Reviews
The writing is clear and easy to understand, so it was a smooth read. The author has watched and reported on Ganghwa for a long time; the book is light to read but substantial in content. I finished one easy read and felt I had learned a lot.
I hope you have a restorative time learning about Ganghwa, with its history and historic sites, in the Seoul metropolitan area. Everyday life can feel tiresome, and there are many times I want to turn off the news. You would hope the TV would bring only good news, but what we hear is often deeply discouraging and exhausting. Our daily lives can feel tiresome, too. I have felt this often, and lately it seems even stronger. Perhaps there have been few times when life felt as harsh as now, making
Korea Docent: Ganghwa. These days people travel abroad more than within Korea, and the Korea Docent series aims to introduce the country's land and people. This volume is about Ganghwa Island. It is very close to Seoul, just across a bridge, but because you have to cross over to an island it can feel psychologically distant. The author says they often visited Ganghwa after starting work. On days off, they would look at the fields and sea and feel refreshed, exploring all over the island.
Since the late 1980s—in other words, since 1989—I have spent more than 30 years going back and forth between Bucheon and Incheon. A few years ago, an unhinged lawmaker disparaged the area with the ridiculous phrase “Ibu-mangcheon.” Many people live here, so there are plenty of incidents and accidents, but to me this place is a second home and the foundation of my life; it is home to my children. For people in Incheon and Bucheon, Ganghwa is like an island getaway. Though transportation is more
Korea Docent: Stories of Korea's Land and People—Ganghwa, written by Kim Si-eon and published by 21st Century Books. Before the COVID pandemic, I had a chance to get to know some history teachers. In a history-travel group of students, parents, teachers, and other adults, we packed our bags almost every week and toured cultural sites and museums. Ganghwa Island, the subject of this book, especially comes to mind! It was quiet, with no traffic jams... We went during summer vacation, so I
Korea Docent 15: Ganghwa is an engaging travel guide to the deep history and culture of Ganghwa Island, which everyone has heard of but few know well. Rich in historical, cultural, and geographic appeal, it lets readers glimpse Ganghwa's true character. Author Kim Si-eon details its historic artifacts, sites, and modern attractions, revealing the region's value and cultural richness. The author explores Ganghwa's history and meaningful places, vividly conveying its many stories. Despite rugged
Ganghwa is an island I want to visit... Since I have never been, I started reading this book while planning a summer vacation there. It is a useful guide to the island's history, historic sites, temples, markets, and more... The book is Ganghwa, from the Korea Docent series: Stories of Korea's Land and People... Ganghwa has many coastal defense platforms. I had not studied history in a long time and had forgotten what they were. This book taught me again: a don is a watch post built near a
The first time I visited Ganghwa was during college. I took time off and stayed for over a month at Jeokseoksa Temple on Mount Goryeo. I remember foggy dawns that were utterly quiet, and the beautiful harbor at sunset from a place with a big tree. This book brought back my younger self, whom I had forgotten. Ganghwa is easy to reach and attracts many people. As the author says, the whole place feels like an open-air museum. It was where the Goryeo army's Sambyeolcho fought the Mongols and where
Kim Si-eon: enforce
Tears soak into Ganghwa's sediment, sweat seeps through it, and sighs linger there. Its seawater swells with generous hospitality, warm smiles from islanders, and hope that softens a harsh life. The way people speak on Ganghwa feels strangely unfamiliar: neither honorific nor casual, it resembles the Hwanghae dialect because many displaced people moved there during the Korean War. Yet the more you hear it, the warmer and more familiar it feels. Ganghwa's nature is as strangely unfamiliar as its people's speech. Perhaps because it lies near the border, its quiet lanes seem less touched by people; they change into colorful seasonal dress to welcome visitors. An island where the fleeting and eternal coexist, Ganghwa is the subject of the fifteenth volume in the Korea Docent series. Like Yi Jung-hwan's Taekniji, Kim Jeong-ho's Daedongjiji, and the 11-volume Korea Revealed by Deep-Rooted Tree, these human-geography works record the land, people, and culture by traveling around the country in each era. What goes unrecorded disappears with time. Korea since the 1970s and 1980s, which is not covered deeply in standard curricula, is almost unknown territory to younger generations. The Korea Docent series explains local history, culture, people, and land as a docent might explain paintings and historic artifacts. Ganghwa Island belongs to Ganghwa County in Incheon Metropolitan City. With its long history and distinctive cultural landscape, it played an important role from ancient times to the present. Because of its geopolitical location, the island has repeatedly been at the center of historical events. Ganghwa's history reaches back to the Bronze Age.
Korean title: 강화
Korean author: 김시언
Korean publisher: 21세기북스
ISBN-13: 9791171175932
Reviews
The writing is clear and easy to understand, so it was a smooth read. The author has watched and reported on Ganghwa for a long time; the book is light to read but substantial in content. I finished one easy read and felt I had learned a lot.
I hope you have a restorative time learning about Ganghwa, with its history and historic sites, in the Seoul metropolitan area. Everyday life can feel tiresome, and there are many times I want to turn off the news. You would hope the TV would bring only good news, but what we hear is often deeply discouraging and exhausting. Our daily lives can feel tiresome, too. I have felt this often, and lately it seems even stronger. Perhaps there have been few times when life felt as harsh as now, making
Korea Docent: Ganghwa. These days people travel abroad more than within Korea, and the Korea Docent series aims to introduce the country's land and people. This volume is about Ganghwa Island. It is very close to Seoul, just across a bridge, but because you have to cross over to an island it can feel psychologically distant. The author says they often visited Ganghwa after starting work. On days off, they would look at the fields and sea and feel refreshed, exploring all over the island.
Since the late 1980s—in other words, since 1989—I have spent more than 30 years going back and forth between Bucheon and Incheon. A few years ago, an unhinged lawmaker disparaged the area with the ridiculous phrase “Ibu-mangcheon.” Many people live here, so there are plenty of incidents and accidents, but to me this place is a second home and the foundation of my life; it is home to my children. For people in Incheon and Bucheon, Ganghwa is like an island getaway. Though transportation is more
Korea Docent: Stories of Korea's Land and People—Ganghwa, written by Kim Si-eon and published by 21st Century Books. Before the COVID pandemic, I had a chance to get to know some history teachers. In a history-travel group of students, parents, teachers, and other adults, we packed our bags almost every week and toured cultural sites and museums. Ganghwa Island, the subject of this book, especially comes to mind! It was quiet, with no traffic jams... We went during summer vacation, so I
Korea Docent 15: Ganghwa is an engaging travel guide to the deep history and culture of Ganghwa Island, which everyone has heard of but few know well. Rich in historical, cultural, and geographic appeal, it lets readers glimpse Ganghwa's true character. Author Kim Si-eon details its historic artifacts, sites, and modern attractions, revealing the region's value and cultural richness. The author explores Ganghwa's history and meaningful places, vividly conveying its many stories. Despite rugged
Ganghwa is an island I want to visit... Since I have never been, I started reading this book while planning a summer vacation there. It is a useful guide to the island's history, historic sites, temples, markets, and more... The book is Ganghwa, from the Korea Docent series: Stories of Korea's Land and People... Ganghwa has many coastal defense platforms. I had not studied history in a long time and had forgotten what they were. This book taught me again: a don is a watch post built near a
The first time I visited Ganghwa was during college. I took time off and stayed for over a month at Jeokseoksa Temple on Mount Goryeo. I remember foggy dawns that were utterly quiet, and the beautiful harbor at sunset from a place with a big tree. This book brought back my younger self, whom I had forgotten. Ganghwa is easy to reach and attracts many people. As the author says, the whole place feels like an open-air museum. It was where the Goryeo army's Sambyeolcho fought the Mongols and where
