One Saturday, while I was cleaning the room, I saw some National Geographic journals dated 1980's. I had no intention in reading them, but I checked the featured articles written at the side of each journal. The last two topics in the August 1988 issue attracted me the most.
South Korea // Kyongju
So, after I finished arranging all the stuffs, I immediately went to the bed and started reading the article. It really gave me a lot of information about one of the nations I am most curious about. It talked about the history, the people, and their culture.
Whenever I read about the Confucian classics, Korean scholars, and Joseon dynasty, I could not help but remember the Korean drama, Sungkyunkwan Scandal. It's a nice drama, by the way.
So, I am just going to post some parts in the article. Some of the things might not be true anymore, since there is already a huge change from 1988 to 2012.
But this was about the South Korea 24 years ago.
(ღ˘⌣˘ღ)
Whenever I read about the Confucian classics, Korean scholars, and Joseon dynasty, I could not help but remember the Korean drama, Sungkyunkwan Scandal. It's a nice drama, by the way.
So, I am just going to post some parts in the article. Some of the things might not be true anymore, since there is already a huge change from 1988 to 2012.
But this was about the South Korea 24 years ago.
(ღ˘⌣˘ღ)
ღ ღ ღ ღ ღ ღ ღ ღ ღ ღ ღ ღ ღ ღ ღ ღ ღ ღ ღ ღ ღ ღ ღ ღ
THE SOUTH KOREANS
by BOYD GIBBONS
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SENIOR STAFF
Their nation's dynamic economic growth is shadowed by recurring civil discontent.
♥ Koreans are preoccupied with appearances, especially for foreigners, and they are not comfortable with saying precisely what they think or how they feel.
♥ Centuries of Confucian culture and rule have layered an authoritarian hierarchy on Korean society -- ruler over subject, parents over children, husband over wife, elder over younger. Only friends are equals. Status is reflected even in the language, with different verb endings for a higher person to use when talking to a lower, and the reverse.
♥ South Korea's economy is dominated by big conglomerates, or chaebol -- Daewoo, Hyundai, Samsung, Lucky-Goldstar -- wired to the government by money and connections.
♥ "In Korea, nobody respects businessmen because, historically, doing business was low-class, and they weren't well-educated. Now they are. Before I die, I want to see businessmen respected as much as professors."
- Kim Woo Choong
the founder and head of Daewoo (defunct)
♥ "Koreans won't settle for second best. They don't think compromise. They want to win 100 percent."
- Jack Ward of General Motors in Seoul
♥ "I've worked in Brazil, Mexico, Europe. I've never seen people work as hard as Koreans. They make the Japanese seem lazy by comparison. They can also be hardheaded."
- Allen Patrick of Ford Motor Company
♥ Modern Korean society seldom reflects the Confucian ideals of serenity and calm. Koreans are intense, visceral, impatient, fractious, raucous.
♥ They touch a lot; men squeeze your knee to make a point, walk arm in arm, shove past you on the sidewalks, shoulder ahead to be first in line, and drive as if pedestrians and other cars are targets.
♥ This is a man's world, and they're out late every night singing, carousing, and drinking like fish.
♥ Men with status strut on their heels, chest out, arms parenthetical -- "Out of my way!"
♥ Every Korean has a group of lifelong friends toward whom loyalty is as important as affection. "Qualifications are not nearly so important as what province you come from or what school you attended," an American banker observed.
♥ "Although I was Western-educated, I have never told my wife 'I love you'. You don't express those emotions. If you hear a couple talking that way, you know their marriage is in trouble." - Professor Moon
♥ Korean women are looked upon as men's servants and washed up if still single at age 30. A married woman is not supposed to have male friends.
♥ In the past, women were not permitted outside the home after dusk, and today few Korean men encourage their wives to work.
♥ Korean mothers run the home, raise the children, and manage the money, investing in real estate, stocks, and especially in the informal women's saving groups called kye.
"Middle-class Koreans," an envious American had said, "have more money in the bank than either you and I would dream of having."
♥ ♥ ♥
♥ "Grabbers" -- the professional toughs of the riot police.
Grabbers travel light: running shoes, color-coordinated windbreakers and helmets, and open-fingered gloves for grabbing, with a coarse padding over the knuckles so punches won't slip. They are expert in tae kwon do, the Korean martial art -- and they seem to enjoy using it.
♥ ♥ ♥
THE SOUTH KOREANS
by BOYD GIBBONS
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SENIOR STAFF
Their nation's dynamic economic growth is shadowed by recurring civil discontent.
♥ Koreans are preoccupied with appearances, especially for foreigners, and they are not comfortable with saying precisely what they think or how they feel.
♥ Centuries of Confucian culture and rule have layered an authoritarian hierarchy on Korean society -- ruler over subject, parents over children, husband over wife, elder over younger. Only friends are equals. Status is reflected even in the language, with different verb endings for a higher person to use when talking to a lower, and the reverse.
♥ South Korea's economy is dominated by big conglomerates, or chaebol -- Daewoo, Hyundai, Samsung, Lucky-Goldstar -- wired to the government by money and connections.
♥ "In Korea, nobody respects businessmen because, historically, doing business was low-class, and they weren't well-educated. Now they are. Before I die, I want to see businessmen respected as much as professors."
- Kim Woo Choong
the founder and head of Daewoo (defunct)
♥ "Koreans won't settle for second best. They don't think compromise. They want to win 100 percent."
- Jack Ward of General Motors in Seoul
♥ "I've worked in Brazil, Mexico, Europe. I've never seen people work as hard as Koreans. They make the Japanese seem lazy by comparison. They can also be hardheaded."
- Allen Patrick of Ford Motor Company
♥ Modern Korean society seldom reflects the Confucian ideals of serenity and calm. Koreans are intense, visceral, impatient, fractious, raucous.
♥ They touch a lot; men squeeze your knee to make a point, walk arm in arm, shove past you on the sidewalks, shoulder ahead to be first in line, and drive as if pedestrians and other cars are targets.
♥ This is a man's world, and they're out late every night singing, carousing, and drinking like fish.
♥ Men with status strut on their heels, chest out, arms parenthetical -- "Out of my way!"
♥ Every Korean has a group of lifelong friends toward whom loyalty is as important as affection. "Qualifications are not nearly so important as what province you come from or what school you attended," an American banker observed.
Family:
♥ The family is the preeminent influence in everything Korean. Koreans rarely divorce. A divorced woman is socially scarred, has trouble finding a job, and has few rights over her children.
"This is a male-oriented society. If the mother wants to take her children overseas, she has to get her former husband's consent. But he can take them without her consent. Our entire society considers divorce a disgrace." - a woman lawyer
♥ "Although I was Western-educated, I have never told my wife 'I love you'. You don't express those emotions. If you hear a couple talking that way, you know their marriage is in trouble." - Professor Moon
♥ Korean women are looked upon as men's servants and washed up if still single at age 30. A married woman is not supposed to have male friends.
♥ In the past, women were not permitted outside the home after dusk, and today few Korean men encourage their wives to work.
♥ Korean mothers run the home, raise the children, and manage the money, investing in real estate, stocks, and especially in the informal women's saving groups called kye.
"Middle-class Koreans," an envious American had said, "have more money in the bank than either you and I would dream of having."
♥ ♥ ♥
♥ "Grabbers" -- the professional toughs of the riot police.
Grabbers travel light: running shoes, color-coordinated windbreakers and helmets, and open-fingered gloves for grabbing, with a coarse padding over the knuckles so punches won't slip. They are expert in tae kwon do, the Korean martial art -- and they seem to enjoy using it.
♥ ♥ ♥
Their belief:
First unified in A.D. 668 by a predominantly Buddhist kingdom, Korea was dominated by a Confucian dynasty from the late 1300s until the Japanese occupation of 1910. By the 1880s Protestant missionaries were introducing modern education, agriculture, and medicine. At night the cities glow with red neon crosses on thousands of churches.
"By 1970 we had three million Christians in Korea." Dr. Suh Kwang Sun is a professor of theology at Ewha Woman's University in Seoul. "Now there are some ten million. Why? Buddhism had been pushed into the background by 500 years of the Choson dynasty, which had become impotent and corrupt. Koreans needed a new value system that would match the invading Japanese. Christianity became an enlightening force among Koreans, a sanctuary. Today we never know when the North Koreans will attack. So where do you get comfort, assurance? The church. Koreans have lost their communities in this rapid industrialization. The churches give the uprooted courage and confidence to work diligently to become the newly rising middle class."
♥ ♥ ♥
Education:
South Korea has one of the world's highest percentages of citizens attending college.
Like the Japanese, Koreans drive their children to study in order to pass the exams to get into the top schools, such as elite Seoul National University.
Most high-school students don't make it to college, and of those who do and graduate, many have difficulty finding work.
"From junior high through high school," a professor said, "the children are studying until 2 a.m. to pass those exams. Parents have little time to see them."
"Students who fail the entrance exams feel they've failed life," his wife said.
In any year a high-school graduate can apply to only one university. If his examination grade is too low, he waits until the next year, head down in a cram school.
In this rote-learning, exam driven milieu the cram schools are a big business.
♥ ♥ ♥
♥ Among all Koreans, there is a powerful nationalism -- with racial pride humming in the veins -- and though older Koreans may look West with gratitude, students usually do so in anger.
♥ "They are so proud of their culture and history, so proud of being Korean. A very optimistic people."
- Professor Hong Sung Chick
former director of the Asiatic Research Center at Korea University
ღ ღ ღ ღ ღ ღ ღ ღ ღ ღ ღ ღ ღ ღ ღ ღ ღ ღ
♥ (｡◕‿◕｡) ♥
0 comments:
Post a Comment