Корея

Abstract

My Korea, my little leaf
Hemmed in by Yue and Ho!
Oh when shall we disperse the dust
Away from the South and North?
- Nam  Yi, Russian translation by Anna Akhmatova
The history of Korea is filled with hard and sad episodes. For many centuries, Japanese pirates, the Yue emperors of China from the South, the Ho tribes of Manchuria from the North and others made inroads into the ‘Land of Morning Freshness’.  So the national culture and worldview seem to be deeply mistrustful of neighbours.
Korean culture had been greatly influenced by more ancient and powerful cultures, and first of all, by Chinese culture. Then, in the modern age, came the period of the impact of Japan. In the second half of the 20th century, when Korea was divided between the two spheres of influence, it was time to follow western, Soviet and American examples.At the same time, indigenous Korean culture gradually developed to present itself to the world and to acquire its own influence. Korean cinema has reached a very high level, and Korean serials are now
seriously competing with Indian Bollywood. The 23rd Winter Olympics will be held in Pyeongchang, Korea.
And, certainly, Korean architecture plays a growing role in the professional world. We are publishing the results of the 26th UIA Congress and the General Assembly held in Seoul, and the manifesto adopted by the Congress.
The Woman’s University in Seoul by Dominique Perrault demonstrates how carefully national traditions can be treated, even if the author of the project is one of the brightest stars of architecture.The article on Dongdaemun Design Park and Plaza by Zaha Hadid also proves it. This complex consists of similar parametric ‘pixels’, which refer to the ancient Chinese treatises on architecture based on this very modularity. The world’s largest Korean expatriate community lives in the North of China, not far from the border river Tumangan. This river has long been a symbolic border separating the Korean motherland from the foreign land. One of contemporary Korean poets writes:
In the North of the Tumangan
We failed to change our history,
So we couldn’t  change our face,
Nation, idea, race and future…
We couldn’t change them and returned to Seoul.
- Yi Mun Ze, “Diaspora”