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essay on the korean culture
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Contemporary Korean Proverbs: A Brief History of Foreign Influences
Aristotle once said that “proverbs were portions of man’s early philosophy which had survived because of brevity and cleverness”. Contemporary definitions of proverbs try and recapitulate this notion of pithy erudition, defining proverbs as “a short, popular, common saying or witty remark used figuratively with an edifying intent.” The proverb’s ability to convey morality and life lessons has maintained its importance throughout history among each individual culture. Through the process of oral tradition, proverbs often traverse from one culture into another during periods of assimilation. Within the last millennia, Korea has been the geopolitical focus of three different powers which have all shaped Korean culture. How has the contemporary history of South Korean proverbs shifted during this period due to the various foreign influences?
In order to answer this question, one must understand the historic background leading up to the Korean War and its influence on Korean proverbs. Prior to the twentieth century, Korea was under the dynastical rule of the Koryo Dynasty (918-1392 AD) and Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910 AD). Korea closely reached its current geographical boundaries during the Koryo Dynasty, from which the name “Korea” is derived. The subsequent Joseon Dynasty continued to establish Korea’s national boundaries and distinctive cultural practices. During this dynasty, Korea was a member of the Chinese tribute system, giving regular gifts to the Chinese royal court and conceding the titular authority of the Chinese emperor over the Korean King. In return, Korea could depend on China for military protection and political legitimization. As a result of the...
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Due to the Chinese, Japanese, and American influences on Korean culture following the Joseon Dynasty, Korean proverbs transitioned to reflect the customs of the various reigning nations. However, the proverbs that survived from this transformative period tended to be those influenced by Western ideology. While the American presence in Korea currently continues, the relinquishment of U.S. operational control of South Korean forces by December 1, 2015 will reduce the number of U.S. troops stationed in Korea. It will be interesting to see how decreased American occupation in Korea will affect the proverbs of future generations. Maybe the proverbs in use today will, as Aristotle said, “survive because of brevity and cleverness,” or perhaps another period of assimilation is on the horizon, bringing with it new influences to Korean proverbs.
The Republic of Korea emerged from Japanese colonialism as a Third World Country. Per capita income was under one hundred dollars, the little infrastructure the Japanese built was located in the North, and income inequality was staggeringly high. The future of the Republic of Korea (hereafter simply “Korea”) looked very bleak, even with United States foreign aid. Yet several decades later Korea had become one of the world’s largest, most modern economies run by a democratic government. The “Miracle on the Han,” the term for Korea’s stunning economic growth in such a short period of time, coincided with the lifting of millions of Koreans out of poverty and the
Being able to read and act based on social cues is important in many cultures, but in South Korea, “nunchi” is especially valued. There is no exact translation of this word in English, but in his research paper, Jae Hong Heo interprets nunchi as a method of understanding the situation or feelings of others around you and acting accordingly. My paper will discuss why nunchi is unique to South Korea and how the awareness of nunchi affects social relations on professional and casual levels. My research’s purpose is to identify how nunchi serves as a type of grounding in interpersonal relations and why it plays such a larger role in Korean culture than in other cultures. As a result, my main research question is how nunchi affects and reflects the way people in Korean society relate to each other, especially from different positions of power. Through analyzing my sources, I found that nunchi is not
Arnot, William. "Proverbs 31." Studies in Proverbs: Laws from Heaven for Life on Earth. Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications, 1978. 570-83. Print.
The author of Kapitan Ri uses this short story to get a point across. The authors point was to show how many Koreans were acting through the life of the Korean country. That many people would be changing their culture on the daily to whatever they feel like. It is hard to relate to in the United States because we do not have much outside influence on our culture. We have a strong border and do not have to go through ever lasting change. I still view this as being disloyal to
Secondly, Korean has a directivity of harmony. In Korea, family is top priority, so loving family is considered very important. For instance, my father was a soldier, and we moved the house continuously because of his job’s characteristic. So, he retired from his job because he thought that moving the house continuously was not good for family and our education. My father always treats family as a top priority. Koreans also try to join other groups well and have excellent spirit of community. There are some examples. People who are involved in any club feel they belonged, and it makes people have more confidence. So they try to join groups. Another example is that Koreans who move into new house give rice-cake to the neighborhood because they have spirit of community. Due to these reasons, Koreans rely on each other sincerely.
Soh, C. S. (2001). South Korea. In C. R. Ember & M. Ember (Eds.), Countries and Their Cultures (
Chinese proverbs and idioms is basically telling a story of a person, family or person. There are some idioms that tell about a past event such as the phrase ‘cheng men li xue’, which mean that someone admire and respect their teacher. In the Song Dynasty, there was a Chinese Philosopher named Cheng Yi, he lived with his brother in the town of Luoyang. Cheng Yi had a student named Yangshi, and he lived in a different town. One day, Yanshi decided to go visit his teacher on a heavily storm day. When he arrived at his teacher Cheng Yi house, he saw that his teacher Cheng is still asleep. So, Yangshi thought for a moment, if he whether go inside or stay out because he really respect his teacher and dont want to wake up his teacher. Yangshi finally decided to wait outside and stay in the snowy weather until his teacher rise up. When Cheng Yi finally got up from his nap, the snow had already cover Yangshi up. So, the idiom ‘cheng men li xue’ is use to describe someone honor their teacher.
The book I chose for this book review assignment is titled Korea Old and New: A History by author Carter J. Eckert along with other contributing authors Ki-baik Lee, Young Ick Lew, Michael Robinson and Edward W. Wagner. The book is published at Korea Institute, Harvard University in 1990. The book consists of 418 pages and it is more of a survey of Korean history and reference type of book, rather than selected readings on modern Korean politics. I chose this book because it is a complete survey of Korean history from the ancient Choson period up to the economic boom of the 1990's, a span of over 2000 years. Each chapter covers a different period, but they all share the same organization of describing the social, cultural, political, philosophical and scholarly aspects of the period in respective subsections. This made it easier to later refer to previous chapters and compare different periods in order to learn the comprehensive history of Korea.
Translating this ought not to be difficult…. The problem here is caused by the fact that proverbs are not merely linguistic phenomena…. the hidden factor is the extralinguistic frame; we have been taught in childhood when to use proverbs, what their metaphors mean, who to say them to, and how to take them. It is this nonverbal knowledge that we need to be able to understand the coastguard’s ‘gnome.’ Reluctance to reconstruct such intangibles and dogged staring at the text have led literary critics into controversy (Shippey 34).
This article, as the title suggests, deals with the concept of “Koreanness". Many western scholars have a tendency to generalize Korea by assuming that Confucianism is the main element of Korean culture and identity. In fact, Confucianism is not a relevant topic of discussion among Korean intellectuals today. This article presents new narratives of “Koreanness”, from distinctive Korean culture and Confucian revivalism among the elderly to traditional culture among the youth.
- Auden, W. H. and Kronenberger, Louis. The Viking Book of Aphorisms. New York: Viking
The saying, “Laugh now cry later”, is very well known in today’s society and is use to destroy it also. This proverb is being destructively used to approve negative actions, to approve negligence on working hard for tomorrow’s future. This saying is well thought out so people can carelessly wreak their lives. Individuals take this saying into hand to excuse their absence of interest and productivity.
Huer, Jon. Korea at Margin of World Culture? 26 July 2009. 19 Febuary 2010 .
The formation and understanding of proverbs is deeply rooted in the national culture. Proverbs express the truth through the social life of the special circumstances and life more common, common, specific concepts linked to highlight. Proverbs have a number of common characteristics that go beyond the cultural differences of various cultures. The most important thing is that the use of proverbs is often based on its metaphorical meaning rather than the literal meaning. The use of proverbs reflects the universal role of conceptual metaphor in people 's understanding of the world. At the same time, specific national cultural backgrounds are one of the important factors that determine metaphor production, use and understanding. Different cultures
...actical advice on how to live life well.” To further this thought, I believe the message of Proverbs is to encourage a lifestyle of righteous living that stems from the fear of the Lord and violently chooses to pursue true wisdom that only comes from God.