Comments on: Bukchon Wanderings

By: College Days, Part II: Korea University | The Marmot's Hole

College Days, Part II: Korea University | The Marmot's Hole — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 04:36:42 +0000

[...] was acquired by Kim Song-su. I’m just going to copy-and-paste what I wrote about Kim in my post about Choong Ang High School: Kim [...]

By: The Marmot’s Hole » Changdeokgung Palace and Environs

The Marmot’s Hole » Changdeokgung Palace and Environs — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 06:21:55 +0000

[...] really appreciate this area, you really should set aside an entire morning or afternoon — see this post for the whole write-up. I include it here because it was on the way and there’s a cool shot [...]

By: The Marmot’s Hole » Deoksugung Palace

The Marmot’s Hole » Deoksugung Palace — Mon, 20 Aug 2007 06:08:06 +0000

[...] you don’t remember, designed the Cheondogyo Central Temple and the East Hall and West Hall of Choong Ang High School), was built in two short years between 1937 and [...]

By: The Marmot’s Hole » Seung Dong Presbyterian Church

The Marmot’s Hole » Seung Dong Presbyterian Church — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 15:13:40 +0000

[...] In 1905, however, the Hongmun-dong church ran into trouble. Independence activists in the congregation wanted to make the church more socially activist, while the missionaries who ran it wanted it to remain a spiritual community. The independence activists made a move to expel the missionaries, but the missionaries preempted them, closing the church. The more socially minded founded Seung Dong Church in Insadong, while the rest gravitated to Namdaemun, where the formed Namdaemun Presbyterian Church (a very beautiful church built by the architect who designed Korea University and Choong Ang High School). [...]

By: peninsular aborigine

peninsular aborigine — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 00:43:26 +0000

Choong Ang High School looks uncannily like Korea University except that behind the statue at Kodae there’s a dirty soju tent where the students who kidnapped 9 professors for 18 hours reside. They were - of course - not prosecuted for the abduction.

By: michael

michael — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 00:35:59 +0000

Great photos–if you get the chance, look around inside a hanok sometime. I know a guy who lived near the Blue House in one with a courtyard. For a Westerner (me) some of the rooms were a bit claustrophobic with no windows and low ceiling, but comfortable.

By: Cynical Samaritan

Cynical Samaritan — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 21:40:39 +0000

I really enjoy these photo essays that mix architecture / history. Excellent series. Great job.

By: sewing

sewing — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 17:22:16 +0000

Awesome photos and captions as always. Thanks also to Antti for the extra details.

And I agree 100% with estebanko—that blue sky in the background with those high cirrus (?) clouds is stunningly gorgeous.

Great, great stuff.

By: davelee

davelee — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 15:16:21 +0000

Very cool stuff. Good read.

By: Antti

Antti — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 12:56:24 +0000

Read just recently a collection of writings on Seoul, 인류학자 송도영의 서울읽기 (in Korea they put “anthropologist” on the title of a book for a general audience), in which there was also a chapter on Bukchon. He traced the contemporary “traditional” scenery to an even later period, post-liberation, when the population pressure on Seoul became even larger, and the previously big lots were divided into smaller ones and houses built dadak dadak on them. And that also made it a socially more mixed area.
What I had not been aware of was that until ’70s, “Gahoe-dong samonim” used to be a common designation for an upper-class lady in popular culture.