National May 18 Cemetery
It was raining and quiet -- I did not expect that my visit to Gwangju would begin with a very sad story about Gwangju history. We visited the National May 18 Cemetery, and to be honest, I did not know any single thing of what has happened in the past in Gwangju or what did May 18 mean or what was this Cemetery for. We first did some kind of ceremony to worship the people who were killed in May 18 tragedy. My friend Chaopeng Wang represented us to pour ashes into the jar.
It was raining and quiet -- I did not expect that my visit to Gwangju would begin with a very sad story about Gwangju history. We visited the National May 18 Cemetery, and to be honest, I did not know any single thing of what has happened in the past in Gwangju or what did May 18 mean or what was this Cemetery for. We first did some kind of ceremony to worship the people who were killed in May 18 tragedy. My friend Chaopeng Wang represented us to pour ashes into the jar.
After that, we watched a video about what happened in Gwangju. It is Gwangju Democratization Movement. You can read all the information on the link, but when I watched the video, it was really sad and sad and sad. There were blood and dead bodies. It was about the Gwangju citizen who were willing to eliminate the dictatorship of the president of that time and defend the democracy. But, the Korean army were brutally killed (I don't know under whose command) the citizen and this cemetery were built to worship their (the killed citizen) effort to fight for the democracy.
As you can see on the picture, there is a statue which shape is like two hands holding an egg. This statue is called The May 18 Memorial Tower and it means the resurrection of a new life because egg means life. At least their sacrifice were not useless, South Korea now is a democratic country^^.
Yeah, we got a book and pamphlets and there are a lot of information about the project that Gwangju are doing right now. I just finished looking and reading
So, they are planning (or in progress now) to make Gwangju as the hub of the Asian culture where the cultures froma Asia countries can be promoted here. What are the missions?
1. To establish and operate Asian Culture Complex as a cultural power plan.
2. To develop a culture-based urban environment
3. To promote the arts and culture/tourism industries.
4. To reinforce the city's cultural exchange functions
This project were actually started in 2004 and guess what, they might finish it in 2024 ... wow.
What is Asian Culture Complex, this is it:
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| Asian Culture Complex Miniature |
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| Click to resize |
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| Click to resize |
Gwangju World Music Festival 2010
After being introduced to their project, we then went to see one of performances in the World Music Festival. We watched a 1 hour musical instrument performance by Debashish Bhattacharya, I think they are from India. To be honest, the performance was really hypnotizing, or maybe it is just me who doesn't know what art is. This festival was actually held on August 27 - 29. There are a lot of artist from many countries, such as Japan, France, Spain, Singapore, Malaysia, Austria, etc and also,of course, South Korea. But due to the lack of time, we were just able to watch 1 performance indoor and then we went to another stage (outdoor) to see another performance for only around 1 hour.
And then after that indoor performance, we went to another stage and when I saw the performance, I thought it was from Indonesia because they wore the clothes which pattern was exactly the same like traditional clothes from my hometown (Borneo), but actually they were from Malaysia. Moreover, due to the similarity of our language, I was like so lost and could not make my mind about where they are from. Anyway, it was really an entertainment.
I think by holding this kind of festival, it really helps to promote the culture of many countries in Asia and also to introduce them to many people. Who knows? people might become interested to visit those countries and I think Gwangju really plays its role as the hub of the Asian culture.
Even it was raining, people seemed to enjoy the show. Now that's the spirit^^.
PS: some information are acquired from the book (pamphlet?) that was given to us called "A Flower from the Seed Called Dreams -- Hub City of Asian Culture Gwangju" which I think was produced by Office for Hub City of Asian Culture.
Even it was raining, people seemed to enjoy the show. Now that's the spirit^^.
PS: some information are acquired from the book (pamphlet?) that was given to us called "A Flower from the Seed Called Dreams -- Hub City of Asian Culture Gwangju" which I think was produced by Office for Hub City of Asian Culture.
More pictures HERE.
August 30 2010
앙가
-- Hey ... I got a nice souvenir. And it happened again, like I lost my watch few weeks ago and now I get the new one hahah.
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