뉴스레터

Korean autumn is really beautiful with its warm sunlight, clear blue sky and clean air. Korean autumn is indeed a season with the sky being clear and blue, and horses growing stout. On October 15, a day of this beautiful autumn, there was history education through experience in Ganghwado for native speaker assistant Chinese teachers in Korea which was jointly held by Northeast Asian History Foundation and Educational Board of Seoul.

In spite of autumn rain falling in tiny drops from the morning, 10 native speaker assistant Chinese teachers who had been invited to this event and 10 helping teachers of Chinese gathered at Northeast Asian History Foundation before departing to Ganghwado. This event, which was comprised of visits to historical sites in Ganghwado and activities to experience the cultures - was prepared to help native speaker assistant Chinese teachers in Korea to widen their knowledge of Korean history and equip themselves with a right view of history.

The first destination of our visit was Ganghwa History Museum. Ganghwa History Museum is located in the Ganghwa Dolmen Park, Korean historical site no. 137 and also designated as a world cultural heritage, is a place where researches, exhibitions and educational activities are carried out to preserve and utilize cultural heritages in Ganghwa. From the foundation of the nation's first kingdom through to its bronze age, Goryeo, Joseon and the modern and present eras, I could feel the breath of the long history through the exhibited relics left by ancestors of the past. I saw Ganghwa Bronze Bell (Treasure No. 11-8), a bronze temple bell said to be made by a Buddhist monk during the reign of King Sukjong of Joseon Dynasty. Used for telling the opening and closing times for the gate of Ganghwa Walled Fortress, this bell was about to be taken by the French Corps during Byeonginyangyo (French Invasion of 1866), but they gave it up as it was very heavy. This bell is not hit any more nowadays, but I felt that the bell, which must have made magnificent sound every time the gate of Ganghwa Walled Fortress was about to be opened or closed, was making the sound all around me and telling the times of honor and disgrace as well as the changes.

Getting deeply involved into the history of Ganghwado

I came out of Ganghwa History Museum and saw the dolmen. Standing in front of a dolmen which was there for long long time carrying the sky, my breath as well went down heavily under the weight. How great was the power of the person buried under such a huge stone, and how much glory was given to him? And how many people did cry for him? What kind of voice came out from the mouth of the hundreds of people mobilized to move the stone? How did they lift the stone weighing tens of tons as high as 2 meters? I thought about it time after time, but I could not sort it out. The huge stone standing in front of me was a monument without inscribed words. The civilization of the Bronze Age was inscribed on it telling the greatness of humans conquering the nature. I had to respect the brilliance of the wisdom and culture of ancestors with my head down.

We went to Yongdudondae (raised platform) built on a natural rock at the sea that looked like a dragon along the Ganghwa Strait. This is the place where there was fierce artillery firing during the French Invasion of 1866 and Sinmiyangyo (American Invasion of 1871). At Yongdudondae I felt as if the sound of the gunfire from the French Invasion was still being heard and the groan of the American Invasion of 1871 was circling around the fortress walls. People say that the view from Yongdudondae is most beautiful in Ganghwado. I shivered spontaneously when I thought of those who fought fiercely and sacrificed their young lives while they were shot with arrows, stabbed or cut with swords. Pains of the past expressed as blood, tears and hatred became tales among the people. As such pains are remembered as violent gale and then soft rain, clearly sometimes but vaguely too at other times, I was being attracted into the history of Ganghwado. I could feel the fast current of water right under Yongdudondae. This is 'Sondolmok' which is famous for its water turning round and round and the strong waves.

When Goryeo's 21st king Heejong was escaping from the Mongol Army and ordered his men to move his boat quickly towards Yongyudo, he chose Sondol, a famous boatman, as the man to steer his boat. When King Heejong arrived here under Yongdudondae on October 20 in the lunar calendar, the current of water was strong and Sondol kept moving the boat towards a cornered place. The king suspected Sondol as traitor and the flurried king killed Sondol. When Sondol was dying, he said to the king, "Float a bottle gourd and follow it. Then you will be able to go to the open sea." As Sondol said, the king floated a bottle gourd and was able to pass this place. Then he regretted he had killed Sondol and buried his body on a mountain near the river facing Gimpo. And he ordered a memorial ceremony to be held for him.

This narrow waterway was then named 'Sondolmok (Sondol passage)' because Sondol had been killed on a false charge. Boatman Sondol is said to have become the northwesterly wind after his death. So, the wind blown on October 20 in the lunar calendar is called 'Sondol Wind' while the cold is called 'Sondol cold'. I could feel boatman Sondol's sorrow in the wind blown with the rain. The swirling waters on the sandbank have stayed there day and night for a thousand years.

A place that carries the past and creates a new history

Ganghwado really had a lot of stories wherever I went. The magnificence when the founder of Korea's first kingdom Dangun built an altar on Manisan (Mani Mountain) and worshiped the Heaven, fierce battles during the period of the three kingdoms, the strong determination of Goryeo's people who fought with the iron-clad Mongolian cavalry for 39 years to defend their country, Yeonsangun(Ousted King Yeonsan)'s exile, the tears and sighs of King Injo in his flee, the fires set by the French army when they plundered Gyujanggak, the brave hard-fought battle with American forces at Gwangseongbo when both arrows and food had run out, the invasion of the Japanese fleet and the humiliation of signing the Ganghwado Treaty under threat…The relics and historical sites remaining here and there made us feel the suffering, pain and glory of the times like the scars left on the body of a general.

The rain that started in the morning had stopped before I was aware of it. The setting sun was caught in the branches of a tree, and smoke was rising in clouds from the chimney on the roof of each house, which looked like Ganghwado's mat woven with flower designs. Golden rice fields spread in my front and two farmers are crossing a dark green radish field carrying sweet potatoes harvested just a short while ago. I could feel the warm and relaxing atmosphere of Ganghwado. Ganghwado is still there today, carrying the past on the head and creating a new history.

In the bus on my way back home, I recalled the history of Ganghwado that I had experienced in gentle autumn rain. Ganghwado has been a place of important scenes of Korean history from the prehistoric age through the period of Goryeo to the early modern period. I have had a time for deepening my understanding of Korean history and examining it in comparison of China's history. I would like to thank Northeast Asian History Foundation for giving this meaningful opportunity to experience the history.