Have you heard of °ËÀ̺ҷç ÇÏÀ̺ÒÄ¡? It describes the Korean's beauty: 'frugal but not shabby, impressive but not extravagant'. The Namsan Hanok Village we went to today not only reveals the Korean's beauty but also allows us to take a glimpse of how people lived in the past and their way of life through our own Korean traditional houses, hanok. Even it has the possibility of perishing in the war, it is built in harmony with nature, using materials such as wood.

       In this Hanok village, I saw various type of Korean houses and traditional ones especially caught my eyes. The traditional Korean houses are divided into three: house of Kim Chunyeong, house of Min Yeongwhi, House of Yoon Taekyoung.

      First, Kim Chunyeong, head of the royal guard's house has both Sarangchae and Anchae. Sarangchae is a room for father and son while Anchae is a room for mother and daughter in law. This separated quarters of man and woman gave me a thought that it is telling us about gender discrimination. A terrace where lots of pots are placed are called Jangdokdae. Jangdok is  container used for storing food like soybeans, and especially Kimchi. We use special clay to make a Jangdok and we also make tiny holes there. While dirt or water can't come through the holes, fresh air come inside, helping fermentation. Also, because of good ventilation, Jangdokdae can function better than a plastic vessel. Jangokdae's good ventilation applied to the refrigerator especially for Kimchi nowadays.

      Furthermore, I would like to talk about house of Min Yeonghwi, Empress Myeongseong's distant relative's nephew and founder of a bank and a school. This house is knowned to be one of the eight grandest house of Seoul. At the Sarangchae, we can see a bamboo pillow. However, it is not actually a pillow but Jukbuin. Since Juk means bamboo and Buin means wife, when we combine them together, it becomes 'bamboo wife'. It is amusing that men used to hug this when they sleep so they can cool themselves in the summer.

       Lastly, the house of Yoon Taekyoung, father in law of King Sunjong is renowned for its unique characteristics. It is built in the shape of the Chinese character meaning best. There is also a shrine in his house for memorial services. The family came here to pay their respects to the ancestors of four generations with four food tables in their front.

      In conclusion, in Joseon dynasty, you can see there are classes for each people. By their classes, the things they do, clothes they wear, food they eat, all of this are decided. Also, people discriminate and judge each other by their classes, not really, truly seeing them as they are as same human. I am relieved that today in this society there is democracy meaning every person is equal and have their own individual rights.