Fall Foliage Trip to the South

Starting from the North to the South, whole place is changing its color as it gets closer to the end of autumn. Autumn leaves turn red when the weather gets cold, so mountainous Gangwon-do become the first place of autumn leaves. When you look down from the sky, leaves descend to the South and finally stop at Jeju island.
Shall we move on to the South?





Foliage Trip to Mt.Palgong
Mt.Palgong, which is located in Daegu, is always popular among many people. You don’t need to spend much time and money to enjoy the autumn leaves. The mountain is said to be the most beautiful in late October.
Trip to autumn leaves starts at the entry to the Mt.Palgong. 1,300 gingko trees are lined up along six kilometer long road between Gongsan tunnel and School, which is very popular car driving course. Going down the road after tunnel, you will be amazed at gingko trees. It is fantastic to see golden wave of gingko trees.


When you turn to Dongwha temple at Baekan intersection, you’ll meet the line of gingko trees. After passing by school, you’ll meet maple trees. It is simply beautiful.


Hiking is the best way to enjoy the autumn of Mt.Palgong. There are many hike ways in the mountain such as Buin temple road, Gatbawi road and Dongwha temple road. Some buddhists pray toward Buddha statue at Gatbawi. This buddha statue was made in Shilla dynasty and became known as praying site for education, health, occupation, and baby boys. Many people come to this site to pray for their own wish every day.


Trekking to the Autumn of Mt.Jiri
Mt.Jiri is the second highest after Mt.Halla of Jeju island. This mountain is huge. There are so many famous and beautiful sites in the mountain. Autumn leaves of this mountain are as beautiful as other mountains.
Autumn leaves start to turn red in late September at Mt.Jiri. It is not well-known but you can enjoy autumn leaves earlier than any others in southern part.
Foliage of Mt.Jiri will start in 5th of October at Cheonwang peak, about 15th at main line, between 20th and 25th at Pia valley and three or four days later than Pia valley at Baemsa valley. If you want to get the most beautiful scenery, you should go up to Cheonwang peak. The most beautiful hike way is between Sesok and Chunwang Peak.
Cho-Sik, a scholar of Joseon dynasty, said “Don’t tell anybody that you’ve seen foliage without seeing the foliage of Pia valley. Foliage of Jikjeon is one of ten beautiful sceneries in Mt.Jiri. Pia Valley is famous for hike way of foliage. Foliage hiking in Pia valley starts at Seongsamjae and continues to Nogodan and descends to Pia valley or moves forward to Baemsa valley. This hike way has so beautiful scenery that many people take this way.

Foliage in Baemsa valley is as beautiful as Pia valley. Pia valley is famous for foliage whereas Baemsa valley is famous for valley itself. Baemsa valley is nine kilometer long and colorful leaves harmonize with that valley. Foliage spreading from Banseon complex to Ganjangso is regarded as the most beautiful scenery in Baemsa valley.


There are some other foliage sites to see in Mt.Jiri. Various hike ways have been developed since long time ago. Shall we take a trip to Mt.Jiri?


Mt.Dyuryun, the Harmony of a thousand years history and the beauty of the Mountain
Duryun mountain, which is located at the southernmost peninsula, is full of evergreen broadleaf and deciduous broadleaf. There are some national treasures such as Daedun temple, Pyochung temple, the bell of Tapsan temple and so on.

Duryun mountain is well known for camelia and foliage. The valley is two kilometers long from the group facilities complex to the temple. The latest foliage, regarded as one of the most beautiful autumn scenery, can be seen there.


The best scenery of this mountain is a maple tree forest of the way to Daehung temple. Take a walk through the temple gate. You’ll refresh yourself. Maple forests and camellia can be seen. Trees are like tunnel. When you cross a bridge, there is tunnel of maple trees.

Let’s walk through the yellow and red gingko trees and maple forest and keep going up along the car road. Mountain is covered up with yellow and red wave. Crossing valley and bridge, you’ll meet Youseondang and backdrop of foliage which are the highlight of the journey. The last of the journey is the road up to Daehung temple.


Maple Leaves of Mt.Halla, the Southernmost of Korea

Foliage of Mt.Halla in Jeju island is not as well known as other sites. The famous sites are Wanggwanneung, Mansae hill, road between Youngsil rest area and Byeongpung rock area, road 1100 and 516. In particular, uniquely shaped 500 rock pillars stand at Youngsil rest area and Byeongpung rock area. The area is probably the most beautiful site.
Youngsil of Mt.Hallan is easy to access for all walks of life. Youngsil course starts at pavilion. Road to Youngsil is flat, however, the pine trees and maple forests along the road will lead you to the unique landscape. Walking a little further up, you can have good scenery of foliage. Maple forest starting under the Byeongpung rocks continues to gate of the hike way. It is magnificent.
Another joy of Jeju trip. If you have a plan to go to Mt.Halla, do not miss autumn foliage in Youngsil.




(Source: Yonhap News)


How was the journey? Autumn is right at the corner. Shall we take a walk and breathe in the forest of autumn foliage?


Plus, Mt.Palgong belt way is very popular among drivers for the beauty of its maple trees. The whole mountain is full of red color when the fall reaches its peak. You’ll definitely be amazed.

A slice of Seoul on exhibit in London

"My Shopping Bag: Allegories of Seoul 2011" will provide a glimpse of Seoul to Londoners through a shopping columnist's purchases this summer.



Stella Gu, an independent curator based in Seoul and London, organized the exhibition and it was invited by the La Scatola Gallery as a part of the London Design Festival 2011.

"Contemporary is the art of today and the importance of cultural and regional context is growing bigger and bigger. ‘My Shopping Bag’ aims to bridge two contemporary cultures in Seoul and London," Gu said in an interview with The Korea Times.

Bae Jung-hyun, former editor-in-chief of Nylon magazine in Korea and the first shopping columnist for the nation, joins the project by exhibiting her list of purchases. As a former staffer of an international fashion magazine, she has a broader understanding of the contemporary esthetics of diverse cultures from metropolitan cities such as London, New York, Paris, Shanghai and Tokyo.

Bae purchased and collected the objects and asked people about Seoul in August and Gu and Bae discussed what to display in the London gallery. “We need a direction since we cannot bring everything,” Gu said.

"It is impossible to introduce each and every one of the 14 million people living in Seoul in a comprehensive way, so Bae is an anonymous sample among Seoulites," she said.

Though the exhibition is named "My Shopping Bag," it not only includes the result of her shopping, but what she saw, heard and felt in Seoul in August 2011. "Consumption still takes an important part of 21st century culture,” Gu added.

The objects vary from a bag of “Saewookkang,” a popular local snack, and a shampoo bottle to subway maps and a stainless steel carrier used for delivering Chinese food “A life-size paper cut-out in front of stores can be a cultural icon of Seoul, symbolizing the commercialization of celebrities in marketing,” Gu said.

The curator said it was essential to make Bae understand the concept of art. "Bae is not from the art scene and her previous audiences were fashion magazine readers. Now she shifted the idea onto the context of contemporary art with a raw, fresh twist."
Gu said the exhibition is not to just to show the culture of Seoul. "Culture incorporates lifestyle and social changes. It constantly changes and evolves and cannot be generalized. However, I still want to share the contemporary culture of Seoul with London."
In this case, items collected and archived by a shopping columnist become the material for the exhibition.

"Each object and photograph we brought from Seoul will be shown in the form of installation art, but each of them performs as an independent piece as well," Gu said. "People from more than 180 cultures live in London and all of them will appreciate these objects in a different way."

She made it clear that the project is not to promote Seoul or attract tourists. “I rather want to arouse a cultural discourse,” Gu said. “The exhibition might continue to other cities such as New York, but there is little point in it if the exact same exhibition travels. I will see how it develops in London.”

The curator emphasized that the world is going “glocal,” a term that combines global and local. “It is important to respect each member of the global society and ‘My Shopping Bag’ is an experimental response to the trend as a curator.”
The exhibition runs through Oct. 1.

For more information, visit www.jwstella.com or www.lascatolagallery.com.

Earthenware beauty in Gyeongbok Palace

A group of soldiers dressed in traditional uniforms and bearing swords guard an area in the back yard of Gyeongbok Palace in central Seoul. A high wall arouses curiosity of what lies behind the guarded door.



The gate opens with a sound of drums and Korean traditional earthenware jars standing in lines are seen through the opening.

Pots in the royal palace?

They stand in the "janggo," the paste warehouse which would determine the taste of royal cuisine. The janggo stored a variety of sauces and pastes such as soy sauce, fermented soy paste and red pepper paste. There was a specialist lady of the court serving in the storage area.

The Cultural Heritage Administration opened the site to the public to give them a sneak peek into the daily life in the royal palace. There are two paste storage areas in Gyeongbok Palace according to documents and this warehouse was excavated in 2001 and restored in 2005. It is open to the public for the first time through Oct. 31.

An exhibition featuring potteries used at the palace is also being held. Jeong Yun-seok, an earthenware master and Important Intangible Cultural Heritage no. 96, will demonstrate pottery making at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. on weekends.

The warehouse will be open from April to October from next year and various programs related to royal cuisine will be offered as well.









For more information, visit www.royalpalace.go.kr.

'Hanji" the Korean famous hand made paper art produces a picture without paint or brush

It might be hard to imagine but “hanji” (traditional Korean mulberry paper) can turn into a wonderful picture without using a brush and paint. The hanji paper art shows how a deft touch can be more delicate than any other tools.



The artworks are produced by tearing up a variety of colorful hanji and pasting them together. The paper is torn onto layers to express light and shadow, to imbue color and shape.

Cho Su-jung, a traditional paper artist, believes that hanji artworks can portray anything she wants from abstract to still-life paintings that require sophisticated and delicate paper tearing techniques.

“I can make the works resemble watercolors or oil paintings simply using hanji pieces of a variety of colors and thickness. I can freely use the colorful hanji like the paints to express what I want,” Cho said in an interview with The Korea Times.

Cho, who started the traditional paper art some 30 years ago, recently opened the Cho Su-jung Korean Paper Art Gallery to showcase her artworks in Daechi-dong, southern Seoul. She is the first artist to create a picture with the hanji tearing techniques in Korea.

“Over the last 30 years, my art has been underestimated because the art circle sees my art as a kind of mosaic rather than a picture. But actually my work is a perfect picture without using brushes and pigments,” she said.
Although Cho began her artistic career in Japan where traditional paper art is more advanced, traditional Korean paper has a higher quality to depict something on the canvas, she said.




Hanji is made from the bark of a mulberry tree. Its texture is fine and smooth and the long fibers create a fluffy effect while the tearing part produces attractive feathered edges on pieces of paper.

“The key point of tearing hanji involves carefully pulling the paper apart, leaving the paper fibers at the edge of the paper exposed to maintain a natural look. The torn edges complement many styles and designs more than any other papers in the world,” she said.

Although artworks created by paper tearing have a long tradition in China and Japan, it can also be found in Korean aesthetics much earlier. Koreans attached the leaves of a chrysanthemum or bamboo trees attractively on screen papers of the lattices. The simple motif has been handed down to the present, she said.

“When I was in Japan in the 1980s, Korean culture was not appreciated well even though we have a long history and rich heritage. So I wanted to promote the beauty of Korean traditional culture through the artworks,” she said.

Compared to the conventional paintings, hanji artworks are eco-friendly as the materials come from nature. “So they never look boring and last long. The art has more irresistible charms,” she said.




An awl, glue, deft finger movements and aesthetic tastes can produce wonderful pictures, she said. Anything can be expressed through hanji according to the degree of thickness of the paper.

From flying spores of dandelions to abstract brush strokes, she has depicted any object of her imagination into her works. Cho has produced some 150 works over the last 30 years. Some works take a couple of hours but others require a month or so to complete. But the whole process is part of her spiritual training for aesthetic achievement.

“While concentrating on my works, I forget all anxieties. When I am free from such distracting thoughts and greed, I can create the best works. The art purifies me in many ways,” she said.

“Hanji pictures do not change with time. They produce their own pictorial sense from the tearing, fitting and attaching together with bits of variously colored hanji, so they create a unique world of paintings which can hardly be expressed with Western papers in its tactile sensation,” she said.

“I think this is a kind of national project as it represents the beauty of traditional papers. I am very proud of being a traditional paper artist. Without such pride, I couldn’t have done this job for so long,” she said.

Cho has also nurtured some 500 pupils who are mostly housewives as the art is easy to learn for amateur artists.

She also harbors a wish to promote the art through her gallery and overseas exhibitions. Cho held an exhibition in Washington in the United States last year and received positive responses from Americans.

“When I show my artworks to foreigners, their reactions are more fervent than Koreans. They are amazed at the hanji artworks. So I will expose them to more foreigners through hanji picture making classes and exhibitions.”

The gallery is open to anyone who is interested in learning about hanji artworks. Particularly, foreigners are welcomed, Cho said.
At the gallery, visitors can enjoy the artworks, learn the art and drink traditional teas.

For more information, visit www.hanjigrim.com.

'Picture brides' in Hawaii backed Korea's independence

HONOLULU, Hawaii – Esther Kwon Arinaga’s mother arrived at Honolulu Harbor in October, 1912 to marry a Korean immigrant who initially left home for a sugar plantation job in Koloa, Kauai years earlier.




Then an 18-year old bride, Lee Hee-kyung had never met her 26 year-old husband Kwon Do-in before, seeing him only once in a black and white photo shown by a matchmaker.

Lee would probably have had no idea of how eventful her life would be in the forthcoming years: She became actively involved in Korea’s independence movement and was even imprisoned.

Citing her mother’s remarks while she was alive, Arinaga said the first leg of the journey was a short trip from the port city of Incheon to Japan where immigrants boarded a larger ship for Honolulu.

“From Japan to Honolulu, it was a 22-day ordeal from Kobe or Yokohama with people packed like cattle into a large cargo hold in which bunk beds were stacked three high,” she said.

“My mom, who passed away in 1943 after being hit by a truck, used to say that the smell of vomit permeated the ship.”

Arinaga’s mother was probably able to survive the ordeal because she had a clear motive.

Lee, a high school graduate, joined the picture brides group in the hope that she could go to college after marrying her husband-to-be.

But Lee’s life in Hawaii didn’t turn out the way she had planned. After having two daughters and two sons, Arinaga being the youngest, Lee had a lot to take care of.

Lee had to raise her children and took in sewing to make extra money because her husband did not earn enough to support the family.




Going to college was a distant dream.

Amid her busy life, Lee found a new mission in the foreign land ― raising money for independence fighters to help her home country achieve a break from Japan.

Lee, a Christian even before she arrived in Hawaii, was eager to be part of it.

“My mother became very active in women’s groups through the church. They have a church called the Korean Methodist Church here in Honolulu,” Arinaga, a retired lawyer, said.

“Everything in that period of time as you read in books or other publications was about independence. The church was like a social agency.”

Fundraising

Through the church, picture brides, including Lee, came to raise money to finance the independence movement at home.

They made money by selling rice cakes, kimchi and other dishes they made, and sent it back to independence activists in Korea and Shanghai.

Arinaga’s mother was very active in fundraising activities and contacted independence fighters to give them money on behalf of her church group.

“My mother wanted to save her country. She was a real independence worker. This is why the Korean government honored her and my dad,” Arinaga said.

“It’s hard to believe, but the ladies raised thousands of dollars from 1915 to 1945 by making and selling kimchi, rice cakes and side dishes and all kinds.”

One of the picture brides active in fundraising was quoted by Arinaga as saying that, “Sometimes when I look back on those days when we ladies were trying to help Korea, I think maybe we were a little crazy.

“Almost every family, even poor ones, gave money to help the independence movement. We loved Korea so much. We wanted her to be free, like America.”

In 1918, Lee headed back to her hometown of Daegu to carry out a high-stakes assignment.

“My mother carried money secretly into Korea to help the independence movement in Shanghai. My mother contacted independence movement people so she could give them the money to be sent to Shanghai,” Arinaga said.

“She went to prison for a little less than two years.”

The Japanese police were suspicious of Lee, believing she was a representative of a strong overseas branch for independence.

Their suspicion led Lee to serve longer than other independence fighters that joined the March 1 Movement in 1919.

“As my sister was four years old back then and went to Daegu with my mom, she stayed with grandmother in Korea. When my mother was there in Korea, she witnessed the March 1 independence movement.”

Arinaga, now 82, recalled her mom was a pioneer in every sense. “She was one of the first Korean women who drove a car here in Honolulu. She drove all her fellow picture brides,” she said.

Her father was also very supportive of Korea’s independence.

“My dad gave lots of money to support the independence movement,” Arinaga said.

“He was a very bright man. After leaving the sugar plantation, he came to Honolulu. At first he was a yard boy. He worked for a very wealthy man living in a certain part of Oahu.”

Arinaga said her father had business acumen.

“The owner allowed my father to grow vegetables. I don’t think my father knew a lot about growing vegetables. It was a way to make money on the side.

“He did that and then he came to eventually work in town. He got into a furniture business. From there he decided to bring in a picture bride.”

By the time Arinaga was born, her father opened his own business in Honolulu. He made beautiful furniture for wealthy people.

“My mother did sewing. By that time, many Korean immigrants bought land and property. By the mid-1930s, we had business in downtown Honolulu, and a nice home. My mother was always sad because she had never got to be educated in college. There was no time.”

The picture bride system

In the period between 1910 and 1924, a group of picture brides (estimates range from between 600 and 1,000) came to Hawaii via a port in Japan to marry Korean men working the sugar plantations there.

These young women believed there was no hope in their country after it was annexed to Japan in 1910.

Wayne Patterson, the author of “The Ilse: First-Generation Korean Immigrants in Hawaii (1903-1973),” said after bride and groom agreed on marriage after exchanging photos the groom paid the appropriate fees.

“The bride travels to Hawaii and is married at the immigration station to the man she has only seen in a photograph,” he said.

Citing one source, Patterson said it was the Methodist minister Min Chan-ho who first began to arrange the importation of the women in 1909.

“Another, more detailed, account suggests that the first picture bride arrived in Hawaii through the efforts of a woman named Paek Ye-soo from the northern Korean city of Wiju,” he said.

Arinaga offered a different account regarding who initiated the picture bride system in Hawaii.

A high-ranking Korean official passing through Honolulu in the early 1900s had observed the loneliness of the Korean bachelor workers who were spending their idle time drinking, gambling and smoking opium.

“At his suggestion the Korean government approved the emigration of young women who, after exchanging pictures with potential husbands, would agree to marry them upon their arrival in Honolulu,” Arinaga said.

To some brides, the first encounter with their husbands-to-be was a shock.

Some men sent photos taken years before they worked under the sun in sugar plantations. One bride was quoted by Arigana as saying that her heart sunk as the groom looked nothing like his picture.

“He was really old, old-looking. I was so disappointed. I cried for eight days and didn’t come out of my room. But I knew that if I didn’t get married, I had to go back to Korea on the next ship. So on the ninth day I came out and married him. But I didn’t talk to him for three months. Later on it was all right,” the unnamed picture bride was quoted as saying.

Patterson said most women were attracted by the wealth they believed awaited them in Hawaii. “More often than not, however, these hopes were wildly unrealistic,” he said.

But some, like Arinaga’s mother, decided to become a picture bride to seek a higher level of education such as degrees there.

People take a walk at a park full of cosmos

People are taking a slow walk at a park full of these colorful flowers which blooms during the fall at Korea.

Ballet as never seen before: cinematic productions to hit Korean stages

Korea has become an exciting place for ballet as it has emerged as one of the most popular forms of stage entertainment here.

Earlier this month, the Seoul-based Universal Ballet Company took its sell-out rendition of “Giselle” on a tour across Japan, and now fans can look forward to two cinematic productions on the local stage.

The National Theater of Korea has invited China’s Liaoning Ballet to present the sweeping epic film-turned-ballet “The Last Emperor” this week, while the Korea National Ballet will team up with the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra for their version of “Romeo and Juliet” next month.

Cinematic epic

“The Last Emperor” will be onstage Tuesday and Wednesday in Seoul as part of the 5th World Festival of National Theaters.
Made in collaboration with Germany’s Stuttgart Ballet, it is reputed as one of China’s signature pieces in the genre alongside the National Ballet of China’s “Raise the Red Lantern” and Shanghai Ballet Company’s “The White Haired Girl.”

As its name suggests the production chronicles the dramatic life of Puyi, who ascended to the throne as a small boy before becoming Japan’s puppet emperor and a prisoner of the communist authorities.

The storyline may be familiar to many, as it was inspired by the 1987 biopic of the same title by Italian master director Bernando Bertolucci. The ballet spinoff is likewise an ambitious, big-budget production that involves Italian talent.




It features original choreography by Ivan Cavallari, an Italian born and Russian trained ballerino who was a principal dancer at Stuttgart. He is also known among Korean fans for making his debut as Romeo in “Romeo and Juliet” opposite Korean prima ballerina Sue Jin Kang. As a choreographer he showcased his work here through the Universal Ballet’s 2009 “Onegin.”

For “The Last Emperor,” Cavallari studied Chinese history as well as books and films on Puyi for over three years. He also collaborated with European artists to create an infusion of Eastern and Western traditions: the piece features not only classical ballet but also elements of jazz and waltzes as well as Beijing opera, kung fu and the Lion Mask Dance.

While the ballet pays homage to the original film by featuring some of the soundtrack, it stands apart in terms of narrative. Rather than presenting Puyi’s story in the larger context of Chine’s modern history like the film, it focuses on the protagonist’s personal experiences.

Some of the most notable scenes include depicting his encounter with the West through his English teacher Johnston via a pas de deux. A puppet show-like dance sequence then demonstrates how he becomes a mere tool for colonial Japan and climaxes in a seven-minute-long solo that depicts Puyi’s solitude and despair. Liaoning Ballet’s principal dancer Xiao Yuanyuan plays the lead role.

The ballet will be staged at the National Theater of Korea, Seoul. Visit www.ntok.go.kr for more information.

Shakespearean romance

While homespun ballets have boasted largely impeccable production values, often the lack of in-house orchestras provided some rather underwhelming interpretations of classical scores.

The Korea National Ballet will collaborate with the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra for the first time in October. Fans can thus expect to enjoy a performance that is not only visually pleasing but also aurally enticing — just like a movie.

Maestro Chung Myung-whun, the prolific music director of the Seoul Philharmonic (who recently made headlines by visiting Pyongyang) will conduct the original music by Prokofiev.

The Shakespearean romance has inspired numerous works of art, from theater to film and musical pieces, and compelled Prokofiev in 1935 to create a score. The Russian composer in turn motivated many choreographers to create dance sequences. The upcoming version will feature the iconic 1996 creation by French maestro Jean-Christophe Maillot which the Korea National Ballet premiered here in 2000.

Maillot’s version is unique in that it brings a modern edge to what had usually been a classical approach to the story about two youths from feuding families falling in love.

Principal dancers Kim Ji-young and Kim Joo-won, who will share the role of Juliet, impersonated a bashful, obedient young woman in the Bolshoi version in Moscow last year. In the upcoming piece fans can look forward to a more proactive leader (there is even word that Maillot had wanted to change the name of the piece “Juliet and Romeo”), while Juliet’s mother, Lady Capulet, also has a larger role as a more supportive parent. Father Lawrence, who marries Juliet to her star-crossed lover Romeo in secret, will be seen as a charismatic, rather than hesitant, man of religion.

The set also breaks away from the usual Veronese opulence and opts for chic minimalism.

“Instead of challenging dancers to showcase the technicality of ballet, Maillot’s choreography gives emphasis on the beauty of acting by presenting an unending flow of dance sequences,” said Choi Tae-ji, director of the Korea National Ballet. “This will enable the audience to feel as if they are watching a movie.”

Chung expressed great enthusiasm about collaborating with the ballet company. “Quite frankly, ballet is less exciting for a conductor since it allows less freedom to experiment as you must pay heed to beats (in tune with the performance),” he said. “But I am thrilled to work with a troupe that has grown tremendously in such a short period of time.”

In the past he has conducted ballets on a handful of occasions such as Stravinsky’s “Rite of Spring” and “Petrushka,” and even received ballet lessons as a young boy (in accordance with his mother’s belief that he should learn and experience various forms of art).

“Romeo and Juliet” will be staged at Seoul Arts Center from Oct. 27 to 30. Visit wwww.kballet.org for more information.