In the British Museum’s Korea Gallery can be found a wood block printed book, The Ten Diagrams on Sage Learning, written by Korea’s most famous Confucian scholar, Yi Hwang (이황, also known by his pen name, Toegye, 퇴계) (1501-1570). The volume is on loan from the British Library. The work was completed in 1568 and … [Read More]
Category: History (page 19)
Popular Gusts on Yi Kwang-su
Yi Kwang-su's Japanese nationalism: another must-read article from Matt at Popular Gusts — on Yi’s change from Korean nationalist to servant of the Japanese. http://bit.ly/cjAv2m # [Read More]
2010 Travel Diary #31: Remembering the struggle against the partisans
Sancheong County, nestling at the feet of Jirisan in Gyeongsangnam-do, has two memorial museums to the struggle between the leftist partisans and the Southern military and civilian authorities at the time of the Korean War. The key headlines of the conduct of the Korean War itself are well known: the Northern sweep southwards, the UN … [Read More]
Hahoe and Yangdong listed at UNESCO
Congratulations to historic villages Hahoe and Yangdong, “two of the most representative historic clan villages in the Republic of Korea,” and Korea’s latest inclusion in the UNESCO world heritage list, on 31 July. http://bit.ly/cqjKEl # The BBC has some nice photos of both villages, plus other UNESCO sites listed along with them including Reunion Island … [Read More]
Remembering the Battle of the Imjin at the KCC
“I’ve met Tom Cruise, and now I’ve met Sam Mercer. And when I met Sam I was truly star-struck. The man’s a legend.” So said a member of the audience at the Korean Cultural Centre after an instructive talk by Andrew Salmon on the battle of the Imjin on 15 July. Sam Mercer was sitting … [Read More]
2010 Travel Diary #25: Heo Jun and Sancheong’s herbal heritage
Thursday 6 May 2010. The mayor hurries off for an appointment: not only is the Sancheong Medicinal Herb Festival in full swing, but elections are approaching in a month’s time. In fact I’m amazed he has found time to meet with this foreign blogger at all. He leaves the rest of us to finish the … [Read More]
To the Last Round: Andrew Salmon to talk about the Imjin Battle
News of a topical talk to be given at the KCC on 15 July. To the Last Round: The Epic British Stand on the Imjin River, Korea, 1951 By Andrew Salmon Date & Time: Thursday, 15th July 2010 6.30pm Venue: Multi-purpose Hall, Korean Cultural Centre UK Email to [email protected] or call +44 (0)20 7004 2600 … [Read More]
An evening with Changrae Lee
LKL reports from the evening with Korean American author Changrae Lee, chaired by Erica Wagner, as part of the Asia House Festival of Asian Literature, 24 May 2010. The Asia House Festival of Asian Literature, now in its fifth year, for the first time included Korean representation this year. With such a title, you might … [Read More]
Republic of Korea thanks UK war veterans
LKL reports from an event commemorating the 60th anniversary of the start of the Korean War, held on HMS Belfast on 25 June 2010. The HMS Belfast was the perfect venue for one of many events taking place across the globe to mark the 60th anniversary of Kim Il-sung’s troops storming south over the 38th … [Read More]
2010 Travel Diary #17: The Korea Cultural Heritage Foundation
Tuesday 4 May 2010. As part of my trip to Korea, I wanted to understand more about the way in which Korea goes about preserving its ancient culture and presents it for modern audiences. Is it possible to market traditional culture to foreigners as a theme for tourism? How is it possible to market traditional … [Read More]
Double entry, poison and murder: historical sources examined at SOAS
LKL reports from the 21 May conference at SOAS – Historians, clerks and accountants: Methodological issues in the use of sources on Chosŏn History. The one-day seminar at SOAS examined the value and danger of using alternative historical sources. The types of sources discussed ranged from family and guild accounting records, via personal travelogues, ancient … [Read More]
Gyeongju rooftile in BBC History of the World
BBC’s History of the World in 100 objects: a humble Silla Dynasty roof tile from Gyeongju is featured at number 49: http://bit.ly/bKaU1d #. From the British Museum’s permanent collection. [Read More]
Korean ceramic tea bowls and tea culture
Eunjung Shin continues her series on themes from the past, inspired by objects in the British Museum’s Korea Gallery. One thousand years ago, drinking tea was an important social activity in Buddhist Korea. After Buddhism was introduced from China in the 4th century it flourished up until the end of the Koryo dynasty (935-1392) in … [Read More]
Presenting intangible cultural heritage in Bucheon
Monday 3 May 2010. Bucheon, a city of around 850,000 people in Gyeonggi-do just 40 minutes’ drive West from Seoul, is home of the Bucheon World Intangible Cultural Heritage Expo (BICHE), an annual event which showcases some of Korea’s finest performance arts and crafts alongside those of a dozen or so invited countries. The first … [Read More]
2010 Travel Diary #8: The Jongmyo Rituals Part 2
Sunday 2 May 2010. As we file out from the shrine after the first ceremony of the day, we mingle with the butlers who are off to have a quick breather and cigarette before the next ceremony. Already the queues are forming to get into the main shrine for the headline event at 1pm. No … [Read More]
2010 Travel Diary #7: The Jongmyo Rituals, part 1
Sunday 2 May 2010. I found it really quite hard to find accessible information online in respect of the Jongmyo rituals. Often, on the UNESCO site, there is documentation which sets out why the submitting country thinks that this particular intangible cultural property is worthy of inscription on the international list. But no such information … [Read More]