Seoul Book of Everything

Everything You Wanted to Know About Seoul and Were Going to Ask Anyway

Tim Lehnert

• Publisher: MacIntyre Purcell Publishing Inc.
• Year: 2014
• ISBN:
  9781927097595
• Topic: Geschichte
• Subtopic: Koreanische Geschichte

Your key to the South Korean city's neighborhoods, green spaces, and urban design, as well as its history, museums, pop culture, shopping, and more. From ancient royal palaces and Korean traditional houses to all-night markets, N Seoul Tower, and the club scene, no city combines the ancient and the contemporary quite like Seoul. Local experts weigh in on one of the world's most dynamic cities, including contributions from Robert Neff, Tracey Stark, Daniel Gray, Kim Young-sook, Joel Levin, Michael J. Meyers, and Mary Crowe. A comedian details the five things you must bring to Korea, a food writer picks five favorite restaurants, and a prominent meteorologist provides the low-down on Seoul's climate. You'll also find insider takes on local mountains and ghosts, as well as movies, tea houses, night spots, the economy, cultural treasures, essential reads, Buddhist shrines, and Seoul's amazing postwar evolution. From the DMZ, the Han River, and Cheonggyecheon Stream to navigating local dining, linguistics, and cultural practices, this completely updated reference will become your go-to book on the "Land of the Morning Calm."

Arts & Entertainment

Seoul’s arts and entertainment life encompasses everything from lively festivals, theme parks and nightclubs to world-class museums and performances of pansori and sanjo (ancient Korean musical forms). The city is a paradise for culture vultures, night owls, art lovers, music buffs and anyone who just likes to get out and have a good time.

Korean traditional and folk art, including ceramics, paper and textiles, are known the world over for their elegance, beauty and craftsmanship. The art scene is such that it also features a number of innovative museums devoted to contemporary Korean and foreign art. The museum buildings — some of them classics, others newfangled creations by “starchitects” like Rem Koolhaas — are worth the trip alone, never mind what is inside.

Koreans are music lovers, and Seoul is home to elegant venues presenting indigenous Korean music and dance. The National Center for Korean Traditional Performing Arts, Korea House and Seoul Namsan Gugakdang, among others, are more than just concert halls; they are lovingly designed traditional cultural spaces. Seoul is also a world center for Western classical music, and lovers of pop, rock, dance and jazz music have lots to choose from here.

In the 1990s Seoul became a hotbed for contemporary music, film and television. The Seoul-born hallyu, or “Korean Wave,” swept Japan and Southeast Asia in the early 2000s and is now lapping at the shores of countries worldwide. This Korean-produced entertainment explosion has also become big business. Seoul has joined the ranks of cities like Tokyo, Mumbai, Los Angeles, New York and London, where sales of culture and entertainment products are important sources of economic activity. You can even sample some of this “wave” from abroad as popular Korean television dramas, movies, novels and comics are all available overseas.

Seoulites and Koreans also love sports. Seoul is famous, of course, for hosting the 1988 Summer Olympics, and was one of the sites for the 2002 World Cup. In addition to these global marquee events, Seoul has a number of professional sports teams, and is well endowed with athletic and recreational facilities.

Whether your preference is taking part in a street festival, cheering on the home team at a soccer or baseball game, riding a roller coaster, enjoying a late-night drink, listening to live music or getting lost in a museum, there is always something to do in Seoul. The problem isn’t finding something to do, it’s finding the time.

BY THE NUMBERS

• City festivals: 120
• Cultural assets: 1,290
• Museums: 106
• Theaters: 178
• Performing arts centers: 186
• Performances: 31,245 yearly
• Movie theaters: 73 (443 screens)

CITY OF FESTIVALS

Seoul hosts countless festivals celebrating everything from food, fashion and traditional culture to music, technology and sports. Hi Seoul is the biggest of the bunch, but there are many others. Chances are that if you are visiting Seoul, there is a festival going on somewhere.

They said it

“Seoul has pulled off the neat trick of becoming the dominant pop culture influence in Asia - even luring the fan base of its great rival Japan - and combined this with a knack for big business and cutting-edge design and technology.”

– Wallpaper* City Guide Seoul

Hi Seoul Festival

Seoul’s biggest party is held in October at multiple venues including the Han River parks, Seoul Plaza, and Gwanghwamun Square. Organized around five concepts (Spectacles, Harmony, Dance, Fun and Art) the festival is a celebration of traditional and contemporary art, culture and entertainment.

Hi Seoul features everything from large-scale variety shows and concerts (classical, traditional, jazz and rock) to dance performances, fireworks, extreme sports and outdoor theater. There is something for everyone, from massive hi-tech events to simple street performances enjoyed by an audience of a few dozen. Hi Seoul is the city’s signature event and it attracts millions of attendees from around the country and around the world. www.hiseoulfest.org

Seoul Jazz Festival

The two-day festival is held at the spacious Olympic Park in May, and has featured concerts by such jazz greats as Charlie Haden, Joshua Redman, Pat Metheny, and George Benson.

Korean Queer Culture Festival

Korea is not exactly on the cutting-edge when it comes to LGBT acceptance and rights, but there is definitely a queer community, and it has a festival. A parade in the Hongdae neighborhood kicks off the June festivities.

The Seoul International Fireworks Festival

Each September, the sky above Yeouido Island in central Seoul explodes with a mind-blowing array of pyrotechnics. Not content to put on a mere show, the festival invites teams from around the world to compete for best performance.

Weaving choreographed music, video, lasers, and even water-art segments into their routines, these displays take fireworks to a new level. The fun begins at one p.m. with children’s face-painting, balloon art and folk bands at the Han River Park grounds near the 63 City building. The skies light up around eight p.m. Check local papers or www.visitseoul.net for details.

Lotus Lantern Festival

The Lotus Lantern Festival is held in May to coincide with Buddha’s birthday, and takes place in and around two of the capital’s temples. The festival starts with a week-long display at Bongeunsa Temple of exquisitely colored, lighted lanterns.

A Sunday street festival invites visitors to make lanterns, listen to Buddhist music, taste temple food and participate in other traditional activities. The climax is the Lantern Parade, where scores of wondrous illuminated elephant, phoenix and dragon floats, and more than 100,000 individual lanterns, are marched through downtown Seoul’s main drag after sundown. www.llf.or.kr/eng

Jongmyo Shrine Royal Ancestral Rites

During the Joseon era, these sacred rites took place five times a year as a way of honoring the kingdom’s queens and kings. Now held once a year on the first Sunday in May, these elaborate ceremonies involve priests in ritual dress making offerings of special foods and wines to the spirits of Koreans’ ancestors. The daylong rites are accompanied by traditional music and dances representing eum and yang forces. The Jongmyo Shrine is near Jongno 3-ga station, exit 11, on subway line 1. www.visitkorea.or.kr

Seoul Drum Festival

This nighttime bang-fest has been pounding away since 1999 and takes place in September. The festival has earned a reputation for attracting talented and varied performers. It’s no surprise, then, that it has moved several times in search of more spacious digs: from downtown’s City Hall Plaza, to the Han River parklands and, most recently, to Seoul Forest. Percussionists from several countries, as well as Korean traditional samulnori and “fusion” drum bands, battle it out for lucrative prize money. Visit www.seouldrum.go.kr for details.

TAKE 5

KOREAN BOX OFFICE SMASHES

1. The Host (2006): A Han River monster captures a young girl; her family tries to save her before it’s too late.

2. The King and the Clown (2005): A crazy, bloodthirsty king falls in love with a male entertainer who often plays female roles.

3. Taegukgi: The Brotherhood of War (2004): A tale of two brothers trying to protect each other during the Korean War.

4. The Thieves (2012). Think a Korean Ocean’s Eleven, with a big cast of tough guys and a few beautiful ladies involved in a jewel heist from a Macau casino.

5. Silmido (2003): Thirty-one South Korean prisoners are given a pardon under the condition that they go on a suicide mission to kill the North Korean president. When the mission is called off, things get really complicated. The story was loosely based on real-life events.

TAKE 5

FIVE LEADING VENUES
FOR TRADITIONAL PERFORMANCES

1. The National Center for Korean Traditional Performing Arts. The NCKTPA traces its lineage to the Silla Kingdom’s Royal Institute of Music. Featuring a range of traditional styles, the NCTKPA is an outstanding place to hear authentic and historic Korean music, along with new compositions in traditional styles. There are regular Saturday performances as well as special concerts. The center also includes the Museum of Traditional Korean Music, whose impressive collection includes massive gold bells. www.gugak.go.kr.

2. Korea House. Located near Namsan Mountain, the Korea House complex transports visitors back to the time of the Joseon Kingdom. Once inside Korea House’s gates, you’ll And an elegant traditional village, an outdoor theater, an indoor performing arts space and a traditional goods gallery. Korea House presents dance and song performances, as well as actual (and re-enacted) traditional Korean weddings. Korea House is also a leading place to sample royal cuisine. www.koreahouse.or.kr.

3. Samcheonggak. Located in the forested mountains near the Blue House (the South Korean presidential residence) in northern Seoul, Samcheonggak is an enchanting spot. It was founded in 1972 as a traditional entertainment venue for high-ranking government officials. Samcheonggak’s concerts are organized by the Sejong Center, and it contains a performance hall, a traditional Korean restaurant and a tea house. www.samcheonggak.or.kr/.

4. Seoul Namsan Gugakdang. Seoul Namsan Gugakdang is located inside Namsan Hanok Village. The concert hall was completed in 2007, and its lighting, sound and stage were constructed to provide the best acoustics and atmosphere specifically for Korean classical music concerts. The Namsan Gugakdang’s program is organized by the ...