Identity is unique and it is representative of a certain thing. For a country to create its own identity not only must it be unique and representative, it must also be accepted by the people. Everyone knows how important the arts are a part of the Koreans’ lives and that culture and heritage are also part of their arts and how much effort the government have actually put in to create Korean’s own identity.
The first thing that comes to people’s mind when it comes to Korea is the wonderful food culture that they have (kimchi). Traditional performing arts like their graceful dance and even their wonderful heritage (Confucianism), all these belong to the Korean identity. These are the things that represent the country and play an integral part in the Koreans lives too.
The arts, culture and heritage site is able to create a Korean identity due to the fact that it have been passed down by generations. Korean traditional dance have been passed down and practised by many generations and this have become such an important part of their culture. I believe that this is what Singapore government should also do, which is to promote traditional art form to make it part of our culture(reference to Renaissance City Plan II), to add on to Singapore’s culture assets.
Food culture is one of the things that people remember Korea or recognise it for. It can be seen that kimchi is a food that is widely accepted by the Koreans and is frequently consumed by them. One of the most important criterion that I feel that which makes up a culture is that it is being accepted widely by the community and that this can be seen from the love that the Koreans have towards kimchi and how this kimchi culture have spread across the world. This is similar to how people recognise Singapore by its food culture. For example, laksa, chicken rice and rojak are all Singaporean foods that are globally recognised by most internationals
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(wonderful kimchi)
One of the unique where whereby Korea chose to show their culture is through their heritage site. Korea is known for being respectful and applying Confucianism to their life. For example, the Jongymo shrine, which is the royal family of the Joseon Dynasty paid homage to their forefathers in the time-honoured Confucian tradition- believing about the spirits of the descendant and the need to respect them actually the same as how they respect their elderly.
In order to promote tourism in Korea, the government chose to use different means to portray their culture (identity) in order to attract tourist. One of the ways is through media. Since the world now is going through globalisation, the way got connected with each other through media. Given that Korean drama is extremely popular among people today, the government chose to use that to show people more about the Koreans’ culture. Like how the Korean actually behave when they are with the older generation (respect, due to Confucianism), the food culture that they have. Like the love they have towards kimchi and all those steamboat which they consumed frequently too.
And also given that internet is widely available to everyone, the Korean government actually puts in a lot effort into their website. (http://english.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/index.kto). Also the fact that Youtube is very popular in the world today, some of the traditional Korean dance clips are actually being uploaded onto the internet, allowing people to view and get to know more about Korea’s arts.
In order to spark the interest of youngsters towards Korea, the government also encourages the promotion of the music industry. In the recent years, the world has seen a rise in the popularity of Korean popular culture, or in short, KPOP. Although KPOP doesn’t directly reflect Korean culture, youngsters will start to become more interested and aware about the Korea culture through KPOP. And through the word of mouth, youngster can actually spread the Korea identity to their family members and friend. Most of the time, people are interested and will be curious about a country’s identity, therefore they would actually want to go to the country to know and experience the country’s culture (identity) therefore, increase the tourism level of the country (:
From this, we can actually see how important a country identity is. Not only is it unique and representative of a country, it allows people to know more about the country and may chose to come to your country to experience it thus increasing your tourism level, boosting the country’s economy.
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