cha.go.kr/eng_webzine/2015/spring/index.html

For anyone with an interest in traditional Korean culture, the online resource published by the Cultural Heritage Administration, the government organization in charge of preserving and promoting Korean cultural heritage, is a window to the richness of Korea’s history and traditions. The quarterly webzine introduces both tangible and intangible heritage, as well as notable attractions around the country. Each article is written by a concerned expert and accompanied by outstanding photos.

The spring edition explores diverse topics, including Buddhism and its cultural influences, the beauty and symbolism of traditional designs on wood crafts, and the shamanic ritual (gut). The main feature deals with a chronological development of Korean Buddhism, one of the most influential religious beliefs in the history of Korea. Also, in celebration of Buddha’s Birthday in May, the photo gallery section offers peaceful images of Buddhist temples across the country.

The spring edition also features the recent restoration of the royal kitchen at Gyeongbok Palace, known as the setting of the popular Tv drama series “Jewel in the Palace” (“Dae Jang Geum”). The royal kitchen, called Sojubang, was first shown to the public in early May this year, one hundred years after its destruction.

Historical Account of Goryeo “koryosa choryo ii”

French edition of ‘Who Ate Up All the Shinga?’

“Hors les Murs”

By Park Wan-seo; Translated by Hélène lebrun, 448 pages, 15 euros, Paris: Atelier des Cahiers

This novel has been a steady seller in Korea ever since its release in 1992. It has been translated into several foreign languages, and published in a number of countries. The book is an account of the author’s experiences of growing up during the Japanese occupation era and through the Korean War in the early and mid 20th century. Set in Kaesong, now a border city in north Korean territory, the novel revisits the author’s childhood and teenage years during the most turbulent period of Korea’s modern history.

Korea through the eyes of Two French expats “sketches of korea: an illustrated Guide to korean culture”

Translated by Edward J. Shultz and Hugh H.W. Kang, 416 pages, 45,000 won, Seoul: Jimoondang

By Benjamin Joinau and Elodie Dornand de Rouville, 212 pages, 12,900 won, Seoul: Seoul Selection

“Koryosa choryo” (Essentials of Koryo History), one of the most important historical records of the Goryeo Dynasty (9181392), has been translated into English for the first time by Edward J. Shultz and Hugh H.W. Kang, two professors emeritus at the University of Hawaii. The book, originally written by 28 scholars of Joseon in the 15th century, offers chronological presentations of key events of the Goryeo period as well as rarely known historical accounts. noteworthy historical details include the deeds of kings, the life of the royal court and aristocrats, changes in social and political institutions, and natural disasters, such as floods, famines, and earthquakes that devastated the lives of the common people. volume I has not been published yet.

Why do Korean teenagers love taking selfies on the subway? Why have black plastic sun visors become a staple for middle-aged Korean ladies? Two French expats offer unique observations on the Korean way of life in their collaborative work, “Sketches of Korea: An Illustrated Guide to Korean Culture.”

The book features 47 separate topics ranging from the country’s latest trends, including its drinking culture, traditional culture, social customs, art, and folk beliefs.

Each theme is explored through direct and honest portrayals by cultural anthropologist Benjamin Joinau and artist Elodie Dornand de Rouville, who have been living in Korea for more than a decade. A compilation of their contributions to a magazine, the book comprises detailed written accounts by Joinau with illustrations by de Rouville.

Joinau, a professor of culture and civilization at Hongik University in Seoul, first arrived in Korea in 1994 while serving his military duty. He became fascinated with Korean culture and decided to live here, a decision that shifted his interests to cultural anthropology. De Rouville, married to a Korean man, has shown her work in multiple solo exhibitions. Her work reflects the daily lives of Koreans and her personal explorations of memories and physical locations.

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GourMeT's deliGHT

park chan-il Chef and Food Columnist ahn Hong-beom Photographer

a Food of patience and Memory Muk is a food of memory. i fondly remember the memilmuk of my childhood, made from buckwheat by my maternal grandmother, which had a delicate savory flavor enlivened by sesame oil and soy sauce; the side dish of dotorimuk from acorns that i enjoyed with drinks as an adult at traditional korean bars; and the nokdumuk from mung beans, which is the base ingredient of tangpyeongchae, a royal dish i learned about in history class. This food of memory is once again back in our lives, revived by our quest for well-being and nostalgia. For many koreans of today, muk is a welcome gift from the past to perk up their health and memories.

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1 The acorn muk is made through a lengthy and complicated process: gathering windfall acorns in the mountains, pulling the shells off and drying the nuts, grinding them into flour, soaking the flour in water, boiling the paste over a low fire, and cooling it down until firm. It is known to be a good diet food, as it is low in calories and its tannin content is effective for curbing absorption of fat.

2 Mung bean jelly (cheongpomuk ) was once a costly dish found only at the table for the royal family and banquets for the nobility.

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ecause of different food cultures around the world, what’s ignored or thought to be too weird to eat by certain people can be a delectable treat for others. Asian immigrants in Western countries have long enjoyed plentiful supplies of certain delicacies, like sea cucumbers, which few Westerners will eat, or bracken fiddleheads and acorns gathered in the wild. In Europe, as long as one doesn’t harm nature, the locals won’t mind if anyone gathers fallen acorns, a useful ingredient for Korean dishes. I myself enjoyed plucking bracken and collecting acorns in the hills behind my home while living overseas. A number of firstgeneration Korean immigrants might also have memories of picking up acorns in the woods and using them to make the savory jelly called muk.

allow it to cool completely Muk is made by thickening the starch content in such ingredients as buckwheat and mung beans. In Western cooking, the foods with a similar gelatinous texture are mostly made from rendered animal parts.

Gelatin is collagen that can be extracted from fish bones or the skin, connective tissue and bones of animals. French pâté and terrine, as well as various foods set in savory aspic, appetizers, and cookies are gelatin-based. Muk may be made from similar ingredients with a high starch content, but the cooking process is different, resulting in unusual textures and tastes for the palate. For example, mung beans can be used to make noodles, but when used for muk, it takes on a completely different form and texture. The shape and consistency of muk can be varied in several ways, so it can be used for a variety of dishes. ordinary starch can thus be transformed into haute cuisine.

There is one thing in common to both Korean muk and Western gelatin dishes: the ingredients have to cool down in order to jell properly. As a result, there is no such thing as hot panna cotta (an Italian cream dessert) or a hot muk dish; they are always served cold. Korean muk dishes are eaten after being cut into pieces and seasoned with a soy-based sauce, and garnished or tossed with fresh vegetables. By contrast, Western gelatin dishes are typically molded around a particular delicacy, which enhances the visual effect and distinctive texture, because Western gelatin is transparent. savory repast for Winter nights I ate various muk dishes in my childhood, but because my family lived in a city, it was difficult to make muk at home. Preparing muk requires tiresome labor. To make acorn muk, for example, the best acorns should be gathered after the first frost, then boiled so that the softened shells can be removed one by one, and soaked in water to leach out the bitterness, changing the water at least 10 times to get rid of tannins.

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In his poem “Forlorn Appetite,” Park Mok-wol (1916-1978) described buckwheat muk as “something with a light, delicate flavor, less than appealing to the eye, but simple and decent, worthy of being served to the new in-laws on the wedding banquet’s octagonal table.”

Then, the acorns have to be dried out before being ground into flour. This flour is the main ingredient for making muk. “Cooking muk” also means standing fireside for hours on end, constantly stirring the flour and water mixture until your back aches. It is a long and tedious process that gets even harder as the muk thickens. And then the soy-based sauce needs to be prepared.

Therefore, we usually bought, rather than made, the muk we ate at home. In the long winter evenings, we would have buckwheat muk for a satisfying repast. nowadays, you can still sometimes hear a peddler shouting out in the winter evening, “Buy buckwheat muk!” My father was also fond of buckwheat muk, so as soon as I heard this shouting, I would rush out to stop the peddler. often, students took on the job to earn money for their tuition fees, so my father encouraged them by paying a little extra. We ate buckwheat muk with the kimchi from jars buried in our yard. Ahh! My mouth waters as I write these words. The kimchi then was wholly different in quality compared to today’s kimchi stored indoors, in a kimchi refrigerator.

As far as I can recall, acorn muk was not readily available in the city in the 1970s, since it was still a “country” food. only when I became an adult did I taste acorn muk for the first time, at a then popular Korean traditional bar, or haksa jujeom, frequented mainly by university students. In the 1970s and 1980s, as the popularity of muk spread, fake acorn muk started to appear. Without using real acorn flour, the fake version only imitated the color and texture of the original. This cheap muk became a popular side dish at watering holes that catered to college students.

ingredients define class divide Today, muk made with fine mung bean flour (cheongpomuk) is as common as buckwheat muk. But mung bean muk was once a pricey dish served only at the banquets of the nobility. According to oral tradition, King Yeongjo (r. 1724-1776) would often invite his courtiers and officials to a banquet in order to ease conflict between political factions. The royal cuisine featured tangpyeongchae, a dish made of mung bean muk, shredded beef, roasted laver, and watercress. The king was said to have explained to his guests how this dish, composed of four distinctive ingredients and flavors, could be blended together to achieve a wonderful harmony. Supposedly, the name of the dish was derived from the king’s policy: tang meaning “sweeping

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1 Popular ingredients of muk.

They are, clockwise from left, acorn flour, buckwheat flour, gardenia flour for coloring, and mung bean flour.

2 Tangpyeongchae , made of thin-sliced mung bean muk mixed with seasoned and stir-fried beef, watercress, laver, and soy sauce with vinegar, was a seasonal delicacy eaten on cool spring evenings.

3 Mukbap , a simple dish of acorn or buckwheat muk with seasoned soy sauce, along with some rice and water, was originally a frugal dish eaten in mountainous inland areas.

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away,” pyeong “cutting and making even,” and chaek “policy”; tangpyeongchaek was thus meant to resolve factional conflict and restore harmony. But the veracity of this story is open to question, because it is not recorded in the “Annals of the Joseon Dynasty” or any other documents. nevertheless, mung bean muk was surely served on the banquet tables of the royal family and senior officials.

By origin, buckwheat muk stood at the opposite side of the haute cuisine tangpyeongchae. Buckwheat muk was a common people’s dish easily made with a common grain. Today, buckwheat is more expensive than wheat, but it was a readily available ingredient during the Joseon period. In contrast, wheat flour was produced in limited quantities and available only to the rich. For ordinary people, instead of wheat, buckwheat was the main source of flour. Buckwheat has a tenacious hold on life and can thrive even in adverse conditions. It could be grown on mountain slopes by slash-and-burn farmers, a valued crop resilient enough to survive drought and cold weather that served as a basic staple for needy people. Buckwheat was threshed with a millstone turned by a waterwheel or animal, ground into flour, and then boiled in water that thickened into muk.

In the “200 Korean Dishes We Should Really Know” by Professor Han Bok-jin, the chapter about muk dishes cites the poet Park Mok-wol’s tribute to the humble grain.

In his poem “Forlorn Appetite,” Park Mok-wol (1916-1978) described buckwheat muk as “something with a light, delicate flavor, less than appealing to the eye, but simple and decent, worthy of being served to the new in-laws on the wedding feast’s octagonal table.” It is ideal with makgeolli, the traditional rice liquor, he added, since muk was a common people’s food, light but filling, well paired with alcoholic drinks like unrefined rice wine.

Today, muk enjoys a new heyday because it is known to be an excellent diet food, quickly filling and low in calories. It can be a healthy dish provided that the sauce is moderately seasoned. My parents’ hometown lies in north Gyeongsang Province, far from the seas, and also without many field crops, where the cooking is not very fancy. But there is a mukbap unique to the area, which has become popular throughout the country. Mukbap is a cold soup of acorn or buckwheat muk with seasoned soy sauce, and added with some rice.

It is a simple dish, but thanks to the prevalent quest for well-being nowadays, it has come into the limelight.

I wonder if the pleasingly simple nature of muk, which conveys a sense of warm-heartedness, has something to do with the innate sentiments of the Korean people.

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n February this year, terrestrial Tv broadcaster KBS signed a memorandum of understanding to collaborate on a web drama promotion venture with Korea’s second-largest portal site Daum, operated by Daum Kakao. The lineup was announced soon after, in which “love Detective Sherlock K” and “Prince of Prince” cast in the lead roles Sung Kyu and Yura of the idol groups Infinite and Girl’s Day, respectively. KBS plans to produce about 10 web dramas this year. Ten or so web dramas were released last year, capturing the attention of industry players and audiences alike. Its value is so highly recognized by the market that even terrestrial Tv stations are making aggressive moves in this direction. What are the factors behind this genre’s surge in popularity?

Web dramas are program content delivered on the Internet. In the United States, www.hulu.com offers full or edited versions of films and popular Tv dramas, but in Korea the web dramas are specially produced and provided exclusively for online viewers. In

terms of concept and impact, their emergence in Korea is similar to the American Tv series “House of Cards” offered on the popular online streaming subscription service netflix in 2013. Before January 2014, the concept of web drama was quite new to Korean audiences. However, it has since become a household staple thanks to “Aftermath,” “lovecell,” and “Ganseochi” offered by naver, and “Flirty Boy and Girl” by Daum.

The online venture with “House of Cards” proved that a highquality drama could also be produced for the Internet platform.

Korean web dramas are popular as mobile content and distinctive from regular Tv dramas. Despite its brief running time of 20-some minutes, “Aftermath” remained true to its original webtoon roots; it presented the story of a boy who acquired supernatural powers after a car accident in a more condensed manner than a typical Tv drama. Yoon Seong-ho, a leading indie film director known for his witty work, parodied the SBS matchmaking reality show

can Web dramas Become Mainstream?

Wee Geun-woo Reporter, Web Magazine IZE

a new drama genre has emerged, accessible only through computers and smartphones. The so-called web dramas, or web series, are a marked departure from the conventional TV drama. The first of its kind was served up by korea’s largest internet portal site naver. “aftermath” was a huge hit, recording 3.5 million views in just four weeks since its release in January 2014. others followed, including “Flirty Boy and Girl,” “prominent Woman” and “lovecell.”

How will this innovative media content and delivery system restructure the korean popular culture market?

1 1 “The Best Future” starring Seo Kang-jun and Bang Minah, premiered on October 28, 2014 on Naver TVcast.

2 “Prominent Woman” starring Cheon Woo-hee and Ahn Jae-hong, premiered on August 25, 2014 on Naver TVcast.

3 “Dr. Ian” starring Kim Young-kwang and Sandara Park, premiered on March 29, 2015 on Naver TVcast.

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“My Partner”(Jjak) in his “Flirty Boy and Girl,” displaying genuine romantic emotions rarely seen on television. These enjoyable and easily accessible web dramas became widely popular due to their suitability for mobile devices.

age of Mobile entertainment Korea is unrivaled in the world in smartphone and Internet penetration. Wi-fi connection is available throughout most areas of Seoul, enabling users to conveniently download and stream content via smartphone. Web dramas could take off quickly in such a highly wired environment.

The Korean IT industry, including the portal giants naver and Daum, is keen to capitalize on the mobile market’s vast potential.

With so many smartphone users, Internet content is now accessed more through smartphones than PCs, forcing providers to constantly update their mobile services and create mobile-specific content. The webtoon, which is the most popular service provided by naver, could gain added market share with the development of new smartphone applications and the continued creation of smartphone-specific content.

As is the case with webtoons, the mobile environment favors a “snack culture,” that is, content which can be consumed in brief periods and with less need for concentrated attention. That way, people can easily view the content on their way to/from work or school. The web dramas, with each episode running for about 20 minutes, are perfectly suited for smartphone users.

It is not only the traditional portal sites that are concerned about content consumption shifting from the PC to the mobile environment. Even the Tv industry, which has been the most influential medium for some 40 years, has to be on its toes. It has thus far withstood the competition against cable and general program-

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ming channels for audience share, but the mobile market has now emerged as a powerful competitor.

Younger viewers who are the primary target audience of advertising, the lifeblood of today’s media industries, are increasingly turning away from the Tv platform. viewers in their 20s and 30s nowadays use Internet voD (video on demand) sites to watch their favorite programs whenever it suits them, while teens enjoy short, edited video clips on their smartphones. It seems that Tv networks are in more serious trouble than the Internet portals.

Will the Mobile Market lead content development? learning from how earlier content platforms have approached the mobile market, web dramas have been developed with an eye on content tailored to satisfy the particular needs of smartphone users, fueling its rapid spread. Up until Kim Dong-joon, of ZE:A, played the lead role in “Aftermath,” the web drama was unexplored territory. Since then, this new drama genre has become a debut stage for popular idol singers to take a shot at acting. Sandara Park of 2nE1 starred in “Dr. Ian” with model-turned-actor Kim Youngkwang. “The Best Future,” produced by Samsung Group to draw more than 10 million views, featured Minah of Girl’s Day in the lead role. “lovecell,” adapted from the naver webtoon of the same title, boasted a cast of top stars such as Jang Hyuk and Kim Woo-bin, creating a sensation even though they were not lead actors.

There is no doubt that KBS’s entry into the web drama sphere is a portent of things to come. The major broadcasters must broaden their horizons and shift to web-based content to survive in a media environment that is ever more tilting toward Internet services. Will the incumbent content producers, as well as newcomers, deliver mobile-specific content that can satisfy contemporary audiences?

The web dramas that they produce will tell.

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HOME FOOD IS ALL THE RAGE kim Yong-sub Director, Edged Imagination Institute for Trend Insight & Business Creativity

koreans used to greet each other in their own distinctive way by asking, “Have you eaten?” (which is meant as “How are you doing?”) These days, you can still find people who are in the habit of saying “We’re all working to eat and survive, aren’t we?” Harking back to a past of scarcity and sacrifice, these expressions show the central place of shared experience in the hearts of koreans. perhaps, one of the highest forms of pleasure is derived from having meals with those you love. in this sense, the current craze for home food, or jipbap, is not so much about the simple act of eating, but rather reliving the experience of sharing food with the people you care about.

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he cable Tv channel tvn’s “Three Meals a Day” is a reality show with no particular theme. It merely shows two or three celebrities staying in a remote village getting by on the food they find close by, which they use to cook three meals each day. They might clumsily prepare meals by themselves, using vegetables grown in a household garden, or skillfully cook up a delicious-looking fish they just caught from the sea. To my surprise, many viewers are wild about this rather unremarkable program. Men and women, young and old alike, watch this seemingly shopworn show with great delight.

Why the craze?

Today, ever more Koreans eat out or make do with fast food for their daily meals. Family members often come home after eating out on their own. This means that many Koreans simply don’t bother to cook or eat their meals together. While watching “Three Meals a Day,” viewers can see their yearning for home food depicted on the Tv screen: picking out and gathering ingredients, chopping firewood, making a fire, and cooking meals for the family. They can identify with the struggles and every minor triumph of the actors, which give them a kind of vicarious happiness, realizing the preciousness of family and the delight of home food.

In other words, we want to eat home food, which is cooked by our mother, with our family at home. We earnestly desire for an evening meal at home, which we too often miss out on in our rat race of daily life. Home food, which is not about special food, brings back our long-forgotten memories of the meals we used to share with our family. Home food is one of the things we have unwittingly discarded in the process of modernization, urbanization, and industrialization. changes the Home Food Trend Brings Home food is simply the food we eat at home, not-so-special meals which our mother cooks for us at home. Today, home cooking is so hot that restaurants, reading the pulse of the consumer market, are now offering Korean food buffets that feature “home food,” attracting steady streams of customers. Unlike in the past when most buffets featured Western or Japanese dishes, Korean food buffets are now bringing a breath of fresh air into the food service industry.

Family style restaurants are making way for Korean food buffet restaurants. In recent decades, most families have tended to enjoy Western food at Western-style family or buffet restaurants. However, “Korean mom food” has now become the mainstream of our new dining-out culture. In response to this trend, conglomerates have entered the buffet business, one after another, to a surprisingly favorable reception. Korean home food is viewed as a lucrative business opportunity, in light of these conglomerates’ plans to open more buffet restaurants and many others set to jump on the bandwagon as well.

In a survey of 7,000 Koreans conducted by the Ministry of Health and Welfare in 2013, only some 64 percent of the respondents said they ate dinner at home with their family more than two times a week. This means that about one third of people eat out on a regular basis. This figure was down a whopping 12 percentage points from 76 percent in 2005. Paradoxically, the downward trend indicates that ever more people are yearning for home food.

The home food craze is also changing the programming trend of Tv cooking shows. In the past, professional chefs would demonstrate cooking techniques or celebrities introduced signature dishes of gourmet restaurants. nowadays, however, programs about the KOReAN CULTURe & ARTS 81

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1, 3 “Social dining” is sharing a good but “not-so-special” meal with strangers. It is a new trend responding to people’s yearning for home food at a time when many people miss the simple pleasure of enjoying a family meal.

2 The cable Tv channel tvn’s “Three Meals a Day,” a seemingly shopworn reality show, is gaining much popularity. It has no particular theme, but merely shows two or three celebrities staying in a remote village getting by on the food they find close by, which they use to cook three meals each day.

food you can cook at home without much difficulty are gaining popularity. “night Snack Bar” of KBS 2Tv’s “Happy Together” and JTBC’s “Here’s the Refrigerator” are among such programs attracting viewers by focusing on practical cooking using ordinary ingredients found in a typical kitchen pantry and refrigerator. These programs have brought cooking closer to our daily reality, allowing ordinary people to discover the joy of home cooking. As a result, a growing number of people have developed an interest in cooking and are getting culinary training. Also, an increasing number of establishments, like the cultural centers at department stores, have opened more cooking classes. And men account for a remarkably large share of their students.

kinfolk style, social dining “Kinfolk” is both the name of an American lifestyle magazine and the code for a cultural trend. Kinfolk style refers to a preference for a pared-down, basic aesthetic and slow-paced lifestyle, in which people, be they relatives, neighbors, or friends, will gather together to enjoy meals and each other’s company — like one big family. They share simple, but Home food doesn't necessarily mean really healthy food — literally home food. People delicious or great food. even a simple, no-frills who adopt the Kinfolk approach eschew the lifestyles that kept them busy while meal can be perfect when you share it with your seeking to fulfill their desires for career family. In fact, the Korean word sikgu (family success or personal wealth. Rather, they member) literally means “one with whom you take a sincere interest in other people, especially family and friends, and go about eat your meals.” their lives at a slow and leisurely pace.

In a sense, they are turning their attention to the basic questions of their own happiness.

Just like the global interest in Kinfolk style, the latest craze for home food is in fact a fastspreading trend around the world.

Social dining is an opportunity for like-minded people to eat together and enjoy the company of each other. Indeed, getting strangers to sit down together at the same table to enjoy a meal and conversation is a kind of commercial service today. Social dining service, which began in the United States, has been introduced into Korea. It’s interesting to note that the name of Korea’s leading social dining service provider is Home Food.

Home food doesn’t necessarily mean really delicious or great food. Even a simple, nofrills meal can be perfect when you share it with your family. In fact, the Korean word sikgu (family member) literally means “one with whom you have meals.” The purpose of social dining is to find people who would like to share food together. In large part, it is best suited for people with an interest in being sikgu, since those who are able to accept others as if they were family members can also enjoy meals together.

The rise of single-person households will further stimulate people’s appetite for home food. We did not realize just how precious home food really was until we deprived ourselves of the opportunity to have meals with our family. Are we yearning for our family’s love only after we are left with no choice but to eat meals alone? now we cherish our memories of home food that we used to take for granted as part of our daily routine. Perhaps this means that we so much want to be together more with the people we care about.

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JourneYs in korean liTeraTure

CRITIQUE

The LighT Beyond UnBearaBLe SadneSS chang du-yeong literary Critic

choi eun-mi’s stories are filled with sorrow. in “a dream Too Beautiful,” her collection of short fiction, life is the setting for agonizing tragedy with the daily grind portrayed as a process of learning how to endure sadness. in the title story, there is a huge sandstorm and as a blanket of yellow dust descends and it becomes almost impossible to breathe, the protagonist closes her eyes for a moment but her dreams are haunted by visions of being relentlessly pursued by the clamorous dead. But, even surrounded by sadness, the characters in the story dream of a whale swimming freely in the ocean. in the midst of the agony we call life is futility and despair from which we cannot take even a single step away, yet life is beautiful; our world is one where dreaming ensures that hope doesn’t let up even for a moment.

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inter Beyond the Window” is also awash in sadness. The male protagonist dreams a sweet dream. In bright sunlight there appears a woman so resplendent he can’t look directly at her. Immediately he is captivated by her, and for a moment he has a taste of happiness. Before long, however, he awakes from this dream. He still longs ardently for that fleeting happiness but cannot help but accept the fact that it is something he will never attain.

A dream too beautiful, which only serves to make it feel even sadder and more regretful.

“The woman is sitting inside by the window, looking out somewhere towards the direction of the camera. Drops of water slide down the surface of the glass thick with condensation. With her back resting against the seat, the woman’s gaze is fixed outside and her eyes give the impression that her mind is completely blank.

The water drops form and fall, passing her forehead, jawline and the nape of her neck. Behind the sealed window, the woman looks as though she is resting after sex, but in another way it seems as though she is someone just passing by, an indifferent witness to an event unfolding outside.”

He peeks at the woman without her knowing, and is lost in an erotic daydream. In this instance the protagonist’s gaze is clearly indicative of scopophilia. later on when he faces the woman from the photograph as his work colleague, he even says that “meeting her eyes triggered an uncomfortable feeling, like that of a child who has been caught in the midst of doing something naughty.”

The glass window acts as the screen through which the protagonist can peer at the woman, at the same

time it also separates the spaces that the two of them inhabit. That the glass is fogged up and there is frost forming on its surface manifests the complete estrangement between outside and inside, and makes visible the vast difference in temperature between the two spaces. It may well be that the object of desire, being forbidden, is even more alluring. The way the protagonist looks at his cousin’s wife takes on an even more unsavory aspect in the context of their family relationship, and in the same way, as he and the woman from the photograph are separated by glass, his inordinate desire to approach her is amplified.

He wants to get close to her. However, the woman he longs to be with is almost like an apparition, one he can never come into contact with. In order to touch her he would have to smash the glass that stands between them, but he cannot work up the courage. He longs for the beautiful woman but he suppresses his own desire.

Having failed to break the wall of glass, why does he withdraw into sadness? In the story, the family tragedy of his father’s suicide is suggested as the underlying reason. Somewhat disappointingly, there is little explanation of his father’s reason for ending his own life by drinking weed killer, but through the reminiscences of the protagonist we are made aware of how agonizing his father’s death was, and what a massive psychological blow it was to his family. The problem now is that the sadness still wields a huge influence and the family members are still reeling in the aftermath of his death. More than anything, the excruciating torment of the itchy crotch syndrome that the protagonist caught from his father becomes a physical symbol of the extent and depth of the sadness from which he is unable to break free.

In order to treat his itching crotch he needs sunlight, like the bright smile that shines on the woman’s face when she tries on a beautiful traditional ornament in her hair. He also needs it to be winter for his symptoms to subside. A cold snap with the icy ferocity of the one which engulfed the world beyond the window of the bus the woman rode to work would be enough to significantly slow down the dreadful reproduction of the fungus. All he needs is winter and sunlight — in the end, the desire for the woman is one and the same as his struggle to break free from the sadness pressing down on him.

Sorrow cannot be overcome easily. like the protagonist’s ailment, as his dermatologist explained — “mold is the living thing with the best rate of reproduction in the world” — sadness cannot be treated easily. Summoning all his courage, he tries to reach out to her, but it seems his hand will slip repeatedly and each time he will cry out, striking the floor. However, this situation doesn’t lead to utter despair. As in the words the woman posted on their office network, the earth is silently turning. Because the world turns, at some point summer will pass and winter will come. When that time comes, the sadness and the itching too might just become bearable. In this way the story is about the volition and effort to reach somewhere beyond sadness; ultimately it looks toward hope.

KOReAN CULTURe & ARTS 85

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