This Saturday there will be a screening of a short film entitled “The History of Gold” at the Korean Cultural Centre at 12pm, 2pm and 4pm. Each screening will last around 30 minutes. Silla people decorate their houses with silk interwoven with golden thread, and use golden plates and cutlery at meals (Arab historian, 10th … [Read More]
Category: History (page 25)
Book review: The Dawn of Modern Korea
Andrei Lankov – The Dawn of Modern Korea EunHaeng NaMu publishing, 2008 This entertaining book has, paradoxically, taken me a devil of a long time to finish. That’s not because it’s difficult. It’s because it’s the opposite. The book is co-branded with a series of articles that Andrei Lankov has been writing for the Korea … [Read More]
Maps political and pictorial
I’m sorry I never had any time to write up the Map exhibition at the KCC properly. Alas, it’s over now. I managed to miss most of Beth McKillop’s informative talk, and never had the chance to persuade Shin Eunjeong to show me around. If I get a moment I’ll do a quick Reader’s Digest … [Read More]
Antique Korean maps to be exhibited at KCC
Something completely different at the KCC in May-June, and rather interesting: a collection of Choson dynasty maps, in an exhibition organised by the KCC’s librarian Eunjeong Shin. The exhibition has an associated education programme aimed at local schools, while for the grown-ups there will be a lecture from the V&A’s Beth McKillop. Full details below. … [Read More]
Namdaemun before, during and after
First, some pictures of Namdaemun as it used to be: The YouTube Namdaemun Then and Now group contains loads of more recent, pre-fire, images. Here’s a couple of samples: Next, a YouTube (from MBC) of the fire itself: Some spectacular stills of the fire are on pwalks’ flickr page (HT to Seoul Man … [Read More]
The Namdaemun Gate tragedy
There are some current events which are so unexpected and shocking that the first moment of becoming aware of them is indelibly printed on the memory. It is said that anyone who was adult at the time can remember where they were when they first heard of the death of JFK. I certainly will always … [Read More]
Harvard Online: The Two Koreas
Beginning January 31, students living anywhere in the world can examine key historical forces that have created and shaped the two Koreas before, during, and after the actual partition of the country in 1945 in a new Harvard Extension School online course, HIST E-1814 The Two Koreas. Harvard’s Carter J. Eckert, PhD, Yoon Se Young … [Read More]
Contemporary Korean class struggles: a marxist analysis
Those Koreanists who looked at the timing of the talk by Loren Goldner and decided to give it a miss were probably well advised. 6pm on a Saturday night is not the best time to pull in the punters. But inside the rather pokey Kings Cross bookshop it was standing room only. Those who turned … [Read More]
Sex, modernity and the Korean war: a review of Ahn Junghyo’s Silver Stallion
Ahn Junghyo: Silver Stallion – a novel of Korea Soho Press, 1990 First published in Seoul in 1986 Translated from the Korean by the author As the book opens, we encounter a small village which is somehow untouched by the Korean war which seems to have passed them by. The old order, personified by Old … [Read More]
Us and Them in Kenkanryu
Wednesday’s talk on the Japanese manga Kenkanryu was packed to overflowing — a strong contrast with the generally much sparser attendance at the Centre for Korean Studies seminars. Whether that’s a reflection of the greater number of people enrolled in Japanese Studies courses, or the popular culture subject matter I don’t know. In these few … [Read More]
SOAS seminar: Unequal treaties
A quick notice of a seminar upcoming this week: Centre of Korean Studies Seminar 18th of September 2007. Venue: SOAS Room B111 Time: 5pm – 7pm Han Seunghoon (Korea University) The Beginning of the Unequal Treaty System in Late-Nineteenth century Choson As usual, the event is free and no pre-booking is required [Read More]
British veterans remember the Korean War on Radio 4
Yesterday’s edition of The Reunion had Sue MacGregor talking with five veterans reminiscing about the Korean War. A familiar theme – the British troops being poorly equipped and having to scrounge off the Americans; a clip of an interview with Michael Caine talking about night patrol – trying to outwit the Chinese in paddy fields … [Read More]
The Korean peasants’ revolt
Anyone who has read Yi Mun-yol’s popular book The Poet may be interested in a new book which sets out the historical background. In Yi’s fictional biography, the poet Kim Sakkat is ostracised from society, condemned to life as a vagabond, because of his grandfather’s actions during the peasants’ revolt in Northest Korea in 1812. … [Read More]
Oxford lecture on Koguryo and Balhae
With apologies for the late notice, I’ve just heard about a lecture on Koguryo and Balhae / Parhae / Bohai at Oxford tomorrow. Details as follows: Institute for Chinese Studies University of Oxford Trinity Term 2007 Seminar Series Koguryo and Bohai in the East Asian world order Tineke D’Haeseleer Institute of Chinese Studies University of … [Read More]
Koryo Saram – the Unreliable People
Report of a documentary film screening at SOAS on 2 May, by Michael Rank Koryo Saram – The Unreliable People is a fascinating one-hour documentary about the 200,000 ethnic Koreans who were deported to Kazakhstan by Stalin in 1937. It includes archive footage never seen before outside the former Soviet Union as well as interviews … [Read More]
Conference Report: Modern Encounters and Mutual Perceptions
Thanks to Grace Koh for organising the joint CKS / BAKS half day at SOAS on Wednesday. An interesting sharing of papers, with UK-based academics presenting papers on the British encounters with Korea, and Seoul based academics providing the opposite view. We started with early views of Western civilization as viewed from Korea through their … [Read More]