Name a new fact your learned about Korean culture from reading the book

Use this forum to discuss the January 2021 Book of the month, "The Vanished" by Pejay Bradley
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Caroline Anne Richmond
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Re: Name a new fact your learned about Korean culture from reading the book

Post by Caroline Anne Richmond »

The Korean history was fascinating in the book, I learnt a lot of things. I thought it was interesting to read about the wedding ceremonies and how the bride is not allowed to look at her soon to be husband. In some cases wax was placed on the brides eyes to make sure they don’t take a peak.
I found it sad to learn how divorce was not tolerated and brought great shame to families, which meant many women led extremely unhappy and loveless marraiges.
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Post by Joy Phill »

I was shocked at how Embon passively accepted his chosen bride despite the fact that he was in love with someone else. This seems to be a recurrent theme in the book.
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Post by ShelleyH »

I did not know that despite hating the Japanese occupation some of the Koreans took full advantage. For example, they attended local schools run by the Japanese, then later went to Japan to pursue higher education. Also, within the banking industry many Koreans managed to find their own path to wealth.
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Betty Gitonga
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Post by Betty Gitonga »

I learnt a lot from about the culture from the book. The most interesting to me were the marriage rituals. They were unlike anything I've ever heard.
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Post by Jacktone Ogada »

So many. First was that Korea was once colonized by Japan, and a whole bunch about the culture, like their dressing code, views about marriage and divorce and so much more I can't exhaust.
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Post by Jacktone Ogada »

Sararob06 wrote: 13 Jan 2021, 11:35 I learned that Korean surnames are traditionally monosyllabic. I’m not terribly familiar with Asian culture and know very little about traditional naming standards from any region. I found the part about their disdain for the multisyllabic Japanese names interesting also.
It was so interesting to learn this too but I have always known all along that there exists a naming criteria in every single country or ethnicity. I also wonder why they don't like multisyllabic names.
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Post by Jacktone Ogada »

Fliesie01 wrote: 12 Jan 2021, 07:07 To me, it was interesting to learn that the bride should bow before all the members of her new in-laws and in a specific order. It was interesting to read that the prince had it perfectly planned that his daughter, a princess, would not bow to anyone. Therefore breaking traditions.
Isn't it striking how traditions can be broken? I even hate such traditional rules because it doesn't allow for development. It is also a good learning point from book.
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Post by Jacktone Ogada »

Bridgetbruso99 wrote: 12 Jan 2021, 04:36 I had no idea that they put wax on the bride's eyes on the day of the wedding so she cannot open them!! That sounds so dangerous! I wonder how many of them still do this and how many brides have to go to the hospital bc of wax getting in their eye on their wedding day.
It's very dangerous. Some rules are just backwards and don't add any value. But it's good that such books are written and we see what to hold on to and what to ditch.
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Post by Aan Granados »

I know arranging marriages were common before but usually with somebody with royal blood too, so I was surprised when common people were chosen.
Also that, slaves were common, and to the point where they were not named.
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Post by Vine Michael »

I learnt about the huge importance they placed on sons. I also learnt about how women stay in horrible marriages just to divorce is looked down on.
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Post by Hilda Martinovic »

The traditional schools taught Confucianism, "worshipping your ancestors, honoring your parents, obeying male family members, and keeping the practice of numerous useless rituals".
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Post by Mutai Marshal »

I had no idea that rice could be used to make wine. Therefore, I will credit that to the Korean culture.
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Post by Praise George-kayode »

While i was reading this book, I came about alot of strange cultural facts and I went on researching more about that.
I found this fact to be weird that Koreans will always be a year older than you. Well at least if you both count in your native way. The difference is that in Korea, everyone is already one year old at birth. And not only that: on New Year’s, everyone simultaneously turns a year older! That means, in turn, that in Korean age, you could already be two years older than you are in an international age.
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Post by Nitika Sood »

I come from an Asian country, so the oppression of women, laws of inheritance, desire for sons, and females being shipped off for marriage with no way of return is really not a surprise for me sadly. But the shame and stigma surrounding divorce is new. In rural households, it is kind of common for the housewives to have to sometimes put up with domestic violence but that's because they're financially dependent on their husbands, not because they're in danger of being shunned from society.
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Post by kalgaonkarsnehal »

I learned about yangban concept. I also learned about the Korean wedding traditions and details about Japanese annexation of Korea. From historical facts perspective, I think this book was pretty spot on and informative.
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