Koreana Autumn 1995 (English)

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Maedup

Maedup, the Korean wOFd for "knot," is the generic term for a wide assortment of knot creations which are often mistakenly referred to in English as macrame.

Maedup and macrame are very different The front and back of a maedup piece are identical whereas those of a macrame piece are different This is because a maedup piece is a knot or series of knots made of a single piece of cord, whereas a macrame piece is made of two or more cords.

Silk cords are usually used for maedup, but cords of cotton and other fibers may also be used. The item and its intended use determine the type of cord and the type and number of knots and combinations to be used in making it.

Tassels or sui are often added to a piece to enhance its beauty.

Koreans developed maedup, which was first introduced from China, into a unique system of ornamentation integral to daily life. The demand for cords and maedup pieces by royalty and officials was so great during the Chos6n period (1392-1910) that the government operated a system similar to an assembly line with specialized artisans employed to produce them.

Maedup were used not only for per; sonal accessories such as purses, perfume bags, folding fans and belts but also for interior decoration, the decoration of musical instruments, the embellishment of Buddhist pennants and more. One of the most beautiful applications of maedup was the norigae, a harmonious blend of knots, jewels and tassels which women wore-and many still do-to embellish the simple lines of the hanbok, the traditional Korean dress.

Norigae can be made of any number of pieces but the samjak norigae made of three parts is the most common The upper and lower parts of many norigae are connected with ornaments made of pde, coral, agate, amber, gold or silver in various shapes such as bottles, bats, hatches and butterflies. Some ornaments contain designs symbolic of good fortune, long -life, wealth or a son There are different norigae for formal and informal wear. The size and shape of the jewels or precious metals and the tassel differ according to the occasion + This norigae with a carved jade perfume case was made by Ms. Kbn Hee-jin, a "human cultural asset" in the art of maedup.

COVER: Understanding the

c

characteristics of a country's national costume offers in-

0

sights into the national consciousness and traits. This issue

N

of KOREANA thus focuses on Korean clothing.

T E N

Hanbok Traditional Beauty in Korean Clothing 4 Characteristics of the Korean Costume and Its Development

by Cho Woo-hyun

12 Korean Clothes and Fabrics

by Cho Hyo-soon

T

20 Beauty of Traditional Korean Hanbok

s

by Kum Ki-suk

26 Clothes, Ornaments and Artisans Who Make Them

by Kim Yoo-kyung

40 ŠThe Korea Foundation 1995 All rights reserved No part of this publication may he 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 Information (Registration No. Ba-1033, dated Aug. 8, 1987), is also published in French, Spanish, Japanese and Chinese.

Modernization of the Korean Costume

by Kum Ki-sook

44 INTERVIEW

S6k Chu-son

by Kim Young-uk

50

50 Years of Korean Theater After Liberation

by Kim Moon-hwan

56

Development of Korean Dance Since Liberation

by Kim Kyoung-ae

•

Korea Foundation ~1-'li<d

Vol.9, No. 3 Autumn 1995

62 KOREAN A

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clothing fastened on different sides, but in the East the determining factor was the wearer's way of life-whether agricultural or hunting-nomadic. This is an example of the cultural differences between the East and the West Koreans used color symbolically in garments. White was the basic color most widely used by the common people, and it symbolized a modest and pure spirit. Red signified good fortune and wealth, so it was the color used on women's wedding garments. Indigo, the color of constancy, was used for the skirts of court ladies and the official coats of the literati Black, symbolizing infinity and the fountainhead of all creation, was used for men's hats. Yellow, which represented the center of the universe, was used for royal garments and common people were forbidden to use it These five colors were firmly established as symbols of the four directions and the center of the universe, and as governing the cycle and order of the universe.

Neutral colors symbolized the yin or the implicit virtues, so they were used for embroidery on garments worn below the wais~ and the five colors, symbolizing the yang, or overt virtues, were used in patterns on garments worn above the waist. The five-colored garments worn by children, the five-colored purses, and the five-colored dancing costumes are good examples of this symbolism. Colors symbolizing heaven and earth were used for wedding clothes.

Koreans used tie-strings and belts or bands to keep their garments in place.

Sometimes knots were used to fasten unlined ch6gori, military wear, or tally6ng (the official topcoat), but regular garments such as ch6gor~ ch'ima, turumagi and paji were fastened with tie-strings or held up with waistbands. Also, many garments were open at the sides or bottom for greater comfort and ease of movement. Ch6gori for casual wear were open at the sides, and the casual garments of the literati and the military

were also open either on the side or the back Even ritual garments were open on the sides, so that it was possible to put on and take off many layers of garments quickly.

Headgear was of great importance to Koreans. So much so that even the coming-of-age ceremony was called kwallye, the hat ceremony, and males were regarded as adults only after they went through this ceremony and were officially allowed to wear hats. The head was regarded as sacred; men always carried a kalmo, an oiled paper rain ha~ to shield their heads and hats from the rain.

Officials were excused from answering the king's summons if their garments and hats were soaked by precipitation, which made them unpresentable.

Perhaps the most important and characteristically Korean garment is the ch6gori. In ancient Korea, ch6gori reached the hips, had borders on collars and sleeves, and were fastened by a band at the waist. It was the same for both

This dance scene from am ural in a Koguryo tomb in Chi-an, China provides a glimpse of early Korean clothes.

The natural environment determines the basic character of a nation's costume, but the changes in a nation's social environment affect development of the costume. The external factors that have affected the hanbok include climatic changes, influences from neighboring countries, political and economic changes, shifts in social classes, development of handicrafts and changes in religious practices.

men and women. The sleeves were originally narrow, as suited the hunting and nomadic life Koreans lived at the time and the cold climate of the region, but gradually grew wider over time. Ch6gori were fastened on the left in the early Kogury6 period (37 B.C.-AD. 668), but the fastening changed to the right in later years. The use of borders began to disappear during the Kory6 period (918-1392), and the use of tie-strings became widespread. Sometime during the late Kory6 to the early Chos6n period (1392-1910), ch6gori with colorful trimmings and open sides appeared.

Ch6gori were worn down to the waist, but from the mid-Chos6n period they began to be worn shorter. In the genre paintings by Shin Yun-bok (late Chos6n period), women are depicted wearing ch6gori that stop above the waist. By the late Chos6n period the ch6gori were so short that they reached the armpit and had rounded front panels to cover the breasts. In the mid-twentieth

A turumagi overcoat worn by the literati during the Choson period

The women in this genre painting are dressed in kOdul ch'ima, a skirt that allow'eda womansbloomerstobeseen.

century longer chogori became the norm.

The collar of the chogori also underwent many changes, from straight to rounded and from stiff to soft Together with the detachable collar strip called tongj6ng, the collars served as eye-catching focal points.

The tie-string fastener of the chOgori, called koriim, grew longer or shorter in inverse ratio to the changes in the length of the garment Whereas the woman's chogori

changed repeatedly over time, the man's chogori has remained more or less the same in form and length from the Shilla period (57 B.C.-A.D. 668) to the present.

The long chOgori with open sides that was worn by both men and women became exclusively women's wear from the mid-Choson period, and developed into the tang-iii, an overblouse with hanging lapels. The tongbang, a kind of chOgori worn by Buddhist monks today,

is almost exactly the same in form as the chOgori appearing in Koguryo murals, except for the tie-string and the shape of the collar.

Paji, or trousers, also reflected changes in lifestyle. The narrow legs suited to hunting and nomadic life became wider.

Paji for men continued to be worn as an outer garment with divided legs, or cut slantwise. Paji for women evolved into undergarments, after having undergone many variations. Women wore s6n-gun and malgun, which were hybrids between paji and ch'ima, and after the Japanese invasion in the late sixteenth century numerous variations of the paji such as soksokkot, tansokkot and norun paji were worn under the skirt. The Japanese hakama, the voluminous, pleated trousers worn by Japanese men on ceremonial occasions today, derives from the Korean woman's tansokkot with front and back opening.

Salwar trousers, of which the Korean paji is a variation, are a typical lower garment with long, loose legs worn by settled, agricultural people. They were worn over a vast region, from Southeast Asia to India, Iran, Turkey, Greece, and all the way to North Africa and Spain. From this one can surmise that the Orient stretched much farther than is presently demarcated, a contention also supported by the widespread distribution of the straight-sleeved caftans.

The ch'ima was imported from China in ancient times. Pleated skirts and colorstriped skirts can be seen in Koguryo murals. During the Koryo period, ch'ima became voluminous and measured seven or eight yards in width. During the Choson period, women wore ch'ima as both casual and ritual wear. The man's skir~ called sang, which was part of official attire, was open on both sides.

During the Choson period, chogori grew shorter and shorter while ch'ima for formal and ritual occasions became more and more voluminous, and was puffed up by many layers of undergarments which served as petticoats. The length and volume of the ch'ima and the way it was worn were indications of the wear-

er's status. Kisaeng, professional women entertainers, had to fold the left edge of the skirt over the top to allow a bit of their bloomers to show as an indication of their profession. Sometimes the wives and daughters of members of different political factions wore skirts in a certain way as a sign of their affiliation.

The Korean ch'ima is a square or tubular garment similar to the sarong worn widely in Southeast Asia, Africa, and New Guinea. The Korean ch'ima is the most developed example of the sarong garments worn below the waist, having a high, pleated waistband and fastened with straps attached to the waistband.

Whereas in other countries skirts are draped around the waist and fastened either with strips of cloth or by tucking a corner of the surplus fabric into the fold, in Korea the ch'ima is draped around the chest and fastened with the straps attached to the ends of the waistband (which is actually a chestband). This variation must have risen out of the different climate and habitation as a means to provide greater freedom of movement and to retain body heat better.

The turumagi was originally ceremonial or thermal wear worn over paji and chogori. Yasuro Ogawa contends that the Korean weird for garment, "ot," derives from the Chinese word "o;' meaning "outer coat," but ot, as previously mentioned, is widely believed to be a word coined by King Sepng. The turumagi in Kogury6 murals have borders on the lapels and the sleeves, just like the chogori, and are fastened in the back or on the side to avoid overlapping with the chogori fastener. Like the sleeves of the chogori, the sleeves of the turumagi also became wider. Some scholars attribute this change in the width of the sleeves to influence from China, but such changes can and do occur spontaneously, as Fluegel's decoration theory explained, and a change in lifestyle no doubt stimulated the change. It is incorrect to explain the changes in the hanbok solely or mostly from the Chinese influence. During the Kory6 period, the lines of the turumagi became indistinct, as can be seen in a

This portrait shows the Prince Regent Hiingsi5n Taewongun dressed in robes to be worn only when going before the king.

painting titled Kory6 Togy6ng (mustrated Account of Kory6) by Hsu Ching of Sung China. A white hemp turumagi dating back to the mid-fourteenth century which was discovered with some Buddhist relics provides important clues to Kory6 clothing. This white hemp turumagi has a stiff, straight collar, and apparently had tie-strings to fasten it It is evidently a forerunner of the Choson turumagi pleated at the armpit. During

the Choson period, various styles of tummagi called ui, chingn y6ng, topo and chomni were worn by the literati, but they were unified into the narrowersleeved turumagi worn after the 1894 Reforms. The fact that the belt around the waist to fasten the turumagi was replaced by tie-strings tied at the chest indicates that an active and functional lifestyle gave way to an inactive, sedentary one.

Ritual Attire In genra~ aristocrats wore long, copious robes. During the reign of King Pophung (r. 514-540) of Shilla, a fourcolor official robe system was established and during the reign of Shilla's King Munmu (r. 661-681), the official robe system of Tang China was imported and put into practice for diplomatic activities and for reinforcing the dignity of the governing class. From the reign of Koryo's King Munjong (r. 1046-1083), elaborate dress codes were set up for the king, queen and various grades of officials. During the Choson period, the official robe system of Ming China was adopted and codified in the Code of State Government The system continued to be observed for maintaining class distinction and preserving the dignity of royalty.

With the changes in the style of daily

wear, the variety of official robes was curtailed, and utensils for official rituals were also simplified. Ironically, however, the royal robe became more magnificent after Kojong (r. 1863-1907) proclaimed himself emperor and renamed the country the Great Han Empire.

Shortly after, the country lost its sovereignty. The same thing had happened to the Koryo Dynasty which was toppled by a coup d'etat a few decades after King Kongmin (r. 1351-1374) wore the imperial garment that till then only Yuan Chinese emperors had worn. The color, patterns and tailoring of royal robes were full of symbolic meaning. A full set of King Kojong's ceremonial robes is on display in the Toksugung Palace Museum of Royal Heritage.

Women wore the official robes corresponding to their husband's official rank Some examples of Choson Dynasty

court ladies' costumes are on display in the Sejong University Museum. It is hoped that they will be moved to a place more easily accessible to the general public. .

Other ritual dresses include those worn at weddings, funerals and commemoration ceremonies. Brides wore wonsam and hwalot. The color of the

\ A man's mourning outfit; On the right chest is a pocket with an attached handkerchief for drying tears.

10

wonsam and the decorations on it were distinct for the different classes and ranks. Queens wore yellow wonsam with dragons stamped in gold; crown princesses and royal concubines of the highest rank wore red wonsam with phoenixes stamped in gold; and, princesses and low-ranking royal concubines wore green wonsam with stamped flowers. Commoners could wear only green. Hwalot, the bridal topcoat, was made of red cloth lined with indigo, the colors symbolizing heaven and earth. Phoenix, peony, butterflies, waves, rocks, and plants with longevity were embroidered on the front and the back of the hwalot, and male infants were embroidered on its shoulders. On the back of the hwalot was embroidered the verse, "Marriage is the source of all blessings. Let the couple enjoy longevity like a mountain and riches like the ocean." The primitive shape of the hwalot's collar indicates that it has not changed much from ancient times, further evidence that people tend to be conservative concerning rituals.

For the litera~ funeral shrouds were tailored in the form of the official robes of the highest office held by the deceased. The mourning clothes worn by the survivors followed strict rules that took into consideration the wearer's relationship to the deceased, and were gradually removed with the passage of time. The wearing of mourning clothes put sobriety into the survivors' lives, enabled them to overcome the sorrow of bereavement and consolidated their kinship with other surviving relatives. The custom of national mourning for the kings, queens and crown princes strengthened national identity and reinforced centralized power. Mourning clothes were removed in stages according to how long the wearer had been in mourning, and the gradual removal of the mourning clothes mitigated the sorrow of the wearer and helped the wearer to regain equilibrium. When the peri-

od of mourning was over, the mourners could resume their normal life.

Originally, burial clothes consisted of any garment that friends and neighbors brought to clothe the deceased, but gradually men came to be buried in a shroud patterned after the robes of their last office if they had held one or patterned after their wedding garments if they had not held an office. Women were buried in shrouds befitting their husbands' ranks or patterned after their wedding garments if their husbands held no office. There were many taboos in connection with the sewing of shrouds. Shrouds prepared in advance had to be sewn in the leap month (which comes once every three years in the lunar calendar) by elderly women.

In sewing shrouds, threads were not to be knotted. Shrouds were fastened on the left, unlike the garments of the living, which are fastened on the right. Rough hemp was usually used for shrouds, but in some areas silk was used. A complete shroud contained the same items of dress as the wedding outfit.

This suggests that Koreans regarded death as a second wedding and believed in eternal life.

Special attire such as stage costumes, folk ritual costumes, court ritual costumes, and military garments each had distinct forms and symbolism, and had special accessories.

The factors that contributed to the changes in the hanbok include external factors such as the natural and social environ1,11ents, institutions and customs, government policies and religions, and internal factors such as personal and community temperaments and dynamics. The natural environment determines the basic character of a nation's costume, but the changes in a nation's social environment affect development of the costume. The external factors that have affected the hanbok include climatic changes, influences from neighboring countries, political and economic changes, shifts in social classes, develop-

ment of handicrafts, and changes in religious practices. Understanding changes in clothing is helpul in evaluating the mores and values of traditional Korean society.

The hanbok changed only gradually.

Until the mid-twentieth century, few changes were made in the hanbok. This reflects the strongly traditional and stable character of Korean society and Korean people's strong sense of identity.

The basic form of the hanbok has always been preserved, and changes have only involved modification and variation. Basically, Koreans always wore ch'irna, ch6gori, paji and turumagi, and the changes affected only length and width or other incidental features.

Separate items or parts of items of the hanbok tended to change in inverse relationship with others. For example, when the chogori grew shorter, its tie-

On the other hand, ritual garments have occupied a significant place in the development of the hanbok. The Confucian ideology that governed the Choson Dynasty for over 500 years placed social order above natural order and the community above the individual. Therefore, as individuals derived their identity from the community or , group, rituals which consolidated the group or community assumed supreme importance. Thus, ritual garments were considered to be of great importance.

To study the history of a nation's costume is to understand the culture and character of that nation. Then, it is to be noted that the hanbok, like the traditional costumes of other nations, is worn increasingly as ceremonial or ornamental attire today. +

string became longer. When the chogori grew shorter and scantier, the ch'ima became longer and fuller. Unnecessary parts of the hanbok tended to disappear.

In keeping with changes in ceremonial usage or ornamental value, parts that came to be regarded as unnecessary or insignificant either grew smaller or disappeared.

The bridal topcoat hwalot is usually made of red cloth lined with indigo and adorned on the front and back with embroidered birds and flowers.

11

KOREAN CLOTHES Cho Hyo-soon Professor of Home Economics Myongji University

he earliest material evidence of Korea's clothing culture dates back to 3,000 B.C. and includes Neolithic relics of clothes making such as sewing needles and spinning tools and personal accessories such as earrings and bracelets, as well as shell necklaces and rings excavated from ancient shell mounds in Kimhae. Murals in Kogury6 (37 B.C.-A.D. 668) tombs show that during the Three Kingdoms period (57 B.C.-A.D. 935) people wore jackets, vests, coats, ornaments such as necklaces, bracelets and rings, and waist belts and shoes.

T

As weaving is requisite for making clothes, it can be assumed that weaving developed in Korea during the prehistoric era and would have been a major chore of women of that time.

According to the Chinese history book San-kuo-chi (History of the Three Kingdoms) the people of Py6nhan, an

ancient Korean kingdom, wove silk to make clothing. The book also includes references to Korean women weaving linen and silk fabrics.

There is also a written record that during the Shilla Kingdom (37 B.C.-A.D. 935), King Hy6kk6se (r. 57 B.C.-A.D. 4)

A scene from a mural in a Koguryo tomb in Chi-an, China 12

encouraged the development of sericulture and King Yuri (r. 19 B.C.-A.D. 18) held weaving contests around the time of Ch'us6k, the fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month. The Korean history book Samguksagi (History of the Three Kingdoms) records that the Shilla Kingdom sent 30 cart-loads of extra-fine ramie fabric to T'ang China to be used by the royal household.

During the Kory6 Dynasty (918-1392), King Ch'ungny61 (r.l274-1308) sent embroidered ramie fabric as tribute to the court of Yuan China, and during the reign of King Kongmin (r.l351-1374),

AND FABRICS Moon Ik-jom brought cotton seeds to Korea from China. By the time of the Chason Dynasty (1392-1910), the weaving of ramie, silk and cotton fabrics had become prevalent throughout the country, contributing greatly to the dress culture of Chos6n. As a result, many customs of the Chason period were related to weaving.

In Puyo, Ch'ungchongnam-do, and Yongju, Kyongsangbuk-do, where the weaving of cotton and hemp, respectively, was communalized, women worked together in late summer until late at night making cloth, exchanging

jokes and funny stories as they wove.

In some provinces on Ch'usok, rewards were given to those who had made the most cloth. Shilla had a similar custom called kabae. Women of the Chason period had to learn weaving before the age of ten and had to work at the looms all their lives. Weaving contests were a time for women to temporarily forget the exhaustion of weaving and concentrate on camaraderie. While weaving, women sang songs related to their work.

The quality of hemp weaving remarkably improved during the

Chason period and each region had its own variety. The hemp from Hamgyong-do was called pukp'o, from Kyongsang-do yongp'o, from Kang-wondo kangp'o, from Andong Andongp'o, and from Koksong tolshilnai. Among them, pukp'o from the Yukjin area of Hamgyong-do was regarded as the finest. The more inferior hemp of Andong and Koksong was used for summer clothes, while the coarser kangp'o was mostly used for farmers' and fishermen's clothing.

The production of hemp fabric is a complicated process involving many

A genre painting showing the various processes involved in making cotton cloth 13

steps, beginning with the cultivation and harvesting of hemp plants. Hemp is planted in the third lunar month and harvested in the sixth lunar month.

After harvesting, the hemp is steamed and the bark peeled off. For the steaming process, the hemp is placed on a hot stone and covered with leaves. Water is poured on the stone to produce steam and the hemp turns yellow. The bark is then peeled off before it cools, tied into bundles, and soaked in water and dried.

The hemp bark is torn into three strands from the top and the hemp fibers are shredded from them. The fibers are then bundled together and placed in water to soak. Next the fibers are spun into strands and, to keep them from becoming brittle, placed in a warm room for five to seven days, covered with a straw mat to keep the heat in.

The strands are then boiled in water, rinsed and dried in the sun. The weaver then prepares threads of different density, depending on the intended use. One sae consisting of 80 strands, five sae were usually used for work clothes, seven sae for regular clothes and three sae for mourning clothes. After the strands are prepared, the hemp is tied together and dried again by a bonfire.

14

Then the threads are wound on a reel.

After this process is over, the thread is placed on the loom and woven into fabric.

The most delicately woven ramie fabric was the Hansansejo which Shilla's King Kyongmun (r. 861-875) sent as a gift to the court of T'ang China. During the Koryo Dynasty, embroidered ramie fabric was introduced. The making of ramie is similar to the making of hemp.

Ramie can be harvested three times a

In addition to being virtuous,

women during the Chos6n period were expected to be skillful in sewing and weaving. Every stitch was an expression of a woman's caring, Jove and aspirations for her family and she kept her sewing tools and paraphernalia with the same care and affection.

year-spring, summer and autumn.

During the reign of Chason's King T'aejong (r. 1400-1418), the court promoted the production of silk by establishing sericulture centers called chamshil, instituting a law to govern sericulture, and introducing silk-weaving contests.

During the reign of King Songjong (r.

1469-1494), when even the ladies of the court participated in silk-weaving contests, sericulture flourished to such an extent that domestically-produced silk replaced imported Chinese silk for the making of court apparel.

Silk making included not only the weaving of fabric but also the raising of silkworms, retting of cocoons and spinning of thread. The best silk was said to be made from cocoons collected in spring because their thread was longer and thicker than that of autumn cocoons. .

After cotton was introduced in Korea during the reign of Koryo's King Kongmin, cotton culture flourished, especially in the provinces of Ch'ungch'ong-do, Cholla-do and Kyongsang-do. Cotton cloth became so popular that it was used in place of money when there was a currency crisis during the reign of Chason's King Sejong (r. 1418-1450). However, the use of cotton as money was abused as cotton was collected in the form of taxes.

Taxes were even levied on dead family members and the cloth used to pay these taxes was popularly called paekkolchingp'o, meaning "skeleton tax cloth." The amount of tax levied upon common people was so excessive that they took the cotton padding out of their clothes to weave into cloth.

S6ch'ongdaep'o, the cloth made from the used cotton padding, was coarse and had a smoky tinge. This form of taxation greatly hindered the development of quality cotton weaving.

The weaving of cotton cloth began with the cultivation of cotton plants and the harvesting of cotton bolls, and involved many subsequent steps such as carding to remove the seeds and spinning the cotton fibers into thread

for weaving. The best quality cloth was made with 15- to 21-ply thread, while cloth for commoners was made with 5to 8-ply thread.

Garment Care The care of garments includes such processes as washing, patching, stain removal, starching, ironing and storing.

Many of these processes reflect the wisdom of ancient Koreans.

Koreans have long been fastidious about the care of their clothing. During the Chos6n Dynasty, in particular, cleanliness was considered a virtue and much emphasis was placed on one's appearance, including one's clothing. A Chos6n gentleman would not be seen in an outfit that was not spotlessly clean, so women had to do a lot of washing, starching and ironing and in the process developed many types of bleaches. Lye was used as a detergent Lye was made by boiling burned hay, wood and bean skins and was usually used for washing cotton and hemp clothes. Silk fabrics were cleaned with red bean powder, mung bean powder, rice water and tofu water.

Ancient needle holders

Clothes were starched to help them keep their shape, give the fabric a shine and to make them more stain resistant.

Starching was done with rice, flour, potato and buckwheat starch. After the starching was done, the still damp clothes were wrapped in a cloth, placed on the floor and trodden on to remove the wrinkles. Before being ironed, the clothes would be placed on a fulling block and beaten with clubs.

To remove stains from clothes, water left from boiling herbal medicine was recommended. Rubbing with turnip was recommended for grease stains and the steam from boiling a cow's foot was recommended for blood stains. To remove tobacco stains it was recommended that the spot be rubbed with pear leaves and washed in cold water.

Washing in ginkgo nut, garlic and turnip juice was recommended for relfloving mildew, washing with water in which turnip was boiled was recommended for oil stains, and washing with ginger juice was recommended for rust stains.

These cleaning methods developed by Koreans of olden days could well be used today in garment care.

Andongp'o hemp cloth on the loom 15

Ceremonial Dress and Ornamentation During the Chason period, the coming-of-age ceremony, marriage, funeral, and ancestral rites were the four most important ceremonies of one's life.

Except for the coming-of-age ceremony, which was carried out only by aristocrats, the ceremonies were performed by both aristocrats and commoners.

These ceremonies were first introduced to Korea from China in the late Koryo period. However, although the ancestral rites were notably influenced

by China, Korea developed its own distinct ceremonial procedures, as is clearly evident in the Karye-chimriam (Exposition of Family Rites) of the early Chason period and Sarye-p'y6llam (Procedures for Four Ceremonies) of the late Chason period.

During the Chason period when Confucianism was the ruling political ideology, the four ceremonies were prescribed by law. As a resul~ these ceremonies became an integral part of daily life, serving as the basis for maintaining order in one's life and household.

Attempts were made during the Chason period to adopt Chinese rites to Korea's own customs. However, as the Chinese procedures proved to be too complicated, many were modified to conform to Korean customs and lifestyles.

Kyerye, the traditional hairdressing ceremony that marked a girl's ¡comingofage

During the Chos6n period, the coming-of-age, wedding, funeral and ancestral ceremonies were prescribed by law.

As a

result, they became an integral part of daily life, serving as the basis for maintaining order in one's

The following is an introduction to the various ceremonies and the traditional dress and ornamentation for such occasions.

Coming-of-Age Ceremony The coming-of-age ceremony involved doing up one's hair for the first time with an ornamental headpiece called kwan for males and with an ornamental hairpin called piny6 for females.

For males, the ceremony was called kwallye and for females, kyerye.

Originally, kwallye was held between the ages of fifteen and twenty, but due to the prevalence of early marriage, the age was lowered.

The kwallye was usually held in the 16

life and household

first or fourth lunar month before marriage. The youths to be crowned were called kwanja. Their hair was put up in a double topknot called ssangsangtu, and they were dressed in a special silk ensemble consisting of sagyusam (broad-sleeved robe) with belt and lustrous shoes. Kwanja went through the three procedures of choga, chaega and samga before being "crowned" with the kwan. The kwallye ceremony was presided over by a man called the pin

and his assistant called the chan. Pin were senior members of the family or society who were of high moral repute and chan were those who could tie a topknot well.

Kwanja wore different costumes for each ceremonial procedure but, because the kwallye was very complicated and costly, many families only did the choga section. Kwallye procedures differed among regions and families, with some people wearing just the official outfits or full dress attire.

Although the kyerye was to be held at the age of fifteen, most women went through the ceremony on the morning of their wedding day and thus it came to be considered a female wedding custom.

The girl or bride was called kyeja for the ceremony, which was conducted by the kyebin and the girl's mother. After the kyeja was dressed in a long silk gown called samja, the kyebin did up her hair in a bun, attached a long, wide colorfullydecorated ribbon called taenggi to it, placed a pinyo in her hair, and placed a hwagwan, a cap exquisitely decorated with ornaments to look like a flower blossom, on top of her head.

Wedding Ceremony In principle, marriage involved six steps: uihon, m unm yang, napkil, napching, ch'6nggi and ch'iny6ng However, in 1814, during the reign of King Honjong, the process was reduced to include only uihon, napch'ae, nappae and ch'inyong.

Uihon was the process of finding a proper match between two youths, with the families of both the boy and the girl agreeing to the marriage. Usually males over fifteen and females over twelve qualified for uihon. After both families agreed to the marriage, the boy's family sent to the girl's home a paper stating the boy's saju (four pillars), the year, month, day and hour of his birth. This process of sending the saju was called napch'ae.

Using the boy's and girl's saju, the girl's family selected a wedding date and sent it to the boy's family. When the marriage date was se~ the bridegroom-to-be's fami-

ly usually sent a ham, a box containing gifts and a letter confirming the marriage, to the bride-to-be's family. This was called nappae.

The letter of marriage was considered legal proof of marriage. At the same time, it symbolized a woman's vow to remain faithful to her husband until death and was customarily placed inside the coffin at her death. Traditional gifts for the bride were yards of red and blue fabric for traditional red and blue dresses. The blue silk fabric was wrapped in red paper and tied with blue silk thread, while the red fabric was wrapped in blue paper and tied with red silk thread. ¡ In addition to the fabric, small bags containing cotton bolls and red beans were put inside the ham to symbolize wishes for fertility. The ham was usually delivered to the bride's house on the eve of the wedding ceremony by the hamjinabi, a married male friend of the bridegroom.

Ch'inyong, the actual marriage ceremony, was an all day affair ending with the newlyweds retiring to the bridal chamber. The marriage ceremony ordinarily took place at the bride's house, and the newlyweds went to the bridegroom's house two to three days after the wedding. Going to the bridegroom's house for the first time was called ugui or shinhaeng. Sometimes the newlymarried couple spent months, or a year at the longest, at the bride's house before moving to the bridegroom's house. But shinhaeng usually took place three days after the wedding. Upon arrival at the bridegroom's house, the bride greeted her parents-in-law for the first time in a ceremony called p'yebaek in which she presented them with food such as jujubes, chestnuts, wine, and dried beef that she brought from her home. After spending three to seven days there, the bridge and groom returned to the bride's house. This was called chaehaeng. The couple spent about three days at the bride's house, paying courtesy calls to the bride's family members and relatives.

Then the couple returned to the husband's house to live. After autumn harvest, the new couple again visited the

A genre painting showingshinhaeng, the newlyweds' first trip to the bridegroom's house (above); Women of the common class wore hwalot like this queen's robe for weddings (below)

wife's house with newly harvested crops and spent a few days. This was called kiinch 'in. Depending on the region and family tradition, the couple stayed at the bride's house for up to a year or until the first baby was born before moving to the husband's house for good.

For the wedding ceremony, the groom wore the samo headgear and tallyong silk robe with p'umdae belt and mokhwa felt boots, a wedding custom from the time of Chason's King Sukchong (r. 1674-1720). Regulations concerning the wearing of such clothes for weddings by both royalty and commoners were stipulated in the Sarye-

p'yollam (Procedures for Four Ceremonies). The samo and tallyong were first used as the official uniform for government officials during the late

Koryo period. They were used as burial clothes for civil officers and high government officials from the early Chason until late Chason period, when they were permitted to be used as wedding clothes for the general public.

The dress for brides in early times was called the yam iii. Then, with the increasing extravagance of royalty and aristocrats, ceremonial clothing such as the hwalot, wonsam topcoat and tangiii, an overblouse with hanging lapels, were adopted for use. During the midand late Chason ¡period, hwalot and wonsam were the most popular wedding dresses for women. In particular, the hwalot was the most important and luxurious ceremonial dress worn by princesses, and the adoption of this attire by common people satisfied their deeply felt aspirations to climb up the

A family dressed in hemp funeral clothes 18

social ladder.

Even commoners were allowed to wear these clothes of royalty for weddings to let them enjoy the feeling of being a "king" or "queen" for a day.

Because the preparation of such wedding clothes was costly, villagers would prepare one set to be used whenever someone in the village married, or families would pass down the wedding clothes from generation to generation.

This practice of working together by villagers is an example of the keen cooperative spirit and collective wisdom of ancient Koreans.

Funeral Rituals Of the four ceremonies, funerals were conducted with the most formality. Respect for ancestors being one of the basic teachings of Confucianism,

every step of a funeral was carried out with utmost solemnity, especially funerals for one's parents. During the Choson period, great care was taken in preparing the burial clothes as death was not considered the end of life, but the beginning of a new life in the next world. The funeral process involved a variety of steps called ch'ojong, supy6m, s6ngbok, ch'ijang and cheui For ch'ojong, the period from the time of death until supyom, men in mourning loosened their hair and put on mourning clothes made of coarse, handwoven hemp, worn loosely with only the interior coat string tied and collars folded. However, toward the end of the Choson period, traditional full dress attire was worn instead of mourning clothes with the left sleeve folded once for the father's funeral, and the right sleeve for the mother's funeraL Women in mourning loosened their hair, removed all ornamental accessories, and wore a white mourning dress. All family members of the deceased took off their socks, or poson.

The preparation of the corpse, called supyom, required bathing the body and dressing it in specially prepared clothes made of silk or fine hemp cloth. The shrouds, called m6nung-ot or chugumaeot, were often prepared while the deceased was alive. In making shrouds, the threads were not tied but hung loosely. This was because the thread was believed to connect the present world with the next Burial clothes for men included inner and outer jackets (chogori), inner and outer pf!nts (paji), a long white topcoat, and headpiece. Women's included an inner and outer jacket, pants, skirt (ch'ima) and a wonsam worn as a topcoat. Also used were tt6ngmo, cloth wrappings for the face, aksu, coverings for the hands, onang, a small pouch in which the fingernail and toenail clippings of the deceased were placed, pokpo, a cloth to cover the abdomen, along with socks, two blankets (ibu!) and a pillow. Sometimes commoners dressed the corpse in just pants and a

jacket, or in wedding clothes.

Once the corpse was dressed, it was placed in the coffin and any remaining space was filled with old clothes, paper or straw.

After the supyom, family members put on proper mourning clothes (sangbok), a proces.s called s6ngbok Different types of sangbok were worn according to the mourner's relationship to the deceased The quality of the fabric, the clothes design and the sewing technique of the various sangbok also differed.

The sons of the deceased wore hemp hoods and outfits made of coarse hemp with a rope for a belt. They also wrapped their legs, wore straw shoes, and carried a mourning stick Women traditionally wore white cotton outfits (ch'ima and chog6n), with belts, headgear, hairpins made of wood and straw shoes.

In a process called ch'ijang, the coffin was borne to the grave site. Funerals for the nobility lasted three months, for scholars and government officials one month and for commoners three days to a week The bier was decorated with flowers and carried to the grave site, sometimes accompanied by funeral streamers. The coffin was buried in the grave which had already been dug for the process. A mound was then built on top of the grave and covered with sod, after which the mourners returned home. The rite for the first anniversary of one's death is called sosang, and for the second anniversary taesang.

Taesang signified the end of the mourning period, when the mourning clothes were discarded and people returned to their former routine.

Ancestral Rites During the Choson period, deceased family members were treated with the same care and respect as living ones.

Thus ancestral rites, like funerals, were very fastidious and conducted with the utmost propriety and decorum. During the harvest season, people reserved the best grains, fruits and meat for ancestral offerings. People could not talk or laugh

loudly while preparing the food for the rite, because it would disturb the spirits of the ancestors who were believed to enjoy the smell of the food being prepared. The ancestral rites were of three basic types: ch 'arye, kije and shije.

Ch'arye was usually performed on special days of the lunar calendar such as New Year's Day, Taeborum (First Full Moon Day), Hanshik (the 105th day after the winter solstice), Tano (the fifth day of the fifth lunar month), Ch'ilsok (the seventh day of the seventh lunar month), Ch'usok (Harvest Moon Day on the fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month), Chungyang (the ninth day of the ninth lunar month) and Tongji (winter solstice), although many families only performed it on New Year's Day, Hanshik, Tano and Ch'usok Kije was performed annually at mid-¡ night on the anniversary of the ancestor's death, beginning the year after taesang. According to tradition, kije was performed for ancestors four generations back Myoje, also called shije or shihyangje, was performed for ancestors back to five generations at their graves, normally located in the family cemetery. Although the Saryep 'y611am (Procedures for Four Ceremonies) stipulated that myoje were to be held annually early in the third lunar month, most families performed it in the tenth lunar month in appreciation for an abundant harvest.

For performing the ancestral rites, men wore top'o, long overcoats and black headpieces for all ancestral rites, except for the kije for which they still wore mourning clothes made of hemp.

Women in most cases did not participate in ancestral rites so they did not have any specific clothing for such occasions.

Nevertheless, women of the upper class wore plain white dresses made of thin silk and women of the lower classes wore plain white or light blue dresses.

Given that white and light blue dresses were common among women during the Choson period, one can assume that they washed and wore their everyday clothes for such occasions. + 19

owadays, most people do not consider the hanbok, Korea's national costume, as daily wear, preferring to wear it on special occasions such as social gatherings and seasonal festivals. Still, for many modern Koreans, wearing a hanbok is a way to show pride in their cultural heritage.

As is true with any national costume, the hanbok is a reflection of the nation's climate as well as its aesthetics. A study of the hanbok can thus provide insight into the character of the Korean people.

A hanbok basically consists of an upper part and a lower part. The woman's hanbok is composed of a ch6gori, a bolero-like blouse, and a ch'ima, a skirt. A vest called paeja, a jacket called magoja, and a coat called turumagi may be worn over the outfit. A headgear called ayam or choba.wi may be worn to complete the ensemble. A man's outfit is similarly composed of a chogori and paji, trousers. Whereas a vest or jacket may or may not be worn over the ch6gori, traditional etiquette requires a man to always wear a coat or turumagi over his hanbok when outside his house.

In olden days, hanbok differed according to the wearer's gender, class, profession and social status, with other variations depending on individual preference and lifestyle. Ceremonial clothes for weddings, funerals and other important occasions, especially those worn by royalty and court officials, showed the most diversity.

However, it is the basic two-part outfit for daily wear that has long been favored by Koreans, regardless of class or profession. It was even worn under ceremonial gowns on special occasions.

Referred to as hanbok in the narrow sense of the word, it has become formal attire for modern Koreans.

Like Korean art, the hanbok is characterized by flowing lines and curves. The chogori is especially rich in subtle

BEAUTY OF N

TRADITIONAL KOREAN HANBOK Kum Ki-suk Assistant Professor of Textile Art Hong-ik University 20

curves, such as in the collar, the underside of the sleeves, the hem and the fly, which are sometimes highlighted with dark lines. The silhouette of the dress also has curves that undulate into more curves as the wearer moves. The ties and folds of the dress also create flowing curves.

A straight silhouette was the fashion in the mid-sixteenth century, but it gave way to voluminous curves in the mideighteenth century which evolved into more moderate, natural curves in the late-nineteenth century. The changes in the silhouette reflected changes in the lines of each part of the costume.

Nonetheless, the hanbok has been characterized by flowing, supple lines throughout the centuries. In tang-ui, a jacket worn by court ladies during the Choson period, the curve of the front fly reverses sharply as it meets the curve of the hem, emphasizing the beauty of reversal. The sharp angle thus formed at each corner is one of the aesthetic points commonly found in all forms of Korean arts.

The curved line is visible not only in clothes but also in the eaves of traditional buildings, in dance movements and in handicrafts and paintings, and can even be heard in classical melodies. It is also visible in the eternal circle of t'aeguk on a fan and in a small iron, indu, used for pressing the collar of the chogori. The beauty of the curved line cannot be stressed enough when discussing the beauty of hanbok.

Empty or open space is a characteris-

A queens tang-iii with Chinese characters for longevity and happiness stamped in gold (above); Evolution of the hanbok (below) Mid-16th century

Mid-18th century

tic common to Korean arts. The blank areas of a porcelain jar, free of any ornamentation, complement its beauty. The blank areas in a painting inspire the viewer to fill the canvas with empathy.

The same holds true for the hanbok. As it covers most of the wearer's body, the hanbok abounds in blank . areas.

Women's skirts and men's coats and robes especially have large unadorned areas. Koreans have traditionally favored plain fabric for clothing and even when the fabric has decorations, they are generally patterns woven into the fabric rather than added later. This contributes to the look of empty spaces that characterizes the hanbok.

Fabric pieces of contrasting colors appliqued on the collar, armpits, cuffs and ties enhance the beauty of the

late 18th century

Mid-19th century

late 19th century

21

woman's chogori. At the same time, pleats along the upper rim of the skirt flow into long, fluid lines which, shifting as the wearer moves, serve as a decorative element for the great expanse of blank space that is the skirt.

The empty spaces of the hanbok allow for versatility as testified to by plentiful anecdotes. When a woman soiled a skirt she had borrowed from her neighbor, Shin Saimdang, a famous poetess and painter of the Chason period (1392-1910), painted a grapevine on the skirt, thus solving the woman's dilemma for she could sell the decorated skirt at a high price and reimburse the owner. Men often painted on the skirts of their mistresses as an expression of their affection. In fact, it was the dream of every kisaeng (professional entertainer) to have her skirt painted by her gentleman friend and she would sh;:tmelessly flaunt such a skirt.

Portrait of So Chik-su, a Chos6n Dynasty scholar, painted jointly

by Kim Hong-do and Yi Myong-gi, circa 1796 22

Beauty of White Ancient Koreans had such a great predilection for white that they were long known as "the white-clad people."

White was used in both men's and women's clothing because it contrasts well with black hair. In fact, today's sartorial experts concur that black and white is one of the best color schemes for Koreans. They reason that the black and white contrast becomes Koreans because the tonal values of their hair color and skin color differ so radically.

The Korean preference for white clothes was so excessive that the government often promulgated special orders to ban white clothes, but the people responded by dyeing their clothes the lightest blue, ivory or gray. The frequent government prohibitions suggest that people continued to wear white, government orders notwithstanding.

White has been favored in many countries but th e persistence with which Koreans adhered to the color for thousands of years sets them apart from other peoples. The powerful attachment to white is believed to be closely related with the innate nature of

1

Koreans to value purity in material and spirit. The Korean predilection for white should be understood as a spiritual matter rather than as a visual preference.

On the other hand, however, combinations of strong colors are another feature of the hanbok as evidenced by such oft-cited descriptions as "a green blouse over a red skirt," "a yellow blouse over a red skirt," and "a green blouse over a blue skirt:' Whereas commoners wore primary colors mainly for seasonal festivals and ceremonial occasions such as weddings, members of the privileged classes wore them anytime. The ruling class preferred primary colors because they were flattering to the wearer. Of the five cardinal solors, yellow symbolized the emperor and empress and red, the king and queen. The color of a woman's ceremonial dress was determined by the class and position of her spouse.

Complementarity characterizes the combinations of primary colors used in the hanbok. Green against red and yellow against blue, for example, are attractive because of their brigh~ eye-catching contrast In ceremonies and rituals, garments of such colors attract attention to the wearers, the major participants in the

A robe worn by the queen after 1897, the year Kojong (r.1863-1907) proclaimed himself emperor

events. Primary colors were also believed to expel evil spirits. Conversely, the colorfulness signified auspiciousness. Saektong, a rainbow-like combination of colors, was favored for wedding gowns, festival clothes, children's clothes and also for the ritual costumes of shamans.

Saektong chogori, saektong turumagi (coat) and coats of the five cardinal colors were also quite popular.

Primary color schemes are also frequently found in embroidery. For example, wave and rock patterns on ceremonial gowns and on pouches were embroidered with layers of different col-

ors to accentuate the colorfulness of the primary colors. Harmonious combinations of primary colors can also be seen in women's ornaments and accessories.

One attribute of the hanbok is that it conceals almost all of the wearer's body.

In the Confucian society of the Choson Dynasty, which considered the greatest virtue for men to be integrity and for women, chastity, social values were reflected in clothing. Men refrained from being seen outside without the proper attire, including a hat, and women hid their faces with overcoats when they went out beyond the con23

fines of their houses.

Women put on layers of clothing because of the Confucian edict that "females should never reveal their flesh to other people." Under their skirts, women wore baggy pants over three pairs of increasingly smaller pants and a loin cloth. The layers of undergarments resulted in a voluminous lower body with a curvaceous silhouette.

Because a woman wore a tight-fitting blouse under her ch6gori, her overall appearance was of a figure with a narrow, tight upper body and a flaring, voluminous lower body. To make her skirt even more voluminous and also to support her waist, an upper-class woman would wear two kinds of underskirts when she dressed for formal occasions.

Concealing most of the body under layers of garments, the hanbok subtlety highlights the beauty and grace of the female figure, titillating the viewer's imagination about what it hides.

The rigid concealment of the hanbok notwithstanding, women of the lower class during the Choson period evinced an ambivalence regarding the exposure of their breasts or undergarments.

Depending on the movement of the wearer, the wind, or the use of transparent fabrics, undergarments may be seen beneath the outer wear. This type of subtle exposure of the body is quite sensual.

An example of bold exposure is the baring of one's breasts. Given the excessive preference for male heirs in the Choson society, it is understandable that giving .birth to a son was a great source of pride for a woman. A woman would proudly bare her breasts to nurse her child, deliberately provoking the envy of other women. In this sense, the direct exposure of the body can be understood as a status symbol.

After the mid-Choson period, hanbok fashions became more revealing, at least in terms of revealing the wearer's undergarments. The sight of bloomers showing below a hiked-up skirt, as depicted in genre paintings of the time, must 24

have been quite shocking to those who adhered to the strict dress code of old.

This provocative show of one's undergarments is believed to have been an exhibitionistic gesture. This type of exhibitionism is described in detail in Ch 'unhyangj6n, the popular romantic story of a kisaeng's daughter and the son of a government official. As Ch'unhyang rides the swing on a late spring day, "her red skirt billowed and her white silk bloomers flapped loosely in the southeasterly wind." The writer must have titillated readers of this period with his reference to undergarments, which were considered unmentionable at the time.

Photographs taken in the closing years of the Choson Kingdom, indicate that the showing of one's bloomers was a fashion trend in vogue at that time.

These changes in fashion were obviously the result of changing social values and ethics. They were also part of the process by which some undergarments developed into clothes for outer wear.

Meanwhile, movement contributes to the aesthetics of the hanbok. It is seen in the tie of the chogori, hair ribbons, tassels attached to pendants and other personal ornaments that undulate rhythmically and hair pins that flutter ever so subtlety.

The tasseled belt strings of the man's coat move in a natural rhythm as the wearer moves. The long hat string, one of the few luxuries the modest gentlemen-scholars of Choson indulged in, swing and sway as do the pendants adorning the gentleman's folding fan.

Pendulous to the movement of the fan, the fan pendants evoked visions of wind with every movement of the fan.

In the Sword Dance, the bouncing of the plumes of the dancer's hat and the flapping of the military robe she puts on over her skirt and ch6gori magnify the dancer's movements and make the dance exciting. The long, white scarf the dancer wields in the Nun's Dance and the Salp'uri Dance effectively conveys a feeling of fluctuation.

The flutt ering ties of a woman's

ch6gori and the hanging ribbons of the skirt ties were as integral to the everyday dress of the Choson period as were the ribbons worn in the hair and pendants worn on the chest. The maedup (ornamental knots) and tassels of the pendants are in keeping with the line and motion of the ch6gori and skirt of the hanbok. Pendulous tassels were very popular at the time and were used to decorate a great number of items such as perfume pouches, small ornamental knives and bags.

Fluttering pins were also popular as evidenced by the their use in bridal crowns and various other headgear and hair decorations. They consisted of pretty ornaments attached to the end of thin wires so that they would flutter at the slightest movement of the wearer.

The flutteririg and swaying of the ornamental pins and tassels ;ue yet another form of undulating line, a visual expression of an aesthetic search for the natural beauty of movement.

Beauty of Symbolism The hanbok is replete with symbolism, in its colors, patterns and ornaments, a quality that is still evident in today's hanbok. At wedding ceremonies, for example, a groom's mother always wears blue or a similar color and the bride's mother always wears pink or a similar color.

In a traditional hanbok, the purple collar of a woman's chogori symbolized a husband and the blue cuffs, a son. If a woman could wear a chogori embellished with a purple collar and blue cuffs in her old age, she was regarded as truly blessed. The combination of green chogori and red skirt was reserved for brides. An unmarried woman wore a yellow chogori and a red skirt for seasonal festivals.

Patterns on the fabric of a hanbok were not only decorations but also expressions of th e wearer's wishes.

Peonies embroidered on a bridal gown were indicative of a wish for wealth and honor. The lotus flower, symbolizing nobility, was a popular motif for

embroidered folding screens to be used in a woman's room in summer. Bats and pomegranates symbolized many children. As axes represented sons, a pregnant woman would wear an axeshaped pendant in a wish to give birth to a son. The use of decorations featuring dragons, phoenixes, cranes and tigers were the reserve of the privileged classes because they symbolized royalty and civil and military officials of high rank.

More common and straightforward expressions of wishes were the use of Chinese characters or motifs designed on the basis of the characters. For example, the character pok, meaning "good fortune," and su, meaning "longevity," were used extensively in the hope of having good fortune and a long life.

It is no exaggeration to say that there were almost no patterns used in the hanbok that were meaningless. Also, ornaments had not only the function of complementing clothes but also practical and supplicatory functions. For instance, perfume containers, needle cases and small knives were ornamental and functional, whereas tiger claws, which were believed to keep evil spirits away from the wearer, and auspicious bat decorations were ornamental and supplicatory.

The diverse aesthetic elements of the hanbok embody the Korean sense of beauty. The shape and flowing lines of the hanbok are derived from the Korean preference for natural beauty and the need to be in harmony with nature. , The harmony of black and white and the combinations of primary colors, the blank spaces, and the use of symbolism grew out of the process of expressing the personal character and desires of the wearer and seem to be the result of sensible reasoning and controlled sentiments. The aesthetic framework of the hanbok is based on the Korean preference for naturalness, a desire for supernatural protection and blessings, and a Confucian-inspired dress code. +

Noblewomen wore chang-ot like this one draped over their heads when they went beyond the walls enclosing their homes.

A three-piece norigae with ornaments of coral, white jade and amber

A five-piecenorigae with ornaments of silver cloisonne

25

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of their clothing, hair and general appearance. were [Diny6, stick-like hairpins often or jade flowers, bright taenggi hair rib, agate or jade. th!? norigae pendants hung from the ribbands of skirts. The pendants usually knots known as maedup, colorful tassels and glaSs l?ottles, symbolic animals and flowers or Original)y used to protect a woman's chastity, M~ves : tJe<38il another fGrm of personal adomment. would be complete without p6s6n, white with cotton for warmth and comfort, and kkot<:l tol~ r Z>'Alt.r-i~oeah shoes. Kim Yoo-kyung consid~ !IJ:Eil~Q QrE3d accouterments along with the top'o robes, rpf:!r;aqii(Lf:t'l·qiJllaledignity still wom by men from the conservregion. We hope her observations help our beauty and wisdom of Korea's traditional r.e

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m ' aonvi':oo.m' •:lrY'I£>ntc

Ch'6ne Ch'ungmu, on the southern coast of Kyongsangnam-do Province, has long been famous for its quilting, and nowhere is the beauty of this tradition more evident than the Ch'ungmu quilted baby carrier, or ch'6ne. The baby carrier, a coverlet for carrying a baby on one's back, is unique for the brilliant contrast between the finely quilted black background and bright pink or red details.

First, the outer covers, one black and one red or pink, are sewn together, then a layer of cotton wadding is applied and carefully quilted in tiny stitches. The baby carrier is embroidered with fortuitous peony or bat

A ch'one, baby carrier seen from the front (above) and from the back (upper right)

motifs, and a bright border of pink or red is applied along the edges. At the top of the baby carrier, which is folded over to support the infant's head, a strip of white quilted fabric is applied, much like the crisp white collar on a traditional hanbok.

While this might seem sufficiently flamboyant for a baby carrier, the Ch'ungmu chone goes one step further: at the center of the back, just below the baby's head, an ornamental rear apron, or husu is attached. The husu is a rectangular piece of red quilted fabric covered with intricate embroidery depicting the ten longevity symbols called shipchangsaeilg. The edges of the rectangle are finished in fine embroidery and the corners are decorated with tassels of bright thread, often in the five basic colors representing the elements forming all cosmic matter. The husu is only used on special occasions-for example, a baby's first outing, first birthday or other important events.

A child being carried in a Ch'ungmu

ch'one is like a beautiful flower. Once I saw a woman carrying her child in a ch'one as she waited for her husband's flight to arrive at the international airport in Seoul. She caught the attention of the entire waiting room with the beauty of her baby carrier. It was truly a lovely sight, reflecting her devotion to her child and husband. The woman told me that people would often carrie up to compliment her when she used the baby carrier.

Indeed, having a Ch'ungmu ch'one to carry one's baby was once the dream of all Korean mothers.

"In the old days, grandmothers always dreamed of having one of these baby carriers for their grandchild. It didn't matter how poor your family was," the mother went on to explain.

"If you carried your baby in a Ch'ungmu ch'one, you were¡ given respect. Even the babies sense how good they look in one of these carriers."

You do not see many children carried in ch'one these days, however, and most young women don't appreciate the value of a Ch'ungmu ch'one. Still, people who remember the good old days know how warm and beautiful they are. Many remember how they longed for one but had to wait until they had the financial means to make or buy one, even after their child had grown.

"I keep it carefully folded in the wardrobe. Every once in a while I take it out and unfold it. It makes me feel good just to look at it," said one woman. Clearly the ch'one represent a standard of beauty that goes far beyond the practical use of the baby carriers.

In the olden days, women made their baby carriers by hand at home, but today the tradition is being carried on by one woman, Yi Chong-nyon, a former embroidery teacher who runs a quilt shop in downtown Ch'ungmu.

The ch'one require such careful stitching, she only makes one or two a year.

In fact, she has only made about two dozen in her career.

27

gold fish so often found on such belts.

Pak Yong-gi, designated a 'human cultural asset'' in the field of changdo-making, lives in Kwangyang, ChOllanamdo Province, part of the territory of the Paekche Kingdom. Through his dedication and expertise, he seems to be carrying on the Paekche changdo tradition. Kwangyang has long been famous for its iron and gold as well as its many blacksmiths skilled in the smelting of these metals, so it is hardly a coincidence that Kwangyang Iron and Steel Mill is located here.

Pak makes some 500 different kinds of changdo, using a variety of precious metals, such as gold and silver, as well as jade, mother-of-pearl and horn, to decorate their sheaths.

Pak began to learn his craft at the age of 17. The most important thing when making a changdo is being certain that the blade is perfectly tempered. Too hard and it will break; too soft and it will bend. It takes a carefully trained craftsman with extensive experience to make such perfect knives.

Pak's knives are strengthened by his careful tempering of the steel. He hones the blade with meticulous skill, making certain it is perfectly straight and unmarked. Changdo blades vary from 5 centimeters to 30 centimeters in length.

Determining the correct proportions for the blade and handle is one of the craftsman's most important tasks. And fitting the sheath to the knife with such precision that only a single sheet of paper fits between them is another measure of the craftsman's skill.

"It's all a matter of experience. It can't be learned any other way. You have to watch the steel as it heats in the fire, and at just the right moment you plunge it into a vat of water mixed with yellow mud. It also takes more than 200 different tools to make a single knife," Pak

Ornamental Knives Hardly threatening, changdo, the small ornamental knives generally worn as pendants by upper-class women during the Chason period (1392-1910), are in fact tiny treasures, miniature works of art. Still, it makes one wonder: Where else in the world do ordinary women carry knives as fashion accessories?

Of course, there is more to fashion than appearances. Chason women chose to carry knives, a universal symbol that transcends sex, for a reason.

Chastity was of the utmost importance to women during that era and, although the carefully crafted knives were hardly savage weapons, their beauty did not detract from their effectiveness.

In modern society, the changdo is little more than a fashion accessory, but it was once a powerful symbol of traditional values and the Confucian spirit, with a history of several thousand years.

While the ch'ilchido (seven branched) knife manufactured by Paekche craftsmen in AD. 369 is beautiful and mysterious, ornamental knives from fifth-sixth century Kaya and intricate gold daggers and sheaths found on ceremonial belts in Shilla tombs dating to the seventh and eighth centuries represent the epitome in decorative knives. The Kaya knife consists of two large knives with four smaller knives, each measuring 1.5 centimeters across and 20 centimeters in length, attached to the sheath. This knife may well be the archetype for the Choson changdo.

Changdo attached to gold ceremonial belts from a somewhat later period of Shilla appear to have been used for decoration, much like the jade commas and

28

explains as he grasps the blade with four fingers and skillfully presses the decoration on the sheaf with his thumb.

In the Koryo period, government officials carried two small daggers with their calligraphy brush. The changdo thus came to be associated with artistic and literary pursuits, and women began to wear them as chest pendants reflecting their social stature and breeding.

Flower Shoes

There is nothing so.lovely as an elaborately embroidered kkotshin, literally a "flower shoe," peeking out from the flowing skirt of a hanbok. In traditional society, young girls waited breathlessly for their fathers to return from the market, hoping they would bring a pair of kkotshin, boat-like leather shoes embroidered with floral designs, a far cry from the straw shoes most people wore. Even today kkotshin conjure up images of joyful holidays and young brides dressed in colorful bridal outfits.

The kkotshin tradition is carried on by a family in Seoul The family has dedicated itself to the craft for five generations.

The late Hwang Han-gap, of the third generation, made several pairs of these shoes for King Kojong of the Choson Dynasty to wear during royal ancestral rites. Hwang's son and grandsons have carried on the tradition ever since.

Rubber shoes were introduced in the 1920s, but before they became popular, leather shoes were the preferred footwear. The late Hwang said that in

the old days he was so busy at the end of the year, before the New Year's celebration, that he often had no time to sleep.

Photographs from the final days of Choson show peddlers seated behind scores of leather shoes piled high on straw mats in the market. And beside these peddlers sit boys, shod in straw shoes, selling what look like sashes and hair ties.

After the 1930s, as rubber shoes became popular, the kkotshin craftsmen had little work It wasn't until Koreans developed a renewed taste for the traditional that Hwang Hae-bong, of the fifth generation of the Hwang shoemakers, took up the business again. He learned the skill in his twenties, following in the footsteps of his grandfather who had been designated a ''human cultural asset'' in this field. Today he completes several dozens of pairs each month.

"The kkotshin's charm lies in its graceful lines and the way it turns up at the toe. There is no right or left foot at firs~ but the shoes mold to the feet after some wear. The process is quite long and involved. It takes seventy-four steps to complete one shoe. There's the embroidery, the preparation of the glue and the lining. And then there's getting all the materials together. I still have some wild boar bristles my grandfather left behind for needles. fve tried very hard to find more, but I haven't been able to find anY:' Kkotshin are usually decorated with embroidered plum blossoms, peonies or the ten longevity symbols. The sole is made of cow leather. The quality of the shoe is petermined by its stitching. The threads are left unknotted on the inside of the toes and heel so that the wearer can adjust the stitching as necessary.

Hwang notes one important change in modern times: people's feet have gotten larger. Visit any museum and you will see tiny leather, bronze and silk shoes worn by Princess Tokhye and other well-heeled personages of the Choson Kingdom.

References to kkotshin are found in historical records from the Choson period.

One tells the sad tale of Queen Shin, the wife of King Yonsan-gun (r. 1494-1506).

The queen was a kind woman, unlike her brutal husband, but she was deposed and forced from the palace when Yonsan-gun's half-brother took over the throne in 1506. Her embroidered shoes kept slipping off as she left the palace at the crack of dawn, so she finally ripped the silk coverings off and used them to tie the shoes to her feet Kkotshin played a role in another woman's tragic story centuries later when President Park Chung-hee's wife was assassinated in 1974. The First Lady had some silk shoes made for her mother, but her mother said she wanted her daughter to be dressed in the finest attire when she was sent to the next world, thus the First Lady was buried in her mother's silk shoes.

Padded

Socks

of their wearer.

The paper pattern used to make a well-fitting pos6n was an essential feature of every woman's trousseau in traditional society. In fact, the well-bred woman's trousseau included a special cloth bag to hold her pos6n pattern, and careful attention was taken to make the pattern itself as pretty as possible. The paper patterns of court ladies, known for their elegance, became models for all paper patterns.

The Bridal Poson Shop of Seoul's Ch'ongjin-dong has a collection of some 20 different poson patterns obtained from women of the Chos6n court Poson are made of four layers of white cotton fabric between which thin layers of cotton wadding are quilted.

Each time the poson are washed, the wadding must be removed and requilted.

The sewing and washing of pos6n were perpetual tasks for all Korean women just a generation ago. Children's poson were often adorned with embroidery along the instep or tassels at the toe. The poson of women from respectable families were expected to fit perfectly and often took as much effort to put on as the old Western-style corsets. However, if a poson was not carefully made, people often joked that it looked like it was made in the shape of a broom. An old story from the Choson period tells of how the king laughed at the respected Neo-Confucian scholar Yi Hwang (15011570) because his pos6n were shaped like brooms.

With the growing popularity of Western-style clothing over the last several decades, poson have fallen out of favor. Gone are the days when a young bride had dozens of pairs made for her trousseau. Shops specializing in posonmaking all closed by the end of the 1980s, and most of the factories manufacturing the rubber shoes worn with poson closed in the 1990s. Poson-making has become a minor cottage industry, and the many stores of the old pos6n shops are a thing of the past. Still, poson live on because connoisseurs of traditional fash. ion recognize the importance and charm of the quilted socks.

A

The crisp white line of a padded sock, or pos6n, is essential to the overall effect of the traditional costume hanbok. It hardly shows, but the poson has been memorialized in many a poem, song and dance. Indeed, the poson is its most charming and effective when seen on a carefully upturned ankle in the shamanistic salp'uri dance or the stately Buddhist nun's dance.

Poson are an important part of everyday life as well They add to the beauty of the hanbok, and the quality of their stitching reflects on the class background

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Karakchi Like changdo, karakchi rings were more than simple decorations-they often symbolized self-defense to the traditional Korean woman. At first glance, they appear to be simply beautiful feminine adornments, but in the past they sometimes proved to be lethal Karakchi always come in pairs. One is worn on each hand, and when the two hands are clasped, the rings lock together.

Paradoxically, these rings are always worn with the most elaborate attire.

The most dramatic example of their power was an incident during the Japanese invasion of Korea in the late sixteenth century. Non-gae, a renowned kisaeng (female entertainer) in the town of Chinju on the southern coas~ used her karakchi to kill a Japanese general in the defense of Chinju Fortress. She lured the amorous invader to a cliff above the Namgang River, embraced him and dived

30

into the water with her rings locked together.

Non-gae's story has been passed down in poetry, song, dance and stories and remains very much alive in the hearts of the people of Chinju. Visit Chinju Fortress where Non-gae dived off the cliff and the locais will be happy to describe how Non-gae locked her arms tightly around the evil Japanese general and how the Choson sailors beat him with their oars as he floated down the river. The rock from which Non-gae jumped is a favorite photo opportunity for tourists, young and old.

In the shamanistic salp'uri dance as performed by the Chinju master, Kim Suak, there is an act called "For Non-gae;' in which Kim always wears many rings.

This is because legend says Non-gae wore a ring on every finger so she would not lose her grip on the Japanese general. Practically speaking, it seems unlikely that a 19-year-Dld girl like Nongae could carry a full-grown man to his death, but clearly the rings represent the power of the young girl's will No doubt her rings were made of meta~ not the easily broken jade as so many karakchi are.

Chinju is also famous for its sword dance, which is probably related to the Koreans' victory at the battle of Chinju Fortress and Non-gae's bravery. Non-gae and the karakchi remind all Koreans of the beauty and strong will of the ideal Korean woman.

Thanks to Non-gae, the ring was much more than a fashion accessory.

Today we can find many silver and jade rings in the antique markets of Insa-dong and Chang-anp'yong in Seou~ reminders of this remarkable tradition.

Gold Leaf Applique

In Seoul's Tapshimni neighborhood there is a family that is carrying on the gold leaf applique tra.dition for a fourth generation. The family of Kim Tokhwan has been applying gold leaf to fine garments for more than 100 years.

"My great-grandfather was a purchasing agent for the royal court in the final years of the Chos6n Kingdom. Whenever there was a big court ceremony, he had trouble finding enough gold brocade. Often the boats or caravans carrying the fabric he had ordered from China would be late, so he decided that it would be a lot easier to manufacture it here in Korea. I'm the fourth generation of Kims to make gold leaf applique fabric."

The gold applique is applied with woodblocks carved from finely grained pear tree wood in more than 100 patterns: Chinese ideographs with auspicious meanings, pomegranates, gourdshaped bottles, "heavenly" peaches, flowers, phoenixes and dragons. In fact, the patterns are so varied, there are even separate male and female phoenixes.

When Kim works with a woodblock worn nearly flat with use, he creates classic works of art that remind us of life a century ago.

Gold leaf applique is a complicated

craft. One must know not only what thickness of glue to prepare for the different fabrics but also the elaborate rules governing the use of different patterns on different garments. Poor judgment can produce truly vulgar results. One does not learn what kind of pattern to use, where or how, in a single afternoon. 'just a few decades ago, old women from aristocratic families would bring in full court garments and ask me to do this and that," Kim recalls. "They often told me the stories behind the clothes, but nowadays, people think money buys everything. They think you can stick a dragon, a symbol reserved for the king, on anything! And I don't get anyone bringing in old court clothes. I guess the well-bred ladies have all died."

Every wall of Kim's house is covered with hair ribbons, long skirts, court robes, ceremonial jackets and traditional black silk hats, all carefully appliqued.

Nowadays most garments are appliqued with imitation gold made of tin and copper and pressed in thin sheets like paper.

Garments appliqued in gold can be prohibitively expensive. A 2-meter hair tie used in wedding ceremonies requires about one-half tael (over six ounces) of gold.

Top 'a The men's hanbok is a classic garment adding to the dignity and style of its wearer. Whenever there is an important family ceremony in the old yangban households of the Andong area, particularly those of Neo-Confucian scholar-Dfficials Yi Hwang or Yu Song-nyong, the men of the family wear the top'o, the most distinguished version of the man's hanbok. In fact, Andong is the place to go if you want to see hanbok as they were traditionally worn.

The top'o is like the turumagi overcoat except that its sleeves are wider, it has an extra layer of fabric in the back, and it is generally made of fine Andong hemp cloth.

I realized just how dignified and reserved Andong men are when I attended an ancestral memorial rite held at the home of the direct descendent of Yi Hwang on October 26, 1979, the day when President Park Chung-hee was assassinated. All the men of the family gathered, visiting the ancestral gravesite and performing the many complicated ceremonies. Every one of them was dressed in a top'o and turumagi and carried a short walking staff. They have been wearing the same outfit for generations. The few gentlemen not dressed in the traditional attire stayed back and did not participate in the rites performed in solemn Men dressed in hemp top'o attending an ancestral silence. There wasn't memorial rite for the Yu Song-nyong clan of An dong a single woman in sight, not even the area in 1990. During a visit to the Yu women of Yi Hwang's immediate family. clan's home, Yi pointed out an error in It wasn't until the rites were all finished the display of a military artifact related to and the participants had sat down for a drink of wine left from the ceremonies the revered Yu. A few days later two that one of the men said, "What's this I dozen of the older members of the Yu clan invited Yi to the family shrine and hear about the president dying?" asked him to write an article on Yu's milI went to another ancestral memorial itary philosophy. "It has been four hunrite held at the family home of Yu Songdred years since our ancestor Yu Songnyong in 1992. The porch of the innernyong wrote the Chingbirok, but no one most building was covered with bronze has written a commentary on it. The ritual utensils, small ceremonial tables absense of a modern-day analysis of his were being piled with food, and the men of the clan, dressed in the traditional philosophy is a matter of great shame for us," the old gentlemen explained. Every top'o, turumagi and ceremonial hats, one of them was dressed in the traditionwere waiting around the outer men's al top'o and wearing a horsehair hat quarters.

"I've never seen anything so solemn I once heard a telling story about the and dignified. I could hardly refuse Yu clan from Lieutenant Colonel Yi them," Yi recalled.

Won-sung who served in the Andong 31

thick for fashioning Western-style suits. No Chin-nam recalls that they farmed yellow as well as white cotton before the Korean War and, with black-dyed yarn, she sometimes wove three-color mumyong. Her Saetkol Village in Tashimyon was reputed to produce the finest mumyong. However, as machinewoven cotton gained popularity, the villagers began hauling their looms to the village dump on the hill. The only reason the loom in No Chin~am ' s home survived was that she had sisters-in-law for whose trousseaus she had to weave well into the 1960s. The soil of the village was well-suited for cotton farming and the fabric she could weave was of better quality than the machine-made fabrics one could buy.

Unlike ramie or hemp weaving which still defies mechanization, cotton

Mumy6ng:

Cotton Fabric Ten cotton seeds a Koryo official, Mun Ik-chOm, smuggled out of Yuan China in 1363 were the seed of the Korean cotton industry that has since provided clothing for Koreans for over 600 years. Once so popular and universal that it was as good as currency, mumyong, as home-woven cotton is called, disappeared with the advent of mechanization. The first machinewoven cotton fabric was produced by Kyongsong Textile Co. in 1919 and sold under the brand name Vega, apt symbolism of the heavenly weaver freeing the earthly weavers from the looms of their homes.

In the late 1960s, belatedly realizing the impending extinction of the home weaving tradition of mum yang, the government searched across the country for mum yang weavers and found the family of No Chin-nam in Naju, ChOllanamdo. No was designated a "human cultural asset" for being the sole practitioner of mumyong weaving in the country.

In 1946, when No Chin-nam married and came to her husband's village in Naju, all 40 households in the village were engaged in cotton farming and weaving. She herself had woven all the mumyong for her trousseau before she got married at age 20. Every man and woman of her husband's 14-member family of three generations was involved in cotton weaving in one way or another. Her four young sisters-inlaw learned weaving by the time they were 10 years old, and until the youngest left home to get married, all the fabric the family needed was woven at home on the ancient loom which nobody knows when it was made. The family figures it is far more than 100 years old.

Mumyong was made fine and coarse according to its use and sometimes very 32

weaving has become completely mechanized over the past century and the last loom in the country was saved in the nick of the time after the marriage of the last of No's sisters-in-law. The ancient loom has become so worn out that it is accorded the care reserved for a national treasure when it is moved to Seoul or other places for weaving demonstrations. Besides, the wooden parts of the loom and spinner are not easily replaceable for they are not items that one can simply walk into a store and buy like one would an auto part.

These days, No weaves only a couple of rolls of mumyong a year for demonstration purposes. Occasionally, she produces some special orders for textile artists. Meanwhile, the descendants of Mun Ik-chOm, who introduced cotton to Korea, established Mokhwa (Cotton) Girls' Commercial. School whose school badge features a fullblown cotton boll.

Hansan Moshi as Fine As Cicada Wings Cutting the ramie plants, splitting the bark for the fibers with hands and teeth, and mounting the fibers on ancient looms, moshi or ramie weaving has not changed much from ancient times. The oldest extant ramie garment in Korea was made in 1326.

Very finely woven ramie is likened to cicada wings. Modern designers say that ramie is an art in itself. An image of a woman in an immaculately fashioned ramie dress automatically pops into the mind of every Korean when asked about the Korean idea of beauty.

A courteous Korean gentleman dressed in a ramie ensemble complete with a ramie coat and a wide-rimmed

horsehair hat is surely a daunting presence on a sizzling summer day. I remember such a man whom I visited at his ancient house in a small town. In the summer heat that wilted the plants in the paddies and silenced the whole village, he was perched on the elevated wooden hall of his house, dressed in a perfectly starched ramie outfit, his back ramrod straight, looking very dignified.

For women, too, ramie clothing is a luxury to be worn from Tano, the fifth day of the Fifth Moon, to the beginning of autumn.

With two expert weavers of "human cultural asset" status and an authentic beater craftsman, Hansan in S6ch'6n-gun, Ch'ungch'6ngnamdo is the veritable center of ramie weaving in Korea.

Because ramie is absolutely incompatible with dry and cold air, the workshops are all partially underground. Ramie fibers are acquired by chewing the tip of the bark into hair-thin strands and twining them for length by rolling the ends together on the knee. For the finest ramie fabric, 31 centimeters wide, the warp consists of 900 strands of two-ply fiber. About 20 skilled weavers produce such fine ramie in the S6ch'6n area. A market dealing only in ramie goods opens every five ¡days in Hansan and usually only about two of the approximately 200 bolts that are generally up for sale in the market are of this quality.

When age has dulled their teeth, weavers split the ramie bark with their fingernails but the fibers are not up to the Hansan standard as the woven fabric is almost as coarse as

hemp. The reason that Hansan moshi is famous is because the fabric from other regions cannot match its fineness.

Ramie, which becomes as new and fresh as a rain-showered tree when washed, starched and ironed, can last more than 30 years unless the user carelessly exposes it to cold air which will cause its fibers to break Imported Chinese ramie, on the other hand, is of a single ply and the fiber itself is not smooth, so the fabric looks worn out after a single season.

Recently, Hansan moshi has been attracting the attention of international designers. However, making the fabric as fine as cicada wings is hard on the weavers' teeth and working in the damp workshops subjects them to arthritis. And efforts to mechanize ramie weaving have not been successful. According to local people, "ramie doesn't much approve of machines!'

Raw cotton fibers, cotton thread, rolls of cotton cloth and No Chinnam weaving cotton cloth on her ancient loom (counterclockwise from upper left); Hansan ramie on a loom (above)

33

A

34

woman dressed in a hanbok of ramie

have to order them from professional seamstresses. Hemp coats and skirts for one's parents-in- law are still an essential part of a girl's trousseau in the area, especially since the fabric can be put to other uses later.

The villagers like to reminisce about how 17 elderly members of the village went to see the opening of the Andong Folk Village in 1992, all dressed in brandnew Andong hemp outfits complete with top'o coats. I can almost visualize their elderly wives tagging along after them to watch their husbands participate in various ceremonies. As the elaborate festival outfits excite little children, the grandfathers and grandmothers o.f this Andong village get a thrill out of wearing a new set of hemp clothes on such outings.

Hemp Weaving in Andong Hemp is yet another fabric that has frustrated mechanization efforts, its weaving method being more or less the same since the dawn of civilization.

Much heavier and better fitting than ramie, hemp is used for top'o, a man's formal coat, and shrouds. It is also popular for summer clothing because it is cheaper than ramie and is thus produced and used in greater quantities.

Andong in Kyongsangbuk-do is the place to go to see how hemp weaving is done and, better still, to see the people who know how to wear hemp clothing with flair and pride. Grandmother Pae Pun-yong of Kumso-dong, Andong-gun, who is a "Kyongsangbuk-do intangible (human) cultural asset;' learned weaving when she was a little girl. At the time when there was no school or factory for rural women, learning and doing hemp weaving at home was as natural as a girl of that age going to school today.

Pae Pun-yang works on a loom her husband made for her 50 years ago. A few changes have been made to the loom to accommodate today's somewhat thicker and heavier hemp fibers, but weaving is always done by hand.

She weaves using four to five reeds alternately, for the reed is what determines the fineness of the hemp. In the past, some hemp was woven so fine that a whole bolt would fit in a bowl, but that type of fabric is no longer produced because it requires special fibers and a "demonic" skill.

Pae 'P un-yang and her daughter-inlaw do all the work themselves from sowing hemp seeds in the spring to harvesting and retting the hemp straw, separating, cleaning and bean-starching the fibers and finally weaving on the loom.

They weave about ten bolts a year between them to sell at the Andong market which opens every five days and at a hemp show hall that opened recently.

In 1992, I overheard three old ladies of

Kumso-dong gossiping while shelling beans about how the girls these days do not know anything about stitching top'o coats for their future fathers-in-law and

Pae Pun-yong threading a needle (top) and weaving hemp cloth (above); Hemp strands for making thread (right)

-A village scene in Andong about 20 years ago 35

After drifting on the Yellow Sea for 15 days, they washed ashore in China and Ch'oe and his crew were taken captive by Chinese who mistook them for Japanese pirates. All this time, Ch'oe did not remove the sangbok which he had put on at the news of his father's death.

Although Ch'oe did not speak Chinese, he could communicate with his captors in writing as most educated Koreans at the time understood and wrote Chinese characters.

The Chinese officials were greatly impressed with Ch'oe's gentlemanly demeanor and learning, especially his knowledge of family rites and the seriousness with which he followed them, and the Ming emperor decided to award him with a gift. One o( Ch'oe's servants went to the palace and received the award on Ch'oe's behalf because he was still in mourning for his father. However, Ch'oe himself had to thank the emperor for the gift, but palace etiquette prohibited the wearing of mourning clothes in the palace. His discourses with Chinese officials epitomize his adamant ideas on loyalty and filial piety. Eventually, it was agreed that he would wear a court outfit within the palace grounds but change back to his mourning attire the minute his audience with the emperor was over.

Ch'oe Pu's account of his experience in P'yohaerok (Drift on the Sea) presents an unequivocal picture of the inflexibility of the sangbok culture of the Choson period.

Even more dramatically revealing is the controversy that erupted over the period of time Dowager Queen Cho was to mourn the death of King Hyojong (d. 1659), her second son by King Injo, who had ascended to the throne because his older brother, Crown Prince Sohyon, died prematurely. The dowager had already mourned her first son's death for three years as required by Confucian protocol. A

Mourning Clothing: Essence of Confucianism Sangbok, mourning clothing, graphically represented Confucian ideals based on filial piety during the Choson period, the time when scholars respected the Chuja karye (Family Rites of Zhu Xi) as a golden rule to live by. Even today, sangbok is the garment that keeps the ancient style the most intact of all Korean clothes.

The stories of Ch'oe Pu and the sangbok controversy after the death of King Hyojong (r. 1649-59) well illustrate how the Confucian sense of filial piety dominated the life of Choson people.

In 1488, Ch'oe Pu (1454-1504), an officia! stationed on Chejudo Island, was sailing to the mainland to attend his father's funeral when his boat ran into a storm.

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YiKu,thesonofthelastcrownprinceoftheChosonDynasty,atthefuneral for Queen Yun in 1966 36

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An ancestral memorial rite for Neo-confucian scholar Yi Hwang in Andong

great dispute erupted in the court, which was already rife with factional strife, as the Soin (Westerner) faction including Song Shi-yol insisted that the dowager should observe a one-year mourning period for Hyojong because he was the second son, while the Namin (Southerner) faction led by Yun Hyu and Ho Mok insisted that she should observe a three-year mourning period l;>ecause the second son succeeded to the place of the first when the first died. Eventually, the Soin faction prevailed but that was only the first round of the controversy.

The difference of opinion originated from a different interpretation of the Confucian rites by the two factions, but it also reflected a power struggle that had previously raged between Crown Prince Sohyon and King Hyojong who disagreed on diplomatic policy toward Qing China.

Adding fuel to the controversy was the objection by Yun Son-do, who had tutored Hyojong when he was still a prince, that "a one-year mourning period would be an act demoting the king and thereby weakening the line of royal succession." This made the question a political issue rather than a simple disagreement on mourning rituals. Yun Son-do was eventually exiled, but the dispute spread across the country with local Confucianists sending endless depositions to the court, each advocating a particular political faction.

The matter worsened when Hyonjong's queen died in 1674. Again the two factions collided head-on over the question of whether the dowager queen should mourn for the period required for a first daughter-in-law or a second daughter-in-law. This time the dispute ended with victory for the Namin, which heralded the ascendancy

of power of the Namin faction. It also meant that the ritual theory which had dictated the mourning procedure for King Hyojong was wrong and the annals of the king had to be rewritten.

The dispute over how long Dowager Queen Cho should wear sangbok lasted for 15 years.

In recent years Yi Ku, the son of Yong-wang, the last crown prince of the Choson Dynasty, wore the sangbok called Ch'amch'oebok, the heaviest and most complicated sangbok, upon the death of Queen Yun in 1966, the death of his father in 1970, and the death of his mother in 1989. The garment was in the same style as the one Sunjong, the last king of Choson, wore at the funeral of his father, King Kojong. That such a heavy sangbok was put to use so many years after the downfall of the kingdom is another significant example that sheds light on the customs of Korea.

37

decided to revive the old art in 1983.

However, the indigo fields had long been turned into paddies and it was a major hurdle to get hold of indigo seeds.

Making indigo dye begins with cutting the plants in the early morning before the summer sun dries up the dew. The plants are stored in a jar and turned over exactly 24 hours later. Oyster shells are burned on a pile of wood, covered by straw mats, and then pulverized, sieved and added to the jar of indigo. As the oyster powder is stirred into the jar, the indigo juice changes from yellow to jade green to green to blue, and froth rises like a cloud At the end of the oxidation reduction process, the indigo settles to the bottom of the jar and jells.

The jelly is saved and diluted in water in another jar with wood ash being added The jar is kept in a room while the solution seasons into dye.

The reason I scheduled my visit in November was because Yun was waiting until the weather cooled and he had plentiful ashes from wood burned to warm the room. It is a fussy business to wait for the solution to mature into dye after the ash is added. The jar should never be uncovered and no one who bled, fought or did anything that would make him or her "filthy" should come near the jar.

On a November day in 1992, I jour"This tchok dye is an uncanny thing" is all neyed to Munp'yong-myon, Naju-gun, Yun offered in the way of explanation of Chollanam-do to visit dyer Yun Pyongthe delicate balancing of ingredients and un. Over the silvery eulalia bushes unduconditions involved in the oxidationlating in the wind, the blue-tiled roof of reduction process. Surprisingly, I was Yun's house jumped into view together admitted into the room with all the reverwith the orange persimmons that hung ence and decorum of someone visiting a above it The gate was also painted blue, clan patriarch. reminding me that its master was a spe''Blue skirts and blue bed covers were cialist in indigo dyeing. an essential part of a bride's trousseau Dyeing yarns and fabric deep blue before the Korean War," recalls Yun. with an extract of tchok, or "You couldn't marry off your indigo plant, was an integral daughter if you didn't have part of daily life until a synthettchok to dye the fabric. It was ic chemical process was inventused for only silk, linen, ramie ed in Germany in 1897. In and hemp. My father used to recent years, however, a small keep forty dye jars and dye hungroup of people have been trydreds of skirts. The dyeing ing to revive indigo and other process was usually repeated natural pigments. eight times but sometimes he The lower reaches of the would dip the material ten times Yongsan-gang River of Cholfor a deeper blue color. I have lanam-do near the southwestdone indigo dyeing for about ern coast were the last strongfour hundred people from hold of indigo dyeing. Ihdigo across the country since I began dyeing thrived here until the the business recently!'

Korean War thanks to its fertile Ihdigo dyeing has not been soil and warm, sunny climate recognized as a cultural tradiideal for growing indigo and tion deserving state protecan abundance of oyster shells tion. Lack of governmental which served as an essential support for the perpetua' oxidizing agent. Almost all tion of the dyeing art households in Yongsanp'o makes Yun dubious of were once engaged in indigo the future for his specialdye production and the dyeing ty. Han Kwang-sok, of fabrics thrived in the neighanother dyer operating boring Naju. Yun Pyong-un's in Polgyo, Chollanamgrandfather and father did dyedo, grumbles that ing work and by the time the "People come for Korean War broke out, Yun indigo dyeing as was helping out as well. His rarely as a dragon experience from that time Dyer Yun Pyong-un showing some cloth he dyed with appears in a helped him greatly when he indigo dream."

Indigo Dyeing of Naju

38

Buddhist Robes The late Venerable S6ngch61 (19111993) who used to hide in the valleys of Haeinsa Temple was a symbol of Korean Buddhism. His ascetic austerity had a great influence on everyone he met. A collection of pho- e-~., tographs of S6ngch61 taken after he became a monk and especially between 1986 and 1988 gives us glimpses into the life of the revered monk. In his preface to the book P'oy6ngjip published in 1988, photographer Chu Myung-dok says that he wanted "to focus on the essence of the monk whose quiescent attitude of asceticism inspires hope and trust in people." ''It is generally thought to be the approach of modern religion that the ordained participate in the painful mundane affairs and politics, but I do not believe that offering help when need arises and the interpersonal relationship are the only things that inspire the sense of history." These words provide the framework of the photograph collection named after his penname, Poy6ng, which means "bubble."

S6ngch61 was not always a quiet hermit, however. His argument on SOn (Zen) set off the most heated controversy on the subject. With relentless chastising he guided his students in the way of meditation.

S6ngch6l's personality was reflected in his ink-dyed robes which consisted of a ceremonial gray changsam robe and a brown kasa stole as well as the tradition-

a! gray Buddhist outfit of baggy pants, jacket and coat White rubber shoes or snow shoes, a wool cap and a staff conipleted his wardrobe. The ceremonial kasa that is draped over the changsam at Buddhist services, rites and official occasions is said to date from the time of Sakyamuni. It is draped over the left shoulder and down the body, its front end swept up around the arm and held in the hand.

Monks observe strict rules when they

rhythm in their posture.

What I am trying to describe, however, is about S6ngch6l's ragged coat which was mended with hundreds of coarsely stitched patches. According to his followers, the coat that he is wearing in many of the photographs in the P'oy6ngjip must have been more than 40 years old. The contrast of the rags and the blazing eyes of the monk is truly awe inspiring. However, he appears as tranquil as water when he is ,¡ in meditation in his ragged ~ clothing. Then, rags or no ~ rags, his supreme dignity gspills over the page and grips the earthly me with otherworldly values that he must have represented to junior monks when he supervised them in meditation.

On another page, the camera caught him, again in the same rags, musing over a pile of red flowers at a corner of the yard still clearly marked with the sweeping marks of a broom. Perhaps the patches on S6ngch6l's coat are the marks of spiritua! sweeping. In some photographs he is seen in the - same rags on a meandering mountain trail. There is an unearthly aura that is unique to Buddhist sanctums in such scenes.

Cotton rags of wear and tear seem to be unique to Buddhist monks. When I interviewed Monk Chongnim who was supervising ThelateBuddhistmonkSOngchol the computerization of the TJipitaka Komma at Haeinsa put on or take off the kasa and fold it Temple, I could not help noticing the colfor keeping. One of the first things lar and cuffs of his ragged gray jacket monks learn is how to care for their were held together with scotch tape. The kasa robes. Monks with a flowing kasa cotton jacket already looked cold in the over their long gray changsam robe are mountain temple that late summer day. a sight that inspires solemn reverence in S6ngch61 did not leave many worldly a Buddhist ceremony. One sees a cerpossessions when he died other than his tain consistency and almost visible ragged habits and socks.

39

Modernization of the Kum Ki-sook Assistant Professor of Textile Art Hong-ik University

ntegrating the beauty of traditional Korean art and culture into modern life and aesthetics is a task all Korean artists face. The dual task of preserving, on the one hand, and modernizing, on the other, traditional art and culture seems at first glance to pose a conflict But both tasks look toward the future of integrated national aesthetics. Toward this goal, Korean fashion designers are actively integrating the lines and colors of the hanbok, Korea's national costume, into modern Korean apparel to create garments with a distinctively Korean character.

Clothing fashions change from one generation to the next, often from one year to the next. And people's aesthetic sensibility changes as well. The beauty of traditional designs and motifs, which had been ignored for most of the period of Korea's rapid modernization, is now being appreciated anew. Although more modern fabrics and colors are used, today's hanbok follows the basic pattern of the traditional costume, with only slight variations to suit modern tastes ,and lifestyles. Those who have more classical tastes tend to wear hanbok that adhere to the traditional pattern more faithfully.

The elegant hanbok , of classical appearance is a slight variation of the basic outfit of light blue ch6gori and indigo ch'ima. Traditionally, this color combination was worn by married women and was a favorite combination not only of common women but of women of the court as well. Featuring a small blouse over a puffed skirt, this gar-

I

40

ment has a fanciful look and an outline ::-:~ resembling that of petticoat dresses of ~ the West The colors used are jade blue, blue mauve and gold. The curves of the sleeve and the front panels of the chogori are more noticeable because of their contrast with the indigo color of the skirt.

One of the most attractive features of the ch6gori is the fastening ribb9n called korum. Judging from the excessive length of the tie ribbons, the korum was designed to function not only as a practical means of keeping the front of the chogori closed but also as a means to enhance the beauty of the dress.

Stamping gold leaf decorations on the korum is one way to draw attention to it. The korum is often made of a color that complements the color of the chogori to increase the attractiveness of the garment.

The plain fabric normally emphasizes the wearer's figure and the cut of the dress. It also provides space for ornamentation. Pleats on the upper part of the skirt create an undulating effect in the light on what would otherwise be a plain garment. The gold stamped flowers on the collar, the korum, the cuffs and the hem give a feeling of unity to the garment.

The summer costume which uses knots for buttons is a modern adaptation. The embroidery on the sleeves, lapel and hem create a feeling of elegance and loftiness. The contrasting colors accent the exquisite curves of the sleeves and lapels. Using knots in place of korum eliminates the hanging appendage and enhances the simple ele::o

A traditionalhanbok by Lee Young-hee

Korean fashion designers are actively integrating the lines and colors of the hanbok, Korea 's national costume, into modern Korean apparel to create garments¡ with a distinctively Korean character.

Korean Costume gance of the garment The feature of the traditional Korean costume most frequently used in modern fashion design is its curves, especially the curves of the chogori lapels and sleeves. In the 1980s, modern adaptations of the chogori and paji (trousers) were widely worn by people who enjoyed the freedom of movement the garment's fullness allowed. Ramie and hemp fabrics in black and white and the three primary colors are usually used for summer wear.

The peony pattern, often stamped on wedding garments, is also used in designing Western-style ensembles, as are the bow window and roof tile patterns. Traditional Korean clothing accessories such as norigae, a knotted pendant worn on the korum, and piny6, a long, straight stick-like pin for holding a woman's hair in a chignon, have also been adapted for use with Western fashions.

Fine vertical quilting is a feature of the Korean dress many modern designers are fond of using. The quilted cotton jacket

by Lee Shin-woo (Icinoo) creates a feeling of nearness and elegance. The jacket superbly illustrates the simple elegance that is the essence of traditional Korean clothing. The traditional Korean aesthetic is turning the absence of decoration into a decoration and the absence of art into an art Lee Shin-woo also deserves praise for her development of various printed clothing material, for the development of the pastel tone to reflect the color of the Korean sky, and for her use of motifs from Koguryo Dynasty frescoes to express characteristic Korean sentiments.

A quilted jacket by Icinoo 41

A jacket and skirt ensemble by lcinoo (above); A patchwork dress

by Sol Yoon-hyong(right)

Sol Yoon-hyong is another modern designer who tries to use traditional Korean design elements, such as the color combinations of the patchwork wrapping cloth called pojagi and the rainbow stripes called saektong. One of her works, a one-piece dress, utilizes the patterns and color combinations of traditional Korean paper boxes. Despite the use of strong traditional colors and patterns, the addition of plastic on the skirt and th~ sleeveless blouse give her costume an ultramodern look The multicolored cap, which imitates the traditional chokturi, provides a humorous touch, as it is worn rakishly askew.

The harmony of the primary colors give the apparel designed by Chin Taeok a gay intensity. The use of red, indigo, green and scarlet on a yellow background is reminiscent of the traditional Korean bridal costume. The triple layering and straight cut exude a feeling of modern sophistication, as do the geomet42

A dress and vest ensemble by Chin Tae-ok (above); A vest and pants ensemble by Lee Young-hee(left)

ric lines of the red piping on the hemline of the skirt.

Lee Young-hee is a designer who updates the traditional Korean costume both faithfully and creatively. The vest and tro ~se rs which she designed for the 94/95 Fall/Winter collection harmonize Eastern and Western aesthetics. The vest is reminiscent of the traditional Korean vest, or paeja, and it is worn over a Western-style turtleneck sweater. The legs of the silk trousers are printed with a phoenix design. These heterogeneous elements were mi xed to create an unusual look that attracted much attention in the fashion circles of Paris.

The modernization of Korea's traditional beauty is not a task only for fashion designers, but for all our contemporaries. Understanding the aesthetic points of the Korean costume and participating in its modernization is one way of making Korean culture known in the world. + 43

INTERVIEW

SOkChu-sOn Dedicated to the Preservation of Traditional Costumes Kim Young-uk Associate Editor, KOREANA

ell over eighty but still actively involved in research and education, Dr. Sok Chu-son has played a pivotal role in the history of Korea's traditional clothing. Indeed, she has devoted her life to the subject-as a collector of traditional clothing and as a theorist dedicated to the formulation of a system for preserving and cataloging an often underrated heritage. Widely recognized as the ultimate authority on the history of Korean clothing, Sok remains busy despite her advanced age.

When we visited her at her office in the Sok Chu-son Folk Museum in Seoul, her desk was piled with colorful jackets and carefully quilted women's undergarments from the 1920s through the 1950s.

Sok restores life to the many garments she collects by carefully cleaning and repairing them, then recording them in her detailed register of traditional clothing. For her, each piece of clothing has its own identity.

Sok has spent nearly every waking minute of her adult life studying and cataloging traditional clothing, and in recent.years she has found a new interest: learning how to use the computer so she can achieve her goals more efficiently. Each day is filled with research and writing. "I've never spent a single day sick in bed. I was afraid I wouldn't get back up once I lay down, so I always try to keep busy, making thimbles if nothing else, even when I have a fever," she explains.

Clad in a hanbok of her making, Sok discussed her frustration in recent years as the tradition and spirit of Korean life

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44

Widely recognized as the ultimate authority on the history of Korean clothing, Dr. 56k Ch u-s6n remains busy despite her advanced age, making records of the garments stacked everywhere in her office.

has gradually disappeared. In the old days, women saved scraps of cloth left over from dressmaking and created fascinating p atchwork table covers or wrapping cloths known as pojagi. Sok still is in the habit of reusing thread when she replaces a paper collar strip on the jacket of her hanbok. In fact, her household produces hardly any trash.

It is fascinating to sit down with Dr. S6k and hear about her collection and research. Traditional clothing is not simply an occupation or pastime for her; through her work, she has developed a unique personal philosophy.

The only daughter- of a family with four children, S6k Chu-son was born in 1911 at the beginning of the Japanese colonial period. Her family was fairly well off, and her parents were able to send all four children to study in Japan.

Young Chu-son attended a Japanese institute for Western-style dressmaking in Tokyo. Upon her graduation with honors at the time of liberation from Japanese colonial rule, she returned home, although her parents had already passed away.

Post-liberation Seoul was a chaotic place, but Chu-son was fortunate enough to find a position at the handicraft research facility at the National Science Museum where her older brother Dr. S6k Chu-my6ng, a renowned butterfly specialist, was working. Her first order of business was developing a more scientific approach to clothing.

Sewing was neither an advanced art n or science in post-liberation Korea.

Women couldn't imagine making a Western-style outfit. For them, sewing

45

meant piecing together a pair of oversized underwear for their children and running a rubber band through the waist. People were poor, so if a child was lucky enough to be given a Western-style outfit, it was invariably made so large that by the time they grew into it, it was already worn out!

Women had to learn to make their families' clothes if they hoped to have anything nice to wear, so Dr. Sok taught sewing free of charge and launched a movement which encouraged people to make and wear properly fitted clothing.

Her sewing course ran for a month, teaching practical skills and theory, and she offered housewives a special certificate upon completion. Teaching was not easy, but Sok felt that she was truly achieving something worthwhile.

It was not long before the country was swept up in the Korean War, however. Families were torn apart, property lost and hopes forgotten, but Sok Chuson did not give in to the unanticipated

46

Dr. 56k began collecting antique garments when she realized that people would not be able to understand traditional clothing from historical documents alone.

The Sok Chu-son Folk Museum on the campus of Dankook University (below); A mannequin in one of the museum's galleries, a display of women's head ornaments, and a closeup of a jacket worn by Princess Tok-on (opposite: clockwise from top)

challenge.

"I just have to work," she decided. "I have a skill, so I just have to workf' She began making clothes from relief provisions, and in six short months she was able to open her own dressmaking shop.

Her work at the National Science Museum also turned out to be a fateful experience, for not long after the war, she was invited to teach at Sudo Women's College, predecessor of Sejong University. She taught there for more than a decade before moving to Dongduk Woman's College where she lectured for more than twenty years.

It was there that she began collecting traditional clothing as a way of reinforcing the data she had discovered in historical documents and offering her students something more tangible to work with. It was not easy collecting the rare garments on her meager teacher's salary, but she skimped on food and ¡ clothing because the collection was her greatest pleasure. The people around her did

not always understand; some criticized her judgment while others simply felt sorry for her.

Many traditional Korean handicrafts and antiques, such as ceramics and calligraphy, commanded high prices early on, but it was not until the late 1950s that people began to recognize the value of traditional clothing. Often dirty and difficult to preserve, traditional clothing was not a popular item for collectors.

Sok had collected about 50 items in the years following liberation, but lost all of them in the Korean War. She started anew after the war, and by 1975 had collected a wide variety of valuable items.

Many were given to her by neighbors or acquaintances who knew of her interests, but Sok was also extremely active-"scouring the antique shops in Insa-dong and visiting old homes in provincial areas. She began collecting when she realized that people would not be able to understand traditional clothing from historical documents alone, and soon her collection provided the concrete evidence needed to back up these documents.

In 1971, Sok's students published a collection of her writings entitled Studies in Folk Culture in commemoration of her sixtieth birthday. Sok also published A History of Korean Clothing based on her two decades of research. The volume won a Gold Prize in the Kyunghyang Shinmun 's book contest, bringing its author much praise and renewed confidence.

It took a great deal of patience and determination to complete A History of Korean Clothing for Sok was busy not only with her lectures but also with the difficult classical Chinese texts that she studied each night until the university library's doors closed. It took her days to select each text, then she went straight to a Chinese language teacher who helped her decipher the difficult passages. It took years, together with the careful study of the many garments she had collected. "I put my heart and soul into that book," Sok explains with a sigh.

"People say it takes twenty-three years 47

to raise a child to adulthood. I feel that way about this book."

S6k never forgot her collection, despite her devotion to research. She never missed an opportunity to mend an aging garment for she knew how easily it could be destroyed by time and the elements. Her collection has required a great deal of time and money, but it has also brought immeasurable rewards. The collection includes a ceremonial jacket once worn by Princess T6k-on, the third daughter of Sunjong, Korea's last monarch, a garment that has been designated Important Folk Cultural Asset No. 1. In addition, there are numerous ceremonial robes, long cloaks worn by Chos6n women, and other valuable pieces. Although historical documents are important, there is no denying the value of real garments in the 48

study of traditional clothing.

It takes many hours and great effort to restore a garment to its original condition. With her busy schedule at school, her research and other responsibilities, S6k often does not get home to her work table until after ten in the evening.

The old garments can be extremely dirty, so she must first clean and iron them. She also spends many hours polishing the silver, bronze and copper ornamental hairpins and chignon ornaments that go with so many of the traditional women's garments. With the radio tuned to her favorite station, S6k often works through the night, never realizing how quickly the hours have passed. With her busy schedule, S6k has long since recognized the importance of good health.

After restoring the garments and

accessories to the best of her ability, S6k records them in her register and numbers them for photo-identification. After being photographed, each item is placed in a plastic bag and stored in a chest made of paulownia wood, which protects against insects and moisture. S6k also keeps a close eye on temperature and humidity, carefully regulating the heat in her storage and work area.

"I've spent my whole life trying to create a systematic record of Korea's traditional clothing. My collection has grown remarkably and now I have come to the final stop on my long journey. The newspapers are always talking about how valuable my collection is. It's worth millions, they say. I never would have been able to resist all the temptations if I was interested in money. I've been very fortunate because I've been able to look after my collection as I would look after myself. It's been a way of life for me:' For her, it is all quite natural.

When S6k retired from her teaching position, she had to decide what to do with her vast collection. In 1976, she retired from Dongduk Woman's College and moved to Dankook University where Chang Ch'ung-shik, a professor of history, was serving as president of the university.

In July of that year, the university established a committee (chaired by the renowned scholar of Korean language, Yi Hui-sung) dedicated to the establishment of the S6k Chu-s6n Folk Museum.

S6k was appointed director of the school's Folklore Institute until the museum was completed. Construction began in November 1980, and the museum opened on May 2, 1981. Following her retirement from Dongduk Woman's College, S6k completed a number of publications, including the catalogue for the new museum (1978), a volume on the embroidered emblems of Chos6n court officials (1979), and a book on personal ornaments (1980). S6k also organized her photo film and captions as well as her storage facilities during this period.

The neat three-story brick museum on Dankook University's Seoul campus has a floor space of some 2,600 square meters. The first floor is devoted to the clothing of the common people, and the second floor displays garments and accessories from the royal court.

Among these are Princess Tok-on's jacket, official court uniforms, and artifacts used by King Kojong and his father, Hi:ingson Taewon-gun. Garments are arranged by position and rank, from the king down to the lowliest lady-inwaiting. A seminar room, storage facilities and work room are also part of the museum. Today the museum houses more than 8,000 items, twice the number it had when it first opened.

Approximately 800 items are on display.

"As I look back now, I realize that I owe the happiness I enjoyed as a child to my parents, and that the truth is the most important thing in establishing personal destiny. It has always been my dream, my heartfelt wish, to create a safe haven for the clothing worn by

Dr. Sok shows the writer a small stone that has been a source of comfort to her since childhood (above); A collection of undergarments (below).

our Korean ancestors. I've achieved that, and now I must continue working, as my health permits, to record as much as I can about traditional clothing so that future generations wil_l better understand our rich cultural heritage."

Dr. Sok smiles as she glances at the computer she is using to create a more accurate register of her vast collection.

Then she reaches into her handbag and pulls out a small stone.

"I picked this up one day when I was playing near our house. I must have been five or six at the time. I've kept it with me ever since. When I got lonely studying in Japan, I often looked at it. It helped me through the loneliness."

The small stone reveals the persistence and insight of this dedicated collector and scholar. "I'd like to spend my remaining years at work, helping the Korean people take greater pride in their cultural heritage," she adds, proving that she is the most valuable treasure in her remarkable museum. +

49

OYE

SOF

KOREAN THEATER AFTER LIBERATION Kim Moon-hwan Drama Critic/Professor of Aesthetics Seoul National University

t would not be possible to discuss the development of Korean thea,ter in the 50 years since liberation from Japanese colonial rule (19101945) without referring to the period preceding it. Such an approach is especially important to the understanding of modern Korean drama because its development is fundamentally rooted in the period of Japanese occupation.

Of course, even though Korean drama had absorbed various foreign influences throughout its long history, indigenous forms did arise-most notably the p'ansori (a narrative-epic-dra-

I 50

matic folk vocal art form) and t'alchum (mask dance) traditions. However, generational changes combined with the Japanese colonial policy to systematically eradicate native Korean culture conspired to rupture the continual development of traditional Korean drama.

Korean drama saw the introduction of two schools from Japan: "shin-guk" (new drama) and "shinp'aguk" (new school). If the "new drama" is seen as being closely related to Western dramatic tradition, then the "new school" encompasses commercial and sentimental plays popular with the masses. The

term shinp'aguk, or new school, was used in Japan to distinguish modern drama from the traditional kabuki theater, which was referred to as "kup'a" (old school).

The "new school" in Japan had its beginnings during the Meiji Restoration period, with the political propaganda plays supporting the civil rights movement that arose in the late 1880s, and gradually developed into modern realist drama. It went through a military propaganda phase with the outbreak of the Sino:Japanese War in the 1930s, but the new school also featured detective

dramas and morality plays, before reaching its artistic climax with family tragedies.

Hyomnyulsa, the first theater built in Korea, staged traditional plays and songand-dance revues from its opening in 1902. The theater was reorganized as a private venture known as Won-gaksa in July 1908, and staged mostly p'ansoritype oral performances. But, beginning in 1911, a year after Japan's annexation of Korea, it staged shinp'aguk that was introduced from Japan. In the spring of 1920, Korean theater professionals who had studied and trained in Japan formed the Dramatic Arts Society, ushering in New Drama.

The New Drama movement was indebted to the modernist masters of the West: Norway's Ibsen; Russia's Tolstoy, Turgeniev, Gorky, Gogo! and Chekhov; England's Galsworthy, Shaw and Wilde; Ireland's O'Casey and Synge; Austria's Schnitlzer; Germany's Hauptmann; France's Pagnol and Sartre; Belgium's Meterlinck; Italy 's Danuncchio and Pilandellio; and America's O'Neill.

Whether directly or indirectly, New Drama playwrights were influenced by Western works as they tried to capture the social reality of Korea under Japanese subjugation. Korean dramatists felt a particular affinity for their Irish counterparts, sharing as they did a similar temperament and history of occupation, and derived much inspiration from their example.

The ascendancy of socialist drama during this era deserves special mention.

Political drama in general is not necessarily char ~ cterizd by a certain format, but is referred to by the ideology of its content and the advocacy of certain values.

Such a broad definition would include criticism and satire of the political reality and its outlook, as well as expression of political philosophies and ideals, and even commentary on class conflict.

Thus, the scope of dramatic subjects was enlarged; at the same time, drama was recognized as another artistic means of expressing political issues.

During this period, the most signifi-

~ ~

cant development in political drama was proletarian theater, which was rooted in Marxist theory. Marxism swept from Germany to Russia and throughout Eastern Europe beginning in the early 20th century, and reached its apex by the 1920s. In Korea, however, proletarian drama was not produced by the working/ farming class movement but by intellectuals who supported proletarian ideology and the concept of revolution.

As Japanese imperialists tightened their grip on the Korean Peninsula and marched toward war, the early 1940s saw the growth of what was then called "national drama." It was part of Japan's drive to mobilize Koreans in its war effort, promising an elevation of Koreans' civil rights to the level enjoyed

by Japanese and stressing the solidarity¡ between the two peoples. The "national drama," being a tool of Japan 's stepped-up assimilation policy, required the use of Japanese as the official language on the stage, at least in part of each play.

Under Japan's general mobilization order, various organizations were formed .including the Korea League for National Totalization, launched in October 1940. 1n the theatrical field, the Chason Drama Association and the Playwrights Union were established two months later. In September of the previous year, even before the mobilization was put into force, some dramatists had come out publicly in support of the "na tional drama." In July 1944, the Chason Drama Association and the Chason Performers Association, which included performers in all genres of Korean plays ranging from operas to comedies, were merged into the Chason Performance Culture Association.

Except for a small minority, members of the new group were actively involved with pro-Japanese, government-sponsored theater. Although the use of various excitement-generating techniques and skillful dialogue that aptly depicted social conditions were promoted, techniques were secondary to its propagandist nature, and nothing could disguise 51

the fact that such drama was essentially anti-Korean and anti-art. From a historical vantage, it can be said that technical skills were developed at the expense of artistry.

It was around this time that the nation was finally liberated. Although the efforts of Korea's provisional government in China were not entirely without fruit, liberation was achieved by the shifting dynamics of the world powers, Japan's defeat in the Second World War. As a result; the years thereafter were marked by confusion and conflict, and drama was similarly blighted.

Post-Liberation Theater The three years following liberation until the establishment of the Korean

52

government are often called . "liberation space" in that the period was characterized by an extended power vacuum while various factions vied for control.

Upon liberation , those groups which had been the most severely oppressed during the colonial rule mobilized the most quickly. For drama, it was the socialist groups that were active in the 1920s and 1930s, but were later forced underground. They set up the Choson Drama Reconstruction Association as a wing of the Choson Culture Reconstruction Federation on August 18, 1945-a mere three days after national liberation. But smoldering hostilities flared up as pro~anes collaborators were bitterly attacked, and the pro-com-

munist faction seceded to form the Choson Drama Union which aligned itself with the Korean Communist Party.

When communist sympathizers were rounded up in a mass arrest during rehearsals for a special performance to commemorate the second anniversary of liberation in 1947, many of the union members began to desert to North Korea.

Meanwhile, the rightists also banded together , although not with the alacrity of leftist groups. In October 1947, the National Dramatic Arts Association was formed to counter the Choson Drama Union, and the National Drama Competition was inaugurated in June 1948 in reaction to the March 1 drama festival sponsored by

leftist groups. The National Dramatic Arts Association had teamed up with the Lyrical Drama Association to form the Korea Stage Arts Association, which was to administer the new competition. Ironically, it was under the protection afforded by the U.S. military governme nt that the proJapanese faction flourished and displayed the artistry that its members had gained under Japanese occupation.

The Republic of Korea was established in the southern half of the peninsula in August 1948, wh il e the Democratic People's Republic of Korea was founded in the northern half the following month. As left-leaning members defected to the North, rightist factions in drama gained the upper hand.

Meanwhile, Yu Ch'i-jin, a prominent dramatist under Japanese rule, was appointed as the first president of the National Theater in October 1949 to signal the comeback of the pro:Japanese faction.

North Korea invaded the South on June 25, 1950, setting off the onslaught of a devastating civil war. The National Theater had to suspend its full-fledged operation until June 1957 when it reopened in Seoul. Its rebirth spurred post-war growth in drama as it devoted itself to the development of creative works and the support of young artists, especially those with an anti-communist bent. These activities were to continue well into the 1960s.

One notable characteristic of this peri-

53

od was the indelible impact left by patriotic plays and anti-Fascist dramas staged under the auspices of the U.S. military government in Korea. The U.S. Information Service frequently sponsored performances of American plays, especially those of Eugene O'Neill.

Prominent members of Korea's drama circles were invited to make trips to the United States to observe American theatrical activities. In particular, the Drama Center was set up in Seoul in 1962 with the financial assistance of the Rockefeller Foundation, and it naturally served as the venue for American plays including musicals. However, spotty attendance and financial difficulties forced the theater to close down after only six works were staged within its first year.

Another milestone of the period was the establishment of the Creative Drama Association in 1956 as an attempt to break free of theater's traditional and cliched norms. Largely made up of college graduates who had been active in numerous college drama circles, the group was the first to introduce "absurd drama" in Korea, based on their experiences of war and boldly exposing various social frictions of their time.

However, television's burgeoning popularity beckoned new talent, decimating the pool of theater professionals.

Accordingly, theater was driven to stagnancy. And yet, this same television boom spurred college students to enroll in drama/ film departments in droves, creating a steady source of talent for the future.

Although the arts in general can be characterized as dependent on teamwork, this is particularly so of theater, which may explain why drama in Korea has been slow to respond to generational shifts and societal changes. In 1960, the 12-year-long autocratic reign of President Syngman Rhee was toppled by the Student Revolution of April19, but antagonism toward the political establishment persisted until the military seized power by staging a coup d'etat the following year. While President Park Chung-hee 54

heading the military government assiduously courted Japanese capital and Western know-how to industrialize the economy, he was careful to mollify resistance to the foreign influx by promising to expand democratic institutions and to support the restoration of national culture. Although the political repression continued, the economy recorded steady growth, boosting consumerism.

Television was a natural outgrowth of society's prosperity.

The events of the 1960s began to be reflected on stage in the 1970s. Of course, this is not to say that there had not been any works staged in the 1960s which advocated democracy, but it was from the 1970s that such works gained critical mass. Also noteworthy were the government's stepped-up efforts to promote culture and art activities and the coincidental movement to rediscover the roots of Korean culture. Under government patronage, mainstream drama consciously attempted to shape itself along the lines of a national theater, a development that contrasted strikingly with the fledgling dissident movement in drama. This challenge to the mainstream, which was closely related to the political opposition movement, sought to revive traditional forms of drama while dealing with contemporary issues. . All in all, Korean theater made great strides in the 1970s, as seen in the development of diverse production techniques, the success of experimental theater and the popularity of small theaters, as well as the growing sophistication of dramatic criticism.

After the 1980s Although Korean society in the 1980s seemed flushed with economic prosperity and political stability, it was in reality a powder keg waiting to explode over issues that traced back to the 1960s: military authoritarianism, the inequitable distribution of wealth and exploitation of the working class, anti-communist crackdowns, and a foreign policy deemed submissive to Japan and the United States. The Kwangju Pro-democracy

Movement in 1980 was the flash point of these turbulent times, but it did not dispel the underlying tension.

While mainstream drama experienced growth in terms of sheer output and overall popularity, madangguk or open-air satires, the mouthpiece of drama's opposition movement, also steadily gained broad acceptance.

Although professionals could register as performers more freely and small theaters could obtain licenses more easily thanks to a revision of the Performance Act in 1981, censorship agencies clamped down with greater severity than ever.

Nevertheless, the Fifth Republic attempted to gain legitimacy by sponsoring the Third World Drama Festival in 1981 and the International Drama Festival that was part of the 1988 Summer Olympic Games in Seoul, realizing that taboo subjects and socialist theater, hitherto banned, would find their way into Korea. Military authoritarianism was being slowly eroded by the democracy movement.

But oddly enough, liberalization did not encourage the growth of madangguk, which lost its sway with the advent of democratization and the breakup of the Soviet Union. It never returned to the status it had enjoyed under harsh political oppression.

The creation of new, original works also became the focus of drama circles in the' 1980s as a result of four major factors: first, a growing interest in depicting social realities; second, continued interest from the 1970s in the legacy of traditional theater; third, institutional support for original playwrights, as in the Korean National Drama Festival which began in 1977; and fourth, more discerning audiences, whose familiarity with Western TV and video programs prompted them to demand works in their own language and with their own stories, rather than awkward translations.

Of course, works of foreign authorship were not rejected outright, especially if the storyline might be an indirect criticism of the government, or antiestablishment works written by South

African playwrights or Italian dramatists Foreign works, including those by Handke and Beckett, quenched the thirst for experimental theater, while previously banned works by Brecht attracted local attention. At the same time, local reproductions of Broadway musicals enjoyed widespread popularity, spurring the production of Korean musicals.

In the 1980s, as drama sought to broaden its appeal, women's plays began to spark considerable interest. Sanwoolim Theater was the seat of feminist theater, although interest could be seen elsewhere as well. Plays about youth were also popular.

Drama in Korea had many faces in the 1980s. But the most representative one would be "national theater," which refers to the new movement and forms developed by students of college drama departments throughout the country to express their solidarity with the labor movement and farmers' movement and factory strikers. While it endeavored to maintain a clear line of succession from traditional forms even though its concerns were contemporary social conflicts, the movement also attempted to democratize theater, which had traditionally been an elitist art form, by reaching out to the disenfranchised.

The movement was also buffeted by world events of the decade such as the end of the Cold War and the proliferation of democracy among developing countries. It was especially resistant to the influence of contemporary Western culture as this was considered to be simply another form of colonization by Western powers. Even though the movement's authors had never actually lived under foreign rule, they opposed indirect forms and expressions of imperialism such as economic or military dependence on foreign nations.

Opposed to cultural imperialism as well, Korea's "national theater" movement instead turned to its own cultural roots in its search for a unique national culture.

The dramas relied heavily on song and dance and were composed of situations and scenes rather than a storyline

i ~

Korean theater must be able to bridge the gap with North Korean theater and at the same time be universal enough to contribute to the development of humankind

ÂŤ

or plot. Stock characters were the norm, and time and space were elastic. Stage sets tended to be simple, inviting audience participation, with one character appearing frequently as a narrator. Such were the aesthetics of national theater.

The definition of "national theater" has lately been expanded to include the performing artists whose desire is to see the democratization and unification of the two Koreas. And in order to help resolve the nation's problems, the movement seeks to rectify distortions or bring to light little-known facts of history as a means of advancing the vision of a democratic society. That is, while the initial stage of the movement was concerned with the linkage with traditional culture and form, in the second phase, political ideology overshadowed the issue of formal standards. Although "national theater" may appear to be socialist theater under an acceptable guise, it is not at all comparable to the Stalinist-driven, state-sponsored "revolutionary theater" of North Korea .

However, it cannot be denied that national theater, as a voice of the reunification movement, can yet play a contributing role.

Korean theater in the 1990s is not without its own set of challenges.

Amidst the confusion sown by postmodernism, the national theater movement has been losing steam. The proliferation' of mass media also poses a threat to the stage, but it may present opportunities for renewal as well. Certainly theater throughout its long history has absorbed many developments, emerging as an even stronger genre. Korean society's recent push toward segyehwa or "globalization" is closely intertwined with the task of defining and developing a cultural identity. On a local level, Korean theater must be able to bridge the gap with North Korean theaterwith which it once shared a common history-and at the same time be universal enough to contribute to the development of humankind. These are Korean theater's most significant tasks for the 21st century. + 55

DEVELOPMENT OF KOREAN DANCE SINCE LIBERATION Kim Kyoung¡ae Dance Critic Editor of Monthly Chum

o understand the developments of Korean dance during the 50 years following Korea's liberation from Japanese colonial rule, one must be familiar with dance during the Japanese era. Toward the end of the Choson Dynasty (13921910), dance was virtually the exclusive reserve of female entertainers, kisaeng, with the exception of mask dance plays and the performances of wandering entertainers known as namsadang.

Dance was, in short, only performed by society's lower classes. Court rituals and ceremonies were not regarded as dance

T 56

but as something altogether different.

It was against such a background that Han Song-jun, a drum-beating acrobat, entered the scene. Credited with the choreography of many well-known traditional dances of Korea, including the dance of exorcism "Salpuri," the monk's dance "Sungmu" and the dance for peace "Taep'yongmu," Han was the dance genius of his time.

In 1926, the pioneer of Japanese modern dance, Baku Ishihi, brought his troupe to Seoul and performed such works as "Shujin" or "Suin" in Korean (prisoner). Sponsored by the Japanese-

language daily newspaper Keijo Nippo, the performance was held under the catchphrase of "new dance." If we are to accept the claim of Japanese scholars that Ishihi never referred to his dance as "new dance," then we must conclude that it was a phrase spawned by the cultural milieu of Korea. As "new poetry" and "new literature" were all the rage at the time, it is not improbable that the phrase was introduced as a buzz word by the press.

Whatever the case, the dance performed by Ishihi was a modern dance strong in literary feeling and of a form

that had never been seen in Korea. As a direct result of seeing this performance, many of Korea's intelligentsia were for the first time drawn to the art of dance.

It was the high artistic level of the dance that later led to the rise of sophisticated dance criticism by writers Kim Tong-in and Han Sol-ya and poet Chung Chiyong.

One of the people who saw Ishihi's dance performance was a student of Sookmyung Girls Middle SchooL named Choe Sung-Mi. On the advice of her brother Choe Sung-il, a writer belonging to the Korean Artists Proletariat Federation (KAPF), the young girl followed Ishihi to Japan to study under his tutelage. A year later Cho Taek-won, a member of Korea's elite class, also entered Ishihi's dance studio.

Choe returned to Korea after a year of study and became a star. Under her influence, the number of dance students rose and many of them went to Japan with the intention of studying with the master Ishihi. Thus it was such that Japan's greatest modern dancer played a vital role in the development of Korean dance, with his first performance in Seoul on March 21, 1926, marking the beginning of "new dance" in Korea.

In truth, the first performance of Choe Sung-hUi upon her return failed to capture the attention of the public. So when Ishihi made a second visit to Seoul, Choe, who was then married to KAPF writer and critic An Mak, followed him back to Japan again. There Ishihi advised her to "do Korean dance."

Heeding these words Choe began to incorporate traditional Korean elements in modern dance and became an immensely popular star both in Korea and Japan. Choe's success, however, was bound up with other factors including her celebrated beauty, the complicated political circumstances of the time and her controversial pro-Japanese stance.

One point I would like to note here is that Choe first learned Korean dance from pioneer Han Song-jun. In his memoirs, Han recorded that Choe spent a week as his student and Cho Taek-won

Toward the end of the Chos6n Dynasty (1392-1910), dance was virtually the exclusive reserve of female entertainers, kisaeng, with the exception of mask dance plays and

the performances of wandering entertainers known as namsadang.

Dance was, in short, only peiformed by society's lower classes.

Court rituals and ceremonies were not regarded as dance but as something altogether different.

57

also came to study under him.

While Choe was rising to legendary star status, Cho was making a name for himself with a new genre called "poetic dance," another dance form which also contributed to the development of modern dance in Korea. In his memoirs, Ishihi records that on stage, Choe made the most of her beauty whereas Cho used his superior artistry.

Post-Liberation Movement With the liberation of Korea in 1945, Choe defected to the North. Many of her followers also crossed over with her or later disappeared in the turbulence of the Korean War, either by defecting or being kidnapped. As were other fields, the Korean dance community was torn apart by the war and the tragedy of national division.

The Chos6n Dance Art Association established in 1946 was the first association of Korean dancers ever formed. In June that year the dancers gathered together and held joint performances of their representative works at the Kukdo Theater. Although the association was disbanded after that one show, the association and the show were of great significance to the development of Korean dance. The person most instrumental in organizing dancers and staging ballet performances was Han Tong-in. He organized two performances by the Seoul Ballet Troupe before he crossed over to the North.

During the period immediately following national liberation, some of the leading figures in dance included Ham Kyu-b.ong, Mun Chol-min and Chang Chu-hwa, all of whom crossed over to the North during the Korean War. Ham's dance studio played a key role in the spread of modern dance in Korea by involving many college students including Cho Dong-h wa, Kim Ky6ng-kak, Choe Chang-bong, Cha Bum-suk and Kim Mun-suk. Ham joined forces with dance critic Mun Chol-min to promote the cause of modern dance by elevating the status of dance through intellectual discussions about dance aesthetics and 58

~ e;

~

Hong Sin-cha

the introduction of names such as Isadora Dunca n. Chang Chu-hwa is remembered as the teacher of such artists as Song Bum. The precedent for travelling dance performances was established by groups which were formed during the Korean War in the South. Cho Dong-hwa, who was a pharmacy major at Seoul National University at the time, gathered together 20 people including Song Bum, Kim Chin-go!, Chu Ri, Kim Mun-suk and Kim Kyong-kak to form the Korean Dance Company. Although the formation of the group was initially intended to catch one of the refugee trains at the height of the war, it did mark the first dance company created by various circles. The members of this group later constituted the nucleus of the N a tiona! Dance Company which was established under the leadership of Cho Taek-won in 1962.

At first the National Dance Company (NCD) accommodated both ballet and traditional Korean dance. Later, however, it was split into two groups, one for each genre. In any case, two points wor-

thy of note are that the NCD was Korea's first government-funded dance troupe and the works performed by the company today are directly linked to the new dance works of Cho Taek-won.

Although unique forms of "new dance" are still prevalent in Korean modern dance today, it should not be overlooked that there are those who severely criticize this state of affairs.

Ewha Womans University holds a special place in the history of Korean dance for the dance department it established in 1962 became the seed of college-level dance education and the major source of dancers for various professional troupes. By offering both undergraduate and master of arts degrees in dance, the school played a pioneering role in the establishment of the academic foundations of dance. Ballerina Hong Junghee was the first to earn a graduate degree in dance. At present, there are over 40 universities in Korea that offer degrees in dance and they yearly produce about 1,000 dance degree holders.

Ph.D. degree holders number about 30.

The establishment of dance departments at so many colleges led to the demise of the studio groups, inviting conflicts between the academic faction and the studio faction. Nonetheless, it heightened the social status of dance.

Over the past 30 years, students have taken advantage of the schools' financial and institutional support to bring about what could be called a dance renaissa nce. The resulting boost to the advancement of dance has been undeniably great. However, it is also true that the juxtaposition of academics and art has also served to hinder certain aspects of dance development.

One of the most important figuf@s in Korea's modern dance history is Yook Wan-soon who held a performance titled "Orchesis" in 1963. It took the form of the performances of the early university dance groups in America and marked the first step for Korea's own university-based activities. In content and form, Yook's performance came as something of a shock. In the style of

American modern dance, it was in stark contrast to the poetic dance and "new dance" which prevailed at the time.

Another major shock to the dance world was delivered in 1973 by Hong Sin-cha whose work contrasted sharply with Yook's highly structured social modern dance movement. In her performance at the National Theater, Hong shattered the common notion that modern dance was essentially Western dance by incorporating the essence of traditional Korean dance in an avantgarde performance. Ironically, Hong's often unfathomable performances played a big role in the popularization of dance. Hong later moved to New York and used the famed La Mama Theater as her base, receiving rave reviews for her shows in such major papers as the New York Times. As such, Hong is perhaps Korea's only true world-famous dancer.

Over the past 20 years, she has regularly returned to perform in Korea and each time she has provided a fresh shock leading to pro-and-con debates about her art. Hong has now returned permanently and lives in Chuksan, Kyonggi-do Province where she has established a dance center. She spends her days focusing on increasingly exotic dance preparations.

A critical factor in the spread of dance culture was the publication of the magazine Chum (Dance) in 1975. It was inaugurated with the private funding of dance critic Cho Dong-hwa and known at the time as a rare monthly magazine in the world devoted to dance. Even now there are less than five such magazines worldwide, and Japan began to publish a monthly in 1983. Now in its 20th year, Chum has recorded dance history, helped discover and nurture dance critics, provided information on overseas dance movements and in general supported the modern dance movement.

Perhaps most importantly, it has served to define and institutionalize the role of the critic. Some of the contributors to the magazine later formed the Korean Dance Critics Association.

Chum magazine and the National

KimMae-ja

The establishment of dance departments at so many colleges Jed to the demise of the studio groups, inviting conflicts between the academic faction and the studio faction.

Nonetheless, it heightened the social status of dance.

59

Dance Festival which was inaugurated in 1979 have acted as two wheels for the advancement of dance. The National Dance Festival was the first of its kind to be staged with government support and funding and contributed greatly to tpe overall growth of Korean creative dance and modern dance. Traditionally, dance has always flourished through the medium of festivals. The competition among groups and the chance to compare works coupled with the lure of financial support provide considerable motivation for creative efforts.

Creative Dance A few years before the inauguration of the festival, the Changmuhoe (Creative Dance Association) was formed in 1975. About the same time, the Seoul Metropolitan Dance Company broke away from the confines of "new dance" and began to engage in Korean creative dance. Together the two groups gave rise to a new trend, at the center of which were Kim Mae-ja and Mun 11-ji.

The creative dance movement, whose leading stars included Kim Hyunja, Bae ]eong-he and Kuk Su-ho, spread quickly through the National Dance Festival. Creative dance owes a great deal to the modern dance movement of Yook Wan-soon. In the mid-1980s, Yook planted in the minds of young students a new perception of dance, resulting in an ebbing of new dance. But today, 10 years later, the tide is turning away from creative dance and back to traditional dance, while the creative dance community is ,now immersed in disarray as no clear theory has been established.

Although the lineages of such modern dancers as Lee Chung-hee, Nam Chung-ho, Pak Myung-suk, Kim Pok-hee, Kim Hwa-suk, Choe Chung-ja and Cho Un-mi are each somewhat different, they have been generally influenced by the modern dance movement of Yook Wan-soon. With Ewha graduates at the center, they formed the Korean Modern Dance Association. Since then more than eight new groups have come into 60

Diversification came to the local dance scene in 1980 when contemporary

dance groups began to grf01m in small theaters.

Breaking away from the type of dance performance designed for big theaters, these groups had an influence on both modem dance and ballet and took the lead in the spread of dance and creation of new fo1ms.

being, including the Korean Ballet Association, Korean Dance Research Association and Korean Modern Dance Promotion Association. Together they organize various festivals and work to enlarge the world of dance. In the late 1970s, less than 10 dance events were held each year. In the 1980s the figure rose to over 700 and, in the 1990s, is now pressing close to 1,000. This shows just how quickly dance has grown in a short period of time.

Diversification came to the local dance scene in 1980 when contemporary dance groups began to perform in small theaters. Breaking away from the type of dance performance designed for big theaters, these groups had an influence on both modern dance and ballet and took the lead in the spread of dance and creation of new forms. As a result, in 1984 the first theater exclusively for dance, Changmu Chumto, was opened.

Until its doors were closed four years later in 1988, the theater was the training ground for many dancers. Foreign dancers were often invited to teach and other diverse activities were undertaken to create new perceptions of dance.

Contributing significantly to the development of dance in Korea was the foundation of the Universal Ballet in 1984, along with the 1986 Asian Games and 1988 Olympic Games, both held in Seoul. As the first full-scale private company for ballet with ample operational funds, the Universal Ballet has done much for the advancement of Korean dance. Adopting the genuine methods and techniques of ballet, a Western dance form, and applying them to the creation of such traditionally influenced works as "Shimchong," the troupe has made quite an impact. With Korean dancers performing key roles in the opening and closing ceremonies, both the Asian and Olympic Games served as opportunities to change the general notion of dance and drive home the importance of its role in society. Dance activities have been further spurred by the government's designation of 1992 as the "Year of Dance."

In 1995, which marks the 50th anniversary of liberation, there are countless dancers, troupes and associations all different in style and character.

The hope for the future of Korean dance lies in gaining a measure of international recognition. The number of Korean dancers who have presented their performances abroad and have won prizes at prominent international ballet concours is ever increasing. Also on the rise is the frequency of joint productions with foreign companies.

As mentioned earlier, most Korean dancers were trained in universities and thus have a higher than average level of education, and since the local dance community is quite large, the economic conditions are not bad either. This means the skills of Korean dancers should not be found lacking on the international stage. But still, dance is largely overlooked on a national scale and the problem is compounded by the government's propensity to send second-rate traditional troupes overseas as its "cultural ambassadors." In the next century when the nation's economy and international standing will be remarkably boosted, Korean dance should also reach that same level.

This past june 6-10, Kuk Su-ho's Didim Dance Company staged "Queen Myongsong" in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of liberation and the 100th anniversary of the tragic death of King Kojong's consort who had fallen victim to Japanese assassins. Over 80 members from Didim made up the dance corps in a performance which gave ri ~ e to the term "dance theater."

Kuk's particularly effective use of the dance corps left a memorable impression. Other commemorative performances included Bae Jeong-hyae's "Seoul Magpie" staged by the Seoul Metropolitan Dance Theater and an invitational show by Choe Chung-ja. In addition, many other troupes are preparing works which, although they have no particular references to liberation in their contents, will be performed in the spirit of celebration. + 61

common destination for exiled officials of the Koryo and Choson kingdoms because of its great distance from the capital, the Cholla region has long been known for its rich cultural and artistic heritage. The threat of exile was a fact of life for Korean scholar-officials. This was especially true during the Choson period.

Exile life was the subject of many literary works. In fact, exile produced so many works and accomplished writers that it could be called a creative experience in and of itself.

In some cases, scholar-officials left their posts voluntarily to return to their hometowns or bucolic rural life.

However, whether a voluntary or punitive "homecoming," the result was much the same. The "homecoming'' literature portrayed the experiences of the exiled _and their idealistic colleagues who chose to return to the countryside.

Perhaps the most accomplished of these exiled literati were Chong Ch'ol (1536-1593, often known by his penname Songgang or "Pine River'') and Yun Sondo (1587-1675, known by the penname Kosan or "Lone Mountain"). Chong's "Mindful of My Seemly Lord" (Samiingok) and Yun's "Song of Five Friends" ( Ouga) are considered m~sterpic of Korean poetry.

The broad fields and rolling hills of Tamyang are fed by streams originating on Mudungsan, the mountain rising behind the city of Kwangju. This area is famous for the cultural pursuits of NeoConfucian literati based here during the sixte~h century and is still home to a number of rustic pavilions and gardens used as literary hideaways and gathering places by these literati and succeeding generations of writers and thinkers.

Long known as the birthplace of Choson's kasa, a kind of prose-poetry which usually does not feature stanzaic divisions, and a major center for poetic activity, this region was also an important center for intellectual activity during the mid-Choson period.

64

The threat of exile was a fact of life for Korean scholar-officials. This was especially true during the Chos6n period Exile life was the subject of many literary works. In

fac~

exile produced so many works and accomplished writers that it could be called a creative experience in and of itself

A memorial honoring ChongCh'ol (above); ShigyongjOng (right)

The natural environment--fertile soil and a mild climate on the upper reaches of the Yongsan-gang River-was ideal for scholarly pursuits for it leant itself to the construction of small pavilions and gardens and offered financial security through agriculture.

Tamyang's intellectual tradition was borne of the political unrest of the sixteenth century. In 1519, conservative officials instigated a major purge of NeoConfucian reformers led by Cho Kwang-jo (1482-1519). This purge, known as the Kimyo sahwa, was an important turning point in the history of Korean Confucianism for it saw the banishment of Neo-Confucian reformers and the consolidation of conservative control Little more than a month after his banishment to Hwasun, south of Tamyang, Cho Kwang-jo was forced to take poison. Many of his followers abandoned their government posts or were banished and returned to the countryside. It was a dark period for the Neo-Confucian reformers who there-

Soswoewon 66

after occupied themselves with the construction of rural pavilions and literary and scholarly pursuits.

Kyesan p'ungnyu, the cultural tradition of this generation of exiled NeoConfucians from the Ch6lla region, was a reaction to contemporary political and social trends. These scholar-officials returned to the countryside to escape political persecution and developed a new cultural perspective through their observations of nature and humanity.

Of the kasa literary schools, or kadan, that developed in this area, the most famous were the Myonangjong kadan, named for Song Sun (1493-1583), who went by the penname Myonangjong, and the Songsan kadan, named after Chong Ch'ol's "Ode to Star Mountain"

(56ngsan py6lgok).

Retreats for Cultural Pursuit Koreans have traditionally enjoyed building small pavilions for study and conversation in woodland settings. With its four distinct seasons and beautiful

natural environment, Korea lends itself to an appreciation of the ever-changing mountains, rivers and fields. The rustic pavilions dotting the rural landscape testify to the Korean people's traditional appreciation of nature, a value enhanced by the philosophical emphasis on an accommodation of nature which became more evident under Confucian influence during the Chason period. A metaphysical space intermediating between nature and the human world, the pavilion reflected the Neo-Confucian quest to become one with nature.

Foremost of the literati gardens is Soswoewon, in Chisok Village, east of Kwangju Lake in southern Tamyang County. The spacious garden facing Mudungsan across a stream, was created

by Yang San-bo, a disciple of Cho Kwang-jo, who returned to Chisok in 1519 when his mentor was exile_d. Yang built the tranquil garden in his home village and, after Cho's death, spent the rest of his days in contemplative isolation.

Essentially a retreat for cultural and

agrarian pursuits, Soswoewon was often praised in the poems of Yang's contemporaries, although none succeeded in fully capturing its unique beauty.

It is the finest example of Choson gardens. "Account of Soswoewon" (Soswoewon sashi[),a contemporary study of the garden, makes numerous references to gatherings of renowned literary and political figures from the Cholla region as well as scholar-officials from other regions, including Yi Hwang (better known by his penname T'oegye) fr o m the Kyongsang-do provinces to the east.

An academic sanctuary and symbol of the spiritual legacy of the rural Cholla literati, Soswoewon stands on a 4,600square-meter site straddling a small stream which feeds Kwangju Lake. Its designer altered the path of the stream slightly, using large stones and logs to create quiet ponds for carp. The landscaping was carefully planned so the foliage and flowers change with each passing season. The sloping site is divid-

ed into stair-like sections with quaint wooden pavilions, roofed in tile, scattered here and there. A dozen pavilions were originally built on the site, but only three-Kwangp'unggak, Chewoltang and Taebongdae-remain today. Nearby Ch'anggye Stream was once called Chami-t'an (Crape-myrtle Rapids) for the many crape-myrtle flowers that lined its banks. The flower was a favorite of the Choson literati because it bloomed for 100 days, an ideal symbol of beauty and constancy. The blossoms are long gone now, however, replaced by the asphalt highway that runs past the traditional gardens and pavilions near Ch'anggye Stream.

Shigyongjong, a Choson pavilion perched on a cliff overlooking the stream and Kwangju Lake, has the best view of the many pavilions in this area.

The hill is called Star Mountain (Pyolmoe, in Korean, or Songsan, in Chinese characters) and is famous because ChOng Ch'ol wrote "Ode to Star Mountain" here. A one-story structure

with a hip-and-gable roof, ShigyongjOng has one room heated by the ondol under-floor heating system and a large wooden porch. The structure was built for Chong's mentor Im Ok-ryong in 1569

by Kim Song-won, ChOng's son-in-Jaw. Many of the Cholla region's greatest minds gathered here to discuss literature and issues of the day. Im also taught a number of important students here, including Ko Kyong-myong, Paek Kwang-hun and Chong.

To the left of the stone stairs that lead down from ShigyongjOng is the smaller Puyongdang pavilion. It is the site of Kim Song-woo's residence, Nuhadang, known as the center of the Cholla region's kadan.

Hwanbyoktang is perched on a hill across Ch'anggye Stream. Chong Ch'olstudied here from early childhood until he passed the civil service examination at the age of twenty-seven. After giving up his official post in the literati purge of 1545, Chong's cousin Kim Yun-jae returned to his home village in

Hwanbyoktang 67

Tamyang and built the pavilion as a place for teaching local youth. A stone bridge once spanned the stream separating ChOng's and Kim's pavilions, but it has been replaced by a concrete bridge.

Tourists hungry for spicy fish stew now flock where literati poets once strolled.

At the entrance to Hwanbyoktang is the fishing spot Chong mentions in "Ode to Star Mountain."

Ch'wigajong is only a five-minute walk from Hwanbyoktang. The tiny pavilion stands on the slope of a hill surrounded by pines and oaks. Indeed, it was built so visitors could enjoy the beauty of the many trees, especially the pines, an important element of Korea's traditional landscaping. A house can be easily moved, but not trees, especially not pines. This pavilion was built in 1890 to honor the valiant General Kim Tok-ryong who fought Japanese invaders in the late 16th century.

Approximately 3 kilometers to the east of Kwangju Lake is Toksujong, built by the Koryo official Chon Shinmin who relinquished his post rather than serve the new Choson court and returned to Tamyang to serve the deposed sovereign in his heart. Toksu means to guard or defend alone.

According to local legend, Chon dressed in official court attire each morning and bowed in the direction of Kaesong, the old Koryo capital. The pavilion's grounds were left in their natural state and have grown into a verdant pine forest.

Bamboo and Pine Tm;nyang's rich literary and intellectual heritage is closely linked to the area's great natural beauty, including the lush stands of bamboo that rustle on its lower mountain slopes.

Tamyang has long been known for its bamboo and bamboo handicrafts as well as its residents' literary and artistic accomplishments. One need not be a scholar of literature or Korean history to sense the charms of Tamyang's gentle breezes, gurgling streams and rolling hills.

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Tam yang's rich literary and intellectual heritage is closely linked to the area's great natural beauty, including the lush stands of bamboo that rusde on its lower mountain slopes. Tam yang has long been known for its bamboo and bamboo handicrafts as well as its residents' literary and artistic accomplishments.

One need not be a scholar of literature or Korean history to sense the charms of Tam yang's gentle breezes, gurgling streams and rolling hills.

ToksujOng (above); SonggangjOng, also called ChukrokjOng(right)

To the north of Kwangju Lake in Sandokri near the highway leading to Koksong stands Myong-okh6n, a Choson garden typifying the naturalistic landscaping of the period. Flanked by jewel-like square ponds, Myongokh6n means the "Twinkling Jewel Pavilion." The pavilion's beauty peaks in summer when the surrounding trees are in blossom.

The history of the pavilion begins with 0 Hui-do (1583-1623) who built a tiny library in the woods to study and protest the tyrannical rule of King Kwanghaegun (r. 1608-1623). Enemies of Kwanghaegun, including Injo who took the throne in 1623, gathered near here to plan a coup d'etat, and when Injo took power, 0 was named Royal Archivist.

Songgangjong, built by ChOng Ch'ol, eminent politician, once provincial governor and prime minister, and an accomplished scholar who dominated sixteenth century Korean literary circles, stands on a hill overlooking a tiny stream in Won-gang Village, just outside downtown Tamyang. The old road that twisted up the hill is gone now, replaced by a flight of solid-looking

gray stairs. Chong was a stubborn man, often a target of the factional disputes that were so common during the late sixteenth century. Because of his beliefs, he was banished to the countryside on several occasions. Chong built this pavilion during one of his many sojourns in this region.

The rolling hills between the city of Kwangju and Tamyang are home to a

rich literary heritage and many picturesque pavilions and gardens which reflect their creators' respect for nature and devotion to scholarly pursuits.

Although exile was a bitter experience for the Choson literati, their literary and scholarly accomplishments amid the natural beauty of the Cholla region remain a valuable legacy for modern Koreans. + 69

DISCOVERING KOREA

Kim Tae-wook Professor of Forest Resources Seoul National University

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ne of the few pleasures of an urban walk along paved roads and between concrete buildings under the sizzling sun on a sultry day is the sight of the green leaves that resemble the fans which our ancestors used to fight off the

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stifling summer heat. We endure the blistering summer days under the shade of ginkgo trees, thinking of the cool breeze created by fans and the golden carpet of leaves which will be rolled out come autumn.

The ginkgo appears to be a very common type of tree as they are easily found along streets and in parks today.

It is, however, unique in that it makes up the genus and family of its species by itself. In other words, it leads a lonely existence like an orphan without a single living relative. The reason for this lies in

its having survived so tenaciously until the str~ngh and energy of the genus had ebbed away.

It is believed that the ginkgo first appeared on earth some 300 million years ago. The plants and animals that thrived during that period have long since become extinct, having been transformed into the coal and oil which we use today. The ancestors of today's ginkgo also became extinct. Of the plants that lived during that period, only the ginkgo remains today. For this reason, it is often called a "fossil tree" or a "living

fossil" Having lived for millennia upon millennia, it is not surprising that the ginkgo stands alone without relatives.

If we look carefully around other types of trees, we can see their young offspring growing beside them. They sprouted when the seeds fell to ground.

It is impossible, however, to see such a phenomenon with the ginkgo.

The Mesozoic era was the most fruitful period for the ginkgo. At that time, its leaves were split into several parts, quite different from those of today. It was in the Cretaceous period that the leaves

came to assume their present shape.

Fossils of ginkgo trees are being discovered in Australia, Asia, Europe and North America. During the Tertiary period, glaciers came surging down from the Arctic, killing off most of the plants in the North American continent and l<.urope. The glaciers, however, did not reach Korea, Japan and China. It is thought that at the time, the climate in northern Asia was warm, making it possible for the ginkgo tree to survive whereas those in Europe and North America were wiped out. Currently, the 71

only known natural habitat of the ginkgo tree is near Mt. Tianmushan at the southern estuary of the Yangtze River in China. The ginkgo trees of this region were spread to the rest of the world by humans.

The ginkgo tree is written as jN,~ in Chinese characters which is literally translated as "silver apricot:' It acquired this name as its seeds have a silver tinge and resemble those of the apricot From 1754 when it first arrived in Britain, the ginkgo has been called the "maidenhair tree" as its leaves resemble the maidenhair fern.

The Chinese also called the ginkgo "duck's-foot tree" in reference to the leaves resemblance to duck's webbed feet, and sometimes "grandson tree" because it takes more than 30 years to bear fruit and by that time the one who planted it would already have grandchildren.

There are both male and female ginkgo trees, each with flowers of a.different shape. The male flowers, or catkins, resembling a short tail, blossom in early May at the end of short stalks growing on the same pegs as the leaves. Their color resembles the pale green of the leaves. The female flowers blossom for a very brief period compared to the male, and are difficult to ¡ spot as they grow on a short woody spur among the bases of the young leaves. They have a long thin stalk and two ovules without any petals and are the same color as that of the petioles. Usually only one of the ovules matures into a globular fruit.

Plants with ovules which are not enclosed in an ovary are called gymnosperm. In this sense, the ginkgo seems to be genetically closer to sago palms, pines and fir. In addition, the pollen-bearing male cone places the ginkgo among the conifers. Some scholars, however, insist that the ginkgo must be viewed as a broad-leaf tree.

The reproduction system of the ginkgo tree is somewhat peculiar. The pollen, carrying free-swimming sperm with a tail-like ending, is wind-carried to the ovule. Then, in contrast to other ter72

The ginkgo is the only plant that lived during the time it first appeared on earth to remain and is thus called a 'fossil tree" or a '1iving fossil" It is unique in that it is the only member of the genus and family of its species.

Ginkgo trees at Hahoe Village near Andong(above,right); Autumn in a rural village would not be complete without the golden ginkgos.

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restrial plants, the sperm makes its way to the egg cell by itself. Of course, it only has to travel a very short distance. This is a characteristic more commonly observed in water-based plants. For this reason, scholars think that the ginkgo is a primitive type of plant The fact that the ginkgo tree has a free-swimming sperm was first dis<;:overed by a Japanese botanist in 1895 in a large ginkgo tree, which is still alive today, growing at the Tokyo University botanical garden. Such sperm were also discovered in sago palms in 1896.

No natural habitat of the ginkgo has yet been discovered in Korea, backing up the conjecture that it was brought in

scholars who visited China . followed their example and also planted them at shrines of Confucius in Korea. The 400year-old ginkgo tree at the Confucian shrine at Songkyunkwan University supports this idea.

Another good clue as to when ginkgo were first introduced to Korea is the ginkgo tree at Yongmunsa Temple in Yangp'y6ng, Ky6nggi-do Province. This tree, designated Natural Monument No. 30, is the tallest tree in East Asia with a height of over 60 meters. It is said to have been planted by Prince Maili T'aeja, the last crown prince of the Shilla Kingdom (57 B.C.-AD. 935). He is thought to have planted it while on his way to

Modern science has recendy proven ingredients extracted from ginkgo leaves to be efficacious in treating a variety of diseases. However, Oriental herb doctors have been prescribing the use of ginkgo nuts for various illnesses since ancient times.

A ginkgo at a traditional farming village (left); A ginkgo at Yongmunsa Temple(opposite)

from China. The exact time of its introduction is not known, but it was probably brought in with the spread of Buddhism and Confucianism. The monks who traveled to and from China must have picked up seeds from the trees growing near Buddhist temples and planted them in Korea. The ancient ginkgo trees near various Korean Buddhist temples are believed to have been planted at that time. It was customary for the Chinese to plant ginkgo trees in front of a Confucius shrine, which was then called Haengdan or "Ginkgo Shrine". It is easy to imagine that Korean 74

Mt Kumgangsan out of grief at having lost his country. Others say that the cane planted by an eminent monk, Uisang of Shilla, grew into this tree. Whatever the truth may be, the tree is estimated to be 1,100 years old and, therefore, it can be assumed that ginkgo trees were introduced to Korea at least that long ago.

The climate of the Korean Peninsula from Chejudo Island at the southern edge to S6ngjin in Hamgy6ng-do Province (now in North Korea) is ideal for the ginkgo. Nineteen of the older ginkgo trees have been designated as "natural monuments" and 813 are protect-

ed as ancient living trees. The most famous of them is the ginkgo at Yongll).unsa Temple. It was the first to be designated a natural monument and, as mentioned above, it is not only the oldest but also the tallest Koreans believed that long surviving trees have souls, and they worshipped them. Such trees were not to be cut or tampered with, and anyone who did so risked bad fortune. Such customs are illustrated in the many legends surrounding several tall, ancient trees that have been passed down for generations.

Especially, the ginkgo at the Yongmunsa Temple is worshipped as a Divine Tree which is responsible for many mysterious deeds and which has witnessed countless events through the passage of the years. Once in the past, when somebody used a saw to try to cut it down, blood is said tp have dripped from the spot and the clear sky suddenly darkened and thunder rumbled so that the person stopped immediately. The Yongmunsa Temple was damaged and destroyed many times in the past, but the tree itself has never been harmed. During a battle against Japan in 1907, three years preceding Japan's annexation of Korea, the Japanese burned the temple to the ground because they thought it was the center of the resistance movement, but no harm befell the tree. As the Four Devas'cthe four heavenly guardians of Buddhism) Building burned down at the time, the tree came to be worshipped as the Heavenly King Tree.

It is said that this tree makes strange sounds or gives other indications when an event of national importance is about to take place. For instance, when King Kojong passed away, a large branch dropped off as if it had been cut by a knife. The tree is also said to have made strange sounds for two months before Korea was liberated from Japan, for 50 days preceding the outbreak of the Korean War and at the time of the April 19th Student Uprising in 1960 and the May 16 military coup d'etat in 1961. In addition, the ginkgo tree at Kumsan,

Ch'ungch'ongnam-do, Natural Monument No. 84, and the ginkgo tree at Hwasun, Chollanam-do, Natural Monument No. 303, are considered sacred trees which forewarn of any great changes in the country.

The ginkgo in Yongwol, Kangwon-do Province, Natural Monument No. 76, is said to house a sacred snake; the tree in Koesan, Ch'ungch'ongbuk-do, Natural Monument No. 165, a snake with ears; and the one in W onju, Kangwon-do, Natural Monument No. 167, a white snake. The list goes on, including those which are said to do such things as make women conceive or protect the common people from the powerful. As such, the ginkgo has shared the joys and sorrows of the Korean people down through the years.

Nowadays, there is an added dimension to its fame. Ingredients extracted from the leaves have been scientifically proven to be highly effective in treating high blood pressure, heart disease and other geriatric diseases. Since long ago, Oriental herb doctors prescribed the ginkgo nut for high blood pressure and diabetes, and it has been a folk remedy for stomach cramps or spasms and high fever. We can even imagine that such unique qualities contributed to its continued cultivation.

The timber, too, is superior in quality, has a pleasing color and is easy to process. Accordingly, it is used in all sorts of furniture and sculptures. The ginkgo likes sunlight and moist ground and adapts marvelously to cold, pollution and sea winds. It also thrives well when replant~d in other regions. Male trees are preferred for roadside trees because the nuts of the female stink when they fall in autumn. There is no easy way of distinguishing between the male and female trees before the flowers blossom.

Saplings can be obtained by planting seeds or by dividing the young stalks growing from the roots.

The golden autumn will soon replace the hot summer days. Wouldn't it be nice to press a ginkgo leaf in a book this autumn and try to ease its loneliness? + 75

CURRENTS

Park Soo-keun SIMPLICITY AND COMPASSION Lee Ku-yeol Art Critic/Director of Exhibitions Seoul Arts Center

reator of Korea's most distinguished and original modern paintings, Park Soo-keun (19141%5) is the subject of much research and respect, both among professional critics and amateur art lovers. Park lived a short life, only 51 years, characterized by great poverty and loneliness. Indeed, his ordeals are the stuff of legends.

Born to a struggling family in Yanggu County, deep in the heart of Kangwon-do Province, Park remained poor his entire life. Too poor for a formal education after elementary school, he studied on his own, determined to pursue a life in art from an early age. Although never a success in material terms, Park was most certainly an artistic success.

The human struggle to survive, which Park observed in his own life in the countryside and in the experiences of his neighbors, peddlers in the marketplace and all poor people, became the theme of Park's works. His paintings, reflecting the world Park saw around him, are masterpieces of modern Korean art.

Whereas his paintings live on, Park has been gone for 30 years now.

Gallery Hyundai in Seoul held a major retrospective of his work early this summer, reminding us once more of what a remarkable artist he was. On the occasion of this show, special lectures on Park's life and art were held, ¡ along with a retrospective seminar sponsored by the Korean Society of Modern Art History. These many events reflect the local art community's belief in the importance of reevaluating 76

Park Soo-keun

The heavy black oudines that define the figures in his paintings and the atmosphere created by his use of dark yellow and gray tones reflect Park's considerable drawing skill and his great power of expression. and recognizing Park's work today.

A devout Christian, Park once wrote:

"Blessed are those who have persevered!' "Love thy neighbor." I have tried to live by these words from the Bible.

That is how I have managed to be patient on this painful road of mine.

In his youth, Park discovered in a

magazine the pastoral paintings of the nineteenth-century French painter Millet and was deeply moved by the love and Christian adoration he saw in them.

From that moment, he prayed to God, asking to be made a painter like Millet.

Park's art career began in earnest when he won several prizes at the Annual Choson Art Exhibition sponsored by the Japanese colonial government during the 1930s. These early works portrayed women grinding grain; working in the fields and weaving--scenes from the everyday life of his mother and young wife.

He portrayed the world around him simply, rejecting objective reality for a pure, emotional perspective. His art was an expression of the views of the common people.

Park's early works were all destroyed in a bombing during the Korean War after he and his family fled across the 38th parallel to South Korea. Park's family home remained part of North Korea after the war so he never had a chance to return. He and his family settled down in Seoul where Park began exploring new artistic horizons. If Park had remained in North Korea, we may never have had the chance to experience his remarkable originality. His newfound freedom and his devout Christian belief were central to his artistic world after he established himself in the South.

From 1953, Park began participating in the National Art Exhibition sponsored by the Korean government. It was in the paintings he did for the exhibitions that he broadened his approach, portraying women peddling edible oil at market, grandmothers selling pro-

CURRENTS duce, children playing in alleyways, lonely old men chatting on a corner, unemployed youths, women returning to their shanty-houses after a hard day's work By the late 1950s, the ox, an important part of traditional agrarian life close to the Korean hear~ began to appear in Park's paintings. In 1962 and 1963, invigorating farmers' music and dance became his main theme.

Park could not afford to use canvas and oil paints as he wished, so he tended to paint small paintings which sold more easily. However, he did create some larger masterpieces for submission to the National Art Exhibition. Large or small, his works show a consistent sincerity and commitment to excellence.

In many ways, Park was like a blacksmith carefully tempering his iron. He tried to be faithful to his artistic quest by defining his central theme in heavy outlines, then creating a rich textual surface. The simple density and emotion so unique to his paintings were not on-

ly expressions of the everyday life of common people. They also reflected the inner structure of his work The heavy black outlines that define the figures in his paintings and the atmosphere created by his use of dark yellow and gray tones reflect Park's considerable drawing skill and his great power of expression. Nearly all of his figures are dressed in the simple folk costumes of the common people-white skirts or pants with an occasional black vest.

Their faces are portrayed simply in flat brown tones. Each of these features is evidence of the artist's distinct artistic consciousness.

The lumpy, brownish-gray surfaces of Park's paintings conjure up images of the weathered granite one finds all over the Korean Peninsula, eliciting feelings of warmth and history among the Korean people. Granite is the most common stone found in Korea. All Koreans have touched it at some time or another, so it is sure to rouse warm feelings of home among them. This granite-like

texture became a central part of Park's portrayal of the traditional Korean aesthetic consciousness and the common people's emotions from the mid-1950s.

The dark outlines that run through this weathered granite-like surface remind the viewer of the solemn spiritual beauty found in the thick lines outlining traditional Buddha images carved in cliffs. It is through these lines that Park explored his artistic heritage. One Western viewer called Park's paintings "Oriental oil paintings." No doubt the viewer meant that Park's oil paintings exude a definite Oriental and Korean character.

Unfortunately, Park's artistic ability was not recognized in the Korean art community until after he lost one eye to cataracts caused by alcohol abuse and his death from liver disease. Today, many art critics would agree that Park Soo-keun was the greatest painter in the history of Korean oil painting, an artist to be respected for both his skill and compassion. +

The Park Soo-keun Show at Gallery Hyundai 77

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K wangju Biennale BEYOND THE BORDERS Lee Yong-woo Art Critic/ Professor of Art Education Korea University

odernism brought to life the ideals of the Enlightenment.

But, now it is about to be eclipsed in the art world by new perspectives that transcend established ideologies. And the nascent age is beset by a "post" syndrome-post-Modernism, post-Marxism, post-communism, post-structuralism, post-realism, post-information, postcommunication and post-human. All these different schools claim to have discovered a new culture by stressing the imperfections of this world, by proclaiming its doom, or by promoting the study of popular culture. If Modernism was the triumph of civilization, the "post" era criticizes the failings and complacency of progress, striving to overturn the paradigm. However, these popular critiques have faced difficulties in transforming the cultural or historical paradigms, and in most cases have led to only minor revisions.

The change of perception underlined by post-Modernists in the 1970s created cultural shock waves. PostModernist texts became an important reference point for the new generation's cultural movement. But postModernism also blindly defended mass culture and media art, as well as image art. While distancing themselves from Modernism and then attacking it, postModernists were largely dependent on a dialectical approach and its consequence was that, instead of actually transcending Modernism or offering a new paradigm, too many post-cultural groups emerged to create conflict in many areas.

In consideration of these trends, the

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The K wangju Biennale is quite different from art biennales of the West in its perception of culture and thus its reason fat being The Kwangju Biennale has been motivated to heal the scars inflicted

upon

Korea

throughout its modern history.

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'95 KWANGJU BI ENNALE

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Kwangju Biennale is quite different from biennales of the West in its perception of culture and thus its reason for being. Whereas the Venice Biennale, for instance, was initially organized 100 years ago to promote European art in the city's unique setting, the Kwangju Biennale has been motivated to heal the scars inflicted upon Korea

throughout its modern history. For one thing, the motivation and spirit of the May 18 Kwangju pro-democracy uprising in 1980 will be reflected at the biennale.

In the Kwangju Biennale which opens September 20 for a two-month exhibit, art will not simply express the techniques or ideologies of art nor pure aesthetics, but will strive to offer a wider vision of art. This approach differs from that of socialistic aesthetics, which politicizes art. It also refuses a rigid interpretation of art by realists.

There will be no dogmatic judgment on what is acceptable and unacceptable. What is often overlooked in the philosophy that dominates the arts is that, because it is too engrossed in itself, reality is very loosely interpreted.

Avant-garde, an outgrowth of progressive Modernism, has been revolutionary, and sometimes dubbed the "raison d'etre" of art. But it has now reached a dead end because it tended to identify itself with fatalism.

The Kwangju Biennale refuses to take culture for granted and thus it will place emphasis on future art forms and future-oriented cultural attitudes rather than the present. Only by rejecting artistic dogmatism will we be able to discover the true essence of art. This is a very ambitious plan, but only such a plan will be able to eradicate all anticultural values that have thrived until now under the guise of liberal artistic forms. Some critics may regard such an approach as too ambitious, noting that it would be foolish to resist. But we cannot repeatedly go through an identity crisis, while blindly following such

CURRENTS cultural patterns as eclecticism or pluralism. During the 1970s, Minimal Art and Conceptual Art gradually disappeared, and as a wave of conservatism blew over painting and sculpture, many publicized this trend as a new artistic value that transmitted the agony and fury of art. Crude paintings replaced abstract lines, and because the art of drawing had returned to canvases, many welcomed this trend as something new.

Some of these paintings were ugly, at times nothing but unskilled copies of existing works, but still they were critically acclaimed. Today, however, no one will say this type of art represents a new era, or a new artistic form.

The aim of a biennale is not to put art on trial, but to openly discuss diverse possibilities. Unfortunately, in some biennales, Western culture is presumed to be culturally superior and art is judged by the commercial or critical success or failure of art exhibitions.

Oriental culture, on the other hand, is more flexible and emphasizes the added value that is created by the chain reaction of the convergence of all possibilities. The Whitney Biennale prompts controversy every two years because American culture and its artists all share a young and open vision and all are willing to accept constructive criticism.

The Venice Biennale, on the other hand, judges each work of art on how closely it conforms to the subject or theme of the biennale. In order to conform, all participants must have a generous budget and extensive documentation, not to mention publicity and administrative expenses. Art can hardly accept new trends every two years, so this kind of biennale may fall into a trap-it may become an art festival in theory only. This is why biennales must be transformed into festivals for the dispersion of useful information. If not, biennales will only stifle the development of creative ideas.

The Kwangju Biennale is first and

Zhang Da Tian (Taiwan)

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Lii Sheng Zhong (China)

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foremost focused on inter-textuality, as indicated by its theme "Beyond the Borders!' The theme suggests the need to overcome the complacency of the "post-culture" and eradicate divergent pluralism by creating a clearer concept of border. One must throw away traditional aesthetic values and encourage a new generation of artists, adapting their talents to the present. It means upgrading a global form of art by maximizing individuality, and overcoming regional antagonism. It means overcoming the extremely interpretative aesthetic text, which primarily judges the material used or the functions of art. Accordingly, exhibitions prepared for this category include the Biennale International Exhibition, Information Art Exhibition, Art as a Witness Exhibition, Exhibition on the May 18 Kwangju Democratic Uprising, Oriental Thought and Literati Artist Exhibition, Korean Spirit in Modern Korean Art Exhibition, North Korean Art Exhibition, South Korean Art Exhibition, and Contemporary Korean Art Exhibition.

Secondly, the biennale will try to adapt intellectual art to the information age. A fallacy of contemporary art was to contradict art's form versus matter, the abstract versus the concrete, allegory versus metaphysics, and the avant garde versus traditional. Such an approach may lead one to think that art is on trial, that there are only two possible verdicts--guilty or not guilty.

Artistic inter-textuality does not mean everything is just thrown in together.

It means breaking away from rigid boundaries or concepts and complementing each other, giving people access to information. The pursuit of learning today is not just about pure knowledge, but must be transformed into useful information. Art and information are also closely linked through art's social role.

Thirdly, the issue of inter-activity of hi-tech art will be raised. Hi-tech artistic

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forms expressed through video, computers, lasers or virtual reality, may simply be regarded as computer games, if the public is not sufficiently informed about the technology involved. Sophisticated technology is no longer idolized as it was by futurologists decades ago; if technology is to become an art form, the user must be able to interact with it.

Technology must be interactive; if not, it will simply remain a secular form of high art. The Information Art Exhibition at the biennale aims to create an advanced form of communication art, allowing the creator-writer and userreader to interact.

Art has always tried to adapt to historical reality and has always tried to fulfill the role of a historical witness.

Indeed, this has been its most important function. Art as a witness does not merely record history, but humbles and moves us with a detailed interpretation of history. Art must therefore be free to interpret history again, which it was forbidden to do in modernist art. This means not only reviving realism, but also reviewing the role of art. The Exhibition on the May 18 Kwangju Uprising will give artists an opportunity to interpret a momentous historical event.

The autonomy of culture does not depend on the restriction of time and space as is the case of sports events or international trade fairs. Different historical backgrounds have to be respected, as well as original expressions of diverse languages. The Kwangju Biennale will not only be a Korean art festival, but will represent the literati style, a widespread form of Asian painting, and other original Asian characteristics found in sculpture. The literati style was a typical bourgeois genre appreciated by ranking officials and scholars in Korea. The artistic form surpasses Western abstract and formal painting.

It also proves that modernist art is not necessarily the logical result of an industrial revolution or the development

Myron Krueger (U.S.A.)

of civil society.

The division of the Korean Peninsula continues to affect Koreans' perception of history. During the twentieth century, Korea experienced 35 years of colonialist rule, the Korean War and the division of the country. South Korea was ruled by military governments, witnessed struggles for democracy and now set off on the road to democratization. In short, Korean history developed in fractured time and space.

Meanwhile, North Korean art, based on juche, or "self-reliance," is characterized by immobility and is typical of socialist art. This type of art does not have a place in culture's autonomous border. Nevertheless, it thrives in the North. Moreover, the artistic gap between the two Koreas is growing even wider, not only because of different political systems, but because each side has developed its art separate from the other. People are all very interested in North Korean modern art which, although not very different from the socialist realism of the 1940s, has detached itself from the traditional Chos6n style.

The Kwangju Biennale presents a North Korean art exhibition, soliciting participants to comment on this specific example of one type of border.

The prevalent opinion is that "fluctuating borders" must be absorbed by cultural activities. The post-cultural festivity has come to an end. Helpless stagnant images will develop into realistic aestheticism, creating original boundaries. ¡ The aim of the Kwangju Biennale is not to agitate the masses nor will it depend excessively on popular aestheticism. It must create a space where free discussion is possible, thereby contributing to the birth of significant cultural movements. Only by transcending political systems, ethnic or religious issues, and respecting different cultural backgrounds, will we be able to lead the way toward globalization and the birth of a truly global village. + 81

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Pride and Patriotism on A Summer Evening Cho Chong-kwon Poet

n August 15, 1995, a concert was held at Seoul's Olympic Stadium commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of Korea's liberation from Japanese colonial rule. More than 650 people, including 20 famed musicians from Korea and abroad, the KBS Symphony Orchestra and a joint choir, participated in the event, celebrating the joys of liberation and singing of their hopes for unification of the Korean Peninsula.

More than 60,000 music lovers gathered to hear the outdoor concert, which featured a brilliant laser show together with the fine music. The event filled the Olympic Stadium with a spirit and grandeur reminiscent of the 1988 Olympic Games.

After watching on laser disk the concert in England's Wimbledon Court appealing for Nelson Mandela's release and Luciano Pavarotti's performance in the rain ,at London's Hyde Park, I was especially moved to see that Koreans could successfully host an outdoor concert in a large stadium.

The concert, sponsored by the Ministry of Culture and Sports, Chosun Ilbo and KBS, was notable for bringing together young Korean artists who have made names for themselves on the international stage, many of whom canceled previous engagements or rearranged their schedules to perform in

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this particular concert. The audience was all the more appreciative for the sacrifice these artists were willing to make for the country of their birth. As I watched them perform in such perfect harmony in that humid 33° C night air, I couldn't help thinking the stadium had been transformed into Noah's ark From a distance, the stage, engulfed in mysterious waves of alternating light and darkness, seemed like an enor-

mous grail, surrounded by a 400-man phalanx of dedicated protectors in the form of the orchestra and chorus members.

The concert opened with a rousing concerto¡ for four pianos, and later the audience was thrilled by cellist Chung Myung-wha's brilliant performance of "Hanobaengnyon" accompanying a reading of novelist Shim Hun's work The inclusion of literary readings by poets Ku Sang and Cho Py6ng-hwa, as well as Shim's work, was no doubt meant to heighten the sense of Korea's tragic past and the nation's hopes for

the future. The highlight of the first half of the concert was the young violin prodigy Sarah Chang's rendering of "Carmen Fantasia" and Handel's "Music for the Royal Fireworks."

Later in the program, the internationally renowned conductor Chung Myung-whun resembled a priest overseeing a musical rite to the heavens as he conducted an explosive brass performance, heightening the evening's festive mood.

The second half of the concert featured the talents of Korean vocalists who have made names for themselves on the international opera stage, among them ]o Sumi, Hong Hei-kyung, Shin Young-ok, Ch'oe Hy6n-su and Pak Sewon. They all sang selections from Verdi's works, a conscious choice, no doubt, emphasizing the patriotic occasion with the music of a composer known for his own dedication to and love of his nation.

This gala concert thrilled the audience with the power of its music and undeniable appeal of the repertoire. Of course, the audience were impressed with the marvelous effects, but more important was the emotional expression of the Korean people's dreams of unification and national glory in the finale, "Korean Fantasia" by the patriotic conductor-composer An Ik-t'ae (19041965). It was truly a moving experience. +

JOURNEYS IN KOREAN LITERATURE

Ha KUn-ch'an

Ha describes his characters and scenes in detail so that the readers can envision a tableau in their own minds.

He gets as close as possible to reality and writes with sharp observations and objectivity.

83

The Literary World of

Ha KUn-ch'an Song Hi-bog Professor of Korean Literature Dongguk University

riter Ha Kun-ch 'an was born in Y6ngch'6n, Ky6ngsangbuk-do Province in 1931. He attended a teachers' training school and a college majoring in civil engineering. He worked as an elementary school teacher for many years, and then as a reporter of educational affairs for several newspapers and magazines.

Ha's literary career began when he won an award in the national student creative writing contest in 1955 with a short story, ''Flesh and Blood," and another in the educational story contest sponsored by a weekly education newspaper in 1956 with a short story, "Grasshopper." He made his formal literary debut in 1957 when his story, "The Suffering of Two Generations," won the annual literary contest sponsored by the vernacular daily, Hankook Ilbo.

In the beginning of his writing career, Ha mainly published short stories. Aside from "The Suffering of Two Generations," his major short stories include "Story of a Ferryboat" (1959), "The White Paper Beard" (1959), "Royal Tomb and Occupation Troops" (1963), "Echo" '(1964), ''Red Hill" (1964), "Weasel" (1970), "Japanese Sword" (1971) and "Flock of Ducks at Imjin River" (1976).

He concentrated on short stories until he gave up his ten-year career as a news reporter in 1969 to devote his time and energy to creative writing. Some of his most representative novels are Chamber Pot (1970), Short Chronicle of W611ye (1978), In Mountains and Fields (1981) and Small Dragon (1988), for which he won the seventh Korean Literary

w

84

Award in 1970, the second Cho Y6nhy6n Literary Award in 1983, the first Yosan Literary Award in 1984 and the sixth Ryu Chu-hy6n Literary Award in 1989, respectively.

Ha's novels show the tragic realities of Korea's modern history through impassive descriptions of things as they are, and sometimes through intensely pathetic or humorously transcendental accounts. Many of his works describe the pain and hardship inflicted on the Korean people by frequent foreign incursions and interventions through Korea's modern history. In those works, Ha's consistent interest is focused on the victims of the traumatic whirlwind that swept Korea from the latter part of the Japanese colonial period (1910-1945) through the fratricidal Korean War (1950-1953).

'Japanese Sword" is a satire of Japan which launched a war against the United States in an attempt to extend its imperialism. In the story, a rash and impulsive Japanese headmaster swings a sword at his wife during a quare~ but misses and cuts a branch from a plum tree. He then stands alone in the playground of his school, wielding the sword as if to fight off an American B29 bomber. Young students hiding in an air-raid shelter cannot resist laughing at this spectacle.

"Flock of Ducks at Imjin River" depicts a tragic aspect of Korea's territorial division that forced numberless families to be separated. Although this work is somewhat sentimental, it still maintains an objective sense of balance.

When a girl asks the narrator whether

the flock of ducks at the Imjin River are "North Korean ducks or South Korean ducks," he impassively answers, "They are North Korean ducks if they go northward and South Korean ducks if they go southward." The girl then hurries off to meet her bus without realizing that the old man could be her uncle.

Chamber Pot deals with the two wars that brought tragedy to J\oreans: the Pacific War between the United States and Japan and the Korean War. The setting for this novel resembles the village where the author grew up and is rich in local color, a characteristic common to Korean literature.

A chamber pot is a traditional Korean household item for Koreans as well as a symbol of prosperity, fertility and conjugal bliss. A common folk belief attributes to the chamber pot the power to influence a woman's destiny. The women in the story, however, find their fates changed by the tyranny of other forces beyond their control. One widow loses her only son when he is drafted into forced labor by the Japanese imperialists.

The life of the female heroine, Kap-rye, who lost a husband in each of the two wars, parallels the tragedy of Korean modern history. Kap-rye comes to realize that her chamber pot has no power to improve her fate. This realization evokes a pathos reminiscent of a Greek tragedy. But the woman's passing of urine serves as a catharsis and represents for Ha an individual's free will and liberation from the repression of history.

Glimmer of Optimism "The Suffering of Two Generations,"

reprinted in translation in this issue of KOREANA, is the story of a man and his son who are both victims of war and oppression. The man, Pak Man-do, had been forcibly drafted toward the end of the Japanese colonial rule and returned home with only one arm. His son, Chinsu , fought in the Korean War and returns home with only one leg. The handing down of sacrifice is very allegorical as the father, who lost his arm in

Ha's novels show the tragic realities of Korea's modem history through impassive descriptions of things as they are, and sometimes through intensely pathetic or humorously transcendental accounts.

a dynamite accident at a labor camp, and his son, who was wounded in battle, symbolize the mutilated national identity, a land devastated by international conflicts and the ravages of war inflicted on individuals.

This story, dealing with an encounter between the father and son, does not connect their physical disabilities to their mental anguish as they lack the ability to rise above their personal unhappiness 85

and look critically at their lives. Still, the author offers a glimmer of optimism through the depiction of the simple and unpretentious compassion of these two characters who are resigned to their fate.

In two separate scenes in the story, the father and son relieve themselves by urinating on their way home. The act of relieving oneself can be interpreted as a catharsis of the han, or unrequited grief, harbored by Koreans. Once the han is released, they can get on with their lives rather than dwell on their tragic hardships.

The story reaches a climax when they come to a stream that can only be crossed by walking a narrow log. The father tells his son, who began rolling up his trousers, to climb onto his back The son does as he is told holding his crutches in one hand and a mackerel in the other. The father manages to keep his balance and they safely cross the narrow log to the other side-a scene that evokes an intense pathos.

When the son laments the loss of his leg and wonders how he could possibly go on living, his father offers encouragement, telling him that he has been able to live well without an arm. The unhappiness of the two generations symbolizes the history of hardships endured by the Korean people. At the same time, the story subtly yet forcefully conveys the message that the Korean people, like the father and son, must overcome tragedy through solidarity and unity, and plan for a brighter future.

The stream in the story symbolizes both obstacles in the road Koreans have to take apd the hope that cleanses the sordidness of reality. Water represents life and the image of flowing water presents a vivid contrast to stagnant sorrow.

"The White Paper Beard" is a story of similar vein and is also reprinted in translation in this issue of KOREANA. The father in this story also lost an arm after being conscripted into a wartime labor force by the Japanese. His strong will to live on is depicted as observed by his young son.

86

On the day his father returns home, Tong-gil (the son) is kicked out of school for not being able to pay the PTA fees. The father protests to Tonggil's homeroom teacher for depriving his son of his right to receive an education. This incident leads to Tong-gil being ridiculed and scorned by his classmates as "One Arm's brat." To make ends meet, the father takes a job carrying a board advertising the movie playing at the local cinema and entertains passers-by as he shouts through a megaphone, "Tonight's show, 'The Two Gun Kid!'" Tong-gil's classmates follow his father around and mock him. Enraged, Tong-gil beats up Ch'ang-shik for poking his father's white paper beard with a stick and shouting, "It's not real. It's made of paper!" The appalled father throws off his advertisement board and tries to stop the fight.

The father, the main character of this novel, lacks the fighting spirit to cast blame or grieve over his own misfortune. Nor does he protest against his irrevocable fate, like the father in "The Suffering of Two Generations," who merely gulps down a few drinks in anger. On the whole, however, the father in "The White Paper Beard" shows a stronger will and more tenacious obsession for life than the father in "The Suffering of Two Generations."

A physically disabled person needs both the willpower and resolve to overcome adversity. Ha's characters in general do not meekly accept the tragic circumstances. Particularly, the father in this story challenges fate and forges a new life with admirable tenacity.

"The White Paper Beard" presents the world of an innocent child as a miniature version of the adult world. It is a world in which the characters at times show hatred of and anger at their lives.

Many of Ha's books have a fairy tale-like lyricism, no doubt the result of his experience as an elementary school teacher.

Realism vs.Humanism Ha's writing is distinguished by a number of characteristics. First, his sto-

ries deal mostly with the lives of people traumatized by war. He writes confidently about the subject because he lived through both the Second World War and the Korean War. Second, Ha pursues realism. He doesn't allow his own sentiments to intrude into his stories. His writing is terse, filled with simple sentences and precise descriptions. Moreover, he does not use the first person singular or surprise twists and he does not interpret the thoughts or feelings of his characters for his readers. Rather than giving implications or symbolism through condensation, Ha describes his characters and scenes in detail so that the readers can envision a tableau in their own minds.

Ha is a writer who gets as close as possible to reality and writes with sharp observations and objectivity.

Third, humanism is the id~olgca background of Ha's stories. He appeals to the readers' empathy for the poor, simple country folk who populate his stories. Although this is somewhat contradictory to his tendency toward realism, it is an attempt to supplement the limitations of a realistic approach. For this reason, Ha uses humanism as a positive factor for Koreans to overcome their hardship.

Fourth, his stories reflect an indigenous ambience. The majority of the people appearing in his stories lead difficult lives in rural areas, particularly the Kyongsang-do region, the author's home.

Another distinguishing feature of his stories is the use of colorful dialect; this corresponds with the compassionate viewpoint of the world sought by lyric poetry.

As a literary critic once pointed out, Ha can be compared to "a popular poet striving for the tragic." He is also an epic poet who believes in survival in the face of tragic circumstances, and depicts the pain and sorrow of common people through vivid dialogue. He faithfully pursues the path of an author providing Koreans with a footing to build a better tomorrow by overcoming their desolate reality incurred by war. +

NEWS FROM THE KOREA FOUNDATION

Support for Korean Studies Programs Abroad The Korea Foundation offers financial assistance to universities, research institutes and libraries abroad in their efforts to promote the study and understanding of subjects related to Korea. Projects submitted for consideration must be in the fields of humanities, social sciences or arts and within the categories listed below: 1) Establishment and expansion of Korea-related rourses and faculty 2) Fellowships for graduate students or research grants for faculty 3) Library acquisition and cataloging Applications must be submitted to The Korea Foundation by May 31. The results of the final selection will be announced by October 15 of the same year.

For application forms, program guidelines or further information, please write to:

International Cooperation Department I The Korea Foundiition C.PO. Box 2147 Seoul. Ko rea Te t 82-2-753-3464.

Fax, 82-2-757-204 7,204 9

KOREA FOCUS A BIMONTHLY ON CURRENT KOREAN AFFAIRS

In addition to KOREANA, The Korea Foundation publishes KOREA FOCUS as part of its effort to inform the world community about Korea and to enhance international understanding in this era of globalization. We believe KOREA FOCUS will serve as an important and timely reference for the world community.

KOREA FOCUS offers a comprehensive view of contemporary Korea in a wide-ranging selection of informative articles on Korean current affairs. .Jn this bimonthly, you will find timely reports on Korea's politics, economy, KOREA social environment and culture, opinFOCUS ions on world affairs, and a chmnolcgy of recent events in Korea.

Published in English and Japanese, .__.. ·--· its articles come from leading publica· -·,.,_ . tions in Korea, including major daily 1"'!:.~ newspapers, newsmagazines and academic journals.

._,____ -

The Korea Foundation Fellowship Programs FELLOWSHIP FOR KOREAN S1VDIE5

and a monthly stipend during the grant period.

Applicants should complete two copies of The Korea Foundation Fellowship for Korean Studies application form and submit their academic research proposals to The Korea Foundation by May 31. The results of the final selection will be announced by August 15 of the same year.

FELLOWSHIP FOR KOREAN LANGUAGE TRAINING

The Korea Foundation offers grants for Korean language training to graduate students, scholars and other qualified professionals overseas who wish to learn the Korean language at a Korean university language institute for a period of six to twelve months.

Each successful applicant will be assigned to a Korean language course at one of three major Korean universities, and will be provided with tuition and a monthly allowance during the grant period.

Applicants should complete and submit two copies of The Korea Foundation Fellowship for Korean Language Training application form to The Korea Foundation by ~ · The results of the final selection will be announced by August 15 of the same year.

For application forms, program guidelines or further information, please write to:

International Cooperation Department ][ The Korea Foundation C.PO. Box 2147 Seoul. Korea Tet 82-2-753-6 46 5 Fa x 82-2-757-20 47,20 49

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