Cultural Exchanges

Cultural Exchanges with Japanese adolescents

Cultural Exchanges with Chinese adolescents

Cultural Exchanges

It has been more than five thousand years since Koreans first began forming national structures centered on the Korean peninsula. The first ancient nation founded by the Koreans, Kojosun (108 B.C.), was partitioned into three states, Shilla (57 B.C.), Koguryo (37 B.C.), and Paekje (18 B.C.). Ever since these states were unified under Shilla in 668 A.D., a homogeneous nation has existed on the peninsula.


Koreans in the Kojosun period, as well as in the Three Kingdoms era, were very active in exchanging their culture with foreign nations. There was early interchange with several Chinese dynasties, India, and countries farther west. It is storied that at the time the Romans advanced into Britain, an Indian princess became an empress upon coming to the Korean peninsula. The glorious civilization of the Three Kingdoms era greatly benefited from such foreign cultural exchanges.


Thousands of Koreans with intellectual curiosity and religious ardor traveled as far as China, India, and other countries in search of more advanced civilizations. However, Korea's international cultural exchanges before the advance of Western powers in the late 19th century was centered on China and Japan. In particular, Korea has played an especially vital role in bringing Chinese culture to the Japanese islands.
Buddhism, which claims its birthplace in India, entered Korea through China, blossoming in both countries and spreading onward to Japan. Confucianism and Taoism also spread from China to Japan via Korea. Before ocean navigation became more common, Korea's foreign cultural exchanges in the fields of science, religion, culture and the arts had been achieved within a limited scope.


The Koryo Dynasty, succeeding Shilla in 936, adopted Buddhism as its national religion, but the Chosun Dynasty 450 years later suppressed Buddhism and established Confucianism as the national "religion." Korean culture continued to develop during these processes, basing itself on the spiritual disciplines of Confucianism, Buddhism and Zen. The overall stability of life and the reliance on these three spiritual disciplines gradually developed Korean sensitivities into that with respect for literary art and that which has kept a respectful distance from military affairs. Koreans highly regarded moral obligations, respected etiquette, and lived gracefully and modestly; Westerners' first impressions of the Korean peninsula was that of a "hermit age of peace."


In the late 16th century, the existence of Western civilizations was already known to some Korean intellectuals, yet it was only in 1627, when three Dutchmen drifted onto Cheju Island, that Koreans actually saw Westerners. However, another 250 years were to pass before substantive contacts were to develop with the Western world. For the Koreans, who had been living peacefully in a Confucian-based society with a staunch pride in their unique culture, the West was a world still too unfamiliar and distant.
Even before Korea opened its ports in 1876, some Koreans of foresight had started to borrow from new cultures. They studied the Christian doctrine through the Bible long before missionaries arrived in Korea, and some set out in search of ways to join the church. Other Koreans sought ways to introduce advanced education, medical treatment, technology and industry into their country.


During the first half of this century, Korea also experienced colonialism, falling prey to the imperialism that had swept the entire world. Furthermore, shortly after gaining its independence from Japan, Korea became involved in the whirlpool of a bipolar global system that led to the partitioning of the peninsula and the tragic Korean War. As a result of these powerful external forces, Korean culture in the 20th century was first refracted through the lens of Japan, and was then degraded into an imitator of Western cultures, without being able to secure its own identity.


However, with the success of Korea's economic development and the growth of national power since the 1960s, the 1988 Olympic Games were hosted in Seoul, the second city in Asia to be presented this valuable opportunity. The Olympics marked an influential turning point in Korea's foreign cultural exchange. The importance of culture, which had been accorded less importance than national security and economic concerns in the postwar years up to this time, began to receive added recognition. Moreover, the transition to a more positive approach in dealing with cultural exchanges was evident in the adoption of an open-door policy toward Communist-bloc nations and North Korea.