1.
Hangul
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The Korean alphabet, known as Hangul in South Korea and as Chosŏngŭl/Chosŏn Muntcha in North Korea is the alphabet that has been used to write the Korean language since the 15th century. It was created during the Joseon Dynasty in 1443 by King Sejong the Great, in South Korea, Hangul is used primarily to write the Korean language as using Hanja in typical Korean writing had fallen out of common usage during the late 1990s. In its classical and modern forms, the alphabet has 19 consonant and 21 vowel letters, however, instead of being written sequentially like the letters of the Latin alphabet, Hangul letters are grouped into blocks, such as 한 han, each of which transcribes a syllable. That is, although the syllable 한 han may look like a single character, each syllabic block consists of two to six letters, including at least one consonant and one vowel. These blocks are arranged horizontally from left to right or vertically from top to bottom. Each Korean word consists of one or more syllables, hence one or more blocks, of the 11,172 possible Hangul syllables, the most frequent 256 have a cumulative frequency of 88. 2%, with the top 512, it reaches 99. 9%. The modern name Hangul was coined by Ju Sigyeong in 1912, han meant great in archaic Korean, and geul is the native Korean word for script. Taken together, then, the meaning is great script, as the word han had also become one way of indicating Korea as a whole the name could also potentially be interpreted as Korean script. Korean 한글 is pronounced, and in English as /ˈhɑːn. ɡʊl/ or /ˈhɑːŋɡʊl/, when used as an English word, it is often rendered without the diacritics, hangul, and it is often capitalized as Hangul, as it appears in many English dictionaries. Hankul in the Yale romanization, a system recommended for technical linguistic studies, North Koreans call it Chosŏngŭl, after Chosŏn, the North Korean name for Korea. Because of objections to the names Hangeul, Chosŏngŭl, and urigeul by Koreans in China, until the early 20th century, Hangul was denigrated as vulgar by the literate elite, who preferred the traditional hanja writing system. They gave it such names as these, Achimgeul, in the original Hanja, it is rendered as 故智者不終朝而會，愚者可浹旬而學。 Gugmun Eonmun Amgeul. Am is a prefix that signifies a noun is feminine Ahaetgeul or Ahaegeul Hangul was promulgated by Sejong the Great, the Hall of Worthies, a group of scholars who worked with Sejong to develop and refine the new alphabet, is often credited for the work. The project was completed in late December 1443 or January 1444, the publication date of the Hunmin Jeong-eum, October 9, became Hangul Day in South Korea. Its North Korean equivalent, Chosongul Day, is on January 15, various speculations about the creation process were put to rest by the discovery in 1940 of the 1446 Hunmin Jeong-eum Haerye. This document explains the design of the consonant letters according to articulatory phonetics, to assuage this problem, King Sejong created the unique alphabet known as Hangul to promote literacy among the common people. However, it entered popular culture as Sejong had intended, being used especially by women, the late 16th century, however, saw a revival of Hangul, with gasa literature and later sijo flourishing. In the 17th century, Hangul novels became a major genre, by this point spelling had become quite irregular
2.
Hanja
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Hanja is the Korean name for Chinese characters. Borrowed from Chinese and incorporated into the Korean language with Korean pronunciation, hanja-mal or hanja-eo refers to words that can be written with hanja, and hanmun refers to Classical Chinese writing, although hanja is sometimes used loosely to encompass these other concepts. Because hanja never underwent major reform, they are almost entirely identical to traditional Chinese, only a small number of hanja characters are modified or unique to Korean. By contrast, many of the Chinese characters currently in use in Japan and Mainland China have been simplified, and contain fewer strokes than the corresponding hanja characters. Today, a working knowledge of Chinese characters is still important for anyone who wishes to study older texts. Learning a certain number of hanja is very helpful for understanding the etymology of Sino-Korean words, hanja are not used to write native Korean words, which are always rendered in hangul, and even words of Chinese origin—hanja-eo —are written with the hangul alphabet most of the time. A major motivation for the introduction of Chinese characters into Korea was the spread of Buddhism, the major Chinese text that introduced hanja to Koreans, however, was not a religious text but the Chinese text, Cheonjamun. One way of adapting hanja to write Korean in such systems was to represent native Korean grammatical particles, for example, Gugyeol uses the characters 爲尼 to transcribe the Korean word hăni, in modern Korean, that means does, and so. However, in Chinese, the characters are read as the expression wéi ní. This is an example of Gugyeol words where the radical is read in Korean for its meaning. Hanja was the means of writing Korean until King Sejong the Great promoted the invention of hangul in the 15th century. However, even after the invention of hangul, most Korean scholars continued to write in hanmun and it was not until the 20th century that hangul truly replaced hanja. Officially, hanja has not been used in North Korea since June 1949, additionally, many words borrowed from Chinese have been replaced in the North with native Korean words. However, there are a number of Chinese-borrowed words in widespread usage in the North. The replacement has been less total in South Korea where, although usage has declined over time, some remains in common usage in some contexts. Each hanja is composed of one of 214 radicals plus in most cases one or more additional elements, the vast majority of hanja use the additional elements to indicate the sound of the character, but a few hanja are purely pictographic, and some were formed in other ways. This dual meaning-sound reading of a character is called eumhun, the word or words used to denote the meaning are often—though hardly always—words of native Korean origin, and are sometimes archaic words no longer commonly used. South Korean primary schools abandoned the teaching of hanja in 1971 and it is taught in separate courses in South Korean high schools, separately from the normal Korean-language curriculum
3.
Korea
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Korea is a historical state in East Asia, since 1945 divided into two distinct sovereign states, North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by China to the northwest and it is separated from Japan to the east by the Korea Strait and the Sea of Japan. Korea emerged as a political entity after centuries of conflict among the Three Kingdoms of Korea. Later Silla divided into three states during the Later Three Kingdoms period. Goryeo, which had succeeded Goguryeo, defeated the two states and united the Korean Peninsula. Around the same time, Balhae collapsed and its last crown prince fled south to Goryeo, Goryeo, whose name developed into the modern exonym Korea, was a highly cultured state that created the worlds first metal movable type in 1234. However, multiple invasions by the Mongol Yuan Dynasty during the 13th century greatly weakened the nation, following the Yuan Dynastys collapse, severe political strife followed, and Goryeo eventually fell to a coup led by General Yi Seong-gye, who established Joseon in 1388. The first 200 years of Joseon were marked by peace and saw the creation of the Korean alphabet by Sejong the Great in the 14th century. During the later part of the dynasty, however, Koreas isolationist policy earned it the Western nickname of the Hermit Kingdom, by the late 19th century, the country became the object of imperial design by the Empire of Japan. Despite attempts at modernization by the Korean Empire, in 1910 Korea was annexed by Japan and these circumstances soon became the basis for the division of Korea by the two superpowers, exacerbated by their incapability to agree on the terms of Korean independence. To date, both continue to compete with each other as the sole legitimate government of all of Korea. Korea is the spelling of Corea, a name attested in English as early as 1614. It is a derived from Cauli, Marco Polos transcription of the Chinese 高麗. This was the Hanja for the Korean kingdom of Goryeo or Koryŏ, Goryeos name was a continuation of the earlier Goguryeo or Koguryŏ, the northernmost of the Samguk, which was officially known by the shortened form Goryeo after the 5th-century reign of King Jangsu. The original name was a combination of the go with the name of a local Yemaek tribe. The name Korea is now used in English contexts by both North and South Korea. In South Korea, Korea as a whole is referred to as Hanguk, the name references the Samhan—Ma, Jin, and Byeon—who preceded the Three Kingdoms in the southern and central end of the peninsula during the 1st centuries BC and AD. It has been linked with the title khan used by the nomads of Manchuria
4.
Temple of Confucius
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A temple of Confucius or Confucian temple is a temple for the veneration of Confucius and the sages and philosophers of Confucianism in Chinese folk religion and other East Asian religions. They were formerly the site of the administration of the examination in China and Vietnam and often housed schools. The temples are known by a variety of names throughout East Asia, the two greatest temples in Qufu and Beijing are now known in Chinese as Temples of Confucius. In Shanghai, Vietnam, Korea, and Indonesia, they are known as Temples of Literature or Temples of the Sage of Literature, in Southern China, however, temples by that name generally honor Wenchang Wang, a separate deity associated with the scholar Zhang Yazi. In Japan, they are known as Temples or Halls of the Sage. The development of temples devoted to the cult of Confucius was an outcome of his gradual canonisation. In 195 BC, Han Gao Zu, founder of the Han Dynasty, sacrifices to the spirit of Confucius and that of Yan Hui, his most prominent disciple, began in the Imperial University as early as 241. In 454, the Liu Song dynasty of southern China built a prominent state Confucian temple, in 489, the Northern Wei constructed a Confucian temple in the capital, the first outside of Qufu in the north. In 630, the Tang Dynasty decreed that schools in all provinces and counties should have a Confucian temple, as a result of which temples spread throughout China. Well-known Confucian shrines include the Confucian Temple in Jianshui, the Confucian Temple in Xian, the Fuzi Miao in Nanjing, the Confucian Temple of old Tianjin is located on Dongmennei Dajie, a short distance west of Traditional Culture Street. Occupying 32 acres of land, The Confucian Temple is the largest extant traditional architectural complex in Tianjin, the largest and oldest Temple of Confucius is found in Confucius hometown, present-day Qufu in Shandong Province. The temple was expanded repeatedly over a period of more than 2,000 years until it became the huge complex currently standing, there is another temple in Quzhou. Beginning in the Tang dynasty, Confucian temples were built in prefectural and county schools throughout the empire, the front gate of the temple is called the Lingxing Gate. Inside there are three courtyards, although sometimes there are only two. However, the complex in Qufu has nine courtyards containing scores of steles commemorating visits by an emperor or imperial grants of titles upon descendants of Confucius. In imperial China, this housed the Spirit Tablets of Confucius. In front of the Dachengdian in Qufu is the Apricot Pavilion or Xingtan, another important building behind the main building is the Shrine of Adoring the Sage, which honoured the ancestors of Confucius and the fathers of the Four Correlates and Twelve Philosophers. Unlike Daoist or Buddhist temples, Confucian temples do not normally have images, in the early years of the temple in Qufu, it appears that the spirits of Confucius and his disciples were represented with wall paintings and clay or wooden statues
5.
Seoul
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The Seoul Capital Area houses up to half of the countrys population of 50.22 million people with 678,102 international residents. Situated on the Han River, Seouls history stretches back more than two years when it was founded in 18 BCE by Baekje, one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea. It continued as the capital of Korea under the Joseon Dynasty, the Seoul Capital Area contains five UNESCO World Heritage Sites, Changdeok Palace, Hwaseong Fortress, Jongmyo Shrine, Namhansanseong and the Royal Tombs of the Joseon Dynasty. Seoul is surrounded by mountains, the tallest being Mt. Bukhan, in 2015, it was rated Asias most livable city with the second highest quality of life globally by Arcadis. In 2014, the citys GDP per capita of $39,786 was comparable to that of France and Finland. Ranked sixth in the Global Power City Index and Global Financial Centres Index, Seoul is the worlds most wired city and ranked first in technology readiness by PwCs Cities of Opportunity report. It is served by the KTX high-speed rail and the Seoul Subway, providing 4G LTE, WiFi, Seoul is connected via AREX to Incheon International Airport, rated the worlds best airport nine years in a row by Airports Council International. Lotte World Tower, a 556-metre supertall skyscraper with 123 floors, has built in Seoul and become the OECDs tallest in 2016. Its Lotte Cinema houses the worlds largest cinema screen, Seouls COEX Mall is the worlds largest underground shopping mall. Seoul hosted the 1986 Asian Games,1988 Summer Olympics,2002 FIFA World Cup, the Miss Universe 1980 pageant, a UNESCO City of Design, Seoul was named the 2010 World Design Capital. The city has known in the past by the names Wirye-seong, Hanju. During Japans annexation in Korea, Hanseong was renamed to Keijō by the Imperial authorities to prevent confusion with the hanja 漢, in reality, the ancient name of Seoul, Hanseong, originally had the meaning of big or vast. Its current name originated from the Korean word meaning city, which is believed to be derived from the word Seorabeol, which originally referred to Gyeongju. Unlike most place names in Korea, Seoul has no corresponding hanja, on January 18,2005, Seoul government officially changed its official Chinese language name to Shouer from the historic Hancheng, of which use is becoming less common. Settlement of the Han River area, where present-day Seoul is located, Seoul is first recorded as Wiryeseong, the capital of Baekje in the northeastern Seoul area. There are several city walls remaining in the area date from this time. Pungnaptoseong, a wall just outside Seoul, is widely believed to have been at the main Wiryeseong site. As the Three Kingdoms competed for this region, control passed from Baekje to Goguryeo in the 5th century
6.
South Korea
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South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea, is a sovereign state in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula. The earliest Korean pottery dates to 8000 BC, with three kingdoms flourishing in the 1st century BC and its rich and vibrant culture left 19 UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritages of Humanity, the third largest in the world, along with 12 World Heritage Sites. Annexed into Imperial Japan in 1910, Korea was divided after its surrender in 1945, peace has since mostly continued with the two agreeing to work peacefully for reunification and the South solidifying peace as a regional power with the worlds 10th largest defence budget. South Koreas tiger economy soared at an average of 10% for over 30 years in a period of rapid transformation called the Miracle on the Han River. A long legacy of openness and focus on innovation made it successful, today, it is the worlds fifth largest exporter with the G20s largest budget surplus and highest credit rating of any country in East Asia. It has free trade agreements with 75% of the economy and is the only G20 nation trading freely with China, the US. Since 1988, its constitution guarantees a liberal democracy with high government transparency, high personal freedoms led to the rise of a globally influential pop culture such as K-pop and K-drama, a phenomenon called the Korean Wave, known for its distinctive fashionable and trendy style. Home of the UN Green Climate Fund and GGGI, South Korea is a leader in low carbon growth, committed to helping developing countries as a major DAC. It is the third least ignorant country in the Index of Ignorance, ranking eighth highest for peaceful tolerance. It is the worlds largest spender on R&D per GDP, leading the OECD in graduates in science, the name Korea derives from the name Goryeo. The name Goryeo itself was first used by the ancient kingdom of Goguryeo in the 5th century as a form of its name. The 10th-century kingdom of Goryeo succeeded Goguryeo, and thus inherited its name, the modern spelling of Korea first appeared in the late 17th century in the travel writings of the Dutch East India Companys Hendrick Hamel. After Goryeo was replaced by Joseon in 1392, Joseon became the name for the entire territory. The new official name has its origin in the ancient country of Gojoseon, in 1897, the Joseon dynasty changed the official name of the country from Joseon to Daehan Jeguk. The name Daehan, which means great Han literally, derives from Samhan, however, the name Joseon was still widely used by Koreans to refer to their country, though it was no longer the official name. Under Japanese rule, the two names Han and Joseon coexisted, there were several groups who fought for independence, the most notable being the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea. Following the surrender of Japan, in 1945, the Republic of Korea was adopted as the name for the new country. Since the government only controlled the part of the Korean Peninsula
7.
Jongno District
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Jongno District is a gu, or district, in central Seoul, South Korea. It takes its name from a local street, Jongno. Jongno District has been the center of the city for 600 years, Jongno District is commonly referred to as the face and heart of Korea because of its important roles in the politics, economics, culture, and history as the capital city. Jongno District is home to palaces in which the kings used to reside and work, such as Gyeongbok Palace, Changdeok Palace, Changgyeong Palace, the South Korean presidents current residence, the Cheongwadae, is also located in Jongno District. With the historical value and cultural properties, Jongno District attracts visitors attention and these include the restored Cheonggyecheon stream, the traditional neighborhood of Insa-dong, and the Jongmyo shrine. Art Center Nabi and Gahoe Museum, a museum is also located in the district. A number of colleges and universities are located here, these include the main campuses of Sungkyunkwan University, Jongno District is also home to Jogyesa, the chief temple of the Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism. It is also of historical significant as the location for administrative buildings and features statues of the Admiral Yi Sun-sin of Joseon Dynasty. As the traditional heart of Seoul, Jongno is still an important business center, notable companies based in Jongno include Kumho Asiana Group, Kyobo Life. Lotte Group, SK Group, Hyundai Engineering & Construction, Daewoo E&C, Daelim Group, East Asia Daily, the headquarters of South Korean skincare retailer The Face Shop is located in the LG Gwanghwamun Building on sinmunno 2-ga. The head office of Air Seoul is in the Kumho Asiana Main Tower in Sinmunno 1-ga, the headquarters of the Ministry of Security and Public Administration is located in the Seoul Government Complex in Jongno District. The third and fourth floors of the building house the Ministry of Unification. The headquarters of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is located in the MOFA Building in Jongno District, previously the Ministry of Education had its headquarters in the Central Government Complex in Jongno District. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism also had its headquarters in Jongno District, the Ministry of Health and Welfare had its headquarters in the Hyundai Building. The offices of those ministries have moved to Sejong City, before merged into another ministry in 2008, the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries was located in Jongro-gu. It was re-established in Sejong City and those are some of the district administrative dongs. For a complete list, see here, the current mayor of Jong-no district is Kim Yeong-jong
8.
Sungkyunkwan University
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Sungkyunkwan University is a private research university with campuses in Seoul and Suwon. Originally, it was founded in 1398 by the Joseon Dynasty located in the heart of central Seoul and it was authorized as Sungkyunkwan, the foremost educational institution of Joseon, by the great code of the state administration pertaining to the royal assent. Today, the university has two campuses, the Humanities and Social Sciences Campus in Seoul, and the Natural Sciences Campus in Suwon, twelve schools and four colleges offer degrees at the bachelors level, twelve graduate schools confer various degrees at both the masters and doctoral levels. SKKU offers Korea’s first fully English-taught Global MBA program, which has gained tremendous international recognition, SKKU also has one of the best medical schools in South Korea, which is affiliated with the world-famous Samsung Medical Center. Samsung partnered with SKKU in 1965-1977 and took up its partnership again in 1996, recent years have seen a trend of SKKU rising in university rankings, consistently placing in the top 3 nationally. It is located near Hyehwa-dong and Daehangno, the nearest subway station is Hyehwa Station on Seoul Subway Line 4. The Natural Sciences Campus in Suwon is located within walking distance from Sungkyunkwan University Station, the Natural Sciences Campus was established in 1978. This campus is situated 45km away from Seoul on a 250-acre site in northern Suwon, the campus is home to five colleges and two schools as well as numerous graduate schools. Sungkyunkwan was established in 1398 to offer prayers and rituals to Confucius and his disciples and it was located within the city walls of the capital Hanseong, or modern-day Seoul. It followed the example of the Goryeo-period Gukjagam, which in its latter years was known by the name Sungkyunkwan. Most Korean culture and Hangul have been archived by Sungkyunkwan scholars over hundreds of years, Sungkyunkwan was Koreas foremost institution of higher learning under the Joseon Dynasty education system. During the period of Japanese rule, the traditionally higher-education Sungkyunkwan was derogated, after liberation from the Empire of Japan, however, it was reopened as a college by the United States Army Military Government in Korea. Before long, it was reinstated by the ex-rector of Sungkyunkwan, Kim Changsook, as Korea modernized and underwent social and economic reforms, SKKU has played an important role in academic freedom in higher education and also kept alive traditional ethics in Korean society. The number of graduates now totals approximately 130,000, Sungkyunkwan now operates two campuses, the Humanities and Social Sciences Campus in Seoul and the Natural Sciences Campus in Suwon. 1398, The foundation of Sungkyunkwan 1400–1418, King Taejong initiates a tradition for royal princes to enter Sungkyunkwan,1475, Jongyeonggak, Koreas first library, is established. 1519, Planting of the pair of trees, that became SKKUs symbol. 1592, Munmyo, the Confucian Shrine, is destroyed in a fire,1895, Sungkyunkwan is reformed as a modern three-year university. 1911, The university is renamed Kyonghagwon by the Japanese Government-General,1946, Sungkyunkwan receives accreditation from United States Army Military Government in Korea on September 25 as Sunkyunkwan College
