The business secrets behind South Korea’s crazy application for World Heritage

South Korea has really worked hard to apply for World Heritage. For example, the Gangneung Dragon Boat Festival, New Confucianism, academies, wintering, kimchi culture, etc. have all been successfully applied for World Heritage. Let’s not discuss the shameful issue first. Let me talk about the core point first. They are actually doing this for economic benefits, but also to earn more cultural benefits for future generations, because if they successfully apply for World Heritage, they will receive a financial aid. But more importantly, from the selection, discussion to final determination, the world cultural heritage is a large-scale publicity on a global scale. Once the application is successful, the local tourism economy will basically take off directly.

In 2005, South Korea’s Gangneung Dragon Boat Festival was successfully applied for World Heritage status, which turned Gangneung, a small city with a population of only a few hundred thousand, into a major tourist town. At this point, you may have questions. The Dragon Boat Festival must belong to China. Why did they succeed in applying for World Heritage? First of all, in fact, Korean officials themselves have generously admitted that the origin of the Dragon Boat Festival is China, but this does not affect their application for the Dragon Boat Festival as a World Heritage. Because after more than 1,000 years, their Dragon Boat Festival has developed a relatively independent system. The relevant departments not only look at the source when reviewing, but also consider many other factors, which gives South Korea room for crazy operations.

To put it simply, world cultural heritage can coexist. If he doesn’t grab it, we won’t have it. For example, our Dragon Boat Festival has been officially included in the world's intangible cultural heritage. When I first started writing this manuscript, I was as angry as everyone else and felt that they were shamelessly stealing and so on. However, after careful study, we found that our Chinese knots, Chinese characters, etc., all used by them to apply for World Heritage, are actually all marketing accounts, made up randomly in order to gain attention. Their official website is not as bad as the online propaganda. So originally everyone could live in peace and develop their own culture. But recently, some Korean netizens have jumped out to seek death. For example, Hanfu comes from Hanbok, kimchi comes from South Korea, etc. That’s it, let’s talk about it.

In fact, ancient Korea did not have its own clothing etiquette at the beginning. During the Sui and Tang Dynasties, we wore Hu clothes, and they followed us in wearing Hu clothes. In the Ming Dynasty, South Korea immediately changed its policy and banned Hu clothing throughout the country to show that it was devoted to the Han Dynasty. Zhu Yuanzhang also gave the Korean royal family a complete set of Ming Dynasty Han clothing clothing and hat systems. Historically, it was called a blessing. There are historical records on how the king, ministers and princesses should wear them. record.

The topic of kimchi is even funnier. Most Korean netizens are at the level where we eat kimchi every day. We have a refrigerator dedicated to kimchi, so kimchi belongs to us. In fact, the method of making kimchi was brought over by Jizi, the uncle of King Zhou of Shang Dynasty in the late Shang Dynasty. We do not laugh at the ignorance of some Korean netizens, but their intention to protect their cultural heritage is genuine. South Korea actually does this to earn more cultural benefits for future generations.

It is now 2022. It seems that South Korea is far from having a long history as we do, but what about 1,000 years from now, 2000 years from now? Remember, history needs to be recorded and passed on. Many excellent traditional cultures have been passed down to our generation. If we do not protect and pass them on, other countries will vigorously promote them after introducing them, and even successfully apply for World Heritage. Then in the future, Historians may rely on their records, so we must stick to our traditional culture and pass it on.