Who are regarded as the Korean mermaids?

November 6, 2016 Kalbi Drama, Festivals, special days and rituals, Movie, Pop culture, Travel beophwan haenyeo school, canola, grandma gyechun, haenyeo, haenyeo museum, jeju haenyeo festival, jeju hansupul haenyeo school, jeju island, korean culture, korean mermaid, my mother the mermaid, swallow the sun, tamra the island, unesco list of intangible cultural heritage of humanity

The answer is: Haenyeo (해녀) of the Jeju Island.

Literally, the word “hae” (해) means “sea” and “nyeo” (녀) means “female”, and haenyeo are female divers who make a living by harvesting marine products like abalone, conch, octopus, sea urchins, oysters, clams, seaweed, etc. from the sea. Recently, there has been news that Jeju’s haenyeo culture is likely to be added to the UNESCO’s list of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. What’s so special about Jeju’s haenyeo? Let’s talk about them in this post. Continue reading →

K-Movie Series – 2012 to Present

June 16, 2015June 10, 2015 Kalbi Movie, Pop culture architecture 101, korean culture, korean film industry, Korean movie, masquerade, my love don't cross that river, roaring currents, sunny, the attorney, the thieves, unbowed

In the last blog post, we mentioned that the Korean film industry experienced a doldrum starting from mid-2000’s. This situation continued until 2012 which was a turning point for the Korean film industry. After suffering the lows in late 2000’s, the Korean film industry started to come up with better films which have helped attract more audiences since 2012. Continue reading →

K-Movie Series – 1990’s to 2011

June 11, 2015June 16, 2015 Kalbi Movie, Pop culture 3-iron, BiFan, biff, bucheon international fantastic film festival, busan international film festival, friend, haeundae, jeonju international film festival, jiff, joint security area, korean culture, korean film industry, Korean movie, Korean screen quota, my generation, my sassy girl, oasis, old boy, samaria, silmido, speed scandal, swiri, taegukgi, the forgotten child: Shin Sung-il is lost, the foul king, the unforgiven

In this blog post, we will continue with the development of K-Movie in the period from 1990’s to 2011. In the 1990’s and early 2000’s, Korean film industry enjoyed satisfactory growth and K-movie has become one of the components of Hallyu (Korean Wave) which began in the early 2000’s. However, the popularity of K-movie started to decline after mid-2000’s due to declining quality of films, surging costs, and relaxation of the screen quota. Continue reading →

K-Movie Series – 1970’s and 1980’s

June 9, 2015June 16, 2015 Kalbi Movie, Pop culture byung jang-ho, Ha Kil-jong, Heavenly Homecoming to Stars, jangsangotmae, Kang Su-yeon, kim dong-won, kim eung-chun, Kim Ho-seon, korean culture, korean film industry, Korean movie, Lee Jang-ho, miss O's apartment series, moon yeo-song, motion picture law, never never forget me, night before the strike, oh dream nation, our high school days, sanggye-dong olympic, suk rae-myung, Surrogate Mother, The March of Fools, winter woman, Yeong-ja's Heydays

In this blog post, we will continue with the K-Movie Series and talk about the situation in the 1970’s and 1980’s. After the Golden Age in the 1950’s and 1960’s, the Korean film industry underwent a depression in the 1970’s with the tightened control by the authoritarian government. Fortunately, the control loosened in the 1980’s which contributed to a transformation of industry. Continue reading →

K-Movie Series – Golden Age in the 1950’s and 1960’s

June 4, 2015June 16, 2015 Kalbi Movie, Pop culture a bouquet of three thousand people, a diary of woman, a fellow soldier, aimless bullet, an assault of justice, chun-hyang story, chungmuro era, cinemascope film life, homebound, korean culture, korean film industry, Korean movie, madame freedom, motion picture law, pilot an chang-nam, reality of the north korea, the blue hill, the general's mustache, the housemaid, the korean textile co., the rose of sharon, viva freedom

In the last blog post, we talked about the birth of Korean movie. In this blog post, we will continue with the development of K-movie in the 1950’s and 1960’s which could be considered as the Golden Age for K-movie. Continue reading →

K-Movie Series – The Birth of Korean Movie

June 2, 2015June 16, 2015 Kalbi Movie, Pop culture arirang, breathless, byunsa, chihwaseon, fight for justice, im kwon-taek, jeon do-yeon, kim ki-duk, kino-drama, korean culture, korean film industry, Korean movie, lee chang-dong, lee gyu-hwan, lee pil-woo, na woon-kyu, pieta, poetry, silent film, silent sunshine, the story of chun-hyang, the story of jang-hwa and hong ryeon, vow made below the moon, wanderer, yang ik-jun

In 2007, Korean actress, Jeon Do-yeon, won the Best Actress award at the Cannes Film Festival for her role in the movie, Secret Sunshine (밀양), and in 2014, she was named as a member of the jury of the Cannes Film Festival. Korean movies also won a number of awards at international film festivals, e.g., Best Director award won by Im Kwon-taek’s Chihwaseon (취화선)(2002) at the Cannes Film Festival, Best Screenplay prize won by Lee Chang-dong’s Poetry (시)(2010) at the Cannes Film Festival, Golden Lion prize won by Kim Ki-duk’s Pietà (피에타)(2012) at the Venice Film Festival, etc. It is no doubt that Korean movies have gained worldwide attention. So, I am going to write a series of posts talking about the development of the K-movie. In this blog post, I will first talk about the birth of K-movie. Continue reading →

Korean hand-made paper – Hanji

May 28, 2015 Kalbi Movie, Paper - Hanji, Pop culture, Traditional culture, Travel dak tree, hanji, jeonju hanji culture festival, jeonju hanji museum, korean culture, korean paper, paper mulberry, scooping up the moonlight, wonju hanji festival, wonju hanji theme park

Hanji (한지) literally means “Korean paper”. It is hand-made paper made from the inner bark of paper mulberry (which is also known as dak tree in Korea). When the Mugujeonggwang Daedaranigyeong (literally “Great Dharani Sutra of Immaculate and Pure Light”) hidden in a casket in the Bulguksa Temple for nearly 1,200 years was discovered, the hanji on which it was printed remained perfectly intact. Medicine made from the ashes of burnt hanji are said to be used as medicine to help stop bleeding. In this blog post, let’s talk about this wonderful paper, hanji, which has a history of over 1,000 years. Continue reading →

Which song is regarded as the unofficial national anthem of Korea?

May 19, 2015November 22, 2020 Kalbi Movie, Music, Pop culture, Pop music, Traditional culture, Travel arirang, arirang festival, arirang mass games, bonjo arirang, choi seong-hwan, Jeongseon 5-Day Market, jeongseon arirang, Jeongseon Arirang Festival, Jeongseon Arirang Market, Jeongseon Arirang Training Hall, jindo arirang, kim jae-joong, kim ki-duk, korean culture, miryang arirang, The Last Empress, UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, yuna kim

**Last updated on: 18 October 2020**

Q: Which song is regarded as the unofficial national anthem of Korea?

A: Arirang (아리랑).

Significance of Arirang to Koreans

Arirang is a very popular traditional folk song among Koreans – in fact, almost all Koreans, whether in South Korea, North Korea or abroad, can sing at least part of this song. As a result, it has the power to unite all Koreans. Throughout history, Koreans have sung it in both times of happiness and sorrow and this song is deeply rooted in the emotions of Koreans. Continue reading →

Let’s have a drink! – A look at the Korean drinking culture

May 14, 2015May 16, 2015 Kalbi Drama, Food and drinks, Movie, Pop culture, Pop music anju, bindaetteok, dandelion family, domino shot, haejangguk, hangover, jokbal, kongnamul haejangguk, korean culture, makegeolli, makgeolli girls, pajeon, poktanju, psy, snoop dogg, soju

A scene often appearing in the Korean TV dramas is people drinking alcoholic beverages and getting drunk. When you travel to South Korea, you can often see people drinking alcoholic beverages in green bottles called soju. According to a survey by the Korea Alcohol and Liquor Industry Association, in 2010, 93.8% of men and 83.8% of women said they regularly consumed alcohol. Alcohol is indeed an integral part of the Korean life. Let’s talk about the Korean drinking culture in this blog post. Continue reading →

Korean martial arts culture – Taekwondo

March 13, 2015March 13, 2015 Kalbi Martial arts and sports, Movie, Pop culture, Traditional culture, Travel chuncheon korea open international taekwondo championship, chungju world martial arts festival, K-Tigers, kim hoon, korean culture, korean martial arts, robot taekwon V, taekwondo, taekwondowon, takkyeon

Before talking about taekwondo, I wish you a happy White Day as tomorrow (14 March 2015) is White Day in South Korea. What is White Day? On Valentine’s Day (i.e. 14 February), the females give chocolate as gifts to their lovers and on White Day (i.e. 14 March), the males reciprocate by giving candies to their lovers. Actually, to the South Koreans, there is always something to celebrate on the 14th of every month – for more detail, you may refer to my blog post dated 14 January 2015.

In this blog post, I will talk about one of Koreans’ national sports – taekwondo (태권도). In fact, taekwondo has a long history and is a kind of sports which most, if not all, Korean males have learnt. Koreans in their 30’s and 40’s may still remember a popular cartoon robot character called Taekwon V which was good at taekwondo. Nowadays, taekwondo is a form of martial arts practised by more than 70 million people in 188 countries. Continue reading →