#seoye

Prof. Yeon was careful to emphasise that ‘Korean’ and hangeul are not the same thing - the language spoken in the Korean peninsula had existed for thousands of years before King Sejong developed the script in 1443, making hangeul one of the youngest writing systems in the world. Prior to that, only a privileged few could read and write ‘Korean’ using hanja - Chinese characters that would record meaning, but not necessarily the sound of the language or its grammar.  

Having learned Korean for several months now, I’ve found hangeul to be systematic and elegant to use - in fact, people often joke that although it might take many years to become fluent, it is possible to learn the Korean alphabet in a few hours. The development of the script was also extremely scientific and philosophical: the symbols for the consonants approximate the shapes the mouth makes when pronouncing them, whereas the vowels are derived from the Confucian elements of ‘heaven’, ‘earth’ and ‘man’.

We were then introduced to seoye, Korean calligraphy, for the second part of our session. Having grown up in Hong Kong, I’ve briefly dabbled in Chinese calligraphy over the years, but this was the first time I’ve written hangeul with ink and brush. There’s something endlessly satisfying about seeing brushstrokes flowing across the page, especially when I think about how our ancestors have been mark-making in a similar fashion for thousands of years.  

On a complete unrelated note, I managed to sneak in a quick peek of a current exhibition at the KCCUK named Dawns, Mine, Crystal by South Korean artist Yunchul Kim. He’s been nominated as KCCUK’s Artist of the Year 2018 and it’s easy to see why - his installations that feature glass and light are hauntingly beautiful. It’s on show until November 3rd, so get yourself down there for a bit of a gander!