The traditional culture of Korea is the shared cultural and historical heritage of Korea before the division of Korea in 1945.
Since the mid-20th century, Korea has been split between the North Korean and South Korean states, resulting in a number of cultural differences that can be observed even today. Before the Joseon dynasty, the practice of Korean shamanism was deeply rooted in Korean culture.
Hanbok
List of Korean clothing
The traditional dress known as hanbok (한복, 韓服) (known as joseonot [조선옷] in the DPRK) has been worn since ancient times. The hanbok consists of a shirt (jeogori) and a skirt (chima).
According to social status, Koreans used to dress differently, making clothing an important mark of social rank. Costumes were worn by the ruling class and the royal family. These upper classes also used jewelry to distance themselves from the ordinary people. A traditional item of jewellery for women was a pendant in the shape of certain elements of nature which was made of gemstones, to which a tassel of silk was connected.
Common people were often restricted to undyed plain clothes. This everyday dress underwent relatively few changes during the Joseon period. The basic everyday dress was shared by everyone, but distinctions were drawn in official and ceremonial clothes.
During the winter people wore cotton-wadded dresses. Fur was also common. Because ordinary people normally wore pure white undyed materials, the people were sometimes referred to as the white-clad people.
Hanbok are classified according to their purposes: everyday dress, ceremonial dress and special dress. Ceremonial dresses are worn on formal occasions, including a child's first birthday (doljanchi), a wedding or a funeral. Special dresses are made for purposes such as shamans, officials.
Today the hanbok is still worn during formal occasions. The everyday use of the dress, however, has been lost. However, the elderly still dress in hanbok as well as active estates of the remnant of aristocratic families from the Joseon Dynasty.
This page is automatically generated and may contain information that is not correct, complete, up-to-date, or relevant to your search query. The same applies to every other page on this website. Please make sure to verify the information with EPFL's official sources.
Joseon (; tɕo.sʌn), officially Great Joseon (; tɛ.tɕo.sʌn.ɡuk̚), was the last dynastic kingdom of Korea, lasting just over 500 years. It was founded by Yi Seong-gye in July 1392 and replaced by the Korean Empire in October 1897. The kingdom was founded following the aftermath of the overthrow of Goryeo in what is today the city of Kaesong. Early on, Korea was retitled and the capital was relocated to modern-day Seoul. The kingdom's northernmost borders were expanded to the natural boundaries at the rivers of Amrok and Tuman through the subjugation of the Jurchens.
Taekwondo (ˌtaɪkwɒnˈdoʊ,_ˌtaɪˈkwɒndoʊ,_ˌtɛkwənˈdoʊ; ; t̪hɛ.k͈wʌ̹n.d̪o), also spelled tae kwon do or taekwon-do, is a Korean martial art involving punching and kicking techniques. The literal translation for taekwondo is "kicking", "punching", and "the art or way of". It sometimes involves the use of weapons. Taekwondo practitioners wear a uniform, known as a dobok. It is a combat sport and was developed during the 1940s and 1950s by Korean martial artists with experience in martial arts such as karate, Chinese martial arts, and indigenous Korean martial arts traditions such as taekkyon, subak, and gwonbeop.
A Korean name in the modern era typically consists of a family name followed by a given name, with no middle names. A number of Korean terms for names exist. For full names, seongmyeong (), seongham (), or ireum () are commonly used. When a Korean name is written in Hangul, there is no space between the family and given names. Most Korean family names consist of a single syllable, although multisyllabic family names exist (e.g. Sun-woo).
In recent decades, East and South-East Asia have became both politically and economically significant for the West and it is no longer possible to ignore the history and culture of this large portion of the world's population. Advanced studies on the vario ...