Korea’s Wedding Customs

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www. korea.net

September 2016

September 2016 ISSN: 2005-2162

Monthly Magazine

Cover Story

Korea’s

Wedding Customs

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Publisher Kim Kabsoo, Korean Culture and Information Service Executive Producer Park Byunggyu Editorial Advisers Cho Won-hyung, Lee Suwan, Park Inn-seok Email webmaster@korea.net Magazine Production Seoul Selection Editor-in-Chief Robert Koehler Production Supervisor Lee Jin-hyuk Producers Kim Eugene, Im Ian Copy Editors Gregory C. Eaves, Eileen Cahill Creative Director Lee Seung Ho Designers Lee Bok-hyun, Jung Hyun-young Photographers aostudio Kang jinju, RAUM Studio Printing Pyung Hwa Dang Printing Co., Ltd.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without permission from KOREA and the Korean Culture and Information Service. If you want to receive a free copy of KOREA or wish to cancel a subscription, please email us. A downloadable PDF of KOREA and a map and glossary with common Korean words appearing in our magazine are available by clicking on the thumbnail of KOREA at the website www.korea.net. Publication Registration No: 11-1110073-000016-06

CONTENTSKOREASeptember 2016

34

Korea in Brief

Korea Monthly Update 04

Special Issue

K-beauty 2.0

40

Summit Diplomacy

2016 ASEM Summit 44

Creative Economy

Biorobots

47

Historic Moments

1988 Seoul Olympic Games 46

Global Korea

Korean Cultural Center Activities

39

Brand Korea

Creative Korea 36

Policy Review

A New Frontier

48

Flavor

Nokdu Bindaetteok 50

Korean Keyword

Gamchilmat 18

Travel

PyeongChang

28

People 2

Philosopher Alexandre Jollien 30

Arts & Entertainment

Joseon Art Goes to America

24

People 1

Jazz-Gugak Band SE:UM

32

Korea & I

Home for the Holidays 08

Cover Story

Saying “I Do”

Korea’s wedding scene includes everything from the traditional to the intimately personal

Cover photo © Namsangol Hanok Village

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KOREA _ September _ 5 KOREA _ September _ 4

Special Issue

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The K-beauty reign just won’t let up. From sheet masks to the revolutionary BB cushion foundation, Korean beauty products continue to climb in the international markets. Since the introduction of the ubiquitous BB cream, Korean cosmetics has seen an astounding amount of growth worldwide.

Despite doubts about the strength of beauty products breaking into the international market, it seems that cosmetics are experiencing their second big wave.

With the convergence of cosmetics and medicine, the enhanced skin care benefits of beauty products, and KRW 3 billion in exports (44 percent growth in one year), the cosmetics industry has reached KRW 10 trillion in annual revenue, ushering in “K-beauty 2.0.”

Cosmetics using traditional Korean medicine, or Hanbang, have seen a tremendous amount of growth in the Korean beauty market. Hanbang cosmetics are specifically engineered with ingredients from traditional Korean herbal medicines. Hanbang’s holistic approach to skin care is on trend as

consumers seek a more natural take on skin care. One doesn’t have to look far to see consumers flocking to Hanbang products. If you search for the hashtag

“#Hanbang” on Instagram, you can find hauls from K-beauty enthusiasts featuring Hanbang favorites like illi’s Total Aging Care Cleansing Oil and Skylake’s Herbal Shampoo. Prestigious Hanbang brands like Sulwhasoo have seen tremendous growth and have given birth to cult-classic products like First Care Activating Serum. The popularity of Hanbang products isn’t slowing down. Another Hanbang-based brand, Whoo, reported record first-quarter revenues in 2016.

The China factor

Entry to the Chinese market, led by AmorePacific and LG Household and Health Care, has also been a factor in the growth of K-beauty abroad. Though they are competitors in Korea, AmorePacific and LG are teaming up to target the Chinese market. Chinese consumers are known to gravitate toward foreign brands, due to trust issues with shady ingredients and the high number of counterfeits. Innovative products such as AmorePacific’s BB cushion compact, paired with the reasonable price point of most cosmetic items, also attract Chinese consumers to K-beauty.

In 2015, cosmetic exports to China totaled a record USD 1.4 billion. AmorePacific is specifically looking to target Asian tourists by expanding its influence in duty-free stores. AmorePacific brands such as Sulwhasoo, Laneige, IOPE, Innisfree and Hera draw in thousands of customers at duty-free shops across the region. As a result of this growth, AmorePacific, now the world’s 14th-largest cosmetics company, raked in a whopping USD 4.9 billion last year.

Meanwhile, LG is looking to tackle the high-end cosmetics market in China, hosting VIP marketing events in Shanghai, Beijing and other major Chinese cities. To keep up with the soaring demand for beauty products, LG has also started construction on a large-scale manufacturing plant in Cheonan, with an investment of KRW 370 billion to build a state-of-the- art research and development center.

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Customer tries on some cosmetics at an AmorePacific shop in New York.

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Laneige Two Tone Lip Bar and BB cushion became a big hit thanks to actress Song Hye-kyo in

“Descendants of the Sun.”

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Customers try on cosmetics at a Whoo shop at a department store in China.

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Shoppers check out the goods at the cosmetics corner of the Shinsegae Duty Free Store.

Korean cosmetics generate a second big wave

K-beauty 2.0

_ Written by Sheryll Donerson

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Effects of the Korean Wave

The Korean Wave, known as Hallyu, is also a factor in the massive growth. The hugely popular Korean drama “Descendants of the Sun” was the smash hit of early 2016. While it was successful in Korea,

“Descendants of the Sun” enjoyed even greater success overseas. It was streamed 2.3 billion times in China, and was so popular that the Ministry of Public Security issued a warning to Chinese citizens on its official Weibo account. “Watching Korean dramas could be dangerous, and may even lead to legal troubles,” the warning stated.

The show’s popularity led to a boom in the beauty industry. Laneige, owned by AmorePacific, saw a 360 percent hike in sales since last year due to the show.

Millions of fans flocked to the stores to stock up on the Laneige Two Tone Lip Bar and BB cushion that star Song Hye-Kyo wore on the series. In Myeong- dong, the popular tourist shopping destination, Chinese tourists snapped up the lipstick in droves, and soon it was sold out nearly everywhere and had broken Aritaum’s sales record. Laneige in Singapore also reported double-digit growth after shoppers flocked to the makeup counters to snag their own Two Tone Lip Bars.

Korean beauty is all about continuous improvement and new product innovations.

Korean makeup companies have shorter product development cycles, which is why it seems that every week there’s a new hit product or ingredient that makes consumers go wild. Korean cosmetics have always been known for their unconventional

ingredients like snail mucus, snake and bee venom, and starfish, to name a few. Now you can add ingredients like horse oil to the list. Smaller companies like Guerisson 9, producer of the extremely popular horse oil cream and sheet masks, have hit it big with Chinese tourists. Extracted from horse fat, horse oil creates an intensely hydrating protective barrier over the skin, which contributes to its anti-aging claims.

Fun and whimsical skin care for millennials

Unique design elements are also being pinpointed as instrumental to K-beauty’s success in the

international market. In the United States, millennials are drawn to fun and whimsical skin care, not the stuffy, boring products that have long dominated the market. This is just one of the reasons Korean beauty products appeal to the younger generation, and are now being sold in popular stores like Urban Outfitters and Target in the United States. Most cosmetics aficionados are not only looking for functional skin care, but functional skin care with a big dose of fun.

If you do a quick search on YouTube for “Korean beauty,” a majority of the results feature “beauty hauls”

of quirky and unique Korean beauty products like The Face Shop’s “character masks” in fun animal prints like tigers, pandas and dragons. Unique products like the Berrisom My Lip Tint pack and Etude House’s Tint My Brow gel have gone viral in the United States for their trendy peel-off designs. Cleansing sticks,

bubbling face masks and aqua peeling sticks are all examples of functional yet fun skin care. Adorable packaging, like Tony Moly’s Banana Sleeping Pack and Holika Holika’s Lazy & Easy Egg Smooth Peeling gel, also contribute to K-beauty’s success abroad.

The expansion of Korean beauty products into the U.S. and European markets, together considered the birthplace of the cosmetics industry, is yet another factor in the sector’s rapid growth. On May 23, Tony Moly launched at Sephora’s main store on the Avenue des Champs-Élysées in Paris. It is now sold in 825 stores throughout Europe, a first for a Korean cosmetics brand. Last year, beauty products saw a 64 percent growth in exports to the United States. Brands like AmorePacific, Belif and The Face Shop are sold in the United States. Aritaum, the popular Korean chain that sells brands like Laneige, Mamonde, Hanyul, IOPE and Sulwhasoo, recently announced plans to open 70 branches in the United States over the next few years, as well as a U.S.-based e-commerce site. In 1

AmorePacific hosts a global pre-launch event for a new Laneige product in Singapore.

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A Laneige shop at a department store in Shanghai, complete with ads featuring actress Song Hye-kyo.

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Tony Moly’s eye sticks (3) and cooler packs (4) are winning over young fans with their unique designs.

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The Face Shop’s masks incorporate animal characters.

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Tony Moly at a Sephora shop at the Avenue des Champs- Élysées, Paris

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July 2016, beauty products made headlines again for snagging two major investments, defining K-beauty’s moment as a major player in the cosmetics game.

Even though Korean cosmetics seem to be everywhere, there was a time when it was nearly impossible for buyers abroad to find products. Fans of K-beauty had to scour eBay and shady third-party websites to get their hands on the latest hot items from Korea. Now the market is flush with retailers and shows no signs of stopping. Major retailer Sephora has an entire section in its online store devoted to Korean cosmetics, while popular online retailer Peach and Lily has opened two brick-and- mortar stores and is in the process of launching a line of branded cosmetics. Another U.S.-based e-retailer, Soko Glam, launched the Korean beauty and pop culture website “the Klog,” a place to find out all about the latest trends coming out of Seoul. Glow Recipe, a startup that sparked a natural approach to beauty in New York, was featured on the popular show “Shark Tank,” and has recorded USD 10 million in revenue within two years of funding.

As for those who doubted K-beauty’s influence and staying power, they may be eating their words.

In just a few years, products like BB cream and sheet masks have entered the global lexicon. Korean cosmetics are no longer just a fad or trend ‒ they are shaping and revolutionizing the beauty industry in a major way. Products like the BB cushion are the new normal. Sheet masks are no longer a trend but are embraced as a way of life. Korean beauty is here to stay, and it shows zero signs of slowing down.

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Cover Story

On May 30, 2015, actors Won Bin and Lee Na-young tied the knot after a long romance.

That two A-list actors got married was not, in and of itself, especially surprising.

What surprised the media, however, was the wedding itself. Star weddings can be giant events full of celebrities, fans and reporters. Won’s and Lee’s wedding, however, was a very different affair indeed. The couple held the ceremony in a beautiful wheat field in Won’s hometown of Jeongseon, a small community in the rugged mountains of Gangwon-do. Only a handful of well-wishers - mostly family and close friends - were on hand; not a single celebrity was invited. The couple planned out every aspect of the wedding over several months, from the tuxedo and dress to a table with a single flower placed upon it. After the wedding, the couple served well-wishers noodles, a traditional wedding dish, from simple iron cauldrons placed next to the river.

Only a few years ago, it would have been virtually unthinkable that two top stars would get married in such a small-scale, rustic fashion. As society changes, however, so are its wedding traditions. As late as the 1960s, most weddings in Korea were arranged marriages, with couples placing the wisdom of their elders over passion and romance. As Korea grew increasingly affluent, however, more and more people began choosing their life partners out of

love. And today, many young couples are eschewing the pomp and circumstance preferred by previous generations in favor of so-called “small weddings” and “do-it- yourself weddings” that prioritize intimacy and sentimentality over extravagance.

Marriage’s roots in Confucian culture

Although the typical quick and mechanized modern-day Korean wedding may seem unromantic, for much of history Korean tradition hardly factored the couple’s relationship into the equation at all. Rather, the emphasis was on the political, symbolic and economic consequences of the union.

Contrary to what historical dramas may imply, it was simply the joining of two clans, heavily rooted in Confucian values, rituals and symbolic gestures. As a general rule, the peeking glances at the groom-to- be and the tearful pleas to be married to so-and-so that are depicted so often in films and dramas owe far more to fiction than history.

While sogaeting, or blind dates arranged through family and friends, may be the most common way for young Koreans to meet today, things were drastically different during the Joseon Dynasty. The matchmaking process, called wihon, often took place through an official matchmaker or marriage broker who evaluated the families’ criteria. Their reputations,

Saying “I Do”

_ Written by Hahna Yoon

Korea’s wedding scene includes everything from the traditional to the intimately personal

__ Korea’s

wedding traditions are changing along with society.

Whereas arranged marriages and big weddings were common in the past, today’s couples are not only together by choice, more and more of them are choosing to tie the knot in smaller, more personalized ways, too.

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financial assets, physical appearances and achievements would come to the forefront and, when the decision was becoming serious, the parents of the prospective spouses would meet. As with many arranged marriages, at no point would the two people getting married actually meet each other. Many brides even had their eyes glued shut during the ceremony and could not see the grooms’ faces until it was over.

The betrothal was considered complete when the groom’s family sent an official letter of proposal to the bride’s family and the bride’s family responded with a letter of acceptance. The groom’s family would write the husband-to-be’s saju (the year, date and time of birth according to the lunar calendar) on a piece of white paper of precise measurements, folded five times evenly and ceremoniously wrapped. The bride’s family would use the saju of the two candidates to make sure the match was propitious, meaning that there was sufficient gunghap, or marital harmony.

Using the saju, the fortuneteller would also advise on setting a date, a process called napchae.

Once the date was set, the last

necessary pre-wedding ritual would be the exchanging of gifts, or nappye. The groom’s family would gift the bride’s family with a large box called a ham, which would have three components: the honseo (marriage papers), chaedan (red and blue fabric) and honsu (gifts for the family). Of these gifts, the honseo was by far the most important as it contained the groom’s seal. For a woman, both her status and her life depended on remaining married and many women were even buried with their honseo.

Weddings were a large, costly affair involving a feast. This ceremony, called the daerye, took place at the home of the bride.

Everyone in the village would come and admire all the sights and colors. The groom would approach the house on a horse, with his attendants nearby, and maintain a stoic face at all times. Upon arrival, the groom would present a wild goose to the bride’s mother on a small table. As geese were

__ Traditional weddings represented the joining of two clans, heavily rooted in Confucian values, rituals and symbolic gestures.

Nowadays, couples can get married the traditional way at Korea House and Namsangol Hanok Village in Seoul.

In a traditional wedding ceremony, the bride and groom bow to one another when they first meet.

The bride displays the traditional wedding hairstyle and makeup.

Preparing the wedding table The groom (right) and an attendant make their way to the bride’s home with a wooden goose. Wooden geese are given to the bride’s

family as a symbols of fidelity.

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known to mate for life, this gesture was symbolic of the groom’s fidelity. Afterward, there was a bowing ceremony in which the bride and groom would be in each other’s presence for the first time. The groom would stand at the east end of a wedding table while the bride stood at the west end.

The bride would bow twice to the groom, who in turn would bow once. The heavily made-over bride would be dressed in a long silk topcoat with billowing sleeves called a wonsam. Red on the outside and blue on the inside, it had embroidered flowers on the back to symbolize wealth and longevity. The groom would come dressed in samogwandae, a traditional pants-and-jacket combination resembling the uniforms of the lowest court officials.

They would take several sips of traditional liquor (depending on what region of the country they were in) and then take turns bowing to their parents and in-laws.

The bride would return to her parents’

home, where the husband would visit for the first three nights. On the third visit, the bride would go to live permanently at her husband’s house. While upper-class men (yangban) were able to remarry, women had to stay loyal to their husbands until death.

Sinsik weddings

As Christianity began to take root in Korea, new-style (sinsik) weddings began to emerge in the 1890s. Around this time, child marriages were banned ‒ in 1907, the legal age of marriage was 17 for boys and 15 for girls. Often a hybrid of Western and Confucian philosophies, sinsik weddings might more closely resemble those of modern times in terms of aesthetics. According to a 2010 article in the Ewha Voice titled “Earliest Western- Style Wedding Marches by Ewha Students,”

most people having sinsik weddings were newly converted Christians and Christian missionaries often officiated.

Since, previously, brides had not even been allowed to see their future husbands during the ceremony, it was a radical shock to have

__ Often a hybrid of Western and Confucian philosophies, sinsik weddings might more closely resemble those of modern times in terms of aesthetics.

The father of the bride walks his daughter down the aisle in a modern wedding.

The groom gives flowers to the bride in front of the guests.

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a wedding where the bride would hold onto the groom’s arm. Though the weddings themselves were varied, the brides were usually dressed in all-white Hanbok, traditional Korean attire. Instead of the traditional bowing ceremony, moreover, there was often a Christian worship service.

In some cases, the weddings entailed both bowing and Christian worship.

According to UCLA Korean studies professor Jennifer Jung-Kim’s “The New Woman and New-Style Weddings in Colonial Korea,” when the Japanese colonial period began several years later, Japanese customs influenced the hybrid weddings and the Western aspects grew stronger. Wedding receptions began to

take place, families began sending out invitations in advance, and rice cakes (tteok) were distributed as thank-you gifts.

Industries that specialized in weddings began to sprout up. This included the establishment of venues such as wedding halls and community centers.

Changing perceptions of marriage

After World War II, the new Korean constitution made monogamy official in 1948 and a few years later, in 1953, having a concubine was made illegal. According to Korean studies scholar Andrei Lankov’s 2007 book, “The Dawn of Modern Korea,”

it was around this time that two distinct

large convention centers with somewhere between 100 and 300 guests. The couple rent Hanbok as well as Western-style wedding outfits, and women hire

professionals to do their hair and makeup.

Typically, a photographer is hired a few months in advance, and elaborate wedding photos are taken in a variety of settings and poses. At the wedding itself, two tables are set up outside the doors ‒ one for the bride and another for the groom. Guests are expected to give congratulatory money to the couple in the form of crisp, clean bills in white envelopes. The ceremony is short, and the feast afterward normally includes an emcee and a buffet meal. Through the eyes of many a Westerner, it’s far from romantic.

While Korean wedding traditions have changed greatly since the days of women having their eyes glued shut, similarities remain. Though it is less explicit, a young person’s family background and financial status still play a large role in his or her choice of spouse.

Despite the results of a 1999 poll cited by Lankov in which 90.5 percent of Korean men and 88.3 percent of Korean women said they would prefer a relationship that resulted from love as opposed to an arranged marriage, matchmaking is still big business here in Korea.

Once a mate is chosen, it’s still common forms of marriage came into view: jungmae

(arranged marriage) and yeonae (marriage for love). Lankov goes on to say that yeonae didn’t catch on quickly.

“As late as 1960,” he writes, “a poll of married Koreans indicated that 22.9 percent of their marriages were arranged by their parents without any prior consultation with the would-be couple. A further 43.8 percent wed a person chosen by their parents but were given a chance to express their own opinion.”

As Korea began to recover from colonization and the Korean War, and the economic boom was in full swing, many began to question the Western, capitalist influence on Korean culture, including its influence on marriage and wedding traditions. In her 1997 book “Getting Married in Korea: Of Gender, Morality and Modernity,” anthropology professor Laurel Kendall discusses how women’s issues also became a major catalyst for the change of traditional Korean marriages as there was a deep patriarchal undernote to many of the customs.

Marriage today

Today, the modern Korean wedding bears the influence of many aspects of the country’s history and culture. Most commonly, weddings are still held in __ More young

people are

choosing so-called small weddings, in which they invite a small number of family and friends to ceremonies held in memorable, meaningful spaces.

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The mother and father of the bride escort their daughter down the aisle in an outdoor wedding.

Some young couples are choosing natural wedding venues.

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Korean traditional Hanok, too, are becoming increasingly popular for weddings.

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A couple holds a “small wedding” at Jeju’s Woljeong-ri Beach.

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I n t e r v i e w

__ Today, the modern Korean wedding bears the influence of many aspects of the country’s history and culture.

to seek approval from parents before the wedding goes ahead. Often, it is only when both sets of parents meet in a formal setting and give the wedding their stamp of approval that the engagement is considered official. As Korean culture becomes more individualistic, however, parental interference is increasingly seen as a nuisance. In a 2015 survey carried out by the matchmaking companies Bien- aller and Only You, 39.5 percent of men and 35.3 percent of women said they wished their parents would stay out of their wedding plans.

Luckily for young Koreans, many of the customs have either been watered down or abandoned altogether. Other customs still exist today, but in an adapted form. One example is the pyebaek. Traditionally, this was a small ceremony that took place a few days after the wedding. During a traditional pyebaek ritual, the parents of the groom would sit on cushions in front of a silk screen while the newlyweds sat facing them across a small table. The couple would then perform a deep bow, starting from a standing position until they were both kneeling with their foreheads pressed to the ground. In some versions of the ceremony, the bride would bow this way as many as four times and would sometimes offer her in-laws jujubes or chestnuts to represent the children (preferably sons) that she hoped to bear. In some cases, the couple would offer the parents a cup of rice wine (cheongju); the parents might or might not offer one back. In some variations on the ritual, the parents offered a piece of wisdom or advice about married life.

While many couples choose to make the pyebaek part of their weddings, nowadays it often takes place right after the ceremony. Today, there are many companies that guide families through the ritual and explain its rules and formalities.

The modern-day version also includes the bride’s family and sometimes the bride receives gifts of money in white envelopes.

In the United States, where many Korean- Americans opt to have a pyebaek, it might take place a few days before the wedding.

Other customs, such as hitting the soles of the groom’s feet (a practice that dates back to the early Joseon Dynasty), have taken on a comical spirit. In this ritual, the groom would traditionally be hung upside down and beaten severely on the soles of his feet, either with a cane or a dried fish, as a symbolic way of making sure he could not run away. In a modern-day wedding, a similar ritual might take place ‒ but mostly for comedic effect alongside a song after the wedding.

Small weddings

Wedding traditions continue to evolve even today. Small weddings and do-it-yourself- weddings, in which the couple prepare for the event instead of hiring professionals, are becoming the rage. More and more couples are opting not to have the typical 300-person, 30-minute 21st-century wedding. Wedding and online beauty magazines are teeming with articles with titles such as “How to Have a DIY Wedding on Jejudo Island” and “How to Do Your Own Makeup.” Typical of this trend is singer and model Lee Hyori, who secretly married longtime boyfriend Lee Sang-soon at their villa on Jejudo Island.

Many interpret the small weddings as a sign of Korea becoming a much more individualistic culture and in many ways, the nature of the ceremony allows for much more freedom on the individuals getting married. The bride and groom may choose to spend more of their finances on their honeymoon or on getting a larger apartment instead of inviting great numbers of people. If fewer individuals are invited, those members are normally close friends of family of the bride and groom. In an article by the Korea Joongang Daily this past August entitled “Small Weddings Are The Next Big Thing,” Dongguk University professor Jang Jae-sook predicts that small weddings are here to stay. “Unlike the past, the emphasis is being more put on the values and choices of the parties who are actually going to live together.”

Wedding director Ha Cheon-yeon says Korean weddings are changing to reflect the tastes of a younger generation

A Wedding of Your Very Own

_ Written by Robert Koehler

Ha Cheon-yeon, the director of Seoul-based RGB Jigumat, is one of a small but growing number of artisanal wedding planners who are helping change Korea’s wedding scene. “We are ‘wedding directors.’ We plan and conduct the entire wedding ceremony,”

she says. “There are times when we do everything from making the space beautiful, including flowers, to planning the bride and groom’s clothing and even the food.” From the wedding cake to the photos, they handle it all. “In some cases we do it ourselves, and in other cases we work together with other teams.”

Demand for RGB Jigumat’s services have been on the rise since Ha started the company four years ago. The company offers couples a freer, more personalized experience on the proverbial big day. “In a way, you can say we offer a ‘tailored wedding ceremony’,” says Ha.

“The reason more couples are coming to us is that more and more couples want their own kind of

wedding, whether its the actual content of the ceremony or the style.”

Substance over showing off

No longer will a set-in-stone, one-size- fits-all wedding ceremony in a wedding hall or hotel event room do, especially for Korea’s increasingly individualistic youth. “Young people want substance and things with personality, that reflect their own stories,” says Ha. “So it seems weddings, too, are going in that direction. She explains that until now, Korea’s wedding scene reflected the practice of pumasi, the communal exchanges of labor that were necessary in old Korea, when the country was

an agricultural society. I went to your wedding so you should come to mine.

I gave you this amount of money so you should give me the same amount.

Too many people worried about the number of people who showed up at a wedding. ”Young people are tired of that, I think,“ she says. ”Young people want to do things differently.“

One particular trend among young couples is the so-called “small wedding” of 100 guests or less. Ha explains, “Before, people gathered lots of guests for a wedding to show off to the old people, but the trend now is towards small weddings.” Stars such as Lee Hyori, Lee Na-yeong and Won Bin have helped popularize smaller weddings. Outdoor weddings, too, are in. “We get many couples who want to have an outdoor weddings,”

she says. “When you do a wedding in a wedding hall or hotel, you feel confined. Many celebrities have done outdoor weddings, too.” Many couples are choosing to get married at home or in parks or restaurants.

“It seems weddings are getting more natural,” she says. “People want to do them outdoors, with nature in the background.”

Well-wishers give congratulatory money to the couple at this table.

A father reads a congratulatory address.

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Travel

Green meadows and giant wind turbines, such as here at Eco Green Campus, dominate the landscape of Daegwallyeong.

The Roof of Korea

Return to nature in the highlands of PyeongChang

_ Written and photographed by Robert Koehler

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Giant fir trees line the path to Woljeongsa Temple.

You can feed the residents of Daegwallyeong Sheep Farm.

Gangneung expressway through the Daegwallyeong Pass made possible the economic development of the region.

The most popular with visitors is the Daegwallyeong Sheep Farm, which is home to a herd of over 200 sheep.

The picturesque ranch, frequently featured in Korean films, dramas and advertisements, is a pleasant place to stroll around, especially on the higher trails that offer fine views of the surroundings. Children especially enjoy feeding the sheep. Near the entrance to the farm is a shack selling lamb kebabs – good for you, not so good for the sheep.

The biggest of the ranches, the Eco Green Campus (formerly Samyang Ranch) is Asia’s largest pastureland, occupying nearly 20 million square meters of space. At 1,140 meters above sea level, the top of the ranch provides stunning views over the East Sea and resorts, most notably Yongpyong Resort,

which will host the upcoming Olympic Games’ Alpine ski events. The sprawling Alpensia Ski Resort, meanwhile, will host the cross-country skiing, ski jumping, Nordic combined, luge and several other events.

In spring, summer and autumn, however, visitors come to Daegwallyeong to take in the region’s spectacular panoramic views. True to its “Alps of Korea” moniker, the pass is lined by green rolling hills topped by imposing wind turbines. Korean visitors often remark on the “exotic” surroundings, and indeed, the landscape is more akin to what you’d expect to see in Scotland or New Zealand than to other places in Korea.

Much of the hilly landscape is occupied by large sheep and cattle ranches. These were founded in the 1970s, when the opening of the Seoul- The New York Times had skiing in mind

when it placed PyeongChang on its list of 52 places to go in 2016. The host city of the 2018 Winter Olympics is one of Korea’s top winter sports destinations, to be sure, but it’s also a delight to visit any time of year. This ruggedly beautiful land of soaring peaks, deep canyons, meandering rivers, rolling highlands and flower-covered fields is an outdoorsman’s paradise, offering limitless possibilities for hiking, trekking, camping, rafting and more.

Green meadows of Asia’s Alps

Most of the county of PyeongChang rests on a high inland plateau in the heart of the Taebaeksan Mountain Range, the mountains that form the Korean Peninsula’s craggy spine. Roughly 65 percent of the district sits at elevations

of 700 meters or higher. The highland topography creates a local micro-climate with blissfully cool summers and cold, snowy winters.

Nowhere is this more apparent than in the Daegwallyeong, a highland pass that connects the east coast city of Gangneung with the rest of the country.

Billing itself as the “Alps of Asia,” the Daegwallyeong area gets the country’s coolest summers and its coldest winters.

The mountains, the northeastern

airstream and the Siberian High combine to make the area Korea’s “snow country.”

The Seonjaryeong, a 1,157-meter-high ridgeline that overlooks the low coastal strip into which Gangneung has been squeezed, is an especially snowy spot, receiving more than a meter of snow in an average winter.

Unsurprisingly, the Daegwallyeong

area is home to some of Korea’s best ski Woljeongsa’s nine-story pagoda is a

National Treasure.

Woljeongsa is surrounded by thick forests.

True to its

“Alps of Korea”

moniker, the

Daegwallyeong

Pass is lined by

endless rolling

hills of green.

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alpine meadows. It’s a 4.5-kilometer hike from the entrance to the top, but frequent shuttle buses will take you from the bottom to the very top in comfort. From the top, it’s a long but very enjoyable walk down though inspiring highland scenery.

Don’t forget to say hello to the sheep, cows and ostriches along the way.

Eco Green Campus’ neighbor on the hills is the Daegwallyeong Sky Ranch, founded by Hanil Cement in 1974 and opened to the public in 2014. While not as large as the Eco Green Campus, this ranch allows visitors to enter the pens and touch the sheep. It also offers tractor rides and horse-riding programs.

If you’re looking for a bit more of a workout, the Seonjaryeong Ridge is a popular hiking destination. It’s a 5-kilometer hike from the Daegwallyeong

Bongpyeong has plenty of places offering buckwheat dishes, particularly

chilled buckwheat noodles, or

makguksu.

Rest Stop to the top of the ridge, but the climb is gentle and not especially strenuous. From the top of the ridge, you can gaze out upon the sea and the endless hills of eastern Korea. The hike is a bit harder in winter, when the ridge is often covered in deep snow, but the beautiful wind- and snow-swept landscape will reward the extra effort.

‘The Buckwheat Season’

One of PyeongChang’s favorite sons was modernist novelist Lee Hyo-Seok (1907- 1942), whose 1936 short story “The Buckwheat Season” is one of the country’s most beloved pieces of 20th-century literature. The story, which tells the tale of a traveling merchant and a younger man who may be his son, is set in Lee’s home 1. Baengnyong Cave is famous for its dramatic rock formations. 2. Jeong Gang Won’s clay jars are used to store sauces and pastes.

3. Alpensia Resort offers golf and other leisure opportunities when it’s not ski season. 4. Bongpyeong’s buckwheat fields inspired writer Lee Hyo-seok.

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village of Bongpyeong, an agricultural hamlet renowned for its high-quality buckwheat, one of the staples of this mountainous region.

The place where Lee was born, now called “Lee Hyo-Seok Culture Village,”

still retains the bucolic beauty the author described in “The Buckwheat Season”:

“The burgeoning flowers of the buckwheat, growing thick in the surrounding fields, looked to be a profusion of sprinkled, white salt on the terrain.”

While lovely any time of year, the buckwheat fields of Bongpyeong are most captivating in early September, when the white buckwheat flowers bloom. This is also when the village hosts the Hyoseok Culture Festival, which features a variety of literary events, musical performances and plenty of good food. The highlight of the festival, of course, is the opportunity to stroll through the buckwheat fields as Lee must have done in his time. The fields are captivating at night, too, when the light of the moon illuminates the blossoms.

In addition to the fields, the village is also home to a museum and memorial hall, Lee’s old home, a traditional waterwheel and several good restaurants serving buckwheat noodles, buckwheat crepes and other tasty buckwheat dishes.

Wild, wild nature

PyeongChang’s most abundant resource is nature.

With fewer than 50,000 people, most of whom live in the narrow valley strip along the Seoul-Gangneung highway, the county is mostly rugged, untamed wilds.

Mountains account for over 80 percent of its total area, with many of those peaks well exceeding 1,000 meters in height. If you’re a hiker, you’ll be in paradise.

One of the most beautiful, and most accessible, of the mountains is Mt.

Odaesan, the centerpiece of Odaesan National Park. True to its name, which

translates as “five-peak mountain,” the massif is crowned by five peaks, the tallest of which, Birobong Peak, tops out at 1,563 meters. Unlike nearby Mt.

Seoraksan, whose craggy topography makes for some challenging hikes, Mt.

Odaesan’s inclines are much gentler, making for a much easier climb.

Mt. Odaesan is covered in thick old-growth forest, especially between Birobong Peak and Sangwangbong Peak.

At the base of the mountain, the walking path to Woljeongsa Temple cuts through a beautiful forest of fir trees, many of which are over 80 years old.

Mt. Odasesan is home to several old temples, hermitages and shrines. The biggest and best-known of its temples, Woljeongsa Temple, was torched during the Korean War but beautifully restored afterward. Its ornate, nine-story stone pagoda is a national treasure. Another large temple, Sangwonsa Temple, boasts Korea’s oldest bronze bell, cast in 725.

If you want to get really off the beaten track, however, head to PyeongChang’s incredibly rugged southern limit, where the meandering Donggang River cuts a long, loopy and deep valley through the limestone cliffs. Deep in the valley is Eoreumchi Village, a small community named for the small fish native to the area. Just getting to the village is an adventure – access is via a single road through the mountains, and buses to downtown PyeongChang are infrequent.

Your ordeal is rewarded, however, with opportunities for trekking, rafting, kayaking and other outdoor activities amid wild natural beauty. A popular trek is the 2-kilometer hike to Chiljongnyeong Path, where there’s an observation deck overlooking the Donggang River as it twists and turns through the landscape.

Spelunkers, meanwhile, should check out the Baengnyong Cave, a 1.8-kilometer- long limestone cave with plenty of dramatic stalactites, stalagmites and other rock formations.

WHERE TO STAY The Alpensia Ski Resort alone is home to several Holiday Inn facilities and an InterContinental. The Yongpyong Resort, too, has a number of options for the well-heeled traveler, including luxury condos modeled on North American and European ski resorts.

Budget travelers, meanwhile, will find some motels and plenty of pension houses in and around Hoenggye.

WHAT TO EAT Bongpyeong has plenty of places offering buckwheat dishes, particularly chilled buckwheat noodles, or makguksu.

The Daegwallyeong area, meanwhile, is noted for its high-quality beef, or hanu.

The lamb skewers in front of the Daegwallyeong Sheep Farm are tasty, too.

One special place to eat is the Institute of Traditional Korean Cuisine, or Jeong Gang Won.

Not only does its restaurant serve exquisitely prepared set meals, or hanjeongsik, but it also operates a Hanok guest house where you can spend the night.

GETTING THERE From Seoul’s Dong Seoul Bus Terminal, there are frequent buses to Gangneung that stop at PyeongChang’s main traffic hubs of Jangpyeong, Jinbu and Hoenggye, all of which are along the highway.

PyeongChang

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Bringing Music Worlds Together

Jazz-gugak band SE:UM shares its recipes for broadening genres and making great music

_ Written by Hahna Yoon

Photos courtesy of The Culture Factory SE:UM People 1

Talk to the members of fusion gugak band SE:UM about music and they’ll talk to you about food.

“Our music is like jjolmyeon,”

producer Yoo Sewoom explains, referring to the spicy and chewy Korean cold noodle dish. “Jjolmyeon was created by accident at a naengmyeon factory.

They overcooked the noodles and in order to reconcile that, they added some hot pepper sauce ‒ and likewise, SE:UM’s music is a series of unforeseen events and instruments working together.”

Although initially derived from the producer’s own name ‒ that is, from

“Sewoom” ‒ the band’s name has evolved in significance and now stands for the

“s” in possibility, the “e” in creativity, the

“u” in communication and the “m” in impact. Though the group started out trying out sounds together, SE:UM’s music has come to represent that which its members believe is the essence of all Korean music: cyclical breaths. Slowly but steadily, beginning and ending each line with a breath, they are beginning to share their delicacies with an international audience.

Mixture of personalities and styles

Alongside the ensemble DANARU as well as various other experimental contemporary artists and musicians, SE:UM acts as one major component of The Culture Factory SE:UM, an art collective that hopes to create a freethinking and individualistic environment where artists can thrive.

Similarly, the band SE:UM is more focused on encouraging its individual members to bring in their own particular sounds and synthesize them, as opposed to the group-centered approach where the focus is on creating a sound together.

Often crossing over into the jazz genre, SE:UM also incorporates uniquely Korean elements such as samullori (traditional Korean percussion using traditional instruments), pungmul (traditional Korean folk music that relies on drumming, dancing and singing) and pansori (traditional Korean musical storytelling). Originally an eight- member band, the group is currently made up of Kim Sungwan on the alto saxophone, Ha Seungkook on the trumpet, Kim Sungbae on the bass, Lee Minhyung on percussion and Lee Joon on the gayageum.

Don’t box us in

SE:UM is often asked about its musical identity as a group. It tends to be pushed into either the world music category or lumped with ethnic fusion.

“We don’t like to confine ourselves to specific genres,” says Joon. “We bring that by which we’ve been influenced in the past into the music and try to synthesize with one another.”

SE:UM first performed in 2013 with a work titled “The Reign of Peace is Here” and debuted with its first extended play “SE:UM” shortly thereafter. During the same year, 2014, the group also performed “Korean Breath” at the Incheon Asian Games.

“We don’t like to confine ourselves to specific genres.

We bring that by which we’ve been influenced in the past into the music and try to synthesize with one another.”

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“The reaction to our initial sound was mixed,” says Sungwan. “Our gugak friends loved it. Our classical-music friends thought it was good. Our jazz friends were like, ‘What’s this?’ The music didn’t exactly fit anywhere.” When people get confused, Sungbae says he likes to explain using noodles as a metaphor.

“Flour noodles came from China, and then they eventually made their way to Italy where the dish became spaghetti.

When in Japan, it became udon. It’ll take on the specialties and traditions of that particular region and adjust to fit where it belongs. As artists, our role is to take music and see how best we can serve it.”

A savory dish with an explosion of tastes

For a representative taste of what SE:UM serves, the band might suggest “Seven Steps One Bow,” a song that starts with the slow, repetitive beating of the kkwaenggwari (handheld gong). Seconds later, the double bass sweeps in with a deep, low cry and the two sounds circle one another until an explosion of feeling invites the other instruments to play.

“Sure, there are Buddhist undertones

to some of the music, but our group is made of many different backgrounds and we’re not trying to make a religious statement,” explains the song’s creator, Sungbae. “The song’s title references the traditional Korean rhythms it uses and there’s even a psychedelic feeling to it.”

The members of the band keep up a group chat where they are constantly growing their ideas and concur that they find inspiration in everything from doing the dishes to taking a shower.

Sungwan explains, “The process of making our music is always different.

Sometimes, we have a recipe in mind that we’re trying to master. Sometimes, we just have a few of the ingredients and sometimes, we look for what we can farm. ‘Oh, this? This looks edible. How can we cook it? What flavors can we get out of it?’ We ask until we get the image or the story that we’re looking for.”

The talk of the potluck

While SE:UM really began gaining attention in 2015 when the band was nominated for both Best Crossover Artist and Best Performance at the Korea Music Awards, its international presence became known in August of that year when it was invited to the 2015 Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Sewoom says he was so terrified that he barely had time to be excited.

“Every single audience that you meet is different,” Sungbae explains, “and I was anxious about what the reactions would be like, especially outside of Korea with such traditional music.”

In retrospect, the group now laughs at those early anxieties and boasts about the five stars it received from UK website BroadwayBaby, which praised its

“emotional attachment to each song” and described it as “genuinely exciting.”

Sungwan says one of the best parts was the reactions from the audience.

“An elderly Scottish woman even approached Sungbae with tears in her

eyes and told him how moved she was by his music. It was amazing to witness an experience like that.”

Joon, who spent a lot of time carrying around the 12-string zitherlike instrument, adds that people were particularly interested in the traditional Korean instruments.

“People were fascinated by the gayageum, since it’s not an instrument that you often see outside of Korea. … It gave me a lot of hope to see how much curiosity it inspired in others.”

Self-satisfaction first

Since branching out abroad, the group has often been referred to as one that “represents Korean music.” This intimidates SE:UM, however.

“There are so many different kinds of music that ‘represent Korea’ and we’re

“The process of making our music is always different.

Sometimes, we have a recipe in mind that we’re trying to master.

Sometimes, we just have a few of the ingredients and sometimes, we look for what we can farm.”

“Every single audience that you meet is different, and I was anxious about what the reactions would be like, especially outside of

Korea with such traditional music.”

working incredibly hard to earn the title,”

Sewoom says.

“Whether it’s pop music or hip-hop or rap, it’s all ‘representative’ of Korea,”

Joon adds.

Just this past July, SE:UM performed at the Korean Cultural Center in Washington, D.C., as part of the institution’s “Jazz Meets Korea” series.

Later this year, the band is planning to tour parts of Abu Dhabi and Nigeria.

Additionally, this coming October, the band members are looking forward to releasing their second official EP. They are overwhelmed by the support they’ve received and grateful to everyone who has encouraged them. However, none of the members strive for awards or outside recognition.

“Goals?” Sewoom ponders. “I suppose our first and foremost goal is to make music to the best of our ability.”

SE:UM performs at the Incheon Culture & Arts Center last October.

SE:UM holds a concert at Edinburgh’s Adam House last year.

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Alexandre Jollien apologizes for the lack of chairs in his flat.

“We’re moving back to Switzerland in 10 days,” he explains. Thus ends a three-year period spent in Seoul studying Seon meditation (better known as Zen in the West) as part of a quest for wisdom, during which Jollien has produced two more books. So what drew the Francophone writer and philosopher to Korea in the first place?

Born in 1975 in the Swiss canton of Valais, Jollien has been living with cerebral palsy all his life. At age three he was placed in a center for children with disabilities, where he spent the next 17 years.

“What struck me was their joy,” he says in fluent English. “Others were handicapped but deeply joyful. How could it be possible for them to be this way in such a situation?

“I tried to find happiness outside of me, and by being exactly the way other people are,” he says. “But it made me even more unhappy.”

That’s when Jollien began grappling with philosophy, especially the works of Socrates.

“I realized the quest for happiness is an inner one,” he says. “Socrates said,

‘Know yourself and you will know the universe.’ He also said that no one does wrong willingly.”

After leaving the center, Jollien decided to study philosophy and ancient Greek at a university in Fribourg, Switzerland, and at Trinity College in Dublin.

“I like Greek philosophy because it is a way of being,” he says. “They propose tools for coping with reality, for managing trouble and for being more in the present.

“After that, I published some books, but I didn’t feel that joy, even after having studied philosophy. So I decided to try Zen meditation. For me it was important to find a Zen master who was also a Catholic priest, because I used to go church in my youth. I always believed

Out of the Fog,

Toward Happiness

Philosopher Alexandre Jollien finds joy in both the ups and downs of life

_ Written by Ben Jackson Photographed by RAUM Studio

“The main source of suffering is not the world but ourselves, and the way to cope with that is not easy to find. It’s a daily practice, to see how much I project to the world and to other beings my desires and prejudices.”

People 2

in God. So I went to Sogang University, because there is a Canadian Catholic priest there who is also a Zen master. I studied there for about three years.”

Discovering Korea

Upon his arrival in Korea, Jollien was surprised at how few Buddhists he found.

“I had thought that Koreans were Buddhists,” he says. “I was quite surprised, especially after visiting Nepal, where you can feel a strong sense of spirituality in the streets.”

Jollien was disappointed to see Korean society “copying the American model,” as he put it.

“It’s a pity,” he says. “Because Korean people have a huge and deep tradition:

spiritual life, generosity. Now they’re copying the American side too much.

They’re losing something.”

He continues on a more optimistic note, however.

“I was struck by the generosity of people here. They are deeply kind.”

The first book Jollien wrote in Korea was “Living Without Why: The Spiritual Journey of a Philosopher in Korea.” In it, he talks about his spiritual development and observations in Korea on a path where Buddhism and Christianity overlap.

It was followed this year by “Three Friends in Search of Wisdom,” which Jollien co-wrote with psychiatrist Christophe André and Buddhist monk Matthieu Ricard.

“We often meet to talk about issues like what happiness is, and how to cope with suffering,” Jollien explains. “We decided to write a book together, so we met for 10 days in a kind of spiritual monastery and talked about the great topics of life. Our goal was to transmit tools that can really help people. The book is being translated into Korean and English this month.”

Four concepts that recur throughout Jollien’s work are happiness, joy, wisdom

and fog ‒ the last of these, he explains, is best understood as the illusions that cloud a person’s mind.

“There is always fog in the mind, because it is always judging reality and making comparisons,” he says. “That’s why we suffer a lot. The main source of suffering is not the world but ourselves, and the way to cope with that is not easy to find. It’s a daily practice, to see how much I project to the world and to other beings my desires and prejudices.”

When asked about happiness, he says,

“I think happiness is something stable and unreachable by human beings, except very wise people or Buddhist monks. As Aristotle said, ‘When you’re happy, you cannot go down.’ In my eyes, that’s a very difficult state of mind to achieve. For me, joy is more compatible with the ups and downs of life. Joy is to say ‘yes’ to what happens. It’s something more accessible than happiness.

“In our society there is this pressure to be happy. It can be very oppressive for people who have no goal, or disabled people ‒ for everybody. Joy is more accessible. The big issue is how we can enjoy the here and now.”

Importance of daily practice

“For me there are three things that can help us to enjoy ourselves,” Jollien continues. “The first is to be on a spiritual path, with a daily practice of some sort. It could be praying or meditation or whatever, but it’s good to have a daily practice and not to simply be on autopilot.

“The second is to have spiritual friends who can help you, and whom you can help to remain honest and to encourage each other.

“The third is to practice generosity. As Nietzsche said, the best way to start the day is to ask ourselves, ‘Which person can I help today?’ It’s very easy but it can change a lot of things.”

Having made an impression on Korean readers, Jollien has no specific plans beyond continuing to write, he says, but hopes above all that his children will never forget the fluent Korean they have picked up over the past three years.

“Three Friends in Search of Wisdom”

is a best-seller in France. A Korean- language edition was published in June.

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Arts & Entertainment

Samsung Museum of Art, Seoul Museum, Gyeonggi Children’s Museum and Jeju National Museum.

The Seoul Arts Center, which put the project together in cooperation with Hyundai Hwarang, said the exhibit was a chance to bridge the gulf between calligraphy and contemporary art, and that it would help to globalize Korean art and reestablish its identity.

The show runs through Aug. 28, after which it will cross the Pacific for a yearlong tour in the United States with stops at the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Charles B.

Wang Center at New York’s Stony Brook University and the Spencer Museum of Art at the University of Kansas, among other destinations.

Origins of chaekgeori

Chaekgeori is believed to have evolved out of the Italian Renaissance art form called studiolo, which depicted studies filled with books. The studiolo tradition traveled from Italy to England and France and then to China. From there, it drifted into Korea sometime in the 18th century in the course of Korea’s trade with Qing Dynasty China.

The paintings began to take on a Korean aesthetic, and they remained popular into the early 20th century.

Chung Byung-mo, a professor at Gyeongju University and the incumbent president of the Korean Folk Art Society, said the genre continued to retain a Western technique for depth of field and contrast, making a chaekgeori “the most Korean, yet the most global, realistic painting.”

The paintings in this exhibit depict books and bookshelves, either standing alone or juxtaposed with luxury items such as expensive furniture and ceramics

‒ and often with imported foreign goods such as alarm clocks and eyeglasses.

Fruit considered exotic at the time, such as watermelons and peaches, are other common inclusions, along with flowers.

According to the museum, this colorful choice of objects shows that, “The intellectuals of the Joseon era came out Chaekgeori are Korean still-life paintings

that depict books as aesthetic objects. Book lovers will undoubtedly appreciate the 58 works on display at the Seoul Arts Center’s Calligraphy Museum, some of which date back to the 18th century.

Alongside the chaekgeori are calligraphic Chinese character designs called munjado, which complement the paintings with splendid curved strokes and vibrant colors. The collection is worthy of note because it is the first time these beautiful pieces have been gathered together in one place. Some 20 museums and private galleries, not to mention a few private owners, opened up their vaults and contributed works for the occasion.

Participating museums included the National Museum of Korea, the Leeum

Joseon Art Goes to America

A rare still-life collection is set to begin a yearlong tour of the United States

_ Written by Lim Jeong-yeo

Photos courtesy of Seoul Arts Center

from a dark age wanting to understand the world through technologically advanced goods from China and the West.”

Culture and history reflected in folk art

This exhibit has drawn acclaim, as it showcases irreproducible masterpieces of significant historical value. One example is a folding screen painted by Lee Hyung- rok, a royal painter who served under King Jeongjo (1752-1800), the 22nd king of the Joseon Dynasty. The work, provided for the exhibit by the National Museum of Korea, is the original folding screen bearing Lee’s depiction of a bookshelf.

King Jeongjo, who commissioned the artist to paint the folding screen to replace an earlier and more traditional one that stood behind his throne, did much to advance the popularity of chaekgeori.

Though skeptical of what he considered extravagant foreign imports, the king was nonetheless a great fan of the book paintings. His laudatory comments about the new folding screen are recorded in the historical archives. Upon seeing it, King Jeongjo said he had finally come to understand the saying that one can find solace just by looking at books.

The colorful choice of objects depicted in Chaekgeori shows that the intellectuals of the late Joseon era wanted to understand the world through technologically advanced goods from abroad.

Visitors take in the “Munhwa and Court Painting of the Joseon Dynasty: Munjado and Chaekgeori” at Seoul Arts Center.

(Top to Bottom) Munjado, eight-panel screen, each screen 61 x 36 cm.

Embroidered Chaekgeori, ten-panel screen, each screen 81 x 36 cm.

Chaekgado, ten-panel screen, 149.5 x 450 cm.

The royal trend quickly spread to aristocrats, who rushed to get their hands on the fashionable art pieces. In time, commoners began to hang reproductions of the paintings in hopes of becoming successful and achieving happiness.

The paintings, which show in sophisticated detail quaint objects from the days of old, are fashionable even to this day. Not only are they pleasant to look at ‒ they also offer a valuable window into the culture of the time.

The Leeum Samsung Museum of Art contributed a prized eight-section folding screen measuring 128 centimeters by 355 centimeters and depicting a leopard- print curtain that has been lifted partway to reveal a scholar’s room. A pair of eyeglasses sits on an open book atop a wooden table. Exquisite imported goods are strewn across the table in a decorative manner: a candlestick, an incense burner, a peacock feather.

Lee Dong-guk, the department head at the Seoul Arts Center’s Calligraphy Museum, told local papers that this would have been an obscene display of luxury to the people of the time. The painting, he said, reflected the aristocrats’ desire to usurp power amid a disintegrating social order and a weakening Joseon hierarchy.

Chaekgeori Munjado, eight-panel screen, each screen 95 x 32 cm.