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Thursday, June 28, 2012

Korea University- Thursday July 28th



The academic portion of the trip begins today with a heavy all day schedule of learning about Korean Language, Traditional Arts and Culture. Our academic sessions are held at Korea University. This private university was established in 1905 and has enrollment around 35,000 students. The campus has a Hogwarts feel to it. The architecture reflects east coast building style with large granite buildings. It's beautiful with many tree lined paths.

















After sitting through the very informative lectures from the day, something that really stood out was the symbolism of the Korean Flag. Both are rich in symbolism and provide food for thought.
The flag of South Korea has three parts: a white background; a red and blue taegeuk in the center; and four black trigrams, one in each corner of the flag. These trigrams are carried over from the eight trigrams (Pal Gwae), which are of Chinese origin.
The general design of the flag also derives from traditional use of the tricolor symbol (red, blue and yellow) by Koreans starting from the early era of Korean history. The white background symbolizes "cleanliness of the people". The Taegeuk represents the origin of all things in the universe; holding the two principles of yin and yang in perfect balance; the former being the negative aspect rendered in blue, and the latter as the positive aspect rendered in red. Together, they represent a continuous movement within infinity, the two merging as one. The four trigrams are based on the 5 elements. The components of the flag demonstrates that there are many forces at work at any given moment and one must be aware of them and understand how all parts are working together so peace can be created. Just like in life, there must be balance. You can't be focused on only one aspect of life and expect to feel happy. You must cultivate all parts of yourself and harmoniously life with others and it is then that you can feel at peace.

After our long sessions, a group of us went on an outing in search of food and local markets. We found some markets and crossed the street and found ourselves at a hip mall with western music, food and shopping. Below the photos if you are interested... are the notes from the sessions. The lectures were thought provoking on many levels.











Korean Language
About 80 million people speak Korean worldwide 91 % live on the Korean peninsula, 9 % live overseas (China, USA, Japan, Central Asia). Many scholars believe the language originated in northern Asia. Korea is not the same as Chinese or Japanese. However, some of the sentence structure is similar to Japanese.
Prior to the first written system, Koreans borrowed Chinese characters to write Korean. During King Sejong's (1397-1450) reign he invented Hangul (1443) which became the official writing system. This new system had only 28 letters that were easy to learn rather than the very complicated 3000 Chinese character writing system. This allowed the Korean people to express Korean emotions and it was easier for common people to learn and use. The book that King Sejong outlined his new writing system is called Hunminjeongeum. This book is considered a national treasure in addition to being registered and recognized as a UNESCO Memory of the World. Now Hangul consists of 40 letters (21 vowels, 19 consonants).

Korean Traditional Art

Like most early art, rock carvings and bronze were very important to early civilization. Rock carvings represent animal motifs (whales and deer). Scholars do not know the significance of these carvings, but it appears that animal motifs are the dominant art subjects during the earliest times in history. Bronze (1000 BCE) was used in ceremonies and rituals. Bronze then went on to be used in sculpture, farming, and weapons.

As time went on materials like bronze, wood, granite, clay, porcelain were used in enhance and create art.
1.Buddhism (emerged in India and then spread to East Asia, it became very popular immediately) was the most important subject of art. Korea acted like a transmitter because Buddhism spread from China to Japan through Korea.

2. Celadon pottery was also used in Buddhist practices i.e. tea ceremonies, pots. Therefore the art of creating the pottery transformed and advanced because of the importance of the subject matter. While other East Asian countries had Celadon pottery, Korea created innovative colors and designs.


During the period of Japanese invasions, the advanced techniques halted. All designs were very simple and did not reflect precision and creativity because the instability. Most of the pottery, kilns and art products were stolen or destroyed. After invasion and stability returned, Koreans returned to their attention to detail and elegance in fine art.

3.The trend of landscape painting emerged. It was viewed as philosophy because viewing paintings is activity where you can cultivate your mind. These ideas reflect Taoism/Daoism. The focus on retreating from instability and finding peace in the tranquility of nature. Artists used actual places in Korea as their subject.

Korean Culture
The lecture was based on the four most important categories to the people( Symbols, Language, Norms and Values)

Symbols- Two of the most important Korean symbols are the Buddhist swastika and Christian cross that show they are the two largest religions in the country. Christianity
emerged in 1884 and is the second largest religion in Korea. It has the greatest impact in Korea because Korea sends more missionaries abroad than most other countries. As of 2003, Korea had 12,000 missionaries in more than 160 countries, which is second to the United States. Another important symbol is the Rose of Sharon which is the national flower which represents immortality and endurance. Like the flower Korea is strong and has been able to maintain it's culture over time even during hard times. Some other symbols can be linked to Shamanism which is linked to good luck. Bujeok is one for good luck. people fold this into the size of business cards and keep in your wallet as protection from evil spirits. They also have messages on them about for bringing in good fortune, acing the exam, conception, marital harmony, getting a job, etc. You purchase these from fortune tellers.

Language
Koreans use the pronoun "our" rather than "mine." This demonstrates their focus on having a collective mindset. They have specific terms for family members and friends. Confucianist honorific terms is embedded into the Korean language as it has clear hierarchal structure. Terms to demonstrate older, younger, man, woman, superior and subordinate. Koreans call each other by their title because of the emphasis on structure and roll in society. In addition sexism/patriarchal terms are still used in Korea for example adding on reference to inside referring to wife and outside referring to husband.



Norms
These are the rules of conduct. Some of the easily seen norms are bowing to greet each other except with same aged friends. Honorific rules always apply still, you must bow to superiors first and subordinates bow to superiors. Using honorific terms in speaking to strangers especially older people and superiors. Use both hands to pass objects. Do not use red ink in writing a person's name. When drinking in a group, Koreans do not fill their own glass, they fill each others glasses. Turning sideways when drinking alcohol in front of an older person.


Values
Most important! A person's value leads is seen in personal conduct. It is the judgement about what is desirable, beautiful and good. These were some that our group established were American values: emphasis on money, equality, egalitarian, self reliance, independence, patriotism, pride, success, prestige, individualism, family, freedom, democracy, do it yourself, charity toward others. Emerging American values include emerging leisure, self fulfillment- being all you can be, personal development, physical fitness, youth fullness, concern for environment, romantic love, education
These were the top values of Koreans presented by our lecturer.
1.Success and prosperity
2. health and long life- smoke heavily, they try to eat and drink whatever it takes to be healthy.
3. Filial Piety
4. ancestor worship 2/3 of koreans practice, even Christians.
5. Emphasis on family
6. deference to elderly
7. emphasis on education
8. hard work
9. collectivism
10. hierarchy
11. social harmony
12. conformity
13. loyalty

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