I taught English in Seoul for an academic semester, and I had a great time. Korean food is awesome (especially the fried chicken and BBQ), the coffee culture is great, and the city is fun and full of stuff to do, benefited greatly by the subway, which is remarkably affordable and reliable. The mountains are absurdly beautiful, the museums are abundant and wonderful, (I also visited cultural monuments and temples, even a Korean War graveyard, which was very powerful), and the people are super helpful and friendly. Slightly less than Japanese, but much more than Chinese. I recommend anyone looking for adventure consider teaching English in Korea. I imagine it's much better than Japan. I was somewhat surprised by how Christian South Korea was though, with most of Asia being Buddhist, and Christianity usually being a Western thing, but it was at least interesting to experience. I did however struggle to make friends, both Korean and foreign, which is the main reason why I went home after my time ended. I had the opportunity to stay, but I had the fun I wanted and started to feel quite lonely.
Most “Old World” societies have a strict social contract where people cannot just speak some words in the language and expect to be belovèd. You would’ve probably made more friends if you were korean. Also, Americans brought Christianity to Korea in the war. They kinda went along with it because they needed to remain special against the north (mainly atheistic).
@@ekhowo1475 I never asked, but it's possible. My only encounters with Korean Christians were people handing out masks during Covid, and this one dude with a mic and a small stap saying "God bless you" to everyone in English. I did however experience a a man giving a speech to about a hundred people in downtown Seoul, right beside Sejong's statue and an old palace, and the people were waving Korean and American flags, and I am confident they were all Christians.
probably the closest western equivalent to pansori would be Opera, a respected musical storytelling tradition, but one that only a few people care about much in modern times
I _knew_ someone would say this and I completely disagree. People write new operas-including ones that embrace other cultures-people actually go to operas, operas are broadcast on the radio, opera still had a hold on people’s imaginations (like metal heads discussing how they think of Wagner as the first meal musician), a lot of opera music is well known, and there are famous opera singers that even non-fans know well. Just because you or your friends don’t like it doesn’t mean it’s some old stuffy art form that only a few old cultural elites keep alive for the sake of tradition.
@@gravityissues5210I presume based on your response then, that you could credibly say that the alleged Korean ‘equivalent’ does not receive the same regards?
@gravityissues5210 I disagree. I've never heard of it being on the radio, and have only ever known the name of one singer, whom I forgot. I had two teachers in middle school who did opera, but I don't know anyone who has definitely been to an opera. I think most people's closest experience to opera is listening to Bohemian Rhapsody. Their second closest would be... yeah, I've got nothing.
1. Blue house is not built by Japanese. The site was used by Japanese, but in fact it had been used since Koryo dynasty. We demolished Japanese built building and the blue house is completely built by us. 2. Pan sori is also considered old and boring for younger generations in Korea too. However there have been many modernizing attempts made and getting some popularity. Search Lee Hee Moon.
South Korea is one of those countries who developed super rapidly in terms of technology. You have the urban software developer in the big city skyscraper, whose grandparents still worked in poor conditions on lowly farms. That's how quickly our world has been turning in the last couple of decades. Talking to my grandparents, I was recently reminded how unique that makes our moment in time? To have generations living side-by-side, who grew up in vastly *vastly* different technological eras! That might not be the case for much longer. Even with stuff like AI, I can't imagine a shift THAT fundamental to happen between me and my future grandchildren... But then again, maybe the future is always unimaginable before it happens.
I did a year long highschool exchange in South Korea without knowing almost anything about Korea and it changed my life. I fell in love with Korea and now study Asian Studies and hope to spend the rest of my life there
Also to ad on to Pansori, I can say going to highschool there, my host parents cared very much for Pansori however not many people at my school really sentimentalised traditional Korean art forms other than me because I wanted to learn and this one girl in my class who was really good at this traditional instrument called a Gayageum. But other than that, I'd say your hypothesis is pretty spot on.
@zeminoid I wanna be a diplomat, it's under the school of world politics in my university. You can also go into foreign trade. Say a company wants to enter a market that you have more knowledge about. It's also a way to get into international law during your undergrad, kinda like how regular law students get their ba in political science.
@@m.j.n.808 Ohh, that actually sounds super useful now, I really thought it was something about culture, thank you for the explanation, I hope you do great in your studies.
Native from Busan here. One hugely crucial part about Korea not mentioned here is Nunchi (눈치). It literally means "eye-sense" but it means the sense of 'reading the air' and picking up unspoken facts or rules about someone or something. On a moderate scale this can be similar to common sense, but the way Koreans implement is much stricter and any mistake, even if trivial can deliver a hundred different messages to others and could get you excommunicated from social circles. This sort of choking atmosphere breeds Nun-nopi (눈높이) a.k.a standards and it's become a common sight for Koreans to passively brag about their nun-nopi to others for validity. With this breeds strong sentiments and people start looking down on various things they aren't fully knowledgable on, and it makes social vibes of Korean circles a bit... suffocating.
This concept is formalized in anthropology as “high context culture” - not unique to Korea but it is certainly is among the most high context of cultures
Love this! I work with Korean Americans and they’re some of the most socially adept people I’ve ever met. Couldn’t quite describe why or how, this helped a lot! Thank you!
I recently met a Korean international student (who admittedly seemed quite conservative) who told me that there's very little difference between the political parties in South Korea. The main divide is apparently that the right is more hawkish toward North Korea and China, friendlier with Japan and more anti-feminist. Other than that they are both very nationalistic, socially conservative and anti-immigration. The real divide in South Korea is between men and women, who are increasingly alienated from the political system. I'd be curious to know how true this is.
That strikes me as making some intuitive sense. South Korea obviously has an entrenched culture of traditionalistic gender norms, but also a stronger culture of social critique than say, Japan. Plus, partisan gender division is becoming a big thing all across the Democratic world.
Socially conservative countries have higher fertility rates. What gives for South Korea to have the lowest fertility rate in the world when the political parties are both socially conservative?
@artman12 Probably the work and education culture. Korea is the most expensive place to raise a child, and working here can be grueling. Lots of overtime and there's a very strict hierarchy that can make jobs even more exhausting.
The left is a bit more nationalistic in Korea. They love using terms such as Korean minjok (meaning race) and basically brand political opponents as race-traitors, when it comes to Japan. Some left wing groups even tried to stop President Roh (who was a leftist himself) from removing mentions of the Korean race from our pledge of allegiance.
Something else South Korea has going for it is it's incredible contemporary art scene. I'm a big simp for modern art from Asia in general - they often make startlingly intelligent and visually/conceptually distinctive works even by the standards of globalized art - but South Korean art in particular often has this fascinating science fiction quality, and there's a lot of women excelling in the nations pantheon of artists. You of course have famous figures like Lee Bul (who sculpts fragmented biomechanical forms resembling wrecked anime mechs), Nam June Paik (creator of legendarily playful installations using TVs and other electronics), U-ram Choe (who engineers incredible kinetic sculptures that often conflates robotics and biology) and Haegue Yang (a maker of surreal and strangely creaturely found material artworks). But there are so many less internationally recognized artists that deserve more attention - at least by my humble reckoning ;p Chun Sung Myung: ambiguously monochromatic and somewhat nightmarish installations, see _Swallowing the Shadow,_ (2006) Debbie Han: sculpts and digitally illustrates artworks that critique both Eastern and Western standards of beauty and normalcy, see _Terms of Beauty II,_ (2004-07) Hyung Koo Kang: detailed and bizarrely scaled/cropped paintings of famous figures, rendered with unexpected expressions and moods, see _Vincent van Gogh in Blue,_ (2007) Koh Myung-Keun: distinctive architectural-photographic sculptures made of clear plastic overlaid with semitransparent film, see _Stairway 6_ (2009) Noh Sang-Kyoon: sequin covered sculptures of religious figures presented in ways both irreverent and sublime simultaneously, see _Twin Jesus,_ (2001) Osang Gwon: lifesize sculptural portraits of people made of c-prints, see _AW77,_ (2009) Suejin Chung: deceptively messy paintings of interiors overwhelmed with what look like stray thoughts, see _Room,_ (2006) Sun Mu: startling and grotesque exaggerations of North Korean propaganda aesthetics, see _Nothing to be envious in the world,_ (2007) Xooang Choi: hyper-realistic but viscerally surreal bodies, see _The Wings,_ (2009) Yong Ho Ji: bestial, sinewy and expressive sculptures made of used tires, see _Jaguar 8,_ (2009) By the way I brought a new smart phone recently, and I decided to finally get my hands on that Ground News app you've mentioned a bunch of times. It's such a useful thing and by far the app that's gotten the most usage out of me on said phone :D I particularly love that blindspot feature with left and right bias toggle options, I've genuinely discovered things on there I almost certainly wouldn't have across via my usually left-leaning media go-tos. Having access to multiple outlets articles detailing the same story has been massively useful to me and has lessened a lot of the profound anxiety I often experience when watching or reading the news. I guess I just wanted to say thanks for recommending it so robustly to me J.J. For me it's been well worth buying :D
@@Shoobster Sorry it took me a while to get respond back to you, thanks for the kind comment :D I hope you've discovered someone new through my ramblings :p
Yeah, the 2002 World Cup is one of my favorites. It was really cool seeing the tournament branch out to Asia for the first time. My favorite team is the US and they surprised a lot of people by beating Portugal and Mexico in South Korea that year. To date, the USA’s eighth place finish in 2002 is their best ever Men’s World Cup performance besides the time they came in third at the first ever tournament in 1930.
True, although here in Spain, and I suppose in Italy as well, that WC is mostly remembered for the apparent fixing that took place in favor of the Korean national team against Spain and Italy.
I was living in Korea then, and remember it very positively. The small town I was in was hooping for weeks, quite the festive atmosphere. Alas, I didn't have the same positive experience with the more recent Winter Olympics. Those were horribly mismanaged.
The biggest piece not mentioned of Korean culture here that jumps to mind is e-sports. The 1998 videogame Starcraft was at one point considered the "national sport of Korea" and finals matches would be held in olympic stadiums. They have government offices dedicated to e-sports. (Although it's not as singularly focused on Starcraft anymore, plenty of League of Legends these days, although I'm told that if you get in a Taxi in Korea the Taxi driver will still know all the Starcraft units).
I feel like opera occupies a similar cultural spot in Western culture as pansori does in Korean culture. I don't know anybody who considers themselves a fan or has even been to an opera show. But we all know about opera and are told it's something very sophisticated.
@@gravityissues5210 few people is not interchangeable with nobody, so unless you have other reasons to critique this comparison (which there might be, I know very little about the role of pansori) please don't keep hassling people using the comparison.
So a Korean(American) speaking up. No, the pre-1900/traditional music are NOT something the ordinary people care about. What ordinary people do care more about is "Trot" (t'ro't, 3 syllables). As for how much? Enough that trot-centric TV auditions and competitions come up on main TV channels consistently. At least when I was over there at March.
Just a quick TH-cam search, it sounds a lot like Japanese enka, yeah there's definitely some sort of connection between the two, given Korea was a Japanese colony for a while.
@@alanho6814 Enka is definitely the "ancestor" of trot, but trot received a lot more influence from American jazz and blues during Korean War and the following military dictatorships. But FYI, don't bring up colonial thing with older Koreans. It has the same impact as mentioning Vichy France to a French. Except worse because Nazi Germany didn't try to erase the french language like the Japanese tried with Korean.
@@alanho6814 They have a connection because they were both influenced by ancient Chinese opera. I'm Vietnamese and we have a similar thing also influenced by Chinese opera called hát tuồng. I find a lot of similarities between Korean and Japanese culture are not because they were borrowed from one another but because they (along with Vietnam) both borrowed from ancient China instead
@@UnluckyHistorian Japanese didn't try to erase Korean language. It was under Japanese rule that Hangul was started to be taught in public schools across Korea.
I have heard part of the pride Koreans have in Hangul is the idea that it is the most “logical” language. I don’t know exactly how to explain it, but it is kind of the idea “if you had someone who doesn’t speak a language and wanted to teach them one that follows consistent rules and fits the sounds a human would naturally make, this fits that” That was probably a poor explanation, and I do think language fits that mindset mentioned in the video about metric and imperial in Canada “Logical arguments don’t work well at convincing people to change when they did not start doing it for logical reasons”
Yeah I’ve heard this as well. The Koreans are extremely proud of Hangul and say all sorts of truisms about it. I don’t think linguists generally believe in the idea that languages have objective merits, though. I think the ease of learning a language has a lot to do with just how useful that language is for communication, not how “easy” it is in some abstract way. Calculus is “easy” in the sense of being very logical, but most of us still don’t have the interest or patience to do it.
@@JJMcCullough language is technically subjective but if majority of the world agrees on an opinion like “German sounds ugly” there is probably some logic behind it like the glottal stops or gluttal R sound. Hangul does communicate almost everything you need to know about the language, what a vowel will be pronounced like, consonant gemination, vowel length, etc. with a degree of consistency not common in most global languages, especially english. Combined with Hangul being exclusive to korean, does make it feel very special and distinct.
Might be from Hangul being a featural alphabet (a type of alphabet in which the letters are designed to replicate the mouth shape during pronounciation) and is seem by many as the easiest major writing system in the world to learn
@@tanizaki obviously after being the main villains for half of a century, definitely hard to get an unbiased consensus, to most people on the globe, german language = hitlerites
I enjoyed your Taiwan video that was in this format. I learned a lot about both the culture of Taiwan and South Korea. Your work as a cultural commentator TH-camr is both good quality and important. Also, 51k until you hit 1 million subscribers. Congrats!
Being half-Korean myself, I've been looking forward to the day one of my favorite TH-camrs would cover South Korea. I have learned new things! Truly another award winning video!
I'm two minutes in and have to commend you because after living there from 1995-1998, I have already learned things I didn't know and really should have! Thank you JJ!
Very helpful for me, I have absored so much interesting stuff since working at a south korean company for the last year (as a born and raised American).
I am a lapsed Korean who grew up in the West. Many moons ago I took a trip to the old country and happened on a live pansori performance. While at the time, I didn’t know what I was listening to, I began to enjoy it. The wailing, soulful sounds and the accompanying drumbeat was mesmerizing. I think for old traditional art forms like opera, Shakespeare, they are best and more appreciated when seen and heard live, the way they were originally enjoyed. And like opera, Shakespeare, I think pansori wasn’t originally high art but someth8ng enjoyed by the masses to take them away momentarily from their hard daily lives.
I’m American and I teach English in S. Korea. I’ve learned more in this video than in my 3 years here. Well done, JJ!! Sending love from Daejeon, South Korea!! ❤
Mexican here. Traditional mexican regionald dances are also considered a thing that you see in cultural centers and festivals, but usually only people who are into that are the public, and you rarely see them in the spotlight of popular culture. And I said that by having a mom, and aunt, and an ex-gf who were into that: If it wasn't because of them, I would not have been in a dance festival.
Part of what I enjoy about your cultural analysis is your skepticism about how a culture, or country portray itself, and the actuality of day to day living. Considering art, I guess lots of countries have pieces and authors who are overvalued by the "cultured elite" relative to it's acutal popularity.
A challenge for this channel to do a video answering this question. (1) What is the difference between authentic and stereotypical culture experience, with a cultural example.
@@jabrokneetoeknee6448 but like it basically has a fully formed government so as far as i'm concerned that makes it a country regardless of what the UN has to say. the UN is flawed as hell anyhow.
You were describing classical music in the west at the end there. I'm a classical musician and I think the reason this art form is still alive is because the artists love it so much
I lived in Korea for about 5 years. While I was there, I found your channel and became a big fan of yours. So I was excited to see this video :) Also, the whole sharing-food thing is easy to get over after awhile. I miss it actually. Eating with friends was one of the most fun parts of my life there.
Lived in Korea for 7 years and it feels like a mixture of Japan and the classic US (not current). It has a similar feel to Japan in terms of its aesthetics and what-not, yet it also is very capitalist, Christian, and conservative, which I personally view as positives. The people are mostly quite outgoing, friendly, and interested in foreigners; far more so than countries like Japan. Far more Koreans speak English than Japanese do as well. It offers some of the best urban biking in the world at Han River, which extends through most of the country and is incredibly scenic, and the cost of living is quite cheap outside of real estate, which even could be said to be cheap as well if your standard is the average US/Canadian city. There's definitely a lot to like about it, which is why I've been here for so long, and it's still constantly developing, growing, and changing due to Korean people's work ethic and innovation. Koreans are really open to new ideas and ways of thinking and love emulating the west, which in large part has led to Korea's rapid success and economic growth while keeping things from growing stagnant. Right now it's kind of a mix of old and new, with remnants of the past age co-existing with extremely modern, almost futuristic technology and buildings. I appreciate a positive documentary about it; there are far too many poorly made, trash content documentaries from people just talking about "muh depression" "muh suicide rates" and how the country is so depressed even though they've never been here once and all they did was read a bunch of Wikipedia statistics and plagiarise from a ton of other documentaries showing it in the same light. As an adult foreigner here, that is not how Korea looks at all. It mostly has to do with students in school, and while it is very sad, the average Korean adult absolutely does not seem depressed; Korea is very full of life and Koreans are very social beings. It has its problems like literally any other country, but there are a lot of positives and great things about it too. Also, you should talk about Gayageum if you do a Part 2. Here's a video of Sooeun Kwak beautifully playing it to some amazing sand art accompanying it: th-cam.com/video/eTah-Evooqs/w-d-xo.htmlsi=NVUMhvjFXLhIq4N8
Serving soup or stew from a common turine is/was very common in the West. I'm from the USA and I would say Blues music is more revered than listened to. Folk music is in a similar position.
Eh, folk and blues aren't really the same as the example in the video. Cuz they're genuinely fairly popular but only with people who like country, and that's not a small group of people.
@@issuedwafflemc3165 although our relationship with those is different because they're not "indigenous" so there's not even really any particular attachment/need to "keep them alive"
@jonhanson8925 Blues music is an indigenous American musical style, like Jazz or Rock and Roll. And American Folk music is also the folk music that is indigenous to America.
Not that sharing one bowl to eat off of is justified. It is a doctors worst nightmare because with all these different spoons everyone used and put bacteria on, it allows for diseases to spread. After many epidemics like the flu and Covid we stopped doing it because disease is possible and many can die from it.
J. J.'s question about these historical high art forms and whether or not they are popular seems to imply that if they aren't popular then they aren't valuable in some way -- but he doesn't actually say that. Maybe he could do a video on whether specific "high art" forms or other carefully persevered bits of cultural heritage are or aren't important. His politics and love for popular consumer culture suggest he might prefer to let old, elite art forms fade out and not be propped up by government funding or cultural pressure from elites. On the other hand, as a conservative he might have at least some appreciation for preserving venerated art forms with a nationalistic character. I'd be curious to find out what he thinks about the relative value of High Brow vs. Popular culture.
I think there's one place in the world that bucks this trend of clearly distinguishing between "high culture" and "popular culture": Bali, Indonesia. Their gamelan music and dance traditions are still popular amongst younger folks - which a large part is due to their religious obligations in the form of "ngayah" - and the island itself has an annual venue to not only showcase traditional Balinese performing art forms through dance concerts and "battle of the bands" competitions, but also innovative contemporary and retro-contemporary creations. This is known as the Bali Arts Festival (Pesta Kesenian Bali - PKB), which will turn 45 years old later this coming June-July.
Loved the video JJ - looking to get a puzzle of my own. My wife and I lived in Korea for a year, and I even got to meet Professor David A. Mason, what a wonderful resource!
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John James, I really enjoy your videos. Thanks for doing them. Regards from México.
I'm from a country were living customs and traditional art has been mostly killed off during centuries of occupation (most lately by the Soviets), and I'm really very envious of countries like Japan and Korea for having such a strong culture with an unbroken cultural heritage. It might be older people who care for this type of thing, but is it only because it was 'a thing' when they were young? Or does appreciation for it grow with the maturity that comes with age? I'd suggest that it might be the latter. The seniors of today grew up in the age of modern theatre, cinema and radio. These folk art styles are not a thing strictly 'of their time'; they have known modern flashy entertainment since they were children.
@@JJMcCullough, why does history and heritage matter at all then? Should that it only be within the realm of academia, or should there be a living example of cultural history, whether it’s popular or not? History museums are subsidized by governments around the world because it’s been determined that there is utility to keeping them around. This seems similar to me.
@@JJMcCullough in most any society you will,have a distinction between popular culture and high culture. I don't think you're being fair to the dynamic. The. There is also "folk" culture that will vary regionally and among ethnicities in multi-cultural western environments.
My hometown Bakersfield’s sister city is Bucheon, South Korea. So there are a lot of Korean exchange students at our local university and Korean restaurants in town. I learned a lot about Korean culture that way and it’s very cool!
Same birthday as you! Also I work with many immigrant South Koreans. What I find endearing about them is that they equally find our American culture equally as fascinating! They make some of the best 1st generation immigrants tbh
I went to Seoul last year to do a video on the phenomenon of Hallyu. It’s amazing the strategies that were used to make Korean culture successful all over the world.
I've visited Korea about six times for short periods and loved the experience. I served as a liaison officer to the Korean Navy for a few weeks and was very impressed by the professionalism of the South Koreans.
🇰🇷-🇨🇦 answering your question. 18:45 Is pansori popular in any real way? No, not at all. Pansori is just like 18:31 (No one really cares.) Although you seem to know the answer already given you're saying the next few sentences ;) Unsolicited advice for J.J.: Be super careful when you discuss Korean things in comparison to other cultures... Koreans' power to join forces (whether physically like during 4.18 or online) is so astronomical a lot of celebrities "got cancelled" for their past remarks. Their collective animosity for a certain thing, topic, person, country can be very hostile.
Okay, the bit about Hangul vs Hanja makes several things I saw on my trip to Seoul back in February make more sense. I wondered why the temples and palaces and things had Chinese characters on them.
I’m from Greece, and in here we have several genres of traditional music (we call it “laïkó”, literally “popular” or “folk” music). Although you can listen to it everywhere, on TV, the radio etc., and although there are many different festivals all over Greece all year round, I feel like the younger generation has moved away from laïkó in recent years. I for once don’t listen to it, and I know no-one on my close circle of friends that does. I may be too quick to declare laïkó dead though. Even these festivals etc. that happen today tend to attract a lot of people - it’s usually older folks though. Many people also take part in dance clubs that teach such traditional music and dances - and I’ll admit I even enjoy a couple of songs, although my overall musical tastes are in a completely different direction. I’d say that laïkó is somewhat scoffed on, but it isn’t completely rejected by the overall society. Here's also a well-known piece of laiko, Evdokia's Zeibekiko,in case anyone wants a sample: th-cam.com/video/yeC7N80wZas/w-d-xo.html
Laiko has definitely evolved throughout the course of the 20th century. From the prohibition period (prohibition of playing music in public) to the over the top "PASOK" times, you can see laiko being shaped by Greek society. However, I do believe that modern "undiluted" laiko is generally disliked since it is viewed by the public as a symbol of the excessive lifestyle of pre-2008 Greece
As someone who lives in South Korea, I feel like you're pretty spot on with pansori. While young Koreans tend to believe pansori and other similar points of cultural heritage are important and attach a certain amount of patriotic pride to them, they seem to care little about pansori and traditional music in general and find it boring. That being said, distinctly Korean culture is seen by Koreans as very important to preserve because a lot of Korean culture was lost or suppressed during the Japanese occupation.
@@JJMcCullough it was a solid 5 hours detailing the last 100 years of North Korean history through the lense of its media, movies, TV shows, music, etc. Detailing all the themes of their propaganda and dissecting them to see how they reflected reality and the dictatorship.
Hey JJ! Long time fan here, and I'm glad you talked about South Korea which I have studied for a very long time, plus I'm married to a Korean. I know that communal eating and sharing side dishes and stews, etc can make us Western people uneasy (I know I used to feel this way too), but I'd hesitate to use word like "gross" and harsh words like that to describe a different style of eating. If someone had described Western practices in a similar fashion, we'd be a bit offended maybe too. JJ, I really like you and your content, I'm just trying to help here :)
한자는 중국어긴 하지만 한글이 창조되기 이전엔 한국도 한문을 사용하다가 높으신분들만 글을알고 배우던 시절에 일반 시민들과 농민들 천민들은 문맹이 엄청 많았습니다 그래서 가장쉽게 가난한 사람들도 쉽게 배울수 있게 나라가 국민들을 속이지 못하게 배움을 전파하도록 왕께서 많은 신하들과 함께 한글을 만드시고 천문학에 관심이 많아 해시계와 물시계등 새로운걸 만드는걸 즐기셨고 농업관련 책을 지필하셔서 농업분야에 책도 만드시고 지금으로 방산처럼 군사적으로도 관련 책을 만드셨어요 평생을 어려운 서민들을 위해 살다 돌아가신 왕이라서 역대왕중에 역사왜곡없이 모두다 좋아하는 왕입니다 한국도 오래전 문서들은 한문으로 되있는 서적들이 많아서 그부분때문에 중국과 역사적 마찰이 심하긴 합니다 일방적인 왜곡수준...
The funny thing I've noticed about the Chaebols is how much they resemble the Japanese Zaibatsus from the pre-1945 period. The special carvouts the Asian Tigers got led them to start resembling the empire they broke free from moreso than when they were actually being colonized.
I've been living in Korea for a while now so I have a few things to say. First, the communal soup thing never once occurred to me. I LOVE all the soups in Korea, especially budaejjigae, which is a very communal soup. Second, pansori isn't super popular but it's influence is felt in Korean Trot music which shares the warbly, articulated style. There is also a band, LEENALCHI, that has recently blended pansori vocalizations with modern instruments. They've had a couple hits recently and I recommend checking them out!
Here in Argentina we have something that's called "coplas" and it's very similar to panori the main difference is well language and maybe rhythm. It has a cultural attachment but most modern people doesn't care that much, like it's just part of the folklore.
Korean here; Pansori is most notably the medium through which many important folk tales were told, so there's that. In terms of modern significance, it's not too hard to find (in varying degrees of modernization) musical references to traditional music, from Leenalchi, admittedly the only modern music I can think of directly related to pansori, to references in K-pop like Daechwita or Idol, which isn't pansori but fills the same spiritual niche. Liking premodern culture is hip in my opinion (if uncommon) for modern Koreans.
...and both have a history that makes them particularly anti-Communist, each with a certain Communist neighbor who officially asserts its rightful sovereignty over it.
Since the pre-colonial ancient era (Three Kingdoms Period), Korea has been the most famous in East Asia for its culture and technology. There was a saying in ancient Japan: "くだらない" (If it's not Baekje, it's boring) Korea is currently in the process of regaining its powerful appearance from ancient times because everything was destroyed due to the Korean War. Korea's heyday has not yet arrived.
Yes but Korea and Taiwan have quite a different outlook about Japanese colonization. In Korea, Japan plundered the land and tried the mex to destroy its culture (which by the way is true) while in Taiwan, it was a model Colony and much of the infrastructure that made Taiwan a developed country was built by the Japanese, Taiwan has a much more positive outlook about Japan than Korea.
thank you for these facts about korean culture. i think now we mostly here about koreas influences on the west and the wests influences on korea more than pure korean history.
It's not an exact parallel, but in the UK the prominence of Shakespeare Vs people who I'd argue actually care for his work, feels a little like your description of the Korean people's feelings of Pansori. Good that it exists as a mark of cultural history, but it's no Squid Game.
This was the comparison that I thought of. There is an audience for Shakespeare, but most people would at best know the one Shakespeare play that's compulsory for GCSE English Literature.
4:40 As a korean, the funny thing is that quite a lot of people here will get grossed out by Indian or Phillipino cultures that tend to prefer using hands over utensils 😂 (Also, yes pansori is more or less held up to the same regard as japanese cultural art forms)
I'm American and I did not think this was that gross. Sure using same utensils for eating in the same bowl that everyone else uses is unsanitary, but dividing the portion into smaller bowls and eating that way did not sound off putting at all, and I've done that many times at American Chinese restaurants. So I really didn't understand much of the sentiment 😅.
I thought it was really weird that JJ found dishing food into separate dishes from a communal one to be gross. It's not exactly a foreign concept to eating habits in the English speaking world. It may not be common for everyday meals, but the potluck is a thing and it essentially functions as a communal table of food.
한국인 모두가 손으로 식사하는 것을 역겨워하지는 않습니다. 쌈요리는 한국 음식의 중요한 부분이고 대부분 손으로 먹습니다. 인도 필리핀을 특정하셨는데, 아프리카 중동 남태평양과 여러 아시아 국가에서 손으로 식사하지요. 서구권에서도 손으로 먹는 요리가 많이 있고 어떤 커뮤니티에서는 더욱 그렇습니다.
@choncat3545 This is exactly why I used the phrase "quite a lot of people" and not "Everyone". Also, though there are quite a lot of cultures around the world that use hands during meals, you can't deny the fact there is also a certain stigma surrounding them. I specifically remember being taught that you shouldn't look down on those cultures during school, which sadly does imply some sort of negative view on these cultures in korean society.
JJ, Great video. Well done. My compliments. 1. The 1988 Olympics and dog on your plate When Korea hosted the Olympics, there were still many restaurants that served dog. This shocked many tourists. Koreans were embarassed. Quietly, the Korean national government made it harder for these restaurants to stay in business. Now there is only one restaurant in the country that serves dog. But there is a shop near my home (within a kilometer) that sells horse meat. 2. Pansori I live in Korea. Have since 2007. Married to a Korean. Had niot heard of Pansori until this video. 3. Hangeul Hangeul is the Korean alphabet. Depending on your source, it has 18 letters or 28 letters. Or some other number. It is easy to learn Hangeul. I learned it on my first flight to Korea, and that flight served three meals and showed two movies. On the other hand, learning the Korean language is like climbing K2: it's hard and nobody cares. Koreans will tell you that the verbs are not conjugated. That is kinda true . . . at least it is more true than false. What makes Korean hard is that -- like Japanese -- the language has modes: Formal, Polite, Familiar, and I-am-insulting-you. The mode you MUST employ depends on your relation to the person to whom you are speaking. For most purposes, use the Polite mode. This makes you sound like Rocky Balboa because you end every sentence with -o or -yo. Because Koreans need to know their relation to whom they speak, and because most relations are determine by age, when they meet you, Koreans will ask your age. They ask so they know which mode to use. Koreans are proud of Hangeul and will tell you that King Sejong created Hangeul because he loved the Korean people. This is nonsense. Sejong created Hangeul to break the hold of the Yangban on government offices. This worked as long as he lived. Made the country literate almost overnight. PS Sejong is the only monarch I know of that is called 'Great' who never fought a war. And he was the third son. His father named Sejong his successor over his two older brothers. And the brothers took their father's choice without rebellion. PPS Almost forgot. Pronouns change depending on the mode you use. Thus 'I' can be naega, naneun, or jeoneun. 4. Coffee culture Koreans love coffee. And sugar. Korea-based coffee shops -- Angel-in-Us, DaVinci Coffee, An Coffee, Ediya, and others -- serve good to excellent coffee. Even Dunkin' Donuts serves good coffee. The only shop in Korea that serves bad coffee is Starbucks. For great coffee, search for the small shops that are not a franchise. For example, Jamaica coffee shop in Yeongcheon. 5. Yee Sun-shin This guy was jaw-dropping heroic. Only Yee Sun-shin and Chester Nimitz commanded navies that defeated the Japanese. Yee Sun-shin fought 23 naval battles against the Japanese. Outnumbered every time. Won every time.
Too much Korean left wing propaganda in those puzzles. As a Korean, I personally thank the South Korean global companies / chaebols because they're the ones that make jobs, feed small companies that they partner with, build infrastructure, and boost the Korean economy. People should know that Korea doesn't have natural resources, so we need to make products and export them abroad, and in order to do that, Korea needs to have big corporates. Koreans didn't actually have communal soups during the "Yangban time". Back then, there was a bowl of soup for each person. However, after the Korean War, Korea didn't have much food to eat, so when they ate, they had to sit around the table and have one bowl of soup and just used their spoons, and that's been around since then. Quite a few Koreans find it degusting tho, and since the covid, it's not as much practiced as before. Pansori is not popular in Korea at all. It's practiced by only some people to have it alive. Regular Koreans sometimes watch it online just to remember the tradition.
Most places refer to themselves and their country as a word that translates to "the land" or "the people", and most places have various exonyms in various other languages
Kind of reminds me how in my native language of Spanish we refer to Germany as Alemania, but in their own language the country is called Deutschland. As a side note, Korea is called Corea in Spanish
Daehanminguk is the name of Korea in Korean. It means the Republic of Korea. Koreans call themselves Hanguk-saram. America is Miguk in Korean. Before Japanese colonization, the country was called Joseon because the Joseon Dynasty ruled the country at the time. North Korea kept the Joseon part. Joseon Minjujui Inmin Gonghwakguk, which means Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
@@pXnTilde Tbh Endnyms being the same as all exonyms is the rarity, and mostly applies to new countries, like Singapore. The only "old country" that comes to mind is Vietnam, where only the Chinese has a different Exonym. Although, the name vietnam for the country itself is relatively new
The last note about the singing culture reminds me a bit of the opera in the West. I love opera, but it is certainly not something that most people who are young or outside of large, cultural centers tend to know much about. There have been big efforts to get screenings of opera performances in movie theater events, but I don't know how successful this has been. It's certainly more niche & old fashioned than the Theater, which is already pretty localized to a few cultural centers too, or very small local productions
The difference in bowing between Korean and Japanese people is VERY different if you've experienced either culture. The Japanese way has you bending at the hips. The Korean way, the last part of your body to bend is the hips and only for the deep bow. Japan also has three bows: shallow for casual, medium for formal, and deep when you need to be apologetic.
@@JJMcCullough I'm just on the other side of the border from you, in Seattle. I'm not saying you have to be part of the culture, but if you've been in a situation where it's expected of you to bow, you learn the intricacies, in part because you'll be quickly informed on how you're doing it wrong.
I mean I don't think the bowing sounds *very* different when the explanation is for one you bend your hips, the other you bend your hips slightly later on. Anyone from a culture without bowing is gonna have a hard time understanding a difference like that
@@chasqui06 To better point it out, Japanese bowing, you don't bend your back. Korean bowing emphasizes bending your back, this is in part to show how they are not Japanese.
Here in the US (at least in the midwest), I believe square-dancing is treated as this historically important relic with not too much modern interest. We were actually taught how to in high school as part of our phy-ed course, but we quickly forgot almost all of it after that brief stint was over.
Another example of an art from with mythologized importance would be Peking Opera for China. I’m Chinese American, and most Chinese Americans or Chinese people from China I talked regard at as something they only do for tourist, which I find unfortunate. It was even a Chinese musician who said this, he was far more interested in Western Classical music like Beethoven. Western Classical music is taking over China, and folk / traditional music has not grown in popularity very much. my father, growing up in the 1960s knew about Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin, and Haydn, but couldn’t really tell you anything about Chinese music. he even lamented that that was the one thing the Western had over the Chinese, that the Chinese had science, art, poetry, philosophy, but no traditional music. Which is untrue, but that’s what many chinese believe about themselves.
Speaking as a player of the guqin (as traditional and as ancient an instrumental tradition as you can get) with interests in traditional music of Japan and Korea, I find it rather sad that many people give primacy to Western art music than their own cultural forms of music. However, I can say that some of the younger generation of east Asians and those living overseas (as well as non-Asians) do actively engage in traditional music, and not just to 'preserve' it but actively enjoy and appreciate it and develop it as a living tradition. Of course, these are in the minority, as generally not many people care about their own traditions besides speaking the language and pop culture consumption. Also, a diet of purely Western music is not good in regards to your perspective of culture and music: you become less likely to expand your musical horizons to what other places offer and you become convinced that Western music is superior to everywhere else (or that music anywhere else is not 'real music') through a skewered perception of musical cognition.
Tbh I'm Chinese diaspora but not super interested in Chinese culture as a whole. I tend to really dislike Chinese opera, I find it shrill and generally unpleasant to listen to. That being said, I really like other kinds of Chinese music, in particular the instrumental kind. Stuff like Butterfly Lovers and Gao Shan Liu Shui sound really nice and carry a kind of ethereal vibe that I don't think is any lesser than the likes of Strauss (who I also really love, don't get me wrong).
I’m from southern England and recently attended a “singing sea shanties in the pub” event, it presented to me as incredibly interesting because unlike much of the rest of the worlds highly ritualised musical traditions it was all about just joining in no matter what skill level you were. The organiser of the event also made the fantastic point that it’s incredibly valuable to keep such a tradition alive because it represents the fantastically beautiful folk history of Britain rather than its vile colonial past!
I'm from Germany, and these art forms are definitely not as popular as they are made out to be: classical music theatre opera ballet All of these are considered integral to our culture, but pretty much only the upper crust cares much about them, as well as upper-crust-aspirants, and people who want to pretend to be cultured. There are a few exceptions, but they're just exceptions. Luckily for those people, all of those art forms are heavily subsidized. Even more luckily, many are still so expensive that the rabble couldn't pay for them even if they wanted to. On an unrelated note: I'll never tire of Banjo-Kazooie sound effects.
@@JJMcCullough Oh, I'm sure I forgot many more minor art forms or sub-genres. To start with, of the things I mentioned, theatre is probably the least extreme case. It is not pushed nearly as much as one of the essential forms of high culture, and it is (usually) by far the most affordable one. But it still only appeals to a small and pretty distinct section. As for Cabaret specifically, it would depend on just what you mean by that term. I think strictly speaking it's supposed to be comedy hat criticizes politics, current events, or social trends. Now, I haven't partaken of anything of the sort in a long while, but some of my family still do. From what I pick up by proxy, in most Cabaret programmes (on TV and on stage), this sort of Cabaret is mixed with healthy doses of more 'low brow' comedy. So it would be difficult to suss out just how popular Cabaret on its own would be with the unwashed masses. One could look into attendance of solo acts. Another rough proxy that just occurred to me would be to look at TV broadcasts. Specifically private (for-profit) channels compared to state-funded channels. As far as I can recall, all of the shows that are Cabaret or at least include Cabaret acts are on state-funded channels, and the comedy on private channels is markedly more 'low brow'. (with some exceptions) One illustrative example might be 'TV Total'. I think it's been off the air for a while now, because the host and designer of the show moved on to other projects, but during its run it was EXTREMELY popular. It started out as a weekly show, but was quickly extended to four shows a week, it spawned several spin-offs, spin-offs of the spin-offs, and even the co-stars have multiple spin-off shows. It was basically mandatory watching, and everyone of a certain age can quote it even years afterwards. I think even without understanding the language, you can get an impression of what sort of show it was if you look up a few clips. Maybe there are even some with translations. I hope this helped. If you have more questions, just ask.
That's actually really depressing, considering the contributions to art coming out of Germany. It also seems to fit the broader thesis that the West hates itself and is actively contributing to its own cultural atrophy.
I'm a Korean-Canadian 🇰🇷-🇨🇦 who lived in Korea until fairly recently. 1:14 The Korean media seems to have become very left-leaning lately. Of course, like you nicely pointed out, the media used to be censored by the then-rather authoritarian government in the 70-80s. That said, the contemporary mainstream media OF TODAY have an apparent tendency to lean towards the left, notably the major three TV channels--KBS, MBC, and SBS. Those major three TV channels, one (KBS) of which is a public broadcaster (Korea's CBC) along with MBC ('almost' CBC), has a considerable number of employees joined in National Union of Media Workers (언론노조) which is directly under the umbrella of Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (민노총), a very close "ally"/sister of the Democratic Party (더불어민주당, current opposition party, left-wing). If you visit the National Union of Media Workers' website, it explicitly condemns the current president Yoon (party in power) and his party. This tendency has been around for years. All facts here with no personal political opinion.
Per your last question, yes. Opera, Ballet, classical music. All of which I enjoy but which have a certain quality of not actually being popular to most aside from the sense that they should care. All with a community of practitioners that, for the most part, consider the preservation of traditional aspects and original intent to be paramount.
The there aren't really "two Chinas" anymore though. There's essentially just one China and one Taiwan. Although officially Taiwan is still the "Republic of China," it only continues to maintain this official title as a constitutional change to its name is likely to invite a Chinese invasion.
I feel like theater is to a lesser extent like pansori. Unless it's like a broadway tier performance, most people don't really care about theater, but yet we seem to agree it should be kept around for the art form and the performers
4:40 I don’t get what’s the big deal. I understand why westerners don’t like it but to go so far as to say is gross is weird, like that’s just how they eat. Do you look down on Philippinos for eating with their hands?
@JJMcCullough not really? We do wash our cutlery and now days we use our secondary soup plate to share food. ( often using SEPERATE big spoon to share the soup). Especially post covid we have learned to be more careful.
It's looked down upon for obvious sanitary reasons. Some food like Chicken wings, or sandwiches are normally eaten by hand, but generally it's advised against if you can avoid it.
09:58 'Dangun' = 'Danggol'. It means shaman. In the BC era, shamans were monarchs in Korea. This is similar to the 'Tengri' in Mongolia, Uighur, Kazakhstan, Turkey, and so on. In mythology, Dangun is described as a single individual, but in actual history monarchs of many generations and regions were shamans. They were common nouns. Prince Hwanung, who came down from heaven, was an immigrant tribe who worshiped the sky, Bears and tigers are indigenous tribes that used to worship animals, It is a story that these tribes combined to form the country 'Joseon' with the leader of the Mudangdan. It is said that it was about 4,300 years ago. The Chinese history books say that 'Joseon' had trade and diplomacy with China about 2,700 years ago.
Korean here from Seoul , lived around diff countries & works in the kpop industry So no one really cares about pansori including the young and the old. I have seen some government attempts to fund this , but even the older generation (50s) would listen to older music like ‘trot’. Few successful attempts happened when bands like SingSing who use pansori infused with western / modern genres such as reggae have gotten attention from the Korean ‘indie’ crowd. But simply put - Pansori although respected as a grand tradition , isn’t really consumed by the public. ** Been watching your videos for a while but I believe this is my first comment! Edit : honored to get a heart from the J.J.M. legend himself !!
Fun fact: there are only 5 surviving traditional Korean pansori in existence. Every other story got lost to time (or rather, every other story written in pansori form was lost to time; it's not like they only have five total traditional folktales).
@@JJMcCullough Yes, in essence. What you're actually going for, especially if you like one of these five stories in particular, is the artist's particular interpretation and rendering of the "libretto". Even though the sung texts are pretty much the same, the 'aniri' or spoken interludes can show some variation, and different artists ultimately have their own vocal qualities, which may better fit one or two of the standard Pansori plays over the others. Four of these plays illustrate examples of essential Confucian relationship dynamics: Chunhyangga, about a wife’s faithfulness to her husband; Shimcheongga, about the filial piety of a daughter to her father; Heungboga, about the struggles of sibling dynamics; and Sugungga, about the loyalty to one’s sovereign. Jeokbyeokga, the fifth play, is an adaptation of the historic Chinese account of The Battle of Red Cliffs.
@@JJMcCullough i think pansori madang (song cycles) are only performed in their entirety very very rarely (if you search 춘향가 완창 there is a full recording of the Chunhyangga song cycle) - normally there are famous songs within the cycle that are performed regularly (like Sarangga from Chunhyangga) I was writing a western orchestral work inspired by Chunhyangga so I got about an hour in but I dont think I could sit through the whole thing
Native South Korean here. Promotion of pansori is more like trying to preserve traditional culture than actually making it be played in everyday life. Genres of popular music in South Korea include K-pop(BTS, BlackPink, etc), ballades(sentimental love songs), hip-hop/rap, trot(not really related to the American foxtrot, more influenced by Japanese pop music during the Japanese Occupation), etc.
I’d compare Pansori, Kabuki, and other art forms comparable to performances of Shakespeare in the US, UK, Canada, etc. Reading Shakespeare is a requirement in high school/college and other countries around the world will educate teenage and college-age students on their big works of literature, deeper levels of certain religious epics, and stories found in their performance art. Once you understand some of the main points of such stories, I think only a certain kind of soul will actually be thrilled to go to see live performances as a hobby, whereas most people might go as part of a special occasion, festival, or if a tourist is hoping to go to a performance. It’s similar to how many people in The West take the time to go see Shakespeare in the Park during the Summer or pay a lot of money to go to a play or an opera…
I think that’s a good analogy. We all have some vague sense that Shakespeare is part of “our culture” but I think most people in the English-speaking world today struggle to sincerely care about it on its own terms. In the year 2024 it’s just objectively not true that Shakespeare stories are the best thing ever written, so you have to appreciate them on some other level, which is a pretty counterintuitive way to consume entertainment.
I am an American and the Eastern US city where I grew up overlaps to a significant degree with the boundaries of a Native American reservation. Unlike in the Western United States, the tribe has become very integrated into the community, so much so that if it were not for the small road signs you would not be able to tell where the reservation begins and ends. This might be controversial, but I would place the traditional Native American powwow in the list of traditional performances that the elders care about but that has little general interest amongst the youth. I remember that when I was in elementary and middle school, we would generally attend a powwow once a year or so, and I had classmates who participated, but they did so mostly as a way of respecting their elders and as a cultural reminder of their history than enjoying it for its own sake. I know that for most of us attending the powwows, we were more concerned with eating fry-bread and getting the day off school than paying close attention to the powwow itself, and none of us, including the classmates I knew who actually participated in the powwow, listened to powwows on our iPods or anything like that.
I taught English in Seoul for an academic semester, and I had a great time. Korean food is awesome (especially the fried chicken and BBQ), the coffee culture is great, and the city is fun and full of stuff to do, benefited greatly by the subway, which is remarkably affordable and reliable. The mountains are absurdly beautiful, the museums are abundant and wonderful, (I also visited cultural monuments and temples, even a Korean War graveyard, which was very powerful), and the people are super helpful and friendly. Slightly less than Japanese, but much more than Chinese. I recommend anyone looking for adventure consider teaching English in Korea. I imagine it's much better than Japan.
I was somewhat surprised by how Christian South Korea was though, with most of Asia being Buddhist, and Christianity usually being a Western thing, but it was at least interesting to experience. I did however struggle to make friends, both Korean and foreign, which is the main reason why I went home after my time ended. I had the opportunity to stay, but I had the fun I wanted and started to feel quite lonely.
Most “Old World” societies have a strict social contract where people cannot just speak some words in the language and expect to be belovèd. You would’ve probably made more friends if you were korean. Also, Americans brought Christianity to Korea in the war. They kinda went along with it because they needed to remain special against the north (mainly atheistic).
Are a lot of those Christian Moonies? they are fascinating to me
@@ekhowo1475 I never asked, but it's possible. My only encounters with Korean Christians were people handing out masks during Covid, and this one dude with a mic and a small stap saying "God bless you" to everyone in English.
I did however experience a a man giving a speech to about a hundred people in downtown Seoul, right beside Sejong's statue and an old palace, and the people were waving Korean and American flags, and I am confident they were all Christians.
What kind of certifications did you need or get in order to do such a thing? Asking as you’ve actually done it.
@@SenhorKoringaChristianity was brought to Korea before that. The first leader of North Korea, Kim Il Sung, was raised in a Christian family.
probably the closest western equivalent to pansori would be Opera, a respected musical storytelling tradition, but one that only a few people care about much in modern times
I _knew_ someone would say this and I completely disagree. People write new operas-including ones that embrace other cultures-people actually go to operas, operas are broadcast on the radio, opera still had a hold on people’s imaginations (like metal heads discussing how they think of Wagner as the first meal musician), a lot of opera music is well known, and there are famous opera singers that even non-fans know well. Just because you or your friends don’t like it doesn’t mean it’s some old stuffy art form that only a few old cultural elites keep alive for the sake of tradition.
@@gravityissues5210I presume based on your response then, that you could credibly say that the alleged Korean ‘equivalent’ does not receive the same regards?
@gravityissues5210 I disagree. I've never heard of it being on the radio, and have only ever known the name of one singer, whom I forgot. I had two teachers in middle school who did opera, but I don't know anyone who has definitely been to an opera. I think most people's closest experience to opera is listening to Bohemian Rhapsody. Their second closest would be... yeah, I've got nothing.
None of these are "kept alive for their own sake". Like Opera, these things have some demand (just not much)
@@gravityissues5210 "people actually go to operas"
Lol who?
1. Blue house is not built by Japanese. The site was used by Japanese, but in fact it had been used since Koryo dynasty. We demolished Japanese built building and the blue house is completely built by us.
2. Pan sori is also considered old and boring for younger generations in Korea too. However there have been many modernizing attempts made and getting some popularity. Search Lee Hee Moon.
South Korea is one of those countries who developed super rapidly in terms of technology. You have the urban software developer in the big city skyscraper, whose grandparents still worked in poor conditions on lowly farms. That's how quickly our world has been turning in the last couple of decades. Talking to my grandparents, I was recently reminded how unique that makes our moment in time? To have generations living side-by-side, who grew up in vastly *vastly* different technological eras! That might not be the case for much longer. Even with stuff like AI, I can't imagine a shift THAT fundamental to happen between me and my future grandchildren...
But then again, maybe the future is always unimaginable before it happens.
I did a year long highschool exchange in South Korea without knowing almost anything about Korea and it changed my life. I fell in love with Korea and now study Asian Studies and hope to spend the rest of my life there
Also to ad on to Pansori, I can say going to highschool there, my host parents cared very much for Pansori however not many people at my school really sentimentalised traditional Korean art forms other than me because I wanted to learn and this one girl in my class who was really good at this traditional instrument called a Gayageum. But other than that, I'd say your hypothesis is pretty spot on.
You're studying Asian Studies at college? What kind of jobs does that field provides?
@zeminoid I wanna be a diplomat, it's under the school of world politics in my university. You can also go into foreign trade. Say a company wants to enter a market that you have more knowledge about. It's also a way to get into international law during your undergrad, kinda like how regular law students get their ba in political science.
@zeminoid I think some get confused because they think it's just cultural studies of Asia, but it's also a lot about policy and trade
@@m.j.n.808 Ohh, that actually sounds super useful now, I really thought it was something about culture, thank you for the explanation, I hope you do great in your studies.
Native from Busan here. One hugely crucial part about Korea not mentioned here is Nunchi (눈치). It literally means "eye-sense" but it means the sense of 'reading the air' and picking up unspoken facts or rules about someone or something. On a moderate scale this can be similar to common sense, but the way Koreans implement is much stricter and any mistake, even if trivial can deliver a hundred different messages to others and could get you excommunicated from social circles. This sort of choking atmosphere breeds Nun-nopi (눈높이) a.k.a standards and it's become a common sight for Koreans to passively brag about their nun-nopi to others for validity. With this breeds strong sentiments and people start looking down on various things they aren't fully knowledgable on, and it makes social vibes of Korean circles a bit... suffocating.
Japan also has the same concept "reading the air" - 場の空気を読む
Another example of Japanese and Korean commonality.
This concept is formalized in anthropology as “high context culture” - not unique to Korea but it is certainly is among the most high context of cultures
@@eruno_ Thats because we are like 2 miles from each other
Love this! I work with Korean Americans and they’re some of the most socially adept people I’ve ever met. Couldn’t quite describe why or how, this helped a lot! Thank you!
out of curiosity, how does it differ from the idea of “reading the room” ? is it the intensity, the level of nuance, the social repercussion, etc ?
I recently met a Korean international student (who admittedly seemed quite conservative) who told me that there's very little difference between the political parties in South Korea. The main divide is apparently that the right is more hawkish toward North Korea and China, friendlier with Japan and more anti-feminist. Other than that they are both very nationalistic, socially conservative and anti-immigration. The real divide in South Korea is between men and women, who are increasingly alienated from the political system. I'd be curious to know how true this is.
That strikes me as making some intuitive sense. South Korea obviously has an entrenched culture of traditionalistic gender norms, but also a stronger culture of social critique than say, Japan. Plus, partisan gender division is becoming a big thing all across the Democratic world.
Socially conservative countries have higher fertility rates. What gives for South Korea to have the lowest fertility rate in the world when the political parties are both socially conservative?
@artman12 Probably the work and education culture. Korea is the most expensive place to raise a child, and working here can be grueling. Lots of overtime and there's a very strict hierarchy that can make jobs even more exhausting.
That is the horshoe theory in play.
The left is a bit more nationalistic in Korea. They love using terms such as Korean minjok (meaning race) and basically brand political opponents as race-traitors, when it comes to Japan. Some left wing groups even tried to stop President Roh (who was a leftist himself) from removing mentions of the Korean race from our pledge of allegiance.
Something else South Korea has going for it is it's incredible contemporary art scene. I'm a big simp for modern art from Asia in general - they often make startlingly intelligent and visually/conceptually distinctive works even by the standards of globalized art - but South Korean art in particular often has this fascinating science fiction quality, and there's a lot of women excelling in the nations pantheon of artists. You of course have famous figures like Lee Bul (who sculpts fragmented biomechanical forms resembling wrecked anime mechs), Nam June Paik (creator of legendarily playful installations using TVs and other electronics), U-ram Choe (who engineers incredible kinetic sculptures that often conflates robotics and biology) and Haegue Yang (a maker of surreal and strangely creaturely found material artworks). But there are so many less internationally recognized artists that deserve more attention - at least by my humble reckoning ;p
Chun Sung Myung: ambiguously monochromatic and somewhat nightmarish installations, see _Swallowing the Shadow,_ (2006)
Debbie Han: sculpts and digitally illustrates artworks that critique both Eastern and Western standards of beauty and normalcy, see _Terms of Beauty II,_ (2004-07)
Hyung Koo Kang: detailed and bizarrely scaled/cropped paintings of famous figures, rendered with unexpected expressions and moods, see _Vincent van Gogh in Blue,_ (2007)
Koh Myung-Keun: distinctive architectural-photographic sculptures made of clear plastic overlaid with semitransparent film, see _Stairway 6_ (2009)
Noh Sang-Kyoon: sequin covered sculptures of religious figures presented in ways both irreverent and sublime simultaneously, see _Twin Jesus,_ (2001)
Osang Gwon: lifesize sculptural portraits of people made of c-prints, see _AW77,_ (2009)
Suejin Chung: deceptively messy paintings of interiors overwhelmed with what look like stray thoughts, see _Room,_ (2006)
Sun Mu: startling and grotesque exaggerations of North Korean propaganda aesthetics, see _Nothing to be envious in the world,_ (2007)
Xooang Choi: hyper-realistic but viscerally surreal bodies, see _The Wings,_ (2009)
Yong Ho Ji: bestial, sinewy and expressive sculptures made of used tires, see _Jaguar 8,_ (2009)
By the way I brought a new smart phone recently, and I decided to finally get my hands on that Ground News app you've mentioned a bunch of times. It's such a useful thing and by far the app that's gotten the most usage out of me on said phone :D I particularly love that blindspot feature with left and right bias toggle options, I've genuinely discovered things on there I almost certainly wouldn't have across via my usually left-leaning media go-tos. Having access to multiple outlets articles detailing the same story has been massively useful to me and has lessened a lot of the profound anxiety I often experience when watching or reading the news. I guess I just wanted to say thanks for recommending it so robustly to me J.J. For me it's been well worth buying :D
Hey I just found your comment and I really like it, I'm just commenting so I can refer back to your sources later. You have good taste :)
@@Shoobster Sorry it took me a while to get respond back to you, thanks for the kind comment :D I hope you've discovered someone new through my ramblings :p
The 2002 Japan Korea World Cup also definitely showcased Korean culture worldwide, certainly to UK/Europe
Yeah, the 2002 World Cup is one of my favorites. It was really cool seeing the tournament branch out to Asia for the first time. My favorite team is the US and they surprised a lot of people by beating Portugal and Mexico in South Korea that year. To date, the USA’s eighth place finish in 2002 is their best ever Men’s World Cup performance besides the time they came in third at the first ever tournament in 1930.
True, although here in Spain, and I suppose in Italy as well, that WC is mostly remembered for the apparent fixing that took place in favor of the Korean national team against Spain and Italy.
I was living in Korea then, and remember it very positively. The small town I was in was hooping for weeks, quite the festive atmosphere. Alas, I didn't have the same positive experience with the more recent Winter Olympics. Those were horribly mismanaged.
@@kousvetkousvet4158lol, you blamed poor performance on cheating 😅
In a bad way though, especially if you're Italian or Spanish. They still believe that the World Cup was rigged in favor of the South Koreans.
The biggest piece not mentioned of Korean culture here that jumps to mind is e-sports. The 1998 videogame Starcraft was at one point considered the "national sport of Korea" and finals matches would be held in olympic stadiums. They have government offices dedicated to e-sports. (Although it's not as singularly focused on Starcraft anymore, plenty of League of Legends these days, although I'm told that if you get in a Taxi in Korea the Taxi driver will still know all the Starcraft units).
I feel like opera occupies a similar cultural spot in Western culture as pansori does in Korean culture. I don't know anybody who considers themselves a fan or has even been to an opera show. But we all know about opera and are told it's something very sophisticated.
I think that’s a great analogy. I think seeing live Shakespeare is sort of in this category as well.
Opera is fun & affordable to attend. You should go!
I am sensing a real “I don’t do this, so nobody does” vibe from JJ and some of his fans here. It’s starting to actually really piss me off.
@@gravityissues5210 few people is not interchangeable with nobody, so unless you have other reasons to critique this comparison (which there might be, I know very little about the role of pansori) please don't keep hassling people using the comparison.
Opera is a great example. The average age of opera attendees is very old.
So a Korean(American) speaking up. No, the pre-1900/traditional music are NOT something the ordinary people care about. What ordinary people do care more about is "Trot" (t'ro't, 3 syllables). As for how much? Enough that trot-centric TV auditions and competitions come up on main TV channels consistently. At least when I was over there at March.
Just a quick TH-cam search, it sounds a lot like Japanese enka, yeah there's definitely some sort of connection between the two, given Korea was a Japanese colony for a while.
@@alanho6814 Enka is definitely the "ancestor" of trot, but trot received a lot more influence from American jazz and blues during Korean War and the following military dictatorships.
But FYI, don't bring up colonial thing with older Koreans. It has the same impact as mentioning Vichy France to a French. Except worse because Nazi Germany didn't try to erase the french language like the Japanese tried with Korean.
@@alanho6814 They have a connection because they were both influenced by ancient Chinese opera. I'm Vietnamese and we have a similar thing also influenced by Chinese opera called hát tuồng. I find a lot of similarities between Korean and Japanese culture are not because they were borrowed from one another but because they (along with Vietnam) both borrowed from ancient China instead
@@UnluckyHistorian
Japanese didn't try to erase Korean language. It was under Japanese rule that Hangul was started to be taught in public schools across Korea.
@@eruno_ ...? Ainu and Ryuku and the policy of Soshi-kaimei. I don't need to say more than that.
I guess Opera and ballet fit the description of a highly sentimental artform that has a great reputation but isn't popular with general audiences
Ive liked learning about Korea for years and this video taught me some things I didn’t know about before. A part 2 would be awesome!
I have heard part of the pride Koreans have in Hangul is the idea that it is the most “logical” language. I don’t know exactly how to explain it, but it is kind of the idea “if you had someone who doesn’t speak a language and wanted to teach them one that follows consistent rules and fits the sounds a human would naturally make, this fits that” That was probably a poor explanation, and I do think language fits that mindset mentioned in the video about metric and imperial in Canada “Logical arguments don’t work well at convincing people to change when they did not start doing it for logical reasons”
Yeah I’ve heard this as well. The Koreans are extremely proud of Hangul and say all sorts of truisms about it. I don’t think linguists generally believe in the idea that languages have objective merits, though. I think the ease of learning a language has a lot to do with just how useful that language is for communication, not how “easy” it is in some abstract way.
Calculus is “easy” in the sense of being very logical, but most of us still don’t have the interest or patience to do it.
@@JJMcCullough language is technically subjective but if majority of the world agrees on an opinion like “German sounds ugly” there is probably some logic behind it like the glottal stops or gluttal R sound.
Hangul does communicate almost everything you need to know about the language, what a vowel will be pronounced like, consonant gemination, vowel length, etc. with a degree of consistency not common in most global languages, especially english. Combined with Hangul being exclusive to korean, does make it feel very special and distinct.
Might be from Hangul being a featural alphabet (a type of alphabet in which the letters are designed to replicate the mouth shape during pronounciation) and is seem by many as the easiest major writing system in the world to learn
@@SenhorKoringa> but if the majority of the world agrees on opinion like “German sounds ugly”
And has the world reached such a consensus?
@@tanizaki obviously after being the main villains for half of a century, definitely hard to get an unbiased consensus, to most people on the globe, german language = hitlerites
I enjoyed your Taiwan video that was in this format. I learned a lot about both the culture of Taiwan and South Korea. Your work as a cultural commentator TH-camr is both good quality and important.
Also, 51k until you hit 1 million subscribers. Congrats!
Being half-Korean myself, I've been looking forward to the day one of my favorite TH-camrs would cover South Korea. I have learned new things! Truly another award winning video!
the other half being a white american father i presume
@@SenhorKoringa very specific guess
@@SenhorKoringaCould be vice versa, I mean Victor Tsoi had it that way 😅
@@L0rdOfThePies Korean women always like the manly american G.I. soldiers
@@forlegalreasonsthatwasajok7608 he dad was ethnic korean but he was still born in Russia, Soviet men way more cool and tough versus koreans
I'm two minutes in and have to commend you because after living there from 1995-1998, I have already learned things I didn't know and really should have! Thank you JJ!
Very helpful for me, I have absored so much interesting stuff since working at a south korean company for the last year (as a born and raised American).
BABE GRAB THE POPCORN JJ POSTED
?
I am a lapsed Korean who grew up in the West. Many moons ago I took a trip to the old country and happened on a live pansori performance. While at the time, I didn’t know what I was listening to, I began to enjoy it. The wailing, soulful sounds and the accompanying drumbeat was mesmerizing. I think for old traditional art forms like opera, Shakespeare, they are best and more appreciated when seen and heard live, the way they were originally enjoyed. And like opera, Shakespeare, I think pansori wasn’t originally high art but someth8ng enjoyed by the masses to take them away momentarily from their hard daily lives.
I’m American and I teach English in S. Korea. I’ve learned more in this video than in my 3 years here. Well done, JJ!! Sending love from Daejeon, South Korea!! ❤
Mexican here. Traditional mexican regionald dances are also considered a thing that you see in cultural centers and festivals, but usually only people who are into that are the public, and you rarely see them in the spotlight of popular culture. And I said that by having a mom, and aunt, and an ex-gf who were into that: If it wasn't because of them, I would not have been in a dance festival.
I think it's like that for all traditional dancing. If it not it would just be called dancing.
Part of what I enjoy about your cultural analysis is your skepticism about how a culture, or country portray itself, and the actuality of day to day living. Considering art, I guess lots of countries have pieces and authors who are overvalued by the "cultured elite" relative to it's acutal popularity.
A challenge for this channel to do a video answering this question.
(1) What is the difference between authentic and stereotypical culture experience, with a cultural example.
I’m a descriptivist so I tend to think authentic culture is what people do, not what cultural elites tell them to do.
I'm traveling to Korea this year, so the timing for this video was impeccable.
0:40 "It was not a _COUNTRY_ "
+10.000.000 winnie the pooh Social points for JJ.
"...That I previously didn't know much about."
-10,000,000,000
Without official recognition by the international community, it technically is not a country
He said it's not a country that he knew much previously. About. How much Tik Tok do you watch?
@@grengrenhuskey we need cpt obvious in here
@@jabrokneetoeknee6448 but like it basically has a fully formed government so as far as i'm concerned that makes it a country regardless of what the UN has to say. the UN is flawed as hell anyhow.
Have you thought about putting your sources in the description? I love when educational channels do this so I can dig through the material
Another paralel could be tango, famous around the world and beloved by tourists yet the average Argentinian hasn't danced it even once
Another award winning video!
You were describing classical music in the west at the end there. I'm a classical musician and I think the reason this art form is still alive is because the artists love it so much
I lived in Korea for about 5 years. While I was there, I found your channel and became a big fan of yours. So I was excited to see this video :)
Also, the whole sharing-food thing is easy to get over after awhile. I miss it actually. Eating with friends was one of the most fun parts of my life there.
당신이 다시 한국에 오길 바랍니다. 😊😃한국은 언제나 당신을 환영합니다. 좋은 추억이 있다고 말해주셔서 감사합니다 😊
Lived in Korea for 7 years and it feels like a mixture of Japan and the classic US (not current). It has a similar feel to Japan in terms of its aesthetics and what-not, yet it also is very capitalist, Christian, and conservative, which I personally view as positives. The people are mostly quite outgoing, friendly, and interested in foreigners; far more so than countries like Japan. Far more Koreans speak English than Japanese do as well. It offers some of the best urban biking in the world at Han River, which extends through most of the country and is incredibly scenic, and the cost of living is quite cheap outside of real estate, which even could be said to be cheap as well if your standard is the average US/Canadian city.
There's definitely a lot to like about it, which is why I've been here for so long, and it's still constantly developing, growing, and changing due to Korean people's work ethic and innovation. Koreans are really open to new ideas and ways of thinking and love emulating the west, which in large part has led to Korea's rapid success and economic growth while keeping things from growing stagnant. Right now it's kind of a mix of old and new, with remnants of the past age co-existing with extremely modern, almost futuristic technology and buildings.
I appreciate a positive documentary about it; there are far too many poorly made, trash content documentaries from people just talking about "muh depression" "muh suicide rates" and how the country is so depressed even though they've never been here once and all they did was read a bunch of Wikipedia statistics and plagiarise from a ton of other documentaries showing it in the same light.
As an adult foreigner here, that is not how Korea looks at all. It mostly has to do with students in school, and while it is very sad, the average Korean adult absolutely does not seem depressed; Korea is very full of life and Koreans are very social beings. It has its problems like literally any other country, but there are a lot of positives and great things about it too.
Also, you should talk about Gayageum if you do a Part 2. Here's a video of Sooeun Kwak beautifully playing it to some amazing sand art accompanying it: th-cam.com/video/eTah-Evooqs/w-d-xo.htmlsi=NVUMhvjFXLhIq4N8
I went to Korea in April and there were literally a thousand people eating outside. It was so vibrant and exciting. Also it is safe even at night.
Japan's emperor and Osakans are basically Koreans. In other wards, Japanese people are similar to Koreans.
Spot on analsis
Serving soup or stew from a common turine is/was very common in the West.
I'm from the USA and I would say Blues music is more revered than listened to. Folk music is in a similar position.
Eh, folk and blues aren't really the same as the example in the video. Cuz they're genuinely fairly popular but only with people who like country, and that's not a small group of people.
I think opera and ballet would be a better comparison for the US
@@issuedwafflemc3165 although our relationship with those is different because they're not "indigenous" so there's not even really any particular attachment/need to "keep them alive"
@jonhanson8925 Blues music is an indigenous American musical style, like Jazz or Rock and Roll. And American Folk music is also the folk music that is indigenous to America.
Not that sharing one bowl to eat off of is justified. It is a doctors worst nightmare because with all these different spoons everyone used and put bacteria on, it allows for diseases to spread.
After many epidemics like the flu and Covid we stopped doing it because disease is possible and many can die from it.
I was in Seoul a few weeks ago, and was so stoked to see a Chicago pizza restaurant there.
J. J.'s question about these historical high art forms and whether or not they are popular seems to imply that if they aren't popular then they aren't valuable in some way -- but he doesn't actually say that. Maybe he could do a video on whether specific "high art" forms or other carefully persevered bits of cultural heritage are or aren't important. His politics and love for popular consumer culture suggest he might prefer to let old, elite art forms fade out and not be propped up by government funding or cultural pressure from elites. On the other hand, as a conservative he might have at least some appreciation for preserving venerated art forms with a nationalistic character. I'd be curious to find out what he thinks about the relative value of High Brow vs. Popular culture.
I think there's one place in the world that bucks this trend of clearly distinguishing between "high culture" and "popular culture": Bali, Indonesia. Their gamelan music and dance traditions are still popular amongst younger folks - which a large part is due to their religious obligations in the form of "ngayah" - and the island itself has an annual venue to not only showcase traditional Balinese performing art forms through dance concerts and "battle of the bands" competitions, but also innovative contemporary and retro-contemporary creations. This is known as the Bali Arts Festival (Pesta Kesenian Bali - PKB), which will turn 45 years old later this coming June-July.
Loved the video JJ - looking to get a puzzle of my own. My wife and I lived in Korea for a year, and I even got to meet Professor David A. Mason, what a wonderful resource!
John James, I really enjoy your videos. Thanks for doing them. Regards from México.
I love JJ’s content. It’s so informative yet easy to listen to. He has a very inoffensive welcoming energy ❤
I'm from a country were living customs and traditional art has been mostly killed off during centuries of occupation (most lately by the Soviets), and I'm really very envious of countries like Japan and Korea for having such a strong culture with an unbroken cultural heritage. It might be older people who care for this type of thing, but is it only because it was 'a thing' when they were young? Or does appreciation for it grow with the maturity that comes with age? I'd suggest that it might be the latter. The seniors of today grew up in the age of modern theatre, cinema and radio. These folk art styles are not a thing strictly 'of their time'; they have known modern flashy entertainment since they were children.
(Edit-spelling)
But why does it matter? If no one in these cultures actually care about it, then it’s not really part of the culture in my opinion.
@@JJMcCullough, why does history and heritage matter at all then? Should that it only be within the realm of academia, or should there be a living example of cultural history, whether it’s popular or not? History museums are subsidized by governments around the world because it’s been determined that there is utility to keeping them around. This seems similar to me.
@@JJMcCullough in most any society you will,have a distinction between popular culture and high culture. I don't think you're being fair to the dynamic. The. There is also "folk" culture that will vary regionally and among ethnicities in multi-cultural western environments.
@@bernd6471 History is its own thing
My hometown Bakersfield’s sister city is Bucheon, South Korea. So there are a lot of Korean exchange students at our local university and Korean restaurants in town. I learned a lot about Korean culture that way and it’s very cool!
Same birthday as you! Also I work with many immigrant South Koreans. What I find endearing about them is that they equally find our American culture equally as fascinating! They make some of the best 1st generation immigrants tbh
give me back my birthday.
@@johnreed4970 we can share…but I blow out the candles!
I went to Seoul last year to do a video on the phenomenon of Hallyu. It’s amazing the strategies that were used to make Korean culture successful all over the world.
Korean culture:😍
Korean history:🌚
Japanese culture: 🤔
Japanese history: 😳
Korean work culture:💀
Korean fertility rate: ↘️↘️↘️↘️
Longest unbroken chain
East Asian culture : 😍
East Asian History : 💀💀💀
I've visited Korea about six times for short periods and loved the experience. I served as a liaison officer to the Korean Navy for a few weeks and was very impressed by the professionalism of the South Koreans.
J.J. cured my depression!!! Thanks, J.J. !!!
Bro got me simping fr
@SnakeitySpoonGilmour go to your physician and ask for a prescription for anti-simp pills or an anti-simp topical medicated cream
I’d love a video like this about other countries as well.
🇰🇷-🇨🇦 answering your question.
18:45 Is pansori popular in any real way? No, not at all. Pansori is just like 18:31 (No one really cares.)
Although you seem to know the answer already given you're saying the next few sentences ;)
Unsolicited advice for J.J.: Be super careful when you discuss Korean things in comparison to other cultures... Koreans' power to join forces (whether physically like during 4.18 or online) is so astronomical a lot of celebrities "got cancelled" for their past remarks. Their collective animosity for a certain thing, topic, person, country can be very hostile.
That is concerning
Okay, the bit about Hangul vs Hanja makes several things I saw on my trip to Seoul back in February make more sense. I wondered why the temples and palaces and things had Chinese characters on them.
I’m from Greece, and in here we have several genres of traditional music (we call it “laïkó”, literally “popular” or “folk” music). Although you can listen to it everywhere, on TV, the radio etc., and although there are many different festivals all over Greece all year round, I feel like the younger generation has moved away from laïkó in recent years. I for once don’t listen to it, and I know no-one on my close circle of friends that does.
I may be too quick to declare laïkó dead though. Even these festivals etc. that happen today tend to attract a lot of people - it’s usually older folks though. Many people also take part in dance clubs that teach such traditional music and dances - and I’ll admit I even enjoy a couple of songs, although my overall musical tastes are in a completely different direction. I’d say that laïkó is somewhat scoffed on, but it isn’t completely rejected by the overall society.
Here's also a well-known piece of laiko, Evdokia's Zeibekiko,in case anyone wants a sample: th-cam.com/video/yeC7N80wZas/w-d-xo.html
Laiko has definitely evolved throughout the course of the 20th century. From the prohibition period (prohibition of playing music in public) to the over the top "PASOK" times, you can see laiko being shaped by Greek society. However, I do believe that modern "undiluted" laiko is generally disliked since it is viewed by the public as a symbol of the excessive lifestyle of pre-2008 Greece
that zeibekiko of evdokia has a lot views... like more people than in all of Greece proper (of course the diaspora population is bigger)
As someone who lives in South Korea, I feel like you're pretty spot on with pansori. While young Koreans tend to believe pansori and other similar points of cultural heritage are important and attach a certain amount of patriotic pride to them, they seem to care little about pansori and traditional music in general and find it boring. That being said, distinctly Korean culture is seen by Koreans as very important to preserve because a lot of Korean culture was lost or suppressed during the Japanese occupation.
Great starter course about Korean culture. I feel like I learned a lot!
Just got done with Paper Wills 5 1/2 hour video on North Korean Media and this is a great pallet cleanser.
What was that video like?
@@JJMcCullough it was a solid 5 hours detailing the last 100 years of North Korean history through the lense of its media, movies, TV shows, music, etc.
Detailing all the themes of their propaganda and dissecting them to see how they reflected reality and the dictatorship.
Hey JJ! Long time fan here, and I'm glad you talked about South Korea which I have studied for a very long time, plus I'm married to a Korean. I know that communal eating and sharing side dishes and stews, etc can make us Western people uneasy (I know I used to feel this way too), but I'd hesitate to use word like "gross" and harsh words like that to describe a different style of eating. If someone had described Western practices in a similar fashion, we'd be a bit offended maybe too. JJ, I really like you and your content, I'm just trying to help here :)
한자는 중국어긴 하지만 한글이 창조되기 이전엔 한국도
한문을 사용하다가 높으신분들만 글을알고 배우던 시절에
일반 시민들과 농민들 천민들은 문맹이 엄청 많았습니다
그래서 가장쉽게 가난한 사람들도 쉽게 배울수 있게
나라가 국민들을 속이지 못하게 배움을 전파하도록
왕께서 많은 신하들과 함께 한글을 만드시고
천문학에 관심이 많아 해시계와 물시계등 새로운걸
만드는걸 즐기셨고 농업관련 책을 지필하셔서
농업분야에 책도 만드시고
지금으로 방산처럼 군사적으로도 관련 책을 만드셨어요
평생을 어려운 서민들을 위해 살다 돌아가신 왕이라서
역대왕중에 역사왜곡없이 모두다 좋아하는 왕입니다
한국도 오래전 문서들은 한문으로 되있는
서적들이 많아서 그부분때문에
중국과 역사적 마찰이 심하긴 합니다
일방적인 왜곡수준...
I’m enjoying the creative pronunciations. Like the clips he put in sometimes even say the words and yet 😅
Make a sequel!
The funny thing I've noticed about the Chaebols is how much they resemble the Japanese Zaibatsus from the pre-1945 period. The special carvouts the Asian Tigers got led them to start resembling the empire they broke free from moreso than when they were actually being colonized.
I've been living in Korea for a while now so I have a few things to say.
First, the communal soup thing never once occurred to me. I LOVE all the soups in Korea, especially budaejjigae, which is a very communal soup.
Second, pansori isn't super popular but it's influence is felt in Korean Trot music which shares the warbly, articulated style. There is also a band, LEENALCHI, that has recently blended pansori vocalizations with modern instruments. They've had a couple hits recently and I recommend checking them out!
love your writing, JJ!
3:57 wow J.J.'s birthday is the day after mine
Here in Argentina we have something that's called "coplas" and it's very similar to panori the main difference is well language and maybe rhythm. It has a cultural attachment but most modern people doesn't care that much, like it's just part of the folklore.
Korean here; Pansori is most notably the medium through which many important folk tales were told, so there's that. In terms of modern significance, it's not too hard to find (in varying degrees of modernization) musical references to traditional music, from Leenalchi, admittedly the only modern music I can think of directly related to pansori, to references in K-pop like Daechwita or Idol, which isn't pansori but fills the same spiritual niche. Liking premodern culture is hip in my opinion (if uncommon) for modern Koreans.
These deeper dives are fascinating and you always bring a balanced perspective and good tone.
I sense an award on its way…
The common similarity between South Korea and Taiwan - both were former Japanese colonies.
Yes, and they both democratized around the same time, and both escape the middle income trap
...and both have a history that makes them particularly anti-Communist, each with a certain Communist neighbor who officially asserts its rightful sovereignty over it.
Both have beef with Japan but due to another external threat both can’t go after Japan for its past crimes
Since the pre-colonial ancient era (Three Kingdoms Period), Korea has been the most famous in East Asia for its culture and technology.
There was a saying in ancient Japan:
"くだらない" (If it's not Baekje, it's boring)
Korea is currently in the process of regaining its powerful appearance from ancient times because everything was destroyed due to the Korean War.
Korea's heyday has not yet arrived.
Yes but Korea and Taiwan have quite a different outlook about Japanese colonization. In Korea, Japan plundered the land and tried the mex to destroy its culture (which by the way is true) while in Taiwan, it was a model Colony and much of the infrastructure that made Taiwan a developed country was built by the Japanese, Taiwan has a much more positive outlook about Japan than Korea.
thank you for these facts about korean culture. i think now we mostly here about koreas influences on the west and the wests influences on korea more than pure korean history.
Did anyone here stop to notice how stylish JJ's jacket is? Or was it just me?
I was hoping it gave off some squid game vibes
Drip 🥵🔥
Thank you jj!
It's not an exact parallel, but in the UK the prominence of Shakespeare Vs people who I'd argue actually care for his work, feels a little like your description of the Korean people's feelings of Pansori. Good that it exists as a mark of cultural history, but it's no Squid Game.
This was the comparison that I thought of. There is an audience for Shakespeare, but most people would at best know the one Shakespeare play that's compulsory for GCSE English Literature.
Maybe JJ can do a video on traditional stuff that we keep, not because its popular but because we want go keep the tradition
4:40 As a korean, the funny thing is that quite a lot of people here will get grossed out by Indian or Phillipino cultures that tend to prefer using hands over utensils 😂
(Also, yes pansori is more or less held up to the same regard as japanese cultural art forms)
I'm American and I did not think this was that gross. Sure using same utensils for eating in the same bowl that everyone else uses is unsanitary, but dividing the portion into smaller bowls and eating that way did not sound off putting at all, and I've done that many times at American Chinese restaurants. So I really didn't understand much of the sentiment 😅.
I thought it was really weird that JJ found dishing food into separate dishes from a communal one to be gross. It's not exactly a foreign concept to eating habits in the English speaking world. It may not be common for everyday meals, but the potluck is a thing and it essentially functions as a communal table of food.
한국인 모두가 손으로 식사하는 것을 역겨워하지는 않습니다. 쌈요리는 한국 음식의 중요한 부분이고 대부분 손으로 먹습니다. 인도 필리핀을 특정하셨는데, 아프리카 중동 남태평양과 여러 아시아 국가에서 손으로 식사하지요. 서구권에서도 손으로 먹는 요리가 많이 있고 어떤 커뮤니티에서는 더욱 그렇습니다.
@choncat3545 This is exactly why I used the phrase "quite a lot of people" and not "Everyone". Also, though there are quite a lot of cultures around the world that use hands during meals, you can't deny the fact there is also a certain stigma surrounding them. I specifically remember being taught that you shouldn't look down on those cultures during school, which sadly does imply some sort of negative view on these cultures in korean society.
As long as they wash their hands well it’s fine or wear gloves.
JJ, Great video. Well done. My compliments.
1. The 1988 Olympics and dog on your plate
When Korea hosted the Olympics, there were still many restaurants that served dog. This shocked many tourists. Koreans were embarassed. Quietly, the Korean national government made it harder for these restaurants to stay in business. Now there is only one restaurant in the country that serves dog.
But there is a shop near my home (within a kilometer) that sells horse meat.
2. Pansori
I live in Korea. Have since 2007. Married to a Korean. Had niot heard of Pansori until this video.
3. Hangeul
Hangeul is the Korean alphabet. Depending on your source, it has 18 letters or 28 letters. Or some other number. It is easy to learn Hangeul. I learned it on my first flight to Korea, and that flight served three meals and showed two movies.
On the other hand, learning the Korean language is like climbing K2: it's hard and nobody cares. Koreans will tell you that the verbs are not conjugated. That is kinda true . . . at least it is more true than false. What makes Korean hard is that -- like Japanese -- the language has modes: Formal, Polite, Familiar, and I-am-insulting-you. The mode you MUST employ depends on your relation to the person to whom you are speaking. For most purposes, use the Polite mode. This makes you sound like Rocky Balboa because you end every sentence with -o or -yo.
Because Koreans need to know their relation to whom they speak, and because most relations are determine by age, when they meet you, Koreans will ask your age. They ask so they know which mode to use.
Koreans are proud of Hangeul and will tell you that King Sejong created Hangeul because he loved the Korean people. This is nonsense. Sejong created Hangeul to break the hold of the Yangban on government offices. This worked as long as he lived. Made the country literate almost overnight.
PS Sejong is the only monarch I know of that is called 'Great' who never fought a war. And he was the third son. His father named Sejong his successor over his two older brothers. And the brothers took their father's choice without rebellion.
PPS Almost forgot. Pronouns change depending on the mode you use. Thus 'I' can be naega, naneun, or jeoneun.
4. Coffee culture
Koreans love coffee. And sugar. Korea-based coffee shops -- Angel-in-Us, DaVinci Coffee, An Coffee, Ediya, and others -- serve good to excellent coffee. Even Dunkin' Donuts serves good coffee. The only shop in Korea that serves bad coffee is Starbucks.
For great coffee, search for the small shops that are not a franchise. For example, Jamaica coffee shop in Yeongcheon.
5. Yee Sun-shin
This guy was jaw-dropping heroic. Only Yee Sun-shin and Chester Nimitz commanded navies that defeated the Japanese. Yee Sun-shin fought 23 naval battles against the Japanese. Outnumbered every time. Won every time.
Too much Korean left wing propaganda in those puzzles. As a Korean, I personally thank the South Korean global companies / chaebols because they're the ones that make jobs, feed small companies that they partner with, build infrastructure, and boost the Korean economy. People should know that Korea doesn't have natural resources, so we need to make products and export them abroad, and in order to do that, Korea needs to have big corporates.
Koreans didn't actually have communal soups during the "Yangban time". Back then, there was a bowl of soup for each person. However, after the Korean War, Korea didn't have much food to eat, so when they ate, they had to sit around the table and have one bowl of soup and just used their spoons, and that's been around since then. Quite a few Koreans find it degusting tho, and since the covid, it's not as much practiced as before.
Pansori is not popular in Korea at all. It's practiced by only some people to have it alive. Regular Koreans sometimes watch it online just to remember the tradition.
The parasites who run the Chaebols produce nothing, its the working people of Korea that built it up, not the modern aristocratic class.
Would be interesting to this similar video but with Indonesian/Malaysian culture. Really great stuff.
Fun fact: Neither Korea calls itself "Korea". South has a few different names, but "Hanguk" is the most common.
North calls itself "Joeson".
Most places refer to themselves and their country as a word that translates to "the land" or "the people", and most places have various exonyms in various other languages
Kind of reminds me how in my native language of Spanish we refer to Germany as Alemania, but in their own language the country is called Deutschland.
As a side note, Korea is called Corea in Spanish
Daehanminguk is the name of Korea in Korean. It means the Republic of Korea. Koreans call themselves Hanguk-saram. America is Miguk in Korean. Before Japanese colonization, the country was called Joseon because the Joseon Dynasty ruled the country at the time. North Korea kept the Joseon part. Joseon Minjujui Inmin Gonghwakguk, which means Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
@@pXnTilde Tbh Endnyms being the same as all exonyms is the rarity, and mostly applies to new countries, like Singapore. The only "old country" that comes to mind is Vietnam, where only the Chinese has a different Exonym. Although, the name vietnam for the country itself is relatively new
Thats because thats how you say korea in Korean its name comes from the Chinese word hanguo
The last note about the singing culture reminds me a bit of the opera in the West. I love opera, but it is certainly not something that most people who are young or outside of large, cultural centers tend to know much about. There have been big efforts to get screenings of opera performances in movie theater events, but I don't know how successful this has been. It's certainly more niche & old fashioned than the Theater, which is already pretty localized to a few cultural centers too, or very small local productions
The difference in bowing between Korean and Japanese people is VERY different if you've experienced either culture. The Japanese way has you bending at the hips. The Korean way, the last part of your body to bend is the hips and only for the deep bow.
Japan also has three bows: shallow for casual, medium for formal, and deep when you need to be apologetic.
In my culture we don’t bow at all
@@JJMcCullough
I'm just on the other side of the border from you, in Seattle.
I'm not saying you have to be part of the culture, but if you've been in a situation where it's expected of you to bow, you learn the intricacies, in part because you'll be quickly informed on how you're doing it wrong.
I mean I don't think the bowing sounds *very* different when the explanation is for one you bend your hips, the other you bend your hips slightly later on. Anyone from a culture without bowing is gonna have a hard time understanding a difference like that
@@chasqui06
To better point it out, Japanese bowing, you don't bend your back. Korean bowing emphasizes bending your back, this is in part to show how they are not Japanese.
Here in the US (at least in the midwest), I believe square-dancing is treated as this historically important relic with not too much modern interest. We were actually taught how to in high school as part of our phy-ed course, but we quickly forgot almost all of it after that brief stint was over.
Another example of an art from with mythologized importance would be Peking Opera for China. I’m Chinese American, and most Chinese Americans or Chinese people from China I talked regard at as something they only do for tourist, which I find unfortunate. It was even a Chinese musician who said this, he was far more interested in Western Classical music like Beethoven. Western Classical music is taking over China, and folk / traditional music has not grown in popularity very much. my father, growing up in the 1960s knew about Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin, and Haydn, but couldn’t really tell you anything about Chinese music. he even lamented that that was the one thing the Western had over the Chinese, that the Chinese had science, art, poetry, philosophy, but no traditional music. Which is untrue, but that’s what many chinese believe about themselves.
Speaking as a player of the guqin (as traditional and as ancient an instrumental tradition as you can get) with interests in traditional music of Japan and Korea, I find it rather sad that many people give primacy to Western art music than their own cultural forms of music. However, I can say that some of the younger generation of east Asians and those living overseas (as well as non-Asians) do actively engage in traditional music, and not just to 'preserve' it but actively enjoy and appreciate it and develop it as a living tradition. Of course, these are in the minority, as generally not many people care about their own traditions besides speaking the language and pop culture consumption.
Also, a diet of purely Western music is not good in regards to your perspective of culture and music: you become less likely to expand your musical horizons to what other places offer and you become convinced that Western music is superior to everywhere else (or that music anywhere else is not 'real music') through a skewered perception of musical cognition.
Tbh I'm Chinese diaspora but not super interested in Chinese culture as a whole. I tend to really dislike Chinese opera, I find it shrill and generally unpleasant to listen to. That being said, I really like other kinds of Chinese music, in particular the instrumental kind. Stuff like Butterfly Lovers and Gao Shan Liu Shui sound really nice and carry a kind of ethereal vibe that I don't think is any lesser than the likes of Strauss (who I also really love, don't get me wrong).
I’m from southern England and recently attended a “singing sea shanties in the pub” event, it presented to me as incredibly interesting because unlike much of the rest of the worlds highly ritualised musical traditions it was all about just joining in no matter what skill level you were. The organiser of the event also made the fantastic point that it’s incredibly valuable to keep such a tradition alive because it represents the fantastically beautiful folk history of Britain rather than its vile colonial past!
I'm from Germany, and these art forms are definitely not as popular as they are made out to be:
classical music
theatre
opera
ballet
All of these are considered integral to our culture, but pretty much only the upper crust cares much about them, as well as upper-crust-aspirants, and people who want to pretend to be cultured. There are a few exceptions, but they're just exceptions.
Luckily for those people, all of those art forms are heavily subsidized. Even more luckily, many are still so expensive that the rabble couldn't pay for them even if they wanted to.
On an unrelated note: I'll never tire of Banjo-Kazooie sound effects.
What about Cabaret?
@@JJMcCullough I always thought of cabaret as a french or english thing, not really a german thing.
Cabaret is actually still pretty present at least in Hamburg where I have lived for 10 years.
And it's attended by more middle class people.
@@JJMcCullough
Oh, I'm sure I forgot many more minor art forms or sub-genres.
To start with, of the things I mentioned, theatre is probably the least extreme case. It is not pushed nearly as much as one of the essential forms of high culture, and it is (usually) by far the most affordable one. But it still only appeals to a small and pretty distinct section.
As for Cabaret specifically, it would depend on just what you mean by that term.
I think strictly speaking it's supposed to be comedy hat criticizes politics, current events, or social trends.
Now, I haven't partaken of anything of the sort in a long while, but some of my family still do. From what I pick up by proxy, in most Cabaret programmes (on TV and on stage), this sort of Cabaret is mixed with healthy doses of more 'low brow' comedy. So it would be difficult to suss out just how popular Cabaret on its own would be with the unwashed masses. One could look into attendance of solo acts.
Another rough proxy that just occurred to me would be to look at TV broadcasts. Specifically private (for-profit) channels compared to state-funded channels. As far as I can recall, all of the shows that are Cabaret or at least include Cabaret acts are on state-funded channels, and the comedy on private channels is markedly more 'low brow'. (with some exceptions)
One illustrative example might be 'TV Total'. I think it's been off the air for a while now, because the host and designer of the show moved on to other projects, but during its run it was EXTREMELY popular. It started out as a weekly show, but was quickly extended to four shows a week, it spawned several spin-offs, spin-offs of the spin-offs, and even the co-stars have multiple spin-off shows. It was basically mandatory watching, and everyone of a certain age can quote it even years afterwards.
I think even without understanding the language, you can get an impression of what sort of show it was if you look up a few clips. Maybe there are even some with translations.
I hope this helped. If you have more questions, just ask.
That's actually really depressing, considering the contributions to art coming out of Germany. It also seems to fit the broader thesis that the West hates itself and is actively contributing to its own cultural atrophy.
your style of cultural commentary can be so damn fun. there’s certainly value here 🫡
Excellent video! Great analysis on Korean culture
I'm a Korean-Canadian 🇰🇷-🇨🇦 who lived in Korea until fairly recently. 1:14 The Korean media seems to have become very left-leaning lately. Of course, like you nicely pointed out, the media used to be censored by the then-rather authoritarian government in the 70-80s.
That said, the contemporary mainstream media OF TODAY have an apparent tendency to lean towards the left, notably the major three TV channels--KBS, MBC, and SBS. Those major three TV channels, one (KBS) of which is a public broadcaster (Korea's CBC) along with MBC ('almost' CBC), has a considerable number of employees joined in National Union of Media Workers (언론노조) which is directly under the umbrella of Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (민노총), a very close "ally"/sister of the Democratic Party (더불어민주당, current opposition party, left-wing). If you visit the National Union of Media Workers' website, it explicitly condemns the current president Yoon (party in power) and his party. This tendency has been around for years. All facts here with no personal political opinion.
Agree. It’s unnecessarily leftist , it’s almost like they want to hand over Korea to China.
Per your last question, yes. Opera, Ballet, classical music. All of which I enjoy but which have a certain quality of not actually being popular to most aside from the sense that they should care. All with a community of practitioners that, for the most part, consider the preservation of traditional aspects and original intent to be paramount.
See also: books
Very few people actually like to read fiction for fun but most people like the idea of reading fiction. It's mostly a class signifier.
The comparison between the two Chinas and the two Koreas have a lot of parallels
The there aren't really "two Chinas" anymore though. There's essentially just one China and one Taiwan. Although officially Taiwan is still the "Republic of China," it only continues to maintain this official title as a constitutional change to its name is likely to invite a Chinese invasion.
@@ivanencinas9259 I meant officially speaking and a way to compare them, but I fully support Taiwan
@@thematthew761 Nah, no worries! I agree with you though, there are some interesting parallels between them.
@@ivanencinas9259 I am American but my family are 49 Taiwanese
also east and west Germany a little bit
I would love to see followups for both!
Love this idea it is so cool to learn about things like this
Your background is amazing.
I feel like theater is to a lesser extent like pansori. Unless it's like a broadway tier performance, most people don't really care about theater, but yet we seem to agree it should be kept around for the art form and the performers
I learned a lot about South Korea in just this video! Pretty cool.
4:40 I don’t get what’s the big deal. I understand why westerners don’t like it but to go so far as to say is gross is weird, like that’s just how they eat. Do you look down on Philippinos for eating with their hands?
Well I mean, germs do exist.
@@JJMcCullough I dunno, feels pretty tame since the soup should be quite hot
@JJMcCullough not really? We do wash our cutlery and now days we use our secondary soup plate to share food. ( often using SEPERATE big spoon to share the soup). Especially post covid we have learned to be more careful.
It's looked down upon for obvious sanitary reasons. Some food like Chicken wings, or sandwiches are normally eaten by hand, but generally it's advised against if you can avoid it.
@@cuber5003 even when we use separate tools?
09:58 'Dangun' = 'Danggol'. It means shaman. In the BC era, shamans were monarchs in Korea.
This is similar to the 'Tengri' in Mongolia, Uighur, Kazakhstan, Turkey, and so on.
In mythology, Dangun is described as a single individual, but in actual history monarchs of many generations and regions were shamans. They were common nouns.
Prince Hwanung, who came down from heaven, was an immigrant tribe who worshiped the sky,
Bears and tigers are indigenous tribes that used to worship animals,
It is a story that these tribes combined to form the country 'Joseon' with the leader of the Mudangdan.
It is said that it was about 4,300 years ago. The Chinese history books say that 'Joseon' had trade and diplomacy with China about 2,700 years ago.
Pansori reminds me of the Indian tradition of harikatha
How so
Korean here from Seoul , lived around diff countries & works in the kpop industry
So no one really cares about pansori including the young and the old. I have seen some government attempts to fund this , but even the older generation (50s) would listen to older music like ‘trot’. Few successful attempts happened when bands like SingSing who use pansori infused with western / modern genres such as reggae have gotten attention from the Korean ‘indie’ crowd.
But simply put - Pansori although respected as a grand tradition , isn’t really consumed by the public.
** Been watching your videos for a while but I believe this is my first comment!
Edit : honored to get a heart from the J.J.M. legend himself !!
Fun fact: there are only 5 surviving traditional Korean pansori in existence. Every other story got lost to time (or rather, every other story written in pansori form was lost to time; it's not like they only have five total traditional folktales).
Wait what? So if you go to a pansori show you’re just going to hear one of five stories??
@@JJMcCullough Yes, in essence. What you're actually going for, especially if you like one of these five stories in particular, is the artist's particular interpretation and rendering of the "libretto". Even though the sung texts are pretty much the same, the 'aniri' or spoken interludes can show some variation, and different artists ultimately have their own vocal qualities, which may better fit one or two of the standard Pansori plays over the others. Four of these plays illustrate examples of essential Confucian relationship dynamics: Chunhyangga, about a wife’s faithfulness to her husband; Shimcheongga, about the filial piety of a daughter to her father; Heungboga, about the struggles of sibling dynamics; and Sugungga, about the loyalty to one’s sovereign. Jeokbyeokga, the fifth play, is an adaptation of the historic Chinese account of The Battle of Red Cliffs.
@@JJMcCullough yes but one pansori is around 5-8 hours so theres plenty of material
@@gyuro7988 good lord, a five hour show?
@@JJMcCullough i think pansori madang (song cycles) are only performed in their entirety very very rarely (if you search 춘향가 완창 there is a full recording of the Chunhyangga song cycle) - normally there are famous songs within the cycle that are performed regularly (like Sarangga from Chunhyangga)
I was writing a western orchestral work inspired by Chunhyangga so I got about an hour in but I dont think I could sit through the whole thing
Native South Korean here. Promotion of pansori is more like trying to preserve traditional culture than actually making it be played in everyday life. Genres of popular music in South Korea include K-pop(BTS, BlackPink, etc), ballades(sentimental love songs), hip-hop/rap, trot(not really related to the American foxtrot, more influenced by Japanese pop music during the Japanese Occupation), etc.
I’d compare Pansori, Kabuki, and other art forms comparable to performances of Shakespeare in the US, UK, Canada, etc.
Reading Shakespeare is a requirement in high school/college and other countries around the world will educate teenage and college-age students on their big works of literature, deeper levels of certain religious epics, and stories found in their performance art. Once you understand some of the main points of such stories, I think only a certain kind of soul will actually be thrilled to go to see live performances as a hobby, whereas most people might go as part of a special occasion, festival, or if a tourist is hoping to go to a performance.
It’s similar to how many people in The West take the time to go see Shakespeare in the Park during the Summer or pay a lot of money to go to a play or an opera…
I think that’s a good analogy. We all have some vague sense that Shakespeare is part of “our culture” but I think most people in the English-speaking world today struggle to sincerely care about it on its own terms. In the year 2024 it’s just objectively not true that Shakespeare stories are the best thing ever written, so you have to appreciate them on some other level, which is a pretty counterintuitive way to consume entertainment.
I am an American and the Eastern US city where I grew up overlaps to a significant degree with the boundaries of a Native American reservation. Unlike in the Western United States, the tribe has become very integrated into the community, so much so that if it were not for the small road signs you would not be able to tell where the reservation begins and ends. This might be controversial, but I would place the traditional Native American powwow in the list of traditional performances that the elders care about but that has little general interest amongst the youth. I remember that when I was in elementary and middle school, we would generally attend a powwow once a year or so, and I had classmates who participated, but they did so mostly as a way of respecting their elders and as a cultural reminder of their history than enjoying it for its own sake. I know that for most of us attending the powwows, we were more concerned with eating fry-bread and getting the day off school than paying close attention to the powwow itself, and none of us, including the classmates I knew who actually participated in the powwow, listened to powwows on our iPods or anything like that.
5:17 isn’t that the pink alley in vancouver?
Yes, that music video was filmed in Vancouver for some reason
@@JJMcCullough Please remove pictures of Yoon the drunk on thumbnail.
@@JJMcCullough looked it up, it was to boost tourism apparently. they also filmed in Richmond, White Rock, New West, and maple ridge.