I highly recommend checking out Eastasianhistory.net’s online exhibition: “Modern Times: Mass culture in image and sound in Korea during the Japanese occupation 1910–1945”
Korean children dressed in colorful native costumes for the Korean New Year’s Day celebration at Taegu, Korea. 1952.
life:
A Chinese soldier on a battlefield with a burial detail, searching for bodies, after the Korean War cease-fire, objecting to being photographed, 1953.
See more photos here.
(via eastasianstudiestumbl)
![coloryoursoulalways:
Buddhist monks working with Tripitaka Koreana woodblocks at the Janggyeong Panjeon of Haeinsa Temple, South Korea. (Photo credit)
Tripitaka Koreana or Palman Daejanggyeong (팔만대장경) is the Korean collection of the Tripitaka, or Buddhist scriptures, carved onto more than 80,000 woodblocks between 1237 and 1248. According to the UNESCO, the woodblocks are revered for “their artistry and excellent execution of engraving techniques [and] occupy an exceptional position in the history of Buddhism as the most complete and accurate corpus of Buddhist doctrinal texts in the world.”
The buildings of Janggyeong Panjeon (장경판전), which date from the 15th century, store these woodblocks. They are “unparalleled not only for their beauty but also for their scientific layout, size and faithfulness to function, i.e. preservation of the woodblocks.” As the oldest depository of the Tripitaka, the Janggyeong Panjeon was designed to provide natural ventilation and to control temperature and humidity, thus successfully protecting the woodblocks from deterioration.
The Haeinsa Temple Janggyeong Panjeon was added to the UNESCO World Heritage list in 1995 and the Tripitaka Koreana woodblocks were listed on the UNESCO Memory of the World register in 2007. (source)](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mby1wxx7uz1r81px0o1_500.jpg)
Buddhist monks working with Tripitaka Koreana woodblocks at the Janggyeong Panjeon of Haeinsa Temple, South Korea. (Photo credit)
Tripitaka Koreana or Palman Daejanggyeong (팔만대장경) is the Korean collection of the Tripitaka, or Buddhist scriptures, carved onto more than 80,000 woodblocks between 1237 and 1248. According to the UNESCO, the woodblocks are revered for “their artistry and excellent execution of engraving techniques [and] occupy an exceptional position in the history of Buddhism as the most complete and accurate corpus of Buddhist doctrinal texts in the world.”
The buildings of Janggyeong Panjeon (장경판전), which date from the 15th century, store these woodblocks. They are “unparalleled not only for their beauty but also for their scientific layout, size and faithfulness to function, i.e. preservation of the woodblocks.” As the oldest depository of the Tripitaka, the Janggyeong Panjeon was designed to provide natural ventilation and to control temperature and humidity, thus successfully protecting the woodblocks from deterioration.
The Haeinsa Temple Janggyeong Panjeon was added to the UNESCO World Heritage list in 1995 and the Tripitaka Koreana woodblocks were listed on the UNESCO Memory of the World register in 2007. (source)
(via artsofkorea)
Traditional Korean pottery jars, or Onggi ware, photographed by Kim Yong-soo in October 2003.
These pots store kimchi and other staples, such as doenjang (soybean paste), ganjang (soy sauce) and gochujang (red pepper paste). The microporous surfaces of the onggi jars allow air to circulate, assisting in the fermentation process. Because of this property, Koreans call them “breathing jars.” About 90 percent of Korea’s traditional cuisine is cooked with fermented ingredients that make food healthier and more flavorful.
Onggi pottery has a long history. Samguk Sagi (“History of the Three Kingdoms,” a historical record of the Three Kingdoms of Korea) notes that the Silla Dynasty (57 BC-935 AD) maintained a government agency called Wagijeon that supervised the production of ceramic containers and roof tiles. In the 1960s, there were more than 500 kiln sites nationwide for onggi products.
(Source: artsofkorea)
October 9th holds a very special place in the hearts of Koreans. It is the birthday of Hangeul, the native Korean alphabet invented by King Sejong (reign1418-1450). The name ‘Hangeul’ is made up of two words: Han (한) and Geul (글). ‘Han’ means either ‘big’ or ‘great,’ and ‘Geul’ refers to the alphabet; Hangeul, therefore, means ‘the greatest alphabet.’ The invention of Hangeul was no accident, but the culmination of a methodical and logical process. Before Hangeul, Chinese characters called ‘Hanja’ had been used in writing. However, Hanja, for its sheer plethora of characters, was difficult to learn, especially for people of lower social status with little or no access to education, and led to rampant illiteracy in the country. In order to resolve the problem, King Sejong began developing a new writing system that would be easy to access as well as to learn. At last, on October 9th, Hangeul (Hunminjeongeum) was invented and disseminated with a thorough explanation of logic behind each stroke of its characters. The invention of Hangeul has contributed to substantially reducing illiteracy in Korea.
Today, Hangeul is regarded as the most systematic alphabet in the world, and is annually celebrated on October 9th, designated as Hangeul Day.
(via sweetpotataos)
Hwarang influence on present-day body image in South Korea ⇒
This article (by the AP, via Washington Post) notes that South Korean men are increasingly wearing makeup,1 and attributes this to the economy, the way men are portrayed in Korean media, the influence of Korean women, and anime/manga.
An interesting quote from the article:In 2002, large numbers were attracted to a hero of South Korea’s World Cup soccer team, Ahn Jung-hwan, who became a leading member of the so-called “flower men” — a group of exceptionally good-looking, smooth-skinned, fashionable sports stars and celebrities who found great success selling male cosmetics. Men everywhere began striving to look like them, with the encouragement of the women around them, and a trend was born.Are present day “flower men” a pun on/ a reference to Sillia’s hwarang (“flower boys”)? If so, could a cultural memory of the hwarang influence present-day Koreans’ expectations of male body image?
Clearly, the memory of the hwarang did not make men wear makeup in the period before “the late 1990s,” when, according to the article, “[t]he ideal South Korean man… [was] rough and tough.” But if the hwarang are valorized in the Korean historical memory, could it influence women’s ideas about what attractive men look like? Could the precedent of noble, makeup-wearing warriors2 make Korean men more willing to accept changing notions of body image? I don’t really know enough about modern Korean culture to come up with any conclusions, but it would be interesting to see if there are, in fact, any links.
In any case, it seems like the author (or the copyeditor) missed an opportunity to mention a bit of pre-modern Korean history.1 As in, according to the article, Korean men make up less than one-third of one percent of the global population, but make up over 20% of global sales for skincare products. (There’s a joke in here somewhere about “the one percent,” but I can’t come up with it.)
2 Even if the hwarang was not primarily military in nature, as Tikhnov argues (Vladimir Tikhnov, “Hwarang Organization: Its Functions and Ethics,” Korea Journal, Summer 1998), they may still be remembered that way.
Red Army troops marching in northern Korea, 1945.
The Pueblo’s crew members finally got their freedom on December 23, 1968, after U.S. officials hit on a formula for agreement with North Korea. It was a bizarre formula indeed. Maj. Gen. Gilbert H. Wood-ward, the senior U.S. representative at Panmunjom, signed a document that day admitting illegal intrusion and espionage in North Korean waters, apologizing for the Pueblo’s actions and assuring Pyongyang that no U.S. ships would intrude again. But before signing it, the American general announced: The position of the United States government with regard to the Pueblo … has been that the ship was not engaged in illegal activities and that there is no convincing evidence that the ship at any time intruded into the territorial waters claimed by North Korea, and that we could not apologize for actions which we did not believe took place. The document which I am going to sign was prepared by the North Koreans and is at variance with the above position. My signature will not and cannot alter the facts. I will sign the document to free the crew and only to free the crew. In other words, General Woodward was telling the world that the document he was about to sign was nothing but an expedient lie. But the North Koreans did not mind that part. “It satisfied their one condition, a signature on a piece of paper,” the general explained to an interviewer later. “Never mind the oral repudiation. In the Orient, you know, nothing is more important than the written word. Besides, the North Korean people would never hear about that repudiation. Their propaganda boys would take care of that. As for the rest of the world, well, they just didn’t care.” Or as Secretary of State Dean Rusk put it, “Apparently the North Koreans believe there is propaganda value even in a worthless document. It is a strange procedure. The North Koreans would have to explain it. I know of no precedent in my nineteen years of public service.
- Under the Loving Care of the Fatherly Leader: North Korea and the Kim Dynasty (Bradley K. Martin)(Source: stayawaymonday)
August 15th, 1945
Is the day Korea gained its independence from the Japanese occupation.
Happy Korean Independence Day ya’ll.
(Source: dkyubey)
