You know about the Korean Wave (한류) which refers to the recent surge of popularity of South Korean popular culture in other countries, especially in Asian countries? It is also referred to as Hallyu from the Korean pronunciation of the term.  Korea Wave usually describes the acclaim that Korean films have received at Asian and international film festivals in the 21st century. The term was coined in China in mid 1999 by Beijing journalists startled by the growing popularity of South Koreans and South Korean goods in China.

Get ready now for the Han Style Wave! The Korean Wave has has created a demand for things Korean or "Han Style"! The Korean name for Korea is "Hanguk" (Korean country) (한국).The name for the Korean alphabet is "Hangeul" (한글).  So "Han" refers to things Korean.

Specifically, Han Style includes Hangeul, Hansik, Hanbok, Hanji, Hanok, and Hanguk Eumak:

For details, see the site at: http://www.han-style.com/english/index.htm

• Hangeul -- Korean alphabet [See Korean Language page]
• Hanbok --  Korean clothing [See Korean Culture page]
• Hansik --   Korean cuisine [See Korean Food page]
• Hanji --     Korean mulberry paper
• Hnok -       Korean house
• Hanguk eumak -- Korean music [See Korean Culture page]
  
  
  

The following articles provide some insight into Han Style.

http://www.korea.net/korea/kor_loca.asp?code=K1001

Pushing the Hallyu Wave Further with Han Style

Loving to sleep on ondol

Market share No. 1 in Russia, No. 4 in the U.S., 95 percent of the commodities exported abroad, 51 billion won in sales by Korean headquarters alone in 2005 (130 billion won if overseas branches are included) -- these are some of the glowing statistics for Aurora World Corp., a domestic toy company. And their secret? Facilitating traditional culture!

Established back in 1985, the company started out by simply assembling parts manufactured elsewhere but by 1990 made a daring decision to compete with major toy brands in the U.S. and European markets with a unique brand of its own. Targeting the U.S. as its first overseas market, the company established A&A Plush there in 1992 and presented a new kind of stuffed doll "Flopsie." The dolls stuffed with beans instead of cotton, inspired by ojami (bean-bag) games of Korea was an absolute hit.

Successful applications of traditional culture are evident in numerous sectors such as the growing interest abroad in ondol, the Korean underfloor heating system. CoDA Associates & Architects won a harbor reconstruction order from the Welsh government's Swansea Coastal City in late September this year. The company is to build ten 5~10 story apartment buildings (397 households) with "ondol-style" flooring near the anchorage facility. "There were other major English companies competing for the project but our unique ondol floor and excellent information technology beat them all," a CoDA spokesperson said. "This is the first time we have exported our ondol floor building style." Dong Il Construction Ltd., too exported the same "Korean-style" apartments to Madagascar, the economic exclusive zone of Astana in Kazakhstan. The company actually won the bidding for a 3,000-household project as a result of its skill with ondol. To a country with temperatures dropping below ?0 Celsius, ondol affords a warm, comfortable lifestyle. In China about 20 percent of the newly built apartments rely on ondol floor heating.

Ondol which some believe was used on the peninsula even before Goguryeo times (37 B.C. ~ A.D. 668) is not entirely new to the world, but Oxford has bestowed proof of its rising modern influence by adding the term to its comprehensive dictionary of the English language. "In March, 2004, about 30 people from the gas corporation in Osaka, Japan visited traditional temples in Korea to observe gudul," Choi Yeung-taik, president of The Society of Gudul Studies in Korea said. "Gudul, the pure Korean term for 'ondol' is a non-pollutant, energy-saving heating system and Korea, as the origin nation of gudul should be the first to modernize it to take over the world market."

The French monthly GEO released a 13-page feature story on temple life in Korea this March, praising the early morning worship, offerings to the Buddha, tea ceremony, meditation and much more. The piece was written by a journalist invited to Songgwang-sa Temple by the Korea Tourism Organization last December. Other foreign press, including weekly magazine "Le Monde 2," Canada's daily "Toronto Star" and Germany's "Die Welt" have covered Korean temple stays. "That's because there's nothing like a temple stay to give foreigners the spiritual side of the nation. It's a great way to differentiate Korea from other Asian countries," a KTO official said. "In last year's survey on temple stays, 80 percent of the tourists indicated that they would like to return."

Designer Lie Sang-bong also received a favorable response with his line of Hangeul-imprinted dresses in the handwritings of Pansori-singer Jang Sa-ik and artist Lim Ok-sang. "Hangeul is a work of art itself, effective in transferring one's sentiment and considered beautiful and modern emblems abroad. I have foreign buyers who want me to insert Hangeul designs in their clothes." Silkroad Co., a silk manufacturer for its part, introduced silk products adorned with traditional patterns. Within a few months, the company raised over $1 million by selling the products to Christian Dior, Maxmara, Armani, and others. Another local company, Bitsalmoony, Ltd. specializing in scarves and neck-ties is also doing well by applying a "bitsalmuni" pattern to its products. "Foreigners usually think of China or Japan when mentioning the East," said Kim Sang-hwa director of Gallery Ochae, a shop that distributes and develops Korean wood products. "But once they encounter our traditional embroidery, mini-pockets and other traditional patchwork they are awed by the newfound beauty in it,"

Han Style born out of traditional culture

Although Hanji, traditional paper, has yet to make its name abroad, no one doubts its potential. That's because no paper can beat Hanji in its durability, preservation and other functions. It is already 20-30 percent stronger than Japanese Wasi, which is currently favored for recording history or making replicas of artifacts. "Once we apply Hanji to practical use, it can be applied to any number of industries from textiles to new materials for robots. This could be added to our next-generation growth industry," Cha Woo-soo, chief delegate of the Korean Paper Association said. "In fact, joint research is going on between Korea and the U.S. to produce protective equipment for spacecraft or robot components using Hanji."

Korea has only begun opening its eyes to the potential of its traditional culture through hallyu. Although Korean products currently holds 75 percent of the makeup market in Vietnam and 80 percent of the electronics market in South Asia, there is a need to sustain this "Korean Premium" with the help of the deep rooted value system of Korea. Meanwhile there are other things to do ahead of promoting Korean tradition abroad. "We need to first help the general public be more in touch with our past," Kim Sang-wha said again pointing out that Koreans themselves have long been out of sync with traditional culture due to the rapid industrialization of the past few decades. "One way to do it is through fostering more art management and traditional culture shops. When the general public truly learns to appreciate the beauty and value of our own culture, only then, would the world show interest in a true sense.

http://www.korea.net/korea/kor_loca.asp?code=K1003

Get ready for Han Style Wave
"What - You still don't know what Han Style is?"

In November, 2004, the Culture and Tourism Ministry transferred Korean language-related operations to the National Academy of Korean Language from what is now known as the Korean Language & National Culture Team (KLNCT). It was part of a government policy to divide the project in a more orderly manner. The KLNCT felt completely lost: No Korean language project for the Korean language department -- what was left for them to do? And then, they turned their attention to national culture.
Looking back, national -- or more accurately, traditional -- culture was usually shunned by the culture ministry staff, given the nature of the work. Since most tasks centered around making current cultural products marketable, traditional culture seemed uninspiring. "In other words, han(韓) culture -- as in Korean 'Han-guk' (韓國) -- was truly in a state of 'han' -- as in "sorrow" (恨) -- as a result of being neglected for so long.

Back then, we were in search of new ideas. Once we set our mind on han-culture, we vowed to carry on the project in a systematic and consistent manner. During the process we also collected other big and small traditional culture-related tasks scattered across other departments in order organize the whole thing together," said Kim Hyun-jun the deputy director of the team. "The common responses from other departments back then were, "Why do you bother" or "You think that's easy?" he added. Now, just less than two years later, the team's project has become the most popular thing in the Culture Ministry especially after the successful display of the brand, "Han Style" last September, beating out other ministry brands like U-tourpia, Oasis (Online Archiving & Searching Internet Sources) and Sports 7330.

Han Style refers to six unique Korean brands -- "Hangeul," the Korean alphabet; "hansik," food; "hanbok," clothes; "hanok," houses; "hanji," mulberry paper; and "hankuk eumak," music. Two main factors played a decisive role in making Han Style possible. First is the emergence of two significant trends; "Hallyu" and "well-being", with Hallyu referring to the popularity of Korean pop culture abroad and well-being an English phrase coined in Korea that means a healthy life style. Despite phenomenal success, the entertainment industry began to feel the need to overcome the limits of Hallyu. At the same time, there was growing interest in Asia's traditional culture across the globe along with new healthy lifestyle trends.” Kim said. "In a way, we were simply responding to the call of the times rather than thinking ahead."

Second is the arrival of Kim Myung-gon as the new head of the Culture and Tourism Ministry this March. Having served as the executive director of the National Theater of Korea since 2000, he had long proved himself a capable administrator of cultural affairs. "In order for our country to see our cultural industry reach a higher level, we need to continue producing superior cultural contents. Such cultural contents must encompass both artistic and commercial quality. In that sense, it is highly important we promote a fundamental art sector,” Kim stressed in one of his interviews, underlining the importance of rediscovering traditional culture.

True to his words, Kim formed the "traditional art activation task force team," composed of eight experts from each sector in early June this year and developed various projects to revitalize promotion of traditional arts. At the press briefing at the Korea Press Center in central Seoul on July 5th to mark the 100th day of his inauguration, he proposed "active promotion of policy to revitalize traditional culture" to be one of the seven major policies. This was soon followed by his announcement of "Vision 2010 on the promotion of Korean traditional arts" at the National Center for Korean Traditional Performing Arts, two months later on September 27.

"The gist of the latest measure is to restore the true form of our long neglected traditions to return them back to our people to enjoy," explains the website of Cultural Ministry. "We intend to develop our traditional culture as a new Hallyu Wave. Toward that end, we are currently looking for ways to establish a legal and systemic framework to encourage its development." Asiana Airlines has a "Dae Jang Geum route", a plane that bears the logo of TV characters from the hit Korean drama "Dae Jang Geum." The airliner began its flight schedule in Taiwan and is now operating in Japan, China and southeast Asian nations where Korean pop culture has been welll recieved.



Although Hallyu is spreading far and wide at unprecedented speed, lately it is also being blocked by the counter trend "hyeom-hallyu" or "hating Korean Wave" in certain regions, calling for the need to diversify its trend. The ministry's decision to make a new Hallyu out of traditional arts came from that urgency to show the world what is truly Korean with our own hands. "Lately Minister Kim always talks about Han Style whenever he gets the chance. We can see that he's got big hopes for Han," one ministry official said. "He has repeatedly revealed that he would make Han Style a success along with restoring the true nature of Korean culture when he attended a gathering hosted by the Korea Image Committee."

Experts point out that Han Style is comparable to the "neo Japanesque" being pursued by the Japanese government. Neo Japanesque came about from Japan's realization that it can no longer compete with superior quality products alone and needs a new image to compete against Korea, China, and other Asian rivals that are rapidly encroaching on international markets. The new Japanese brand is expected to replace recognition of the "made in Japan" mark in three years' time. "In the past, it was a common practice for Korean global companies to hide their nationality, but now we see the reverse in that trend. Marketing in the new era will include national status to trumpet quality," one marketing expert said. "This is especially true for Korea which is starting to benefit from a 'Korea Premium.' The height of the second wave of Hallyu will be determined by how successfully we develop and globalize Han Style."

http://www.korea.net/korea/kor_loca.asp?code=K1004

Fueling Hallyu by Branding Traditional Culture

David S. Shin
Director of Hallyu Research Institute

"Hallyu" or the "Korean Wave" in Japan that first took off with the hit Korean drama "Winter Sonata" has been steadily widening its fan base through other popular series like "Dae Jang Geum," widening its fan base from middle aged housewives to their husbands and even among younger generations, leaving more and more people wanting to know more about the basis of Korean culture. These days a new Korean historic drama, "Hwang Jin-i," about a gisaeng or courtesan of the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910) is in particular expected to keep up the flame.

Amid this boom, a very special tea shop opened in Osaka, Japan, in early September this year, it is named after the TV drama "Jang Geum." The tea shop built in hanok-style -- Korean traditional architecture -- has adorned its interior with hanji, traditional Korean paper, and serves Korean traditional teas and snacks. Some big name Japanese media, including Mainichi TV and the Asahi newspaper, spread the news as an excellent example of Korean-Japanese cultural exchange. Recently it was even covered by NHK. There are reports that the shop has been inundated with questions about franchising.

Kim Hee-jung, the president of the new tea shop, visited Korea lately and stressed Korea deserves the credit for the appeal of its traditional culture, adding that, until recently, Japanese distributors rather than the Korean makers earned more from hallyu. "Unlike modern hallyu based on popular culture, traditional hallyu based on Korean culture provides much more opportunity for ordinary people to make money," he said. That not only includes traditional drinks like sikhe, the sweet rice beverage, and soojungkwa, the gently spiced ginger tea, but also omjija (red berry) tea, insam (ginseng) tea, yuja (citron) tea and more. Who would've known bibimbap, the spicy vegetable dish would be so favored by foreigners that it would become a popular in-flight meal?

It's not just Japan that wants to learn more about Korea thanks to "Dae Jang Geum" the drama based in the world of Korea's old culinary and Oriental medicine arts. The "Dae Jang Geum" restaurant in China is also doing quite well, and Vietnam's latest vogue is for the newlyweds to wear hanbok. Products or clothes adorned with Hangeul are selling like hotcakes in Thailand.

See what's new in the Korean Wave at: http://www.korea.net/korea/G08.asp

This page was last updated on: 06/08/2008.