Making Hanji Crafts in Anguk Station

Itaewon Global Village Center advertised a Korean traditional craft making event, "hanji craft class: mini chest of drawers," that particularly interested me. A few years ago I made a colorful hanji pencil holder, which I still have, but that was my only hanji craft experience, odd since I've been in Korea for a long time and very interested in art. So I signed up for the event.

I was a little surprised that all participants were given strips of brightly colored hanji and were to decorate a box to make it "beautiful", but bright gaudy colors do not signify beauty to me. Fortunately another lady had brought a sheet of yellow cream hanji and shared it ... and the yellow cream was a softening contrast to the bright strips and became the background to my box. I didn't put strips on it like everyone was expected to do but rather organized them on the sides to create a fan of color, and also, like I'd seen somewhere, I tore the paper into shapes to create visual art for the top decoration. Then using a glossy brochure from somewhere with scissors I clipped out a couple of gold butterflies to decorate the drawer fronts. Then I could say my unique hanji artform was complete. Well, actually something was missing but I didn't know how to get a glossy finish on the box until I took a more professional hanji class a few weeks later, but once I learned how to gloss it up a bit, the dull dry colors brightened and wiping dust off became easy. Here's my completed glossy hanji box.

My hanji butterfly box - 7"H x 8"W x 7.5"D

And I was addicted! I wanted to create more!

During the winter holiday I saw a hanji craft shop in the first basement of Anguk Station, line 3. There were furniture, lamps, pencil boxes and cases, vases, cosmetic boxes, and so much more, all created from hanji and firm cardboard frames. Then I noticed women inside putting some boxes together ... and I just had to ask about what appeared to be a hanji craft class. She affirmed she taught hanji and I committed right away to taking a class!

For a one-time class, typically two hours - W30,000 (rather expensive). 

For a one-month class, four times a week, two hours a day (M/T/TH/F) - W100,000 (this includes her expertise—she is a confident perfectionist and none of her movements are wasted, and she's great at anticipating what you need next—glues and pastes, stains if needed, use of her tools). 

Her hours are 11am-6pm M/T/TH/F, but she takes 30 minutes or so for lunch, the time could vary day-to-day depending on if she has people in her shop or not. 

Basically, the W100,000 is the fee for use of everything and her skills as a teacher. In addition, the person must pay the cost of whatever he or she makes. I made a simple hexagonal pencil case for W4,000, a rather large vase with painstakingly cut out cranes (took an hour to cut out a single detailed crane and had to cut six ... but the end result was nice) W18,000, an octagonal candy dish - W8,000, and a bamboo-stripped pencil box - W4,000, and finally the one I am most proud of and which was really quite simple to make, the fan-shaped hanji lamp - W60,000.

I had seen a hanji lamp the previous year in an Insadong shop. The lamp took my breath away and was so elegant in its simplicity I took a picture and would have bought the lamp on spot (W118,000) but had no place to put it. Even the lamp I made I'm still scratching my head with what to do with it. Was going to send it to a cousin but it's 28" wide and so far haven't found a suitable box to airmail it in. Anyway, here's the picture of the lamp that initially made me gasp.

Looking around her shop I just was delighted ... and inspired. I didn't quite complete my one-month with her because of the flight I had previously booked, but that's OK. She empowered me on knowledge of how to mix the glue-paste to the proper thickness, depending on what I was doing, how to bleach the craft causing the least damage to the hanji fibers, how to stain, cut, measure exactly (ugh I hate math but hanji craft requires careful measurements so that the cardboard forms fit properly together or so the hanji doesn't bulk up in corners and seams). She helped me measure and cut out the hexagonal pencil holder frame but all other forms were pre-cut, particularly the 18" vase form below; otherwise, making the vase would have taken several more hours. 

I snapped some other creations of hers from around her shop. She was delighted that I was delighted with her work. She's made lamps and furniture for many enterprises, one she was particularly happy about was a Korean restaurant in New Jersey. She made all of the delicate hanji lampshades throughout the guest seating area for this restaurant—she showed me some pictures—and the effect was a tasteful and classy Korean ambience. Unfortunately, I have no picture of the restaurant but I do have picts of beautiful things from around her shop.

large vases and very durable pieces of traditional-style furniture

various kinds of soft lighting

cosmetic chests!

Although my hanji sunsaengnim doesn't hardly know a word of English, she is stellar at body language and providing examples. I asked a lot of questions and she was very good about breaking her answer down (never baby-talking, she always spoke in full sentences like I could understand ... and I loved her for it!). When I didn't understand a particular word, she'd pick up something she had made around her shop and show me what she meant. Wow, my Korean vocabulary and comprehension really increased!

A collage of hanji crafts that I or my sunsaengnim made. The cranes are images I painstakingly cut out with an exacto-knife. They looked really cool on my large glossy hanji vase and even some people as they passed through the shop took pictures of it ... very complimentary!

If anyone likes working with hanji and wants to learn correctness plus tasteful elegance, then this lady can help the person achieve his/her artistic goals. I so highly recommend taking a month-long lesson from her. She really knows her stuff!

Her hanji craft shop is in Anguk Station (line 3), 1st basement, and easy to find -- just look for a shop with big glass windows displaying many kinds of beautiful hanji craft items.

What Is Hanji?

Hanji literally means “the paper of Korea”. It has been a part of Korean life and tradition for over a thousand years. Hanji is an extremely durable and high-quality paper, made from the fibrous inner bark of the mulberry tree, which grows well in Korea. 

Hanji is used in very many ways : 

• covering for doors and windows of traditional Korean houses
• printing paper for important documents and books 
• household objects: fans, tobacco pouches, notebooks, shrouds, rope and string, baskets, shoes, clothes, umbrellas, lamps, kites … 
• furniture making
• calligraphy paper
• wall papering 
• arts and crafts 

The durability of hanji allows it to be used in a multitude of ways. Before Korea opened its ports, Koreans even used hanji as a suit of armor after varnishing it with lacquer. There is an old saying that paper lasts a thousand years and textiles (such as silk or hemp) last 500. In the West, products made of paper more than 300∼400 years old are rare, but Korea has preserved quite a few books and drawings which are almost 1000 years old. In fact, the oldest printed material in the world, created in 751, was printed on hanji. 

The strength and durability of the traditional paper comes from its natural materials. Mulberry bark is strong and can even be immersed in water for a year without decomposing. The mulberry fibers are wide and the fibers stay aerated with air and light passing through. The high-quality Korean paper can be produced with young trees—trees that are one year old—while cheaper modern paper requires pulp made from trees 20-30 years old. 

Manufacturing hanji is complicated, slow and labor-intensive. Dry mulberry branches are cut after the frost and steamed. The branches are then immersed in water for one day, dried under sunlight, then the bark is peeled off and once again the plant fibers are steamed, this time immersed inside an iron pot with caustic soda. The steamed bark is then smashed with a mortar to squeeze the water out, and then placed in a wrapper and rinsed in flowing water. The fine mulberry fibers are then mixed with water and a natural adhesive in a large cauldron from which the fibers are lightly dipped out with a bamboo screen and rhythmically swished back and forth to create a crisscross pattern of fibers. The pulp remaining on the screen is then dried in a stack of wooden panels with good aeration and exposure to the sun, and once dried, peeled off the screen in a sheet of paper. The Korean Paper Museum in Jeonju gives visitors a more detailed perspective of hanji making (www.hanjimuseum.co.kr). 

Because of its laboriousness in production, traditional masters of hanji want less difficult jobs for their sons. As one master says, “I will not let my son be a container man (the person who strains the fiber through a bamboo screen) even if I am driven to the worst”. The small quantities, a long production process and distribution limited to specialty markets make traditional hanji production difficult to compete with the mass distribution of cheap easily produced modern paper. Therefore, he Korean government has appointed the masters of Korean paper making as intangible cultural assets and makes efforts to protect the industry. 

With global changes, hanji is finding new markets, and currently the hottest market trend for hanji is in the art industry. 

Artists for calligraphy and dyeing find hanji more suitable for applying ink than with less expensive, modern papers because of their impurities. For example, black Chinese ink spreads evenly because the hanji is strong and lacks impurities despite being thin. Also as it is very fibrous, it soaks up ink rather than letting it pool and puddle, which results in streaks and smears. Fashion shows featuring hanji clothing have been held on the Champs Elysee in Paris. Hanji has been developed as a substitute for styrofoam as internal pack material. And currently underway is a joint study by Korea and the US to study the potential protective properties of hanji paper for space shuttles. 

Source

What makes hanji so special? How can it be so durable?

The answer is in the bark of the mulberry tree. This bark is so strong that it can be immersed in water for an entire year without decomposing! Also, as the fibers of the bark are wide, it allows both air and light to go through. The mulberry pulp is naturally pH neutral and has an incomparable longevity; the fibers of the mulberry pulp are longer, more flexible and more resistant than other plants' fibers. Its extraordinary resilience makes it a prime choice for archival use; that's why the most important documents in the history of Korea have been written or printed on hanji.

Traditional Korean hanji is made with mulberry pulp and clean water, without any fillers or additives.

"Since 1945, Korean lifestyle underwent a dramatic overhaul. Traditional thatch top houses, which used a lot of handmade paper for walls, doors, windows, and flooring, were replaced by western architecture. Hanji was no longer an integral part of daily life and its main consumers were reduced to artists who practiced traditional ink painting or calligraphy. However, in recent years, a renewed awareness and appreciation is growing and the excellence of paper-making tradition is being rediscovered. More people are accepting the responsibility to carry on this invaluable legacy for next generations, opening a new era of hanji." (History of Hanji, Fides International).

Sources:

The Story of Hanji: Korean Paper that Stands the Test of Time

What Is Hanji?

Kazakhstan and the Korean Diaspora

A large number of Koreans arrived in Central Asia and Kazakhstan in 1937, but according to the first general census of the Russian Empire in 1897, there were a few dozen Koreans living in the central Asian territory. Koreans were also registered by the First All-Union Census of the population [1926] in three oblasts (prefectures) of what is now Kazakhstan: Akmolinsk, Semipalatinsk and Syr-Darya. 42 in total were registered : 36 in Uzbekistan and 9 in Kirghizstan.

At the end of the 1920s a small group of Koreans found themselves in Kazakhstan. Koreans, known for their superior rice production at the time, demonstrated great skill in rice and land cultivation. Because rice was viewed as a very important crop and so to develop rice production in Kazakhstan "it was planned to invite Koreans to Kazakhstan to assist in the organization of rice cultivation and sharing their experience." The Koreans who moved from the Far East to Kazakhstan formed "Korean agricultural labour artel 'Kazakskiyris'". In total 220 Koreans represented by 117 households immigrated to Kazakhstan at that time, (1929).

A lot of conjecture and legend surrounded the social acceptance of the Koreans who immigrated to Kazakhstan. Many believed that Korean immigrants to Russia were pure and illiterate peasants who lived in Korean villages in the maritime region of the Far East. This is easily debunked. The Koreans held themselves somewhat separated from the Kazakhs; they had a sense of elevated thoughts, the desire to pursue education, and though they were brought in as agricultural workers, the Korean women dressed fashionably for the times, the young boys (and some girls?) got educated.

Then the larger group of Koreans came in to Kazakhstan. Stalin deported a massive Korean population from the Russian Far East in 1937 in an endeavor to exterminate them. Many died, but when survivors arrived in Kazakhstan, they were willing to work and so thrived.

The Koreans valued education and, when compared with the Kazakh households, the Korean households were scholarly. Many old books were arguably brought with the Stalin refugees, and these books are now highly treasured and valued for their scholarship and good condition. 

Kazakhstan holds a significant collection of books in Korean and legends about the origin and value of this collection abound. It is clear that one of the most valuable items in the collection of the Kazakh National Library is a 19th Century edition of the 50-volume encyclopedia Dongguk Munhon Bigo (동국문헌비고 [東國文獻備考]). However, the question of how these books came to be in the Library of Kazakhstan remains uncertain. Little is known about how the collection was assembled in the Far East, how it was brought to Kzyl-Orda, and how it came to be in Almaty. 

No doubt, the books came to be in Kazakhstan in connection with the deportation of Koreans from the Soviet Far East in 1937 and the relocation of the Korean Pedagogical Institute from Vladivostok to Kzyl-Orda. It is likely that the books arrived along with the Institute’s deported students and teachers. In 1938 the Korean Pedagogical Institute in Kzyl-Orda and the Korean Pedagogical College in Kazalinsk (Kzyl-Orda oblast’), which was moved from Nikol’sk-Ussuriisk, began teaching in the Russian language. Korean educational establishments, as well as educational institutions of other national minorities (Germans, Poles, Tatars etc.), were eliminated and the names of those institutions were changed. Thus, there was no longer a need for Korean books in Kzyl-Orda and for a long time they were just silently shelved.  

[RAS lecture by German Kim, PhD and Doctor habilitatus from the Kazakh National University and  Director of the International Center of Korean Studies and Professor of World History in the KazNU. He is a noteworthy scholar on the history of Korean immigration and the Korean diaspora.]

Stalin intended to eliminate Korean language and culture but the Koreans were hardy, and proudly and privately cherished their culture, transporting it with them when they were forced west. To this day, Kazakh-Koreans share their culture with their original motherland, albeit in unique and altered ways.

• Korean traditions mark important life milestones: first birthday (tol), the wedding (kyoron chanchi) and 60th birthday (hwangab).
• National holidays based predominantly on the lunar calendar are mutually observed: spring (hansik) and autumn (chuseok) equinoxes, and on those days all Koreans visit their ancestors' graves. Solnal, the most joyful holiday on the lunar calendar, is the most popular for both Korean culture groups. 

New Challenges and Diasporic Strategies

The collapse of the Soviet Union and the emergence of sovereign Central Asian states opened a new page in the history of the Koryo saram. Opposite to other ethnic minorities, which have chosen to leave the Soviet Central Asian Republics, the Koreans have stayed but they are again being forced to adapt and this time to the nationalizing states.

Collapse of the Union of the Soviet Republics lead to the beginning formation of new communities of the Koryo saram: Kazakhstani/Kazakh, Uzbekistani, Russian and more, who are similar in some ways and different in others as regard to the strategies of choices:

• choice of the place of residence and/or migration
• choice of labor activity and profession
• choice of ways and forms of diasporic associations
• choice of identity and ethnocultural determinants 
• choice of relationship with the historical motherland

Already one-fifth of the Korean-Kazakh diaspora have moved to Seoul, 20,000 of the 100,000 from Kazakhstan have relocate back to the motherland. Interestingly, the Koran-Kazakhs are viewed very favorably and held in high-regard in Kazakhstan. This stems back to the Koreans who held themselves to high educational standards when they immigrated or were forcibly immigrated. They valued and embraced education, dressed well, established a community with laws and community-controlled social controls. Now, in present-day Kazakhstan, many Korean-Kazakhs are judges, university professors, lawyers and are government employed. For having a 0.07% of the population, the Korean-Kazakhs are valued and respected for their high contribution to nation-building/maintaining, a nation that the Korean-Kazakhs identify with in similar ways that they identify with Korea.

Religion of Koreans in Kazakhstan

Originally most Korean immigrants were Buddhist but significant numbers became Orthodox Christian (the Russian law says that to be a citizen a person must be an Orthodox Christian). In result, Korean immigrants, at least publicly, changed religions. This allowed them the right to own fields. Many Korean might still practice Buddhism privately, like ancestor veneration and other family rituals, but this was done away from the public eye. Over time, Buddhist practices declined and, for many who were Orthodox Christians for appearance sake, religious identities faltered and atheism began to dominate. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, Korean missionaries ventured to Kazakhstan and others came from the US and Canada, and religions was accepted again.

Korean Language

The official status of Korean language in FSU (?) is as the "native language" of the Koreans. Korean spoken by the Koryo saram exists basically in the oral form. As to dialect, ancestors of the Korean immigrants hailed from the Hamkyongnam province [present-day North Korea] but who migrated from the south of the peninsula during the 15th-16th century. Long isolation from Korea, absorption of elements from southern dialects, and finally Russian-language influences led to the linguistic phenomenon now referred to as "Koryo mal". 

• The prevailing number of Korean-Kazakhs do not know Korean at all.
• Those from 40-60 years of age typically have a passive mastery of the language.
• The senior age group, from 60-80 years old, could possess fluency. 

Conclusions

Unlike many immigrant ethnic groups that are uncertain whether they will adapt themselves in the host country, the Diaspora is aware that its future is related to the new homeland.

• The term Diaspora will remain until the group refers to itself as "we" instead of incorporating the pointed polarizing pronouns of "we" and "they".
• Koryo saram are neither Hanguk saram nor Choseon saram.
• Koryo saram are not less Koreans than Koreans of the Korean peninsula or other countries. They are Koreans; they are just different. Different experiences creates different identities; shared experiences homogenize. Time and experiences have altered the sociocultural homogeneousness but the core of their cultures is still the shared nucleus, the center where the vitality of both of their beings coexist. 

"Before we were homogeneously the same, now we are different. We have made choices and now we are valuing our differences," concludes German Kim.