CNN named the lantern festival at Samgwangsa Temple in Busan as one of the top 50 most beautiful sites in the country.  Samgwangsa is not a historic temple like Busan’s historic Beomeosa temple.  Beomeosa was founded in 678 by the monk Uisang.  Uisang was one of Korea’s greatest Buddhist patriarchs and was a close friend of another great Korean Buddhist, Wonhyo.  Beomeosa was destroyed by the Japanese during the Hideyoshi invasions of the 16th century.  It was subsequently rebuilt in the 17th century, only to be burnt down again.  In 1613, Beomeosa was rebuilt.  Samgwangsa, on the other hand, was built in the 1980s.  There are several sects of Korean Buddhism.  The largest is the Jogye Order.  Samgwangsa belongs to the Korean Buddhist Cheontae Order.

The Cheontae Order is a revival of the Chinese Tiantai lineage.  It was founded by the monk Sangwol Wongak, whose image may be seen on the altar of Samgwangsa Temple along with those of the Buddha, the Bodhisattva Mahasthamaprapta (known in Korean as 大勢至 or Dae Se Ji) and the Buddha Amitabha (known in Korean as 阿彌陀佛, or Amitabul).  Cheontae Order temples tend to be quite spectacular.  They may not be the most historic.  Those tend to belong to the Jogye Order.  The headquarters of the Cheontae Order, Guinsa Temple, are so large that they can easily accomodate 10,000 monks and feed about 30,000. 

Buddha’s Birthday is a huge event for Samgwangsa Temple.  It is said that it has some the most impressive celebrations of Buddha’s Birthday in Korea.  Here’s the stone indentifying this place as Samgwangsa ( 三光寺) located on Mount Baekyangsan (白陽山). 

 

Here’s a shot of the building which houses classrooms and dormitories for the monks.

Here’s a close-up shot of some of the lanterns.

This hall can accomodate a large number of people who come for lectures by eminent monks or for Dharma services.

Here’s looking towards the building housing classrooms and the monks’ quarters.

Some animatronic dragons, elephants, and a lotus flower which opens to reveal a Buddha inside could be found as well.

The Daeungjeon is the heart of any Buddhist temple.  The Main Buddha hall is where many of the practitioners gather to practice their devotions.  It is also where the monks gather for chanting twice a day.  It is generally a very busy place and not really all that conducive to meditation.  It is for this reason that many Korean temples also include places where the monks, or lay people on retreat, may meditate in peace away from the visitors who come to either fulfill religious devotions or who, like me, come to look at the architecture.

Unlike China, which tends to make its pagodas out of brick and Japan which tends to make them from wood, Korean pagodas are made of stone. 

Finally, I leave you a shot of the temple at dusk just as the lanterns are lit.

I also found over on YouTube a short video which gives an even better look at Samgwangsa’s annual celebrations.

For scholars of religion, South Korea is a fascinating place.  While it is a very ethnically homogenous society, its religious diversity is unique.  Among Christians, there is quite a bit of diversity.  While the dominant denomination is the Presbyterian Church in Korea, there are Methodists, Baptists, Lutherans, the Assemblies of God, and others.  The Roman Catholic Church has been in Korea for over 200 years.  Additionally, there is a small Orthodox presence.  There are several Buddhist sects.  Korean shamanism continues to survive. 

Korea has also produced a number of new religions.  The oldest of these is Cheondogyo (天道敎), or the religion of the heavenly way.  Cheondogyo’s origins date back to the 1860s.  The founder, Choi Je-u, proposed his religion, which he called Donghak (東學) or “Eastern Learning” as an alternative to Seohak (西學) or “Western Learning” which was synonomous with Catholicism.  It is a monotheistic religion, which is sort of unique for Korea at that time.  However, the God worshipped by the followers of Cheondogyo is more panentheistic than anything.  Followers are to cultivate an awareness of God’s presence in them as well as in other people.  It draws on Confucianism as well.

It is also a very nationalistic religion.  About half of the signers of the Declaration of Independence of March 1, 1919 were followers of Cheondogyo.  The leaders and followers of the religion were involved in resistance to the Japanese regime.  It is one of the very few religions tolerated in North Korea today.  Like in China, there are seats allocated in the Supreme People’s Assembly.  And also like in China, the members of the Cheondoist Chongu Party all follow the leadership the Korean Workers’ Party.  (There are about eight minority parties in the People’s Republic of China.  Wan Gang, who is the Minister for Science and Technology, is the only non-Communist Party member of the State Council, or cabinet.  All of the minority parties follow the leadership of the Communist Party of China.  Otherwise, they wouldn’t be allowed to exist.)

Cheondogyo also played a part in the Donghak Peasants’ Rebellion of the late 19th century.  The rebellion of the peasants forced the king in Seoul to make some major reforms.

Anyhow, given its nationalistic heritage, it is somewhat strange that for their central temple, they hired a Japanese architect.  Nakamura Yoshihei was an architecht working in Seoul during the early 20th century.  He had on his staff an Austrian architect by the name of Anton Feller.  Perhaps this accounts for the almost Viennese Secession look of the building.  It was intended to be an answer to the Roman Cathedral Cathedral in nearby Myeongdong.  In the first half of the 20th century, the three most visible buildings in Seoul were Myeongdong Cathedral, the Japanese government building (since demolished), and the Cheondogyo Central Temple.  It is one of my favourite buildings in Korea.  It is well worth a visit.

Matt Kelley of Seoul Scene has a short video about the history of this temple which is also worth viewing.

One of my favourite movies was Robert Redford’s 1994 film Quiz Show.  The film, which is based on true events, concerns two people.  One of them, Charles Van Doren, was the scion of one of America’s great intellectual families.  He held a doctorate in English literature and taught at Columbia.  His father, the Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Mark Van Doren, was also a Columbia professor.  His mother, Dorothy Van Doren, was an accomplished novelist.  His uncle, Carl Van Doren, was a Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer of Benjamin Franklin. 

He had a very promising career ahead of him.  He later came to appear on the game show Twenty-one, where he defeated the reigning champion Herb Stempel.  He remained on the show for a time, but was ultimately defeating by a lawyer, Vivienne Nearing.  After leaving the game show, he was a cultural correspondent for NBC.  Unbeknownst to the audience, both Stempel and Van Doren were fed the answers to the questions prior to the show.  In 1959, Charles Van Doren appeared before the House Committee on Legislative Oversight and admitted that he had been fed the answers.  Needless to say, it lead to the end of his academic career.

Fortunately for Van Doren, a family friend, the philosopher Mortimer J. Adler rescued him.  Adler, who was then an editor with the Encyclopædia Britannica, put him to work.  Despite not teaching in the traditional sense, Van Doren came out with three very valuable books while working at Brittanica.  One of them, which he wrote with Adler, is entitled How to Read a Book.  The sooner this book is put in the hands of high school students, the better.  Critical thinking is so important, yet so few seem to know how to do it.  This book won’t teach you how to read quickly, but it will teach you how to seriously engage with an author.  Another book of his is The History of Knowledge, basically a rather succint summarization of the accomplishments of human knowledge over the past couple of millenia.  Finally, there is his book The Joy of Reading. 

The film, of course, takes license with its subject material.  Charles Van Doren’s father isn’t fairly portrayed.  He was a great figure in American education and played a very important role in the Great Books approach to education.  Jeffrey Hart, a former English professor at Dartmouth and one of those who wrote for the National Review in its early years, knew the Van Doren family well.  He was scathing in his criticisms of the movie.  On the other hand, as a parable for the seductions of fame and fortune, the film can teach some important lessons.

In 2008, Charles Van Doren broke his silence on the matter.  He wrote a piece for The New Yorker in which he gives his side of the story.  One of the best things I saw in this piece is that he started teaching again, this time at the University of Connecticut.  Anyhow, I think the film is worth watching, but as with everything, it’s best to think critically and examine it from all angles.  Van Doren’s essay, which you may read by clicking here, gives a critically important angle to the story.  His own.

Every young pianist has his or her heros.  One of mine was the late pianist Van Cliburn.  Van Cliburn achieved fame for winning the Tchaikovsky Piano Competition in Moscow during the height of the Cold War.  It is said that the judges had to ask for permission from the Soviet leader at the time, Nikita Krushchev, in order just to award him the prize.  They gave him the prize and he went on to worldwide fame.

But that is only half the reason why I found Cliburn compelling.  He was not, as I am not, a product of the Northeast.  He was born in Louisiana and lived for many years in Texas.  In fact, he was very proud of being a Texan.  I think that there are some who tend to think that civilization is not really to be found outside of New York City and its environs in North America.  While this may, of course, be a stereotype, I always appreciated in Cliburn that here was a man who was a Southerner, a Texan, and who was adamantly proud of being so.  He never forgot his roots.

Like Glenn Gould, he eventually took a hiatus from performing.  Unlike Gould, though, who tended to prefer solitude, Cliburn was very active in the musical community even if he wasn’t performing.  He did much promote the careers of other young pianists through his work with the Cliburn Foundation and the competitions which bear his name.  Every Sunday that he was in town, he would be found in his pew at the Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth.  He would, however, perform every now and then.  He had performed at the White House many times.  He gave a surprise concert for former Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice’s 50th birthday party.  George W. Bush gave him the Presidential Medal of Freedom.  In 2010, President Obama awarded him the National Arts Medal. 

Cliburn died a few months ago.  He is missed by many, I am sure.

I love history and I love reading.  I am sort of ashamed to admit this, but I haven’t spent nearly enough time browsing through the Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society, Korea Branch. 

The Royal Asiatic Society is a British learned society which specializes in all things Asian.  The Korea Branch got started back in 1900, the same year my great-grandfather Flake was born.  It was founded by 17 men, missionaries and diplomats, who sought to widen their knowledge of the culture and history of Korea and the Far East.  Apart from World War II and the Korean War, it has continued to meet.  They sponsor lectures and excursions to various historical sites in Korea.  Additionally, they publish a year journal, the Transactions.

Their back issues, going all the way back to 1900, are online for your dowloading and reading pleasure.  Right now, I’m enjoying Volume XXXVI of 1960.  More specifically, I am enjoying then-Father Richard Rutt’s article “The Chinese Learning and the Pleasures of the Country Scholar”.  In old Korea, before the advent of public schools, Korean children were taught the old Chinese classics by village schoolmasters.  Generally, only boys were taught.  Unfortunately, women weren’t really educated back then, though there were exceptions, such as Shin Saimdang, the only woman to appear on South Korea’s currency.  Shin Saimdang (申師任堂) was the mother of the great Confucian scholar Yi I (李珥),  better known by his pen name Yulgok (栗谷).  She was an accomplished poet, painter, and scholar in her own right.  Anyhow, Father (later Bishop) Rutt gives a fairly thorough account of what education was like in those days.  You can read it by clicking here. 

Richard Rutt was an Anglican priest who worked as a missionary in Korea for many years.  He eventually became the Bishop of Daejeon in 1966.  In 1973, feeling that the time was right for the Koreans to take charge of their ecclesiastical affairs, he retired and eventually returned to England, where he served as a Suffragan, or assistant Bishop in the Diocese of Truro.  While there, he mastered yet another language, in this case Cornish.  Cornish is a Celtic language spoken in the region of Cornwall in England.  He was later named Bishop of Leicester and served there until his retirement in 1990.  Bishop Rutt was a High Church Anglican.  After the ordination of women became practiced in the Church of England, he converted to Catholicism and was subsequently ordained a Roman Catholic priest.  A couple of years before his death, Pope Benedict XVI named him a Monsignor.  A monsignor is a priest who has been granted the honour of being named a member of the papal household.  Most dioceses have monsignori.  Usually, this honour is bestowed upon very senior churchmen, either those who hold high office in a diocese or those who have been distinguished for long service. 

Another interesting back issue concerns new religions in Korea, including the first new religion, namely Ch’ŏndogyo and what is perhaps Korea’s most infamous new religion, T’ongilgyo.  T’ongilgyo, better known as the Unification Church or perjoratively as the “Moonies”, was founded by the self-anointed Messiah Sun Myung Moon.  Moon died this past year, but when his movement was at its height, it was very, very controversial.  The Unification Church is also famous for their mass weddings.  You can read that particular issue by clicking here.

The whole site may be accessed at http://www.raskb.com.  I’ve been aware of their activities for quite some time.  Unfortunately, I haven’t always been able to go to their lectures because of work schedules and the like.  The current president, Brother Anthony of Taizé, has lived in Korea for a long, long time.  He is a professor at Sogang University and teaches English literature.  He also belongs to the Commuity of Taizé, an ecumenical religious community.  He is now a Korean citizen.  Other people associated with the RAS-KB have been in Korea for a long time as well.  The membership includes Koreans as well.  They’ve done quite a lot to make Korea better known and appreciated.

These have been rather interesting days for the Catholic Church.  We’ve experienced the first papal abdication in over 600 years.  While the Popes generally do remain in office until death, Pope-emeritus Benedict XVI felt that with his energy flagging, it would be best to leave things in the care of a younger man.  Pope Francis isn’t that much younger.  In fact, he’s two years younger than Pope Benedict was at the time of his election.  But as we’ve seen in recent days, he is certainly energetic!

He’s a unique Pope for a couple of reasons.  First, he comes from the New World.  Granted, he is the son of Italian immigrants, something which may satisfy those who wanted an Italian Pope.  But he didn’t grow up in Italy.  He grew in Argentina which is a very different place.  The largest bloc of Catholics in the world are in Latin America. 

The new Pope is a Jesuit.  The Jesuits, whose formal name is the Society of Jesus, were founded by St. Ignatius Loyala in the 16th century.  They are well known for their missionary work and their devotion to education.  They built some of the great American universities.  Georgetown, Fordham, Gonzaga, and Loyola are all Jesuit schools.  One of the interesting things about Jesuits are some of the vows they take.  In addition to the regular vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience they take a special fourth vow of obedience to the Pope.  Additionally, Jesuits are not supposed to aspire to any leadership office in their community or to the episcopate.  There aren’t many Jesuit bishops, but Pope Francis was a very good one.  Thus, many Jesuits were found scratiching their heads at the idea of a Jesuit Pope.  But stranger things have happened.  One of the best bishops in medieval England was St. Hugh of Lincoln.  St. Hugh was a Carthusian monk.  Carthusians are hermits, living in hermitages and spend their days in silence.  They’re not usually chosen as bishops.  Neither are Trappists, though there has been a Trappist bishop in recent memory.  Bishop John Willem Nikolaysen Gran, O.C.S.O. was Bishop of Oslo from 1964 until 1983.  He died in 2008.

I think that Pope Francis’ pontificate will be an interesting one.  He certainly is energetic and has a way with people.  He is determined, despite his new role, to continue keeping a simple life.  We’ve heard stories of him calling friends back in Argentina, even going so far as to call the people who delivered his newspapers to tell them not to deliver his newspapers anymore.  In some ways, he reminds me of Blessed John Paul II. 

Each man brings to the pontificate his own gifts, talents, and yes, limitations.  I look forward in the years ahead to see what Pope Francis will bring to the Church.  Ad multos annos!  May the Lord grant him many years.

For myself and my fellow Catholics, these are interesting days in the history of the Church.  Pope Benedict XVI has abdicated, something which hasn’t been seen for over 600 years.  The first pope to resign was St. Celestine V.  St. Celestine V was originally a hermit, living a monastic life.  During the conclave of 1294, he was chosen as Pope.  It was a very difficult adjustment for one who sought to live a life devoted to contemplation and a monastic way of life.  As Pope, St. Celestine issued a document affirming the possibility of the Pope to resign.  He resigned a few months later and promptly returned to his way of life.  While Pope Benedict XVI was never a monk, he does hold the monastic way of life in great esteem.  As Pope-emeritus Benedict XVI stated in the speech announcing his resignation, after a long period of prayer and meditation, he felt that the Church needed the guidance of a younger man.  He is, after all, 86 years old.  He stated in that speech:

“However, in today’s world, subject to so many rapid changes and shaken by questions of deep relevance for the life of faith, in order to govern the barque of Saint Peter and proclaim the Gospel, both strength of mind and body are necessary, strength which in the last few months, has deteriorated in me to the extent that I have had to recognize my incapacity to adequately fulfill the ministry entrusted to me.”

Catholic bishops must submit their resignations at age 75 as specified under Canon 401 §1 of the 1983 Code of Canon Law.  The Code of Canon Law is the law which governs the Catholic Church.  Sometimes a bishop will stay on after age 75.  Some often stay on until age 80, though 80 seems to be the definite cut-off point.  Under the canons and other legislation governing papal elections, cardinals aged 80 and over do not have a vote in the conclave.  However, when it comes to papal abdications, there are some other provisions in the law.  The Pope’s role is different from that of the cardinals and bishops.  Unlike the cardinals and bishops, he possesses “supreme, full, immediate, and universal ordinary power in the Church, which he is always able to exercise freely”.  So, if the Pope decides to abdicate, there is no one to send the resignation to.  What has to happen, under Canon 332 § 2 is that the Pope has to make the resignation freely and that it is manifested, but it is not accepted by anyone.  There’s no one higher for him to submit his resignation to.

I was thrilled when Pope-emeritus Benedict XVI was chosen.  He was a giant among theologians.  During the Second Vatican Council which lasted from 1963 to 1965, so many great theologians took part as periti, or experts advising the bishops.  Among them were the great Jesuit theologians Henri Cardinal de Lubac, John Courtney Murray and Karl Rahner.  Other great theologians were there, too.  Among them was a young German theology professor by the name of Joseph Ratzinger, who later became Pope Benedict XVI.  There were also a number of theologians who would become famous for later being dissenters, such as Hans Küng and Eduard Schillebeeckx.  During the same council, interventions were made by a young Polish bishop, Karol Jozef Wojtyla, who would go on to become Pope John Paul II.  With his abdication, we have the last of the Council periti leaving active ministry.  As far as Council fathers go, those bishops who attended the council, there aren’t many left.  One of them, Bishop William McNaughton, M.M. served for many years as the Bishop of Incheon, South Korea.  Bishop McNaughton is still around and in good health.

He has had an unfair reputation.  For a long period of his ministry, he was prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.  This congregation is concerned with maintaining correct teaching.  As such, he had to deal with theologians whose theological opinions differed considerably from that of the Magisterium.  With changes to Canon Law under Blessed John Paul II, the Congregation also assumed jurisdiction over cases of priests who have sexually abused the young.  Then Cardinal Ratzinger has long been painted as a demagogue by some of the liberal parts of the Church.  I think, though, that when he became Pope and people began to see what he is like, a lot of people’s opinions changed.  Of course, not everybody’s opinions have changed and for some they probably never will.

While I am actually sad to see him go, I have every confidence that he has considered this step extremely carefully.  For now, the cardinals are beginning to prepare for the conclave where, presumably next week, a Pope will be elected.  It will be an interesting time having a current Pope and a retired Pope living in the Vatican in the same time.  Because this is a situation the Church hasn’t confronted in over 600 years, it puts us in an interesting situation.  We have been extraordinarily fortunate in the popes we have had in the 20th and 21st centuries.  As for our Pope-emeritus, I wish him a blessed retirement.  In his last speech as Pope, which he made at Castel Gandolfo, he said: “ I am simply a pilgrim beginning the last leg of his pilgrimage on this earth.”  I am grateful for the eight years we had of him, as a pilgrim guiding the Pilgrim Church.

Busan definitely has a very interesting history.  It has long been one of the principal ports into the Republic of Korea.  The other main port is in Incheon, back where General Douglas MacArthur made his famous landing.  During the Korean War, it had another important significance.  Busan was one of the only areas not conquered by the Korean People’s Army from the North.  After South Korea was attacked, Dr. Syngman Rhee, the President of the Republic and the government fled to Busan.  Many refugees came to Busan during the War, including among them the conductor Chung Myung-hwun, his mother, and his sisters.  His mother somehow was able to not only get her children to safety in Busan, but her piano as well.  Maestro Chung is now one of the world’s most respected conductors.  He is also a pianist.  His sisters, the violinst Chung Kyung-wha and the cellist Chung Myung-hwa sometimes perform together.  Their older brother Myung-so was a flautist.  Their other siblings include a businessman, a professor, and a doctor.  Their mother died in 2011 at age 93, having weathered not only the Korean War, but also the extremely rapid changes which would come to her country as a result of President Park Chung-hee’s modernization drive.

This house, located near Dong-a University in Busan, was for a time the presidential residence.  After the Incheon Landing, Dr. Rhee and the government returned to Seoul, only to have Seoul retaken by the North.  They spent the duration of the War in Busan.  This house was once the Provincial Governor’s Office of South Gyeongsang Province during colonial days.  The Japanese were quite skilled at Western architecture.  Busan has a few old Japanese-built Western-style structures left.  Unfortunately, historical preservation in Korea sometimes leaves much to be desired, though things are improving.

Here you can see a wax sculpture of Syngman Rhee at his desk.

Dr. Rhee was married to an Austrian woman, Fransizka Donner Rhee.  After her husband’s death in exile, she returned to Korea.  She and President Rhee never did have any children of their own, though they did adopt a Korean boy.  I believe he is still living in Seoul, though he is quite elderly.  Here are the women’s quarters.

Here are some more rooms in the house.  It’s not extravagant, but it is a nice house.  It is now a museum.

Korean government agencies sometimes use the mugunghwa or rose of sharon in their logos, as it is the national flower.  This identifies the area as the neighbourhood of the provisional capital.

Finally, at Dong-a University, there was this tram I quite liked.  Busan and Seoul used to have streetcars, though they don’t anymore.  Both now have extensive subways.

For those who don’t read Chinese, this tram once served 西面 (Seomyeon), 東來 (Dongnae), 市廳 (City Hall), 釜山驛 (Busan Train Station), and 裁判所 (the Court).

Hong Kong does have beautiful old churches.  One of them, the Rosary Church on Chatham Road in Kowloon, has occupied its present buildings since 1903.  The church was built on land donated by the Canossian Sisters.  The parish church was built through the donations of Dr. Antonio Gomes, a wealthy Portuguese resident of Hong Kong.

The Rosary has long been a favourite prayer of Catholics.  The rosary is divided in five sections called decades.  Each decade begins with the Our Father, or the Lord’s Prayer.  Then, there are ten Hail Marys and you finally end each decade with the Glory be.  While you say these prayers, you are supposed to be meditating on a mystery, some aspect of the life of Our Lord.  There were originally fifteen mysteries, but later on, Blessed John Paul II proposed five more mysteries he felt were good topics for meditation.

Above the altar of the Rosary Church, you will find painted all twenty of these mysteries.  It really is a lovely old church.

Both Koreas have long been proud of their unique homogeneity.  While things are changing in the South, North Korea remains a quite ethnically homogenous country.  Nevertheless, there is an ethnic minority here known in Korean as the hwagyo and in Chinese as the huaqiao (華橋).  These ethnic Chinese came from Shandong Province in China over 100 years ago.  I’ve long admired the enterprising spirit of the Chinese people.  One can find Chinese communities just about anywhere.  One can find Chinese-owned businesses in many, many countries as well.  South Korea is no exception.

Incheon is home to one of the largest Chinatowns.  The Incheon Chinatown is home to a dish that is very popular with young and old alike in Korea, namely jjajjang myeon.  Jjajjang myeon is a dish made with noodles and black bean sauce.  It was invented in the Chinese restaurants in Incheon.  When the Republic of Korea came into being in 1948, it was a rather nationalist Republic.  The ethnic Chinese here may not be too enthusiastic about the new president, mostly because it was under her father that some really onerous restrictions were placed on the ethnic Chinese.  They were limited in the types of businesses they could own.  There was a real fear that the ethnic Chinese would end up dominating all the business.  Basically, they were forced into the restaurant business, where much like Chinese in America who adapted their cuisine to suit American palates, the local Chinese adapted their cuisine to Korean palates.  They also couldn’t adopt Republic of Korea citizenship.  Most of the hwagyo have (or at least had) Republic of China (Taiwan) citizenship.  In Busan, there is a large Chinese school which has the large blue sky and white sun emblem of the Kuomintang.  These Chinese schools use the same curriculum that is used in Taiwan today.  Nowadays, you don’t have to be of Korean ethnicity to get Korean citizenship, but it certainly helps!

So, here’s the third gate leading into Incheon’s Chinatown.

 

Here’s the Chinatown community centre in Incheon.  I love the colours!

Here’s the first gate.  This gate leads into Jayu or Freedom Park.

Now, Jayu Park has something which irritates many Korean leftists, namely a huge statue of General MacArthur.  MacArthur is viewed differently by different people.  I have a book of great American speeches, which includes General MacArthur’s farewell speech in the U.S. Congress in English and Korean.  It’s an old enough Korean book to where it has many Chinese characters.

Incheon has something else which should appeal to all fans of colonial-period architecture.  The Japanese were quite skilled at Western-style architecture back then.  Here’s an old bank.  This is now a museum, with many painstakingly crafted models of the Incheon port.

There was also a Japanese concession right next to Chinatown. On one side of this street, there are stone lanterns in a Chinese style marking the Chinese neighbourhood.  Those in a Japanese style mark the boundaries of the Japanese concession.

Finally, it is fitting to end with a photo of a statue of Confucius, whose thought played such an important role in the cultures of China, Korea, Vietnam, and Japan.  I still think that perhaps he had the greatest impact on Korea, given that the Koreans implemented the strictest possible form of Chinese Neo-Confucianism.  Confucianism still plays a part with the language here.  I’m told that in China,  the differences between the polite and informal forms of the second personal pronoun are disappearing.  Not so in Korea where there are four levels of honourific speech!

These photos were from a while ago, but I realized I hadn’t posted them up here.  Incheon is more than just the port and the airport.  There are parts to Incheon Metropolitan City very much worth visiting.  I hope you’ve enjoyed these photos.