Walking from the Gwanghwamun gate of Gyengbokgung towards
the city, I noticed a lively and exciting avenue. The avenue is surrounded by
modern high-rise buildings, and is named Gwanghwamun Square. Observing the
avenue, then I remembered this was the location of the actions
of the movie Iris, the popular Korean TV serial drama, where the thrilling
chase, and fights happened. Kim Hyeon-jun (Lee Byung-hun) and Kim Sun-hwa (Kim
So-yeon) come to Gwanghwamun Square to find the bomb planted here by terrorists
in episode 17.
The avenue towards the palace exists since Seoul
became the capital of Korea. It was a large avenue for the king and his
entourage traveling from the palace to other places. In the 20th century it
remained a wide avenue, originally a 16-lane roadway, but in 2009 the Government
decided to create a landmark national square by transforming 10 lanes of the
roadway into a public space where people could enjoy and socialize. Thus it became
Gwanghwamun Square.
At its center stands a statue of King Sejong the
Great, the fourth and most respected king of the Joseon Dynasty and creator of
Hangeul, Korea's alphabet. Coincidently I watched the movie The King's Letters
in my flight with Asiana, a historical film about King Sejong who risked
everything of his reputation to invent the Hangeul, Korea's alphabet for his
people. It was quite an interesting movie to watch, considering the boring and
academic topic about the founding of the Korean written language. Surely it
wasn’t easy to make an interesting movie about that topic.
Further down there is the statue of Admiral Yi Sun-shin,
a naval commander noted for his victories against the Japanese navy during the
Japanese invasions of Korea (1592-1598) and a hero among Koreans. In front of
the statue is a miniature turtle ship that the Admiral built, and at each front
corner are two drums that were used to increase the morale of soldiers going to
the battlefield.
That time in October, the ‘Hi Seoul Festival’ was
going on at Gwanghwamun Square. It was a large annual performing arts festival
to promote international unity by enabling people to communicate with one
another through music and non-verbal performances, going beyond the barriers of
language, race and age. Hundreds of performances by teams from around the world
are presented during the week-long festival.
However, it wasn’t only festivity. As the Sewol
ship tragedy had just happened a few months before there was a memorial of the
victims of the sunken ship on display. There were posters showing the sadness
of the victims’ parents, friends and relatives, some also showed anger about
how the government handled this tragedy.
Out of 476 passengers and crew, 304 died in the
disaster, most notably around 250 students from Danwon High School, Ansan City.
The sinking of MV Sewol resulted in widespread social and political reaction
within South Korea. Many criticized the actions of the captain and most of the
crew. Also criticized were the ferry operator and the regulators who oversaw
its operations, along with the administration of President Park Geun-hye for
its disaster response.
As I entered the main audience halls of the Gyeongbokgung
Palace, I looked up at the ceiling and I was amazed by the patterns of colourful
ornaments, in red, blue and green, which bloomed on the eaves (the part of a
roof that meets or overhangs the walls of a building). I could see the grand
depictions of dragons on the ceilings, they were shown as two yellow dragons
flying in the sky. In the Eastern tradition the yellow color is associated with
the centre, so it is the color of the centre of the power.
Dragons have been part of Eastern mythology since ancient
times, and it is a major symbol of the king’s authority and dignity. A dragon
flying up into the sky symbolizes the ideal that a sage man will ascend to the
throne. This comes from the mythology in which a dragon that had been hidden in
the waters rises and flies up to Heaven. So the flying yellow dragons depicted
on the ceilings, as well on the canopy over the king’s throne symbolize the
king’s central position, from where the he rules the world around him with
authority and dignity.
Walking around I also noticed many other animal figures at
the palace, these animals are lucky symbols signifying long life, peace and
well-being, and happiness. These include the qilin (kirin in Japanese),
elephants, deer, and cranes engraved on the Hall of the Gyeongbokgung Palace.
There are also animal figures that are supposed to drive away evil spirits and
prevent misfortune. Among these are the cheollok seen around the Yeongjegyo Bridge
in Gyeongbokgung Palace, when evil spirits or bad people crossed the bridge,
these mythological animals attacked them and chased them away.
King Taejo, the first king and the founder of the Joseon
dynasty, in 1392 decided to move government to Hanyang (current Seoul) in the
third year of its reign, and started construction of Gyeongbokgung Palace in 1394.
This location of the place is surrounded by 4 mountains, mount Bugaksan to the
North, mount Namsan to the South, mount Naksan to the East and mount Imwangsan
to the West. The arrangement of these mountains was believed to attribute
Gyeongbokgung with a good fengshui.
Construction of the palace began in December 1394 under the
joint supervision of Jeong Do-jeon, an influential government minister, and his
associate Sim Deokpu. Jeong Do-jeon, who was also a leading Confusian scholar, designed
the palace reflecting the philosophy of Confucianism. He wanted to reflect the
principles of the Joseon dynasty in accordance with the ideals in Confucianism.
According to Confucianism one needs to train his mind and body before he can
teach others and rule the world.
Therefore Jong Do-jeon suggested that the palace should not
be a symbol of sovereign power, but a place where the king himself cultivates
his mind and rule over his people with the assistant of good government
officials. He wanted to build a palace
that’s not grand or imposing, but rather simple and elegant. Building an
extravagant palace would not be a value in Confucianism.
Jong Do-jeon also gave name to the palace Gyeongbokgung, which
means the ‘Palace of Shining Blessings’. ‘Gyongbok’ is a word borrowed from one
of the Confucian scriptures which means ‘to enjoy good fortune and prosper’. The
word ‘gung’ means palace, so ‘Gyeongbokgung’ suggested good wishes to the new
dynasty.
One of the controversial writings by
Emile is the novel “Lourdes” about the conflict of faith and naturalism that
took stage in the famous pilgrimage place Lourdes, France. Since reading the
novel I felt compelled to have a chat him and to confront him with the
controversy aroused by this novel. I tried contacting him many times, but he
seemed very busy and was traveling around France.
Then, during my trip to Lourdes in
August, I heard that Emile was there amid the thousands of pilgrims coming from
around the world. I was so surprised
that he came here, knowing his reputation as the founder of a new literary
movement ‘Le Naturisme’, return to nature, an extreme form of realism which
explains everything based on natural causes rather than supernatural or divine
causes.
Eager to find him, I went around asking people
about him, but it wasn’t easy. Everyone had their own interest to come here,
and certainly celebrity searching wasn’t their favorite interest. With a bit of
luck though, after a long search I saw him in a small crowd of singing and
dancing pilgrims, nearby the Grotto by the Gave de Pau river.
He seemed to be having a good time there
and was friendly and approachable.After
a ‘Bonjour’ exchange, and a polite‘may
I talk to you’ he agreed for a chat there at the bank of Gave de Pau river. I
couldn’t believe it, my head exploded with the imagination of the praises and
rewards I would get from the publisher of ‘stenote’.
I then hastily opened the discussion:
“Monsieur, this time Lourdes appears very
far developed compared with the time of Bernadette Soubirous. Lourdes was a greenery
village with a few hundred people, far from any frequented highway during
Bernadette’s time. Now, look, there is a beautiful basilica at the centre, and the
wild Massabielle grotto where Santa Maria appeared is now beautifully decorated
with flowers, and there are many nice hotels and restaurants surrounding the
site. ”
Emile:
“Indeed, in my book I wrote about the
contracts between Lourdes now and Bernadette’s house at Rue des Petits Floses
which has been kept the same as the original. It is a simple wretched looking
house in a gloomy neighborhood, with a mournful facades in which never a window
opens. Inside the house it is like a low dark chamber, the walls, with their
decaying, damped stained plaster falling off bits by bits, were full of cracks,
and turning dirty black like the ceiling. Yes this is the room, all come from
here, three beds for seven people of the Soubirous family filling this small
space. All of them lived here without air, without light, almost without bread!
What frightful misery! What lowly, pity-awaking poverty!”
I said:
“It is inevitable that people criticize
the modern Lourdes on the shrine’s relationship with modern market practices,
commercialization. Some five million pilgrims from around the world visit
Lourdes every year, making it the second most-visited city in France after
Paris. There is a concern that by becoming a religious shrine that catered to a
mass audience, the commercialized activities surrounding the pilgrimage
undermine the holiness of the site.”
Emile, citing his book:
“But, really, I must say that members of
a religious community ought not to keep hotels. No, no, it isn’t right. Ought
not those Blue Sisters, those Sisters of the Immaculate Conception, to have
confined themselves to their real functions, the manufacture of wafers for
sacramental purposes, and the repairing and washing of church linen?
Instead of that, however they had
tranformed their convent into a vast hostelry, where ladies who came to Lourdes
unaccompanied found separate rooms and were able to take their meals either in
privacy or in the general dining room. Everything was certainly very clean,
very well organized and very inexpensive, thanks to the thousands advantages
which the sisters enjoyed; in fact no hotel in Lourdes did so much business.”
I said:
“Because of its modern formation, there
are even allegations that Lourdes has become a Disneyland for the adults. Come
to think about it, the boulevards and gardens look like those in a Disney town,
the Rosary Basilica can be compared with Cinderella castle, the Ave Maria
procession can be compared with “Happiness is here” carnival in Disneyland, and
the candle lights prayer can be compared with the firework at Disneyland. “
Emile:
“The Disneyland in Hong Kong has its own
special train to its secluded location in Lantau island. The whole train is
decorated with Mickey Mouse images inside out, painted with Mickey’s face. The
seating are arranged like a family room so the passengers can feel cozy. The
windows are in Mickey’s shape, the handholds for the standing passengers are in
the shape of Mickeys’s ears, and the interior is decorated with Mickey, Donald
and Goofy statues. So you feel “Disneyed” even before you arrive at the theme
park.
In a way, the Church also used the
railway in innovative ways as they sought to augment the number of pilgrims
coming to Lourdes. They coordinated special trains for pilgrimages, designed
compartments to transport sick and disabled pilgrims, and secured reduction in
prices of 20 to 30 percent for third class tickets.
As I wrote in my book, these trains to
Lourdes were the rolling hospitals of disease at its last stage, of human
sufferings rushing for the hope of cure, furiously seeking consolation between
attacks of increased severity, with the ever present threat of death – death
hastened, supervening under awful conditions, amidst the mob-like scramble.”
I said:
“You joined a train to Lourdes that time
to see for yourself the condition in the train and based on this experience you
wrote in your book the suffering, passion and hope of the pilgrims. The pain,
anxiety and death are real experience you encountered in the train.”
Emile:
“Yes, for instance Elise Rouquet was a
real 18 years old girl, she had lupus which had preyed on her nose and mouth. Ulceration had spread, and was hourly
spreading- in short all the hideous peculiarities of this terrible disease were
in full process of development. She
covered her entire face with a black scarf to hide the disease. She could eat
only tiny pieces of bread, cautiously slipping it into her poor shapeless
mouth. When she uncovered her face to
eat, people could see her face with the gaping cavities which seemed to be the
face of death. Everyone in the carriage had turned pale at sight of the awful
apparition. And the same thought ascended from all those hope-inflated souls.
Ah Blessed Virgin, Powerful Virgin, what a miracle indeed if such an ill were
cured!”
I said:
“Then, as you wrote in the book,Elise Rouquet thinking it was useless to go
to the piscinas to bathe the frightful sore which was eating away her face had
contended herself by employing the water of the fountain as a lotion, every two
hours since her arrival that morning. Doctor Bonamy who advised her to continue
using water as a lotion and to return everyday for further examination, after
sometime noticed that there were signs of improvement in this case- that was
beyond doubt. It had become evident that the lupus that was eating away her
face, was showing signs of cure.
Elise Rouquet, now that the sore was
healing, then bought herself a pocket mirror, a large round one, in which she
did not weary contemplating herself, finding herself quite pretty and verifying
from minute to minute the progress of her cure with a gayness which, now that
her monstrous face was becoming human again, made her purse her lips and try a
variety of smiles.
However, Monsieur, you saw and wrote
about this cure of lupus, yet you denied that it was a miracle. You even
refused to look at her the healing of her face closely as suggested by doctor
Bonamy, and said: ’To me she is still ugly.’How could you deny it?”
Emile:
“ As I wrote in the Preface of the book,
I will admit that I came across some instances of real cure. Many cases of
nervous disorders have undoubtedly been cured, and there also have been other
cures which may perhaps be attributed to errors of diagnosis on the part of the
doctors who attended the patients so cured. These cures are based on ignorance
of the medical profession.
As doctor Chassaigne said our most
learned medical men suspect many of these sores to be nervous origin. Yes, they
are discovering that complaints of these kinds are often simply due to bad
nutrition of skin. These questions are still so imperfectly studied and
understood ! And some medical men are also beginning to prove that the faith
which heals can even cure sores, certain forms of lupus among others. However
science is vain, it is a sea of uncertainty. ”
I said:
“You came to Lourdes to examine the
miracle phenomenon in a skeptical point of view, however you unexpectedly
observed three miracles in a single trip, while for most of the people we cannot
hear even one miracle or apparent miracle in a few trips.
You wrote about those miracles in
detail, besides Elise Rouquet there was this young peasant girl Sophie Couteau who
came back to visit Lourdes after she was cured the year before. She suffered
for three years from a horrid open sore on her foot, it was swollen and quite
deformed. The foot had to be kept bandaged because there was always a lot of
nasty matter coming from it. The doctor who made a cut in it, so as to see the
inside, said that he should be obliged to take out a piece of the bone; and
that, sure enough would have made her lame for life.
But she was suddenly cured by bathing
her foot in the piscina, where the bandages fell off, and her foot was entirely
restored to a healthy condition.”
Emile:
“I investigated this case thoroughly. I
was told there were three or four ladies living in Lourdes who could guarantee
the facts as stated by Clementine Trove, Sophie’s real name. I looked up those ladies.
But no one could vouch for anything, no
one had seen anything, and no where was I able to find any corroboration of the
girl’s story. Yet the little girl did not look like a liar, and I believe that
she was fully convinced of the miraculous nature of her cure. It is the facts
themselves which lie.”
I said:
“There is another case that you observed,
the cure of Marie Lebranchu, you named her as La Grivotte in your book. The 36
years old lady suffered from severe pulmonary tuberculosis for two years, and
had reached the terminal stages of this disease. “
Emile, citing his book:
“La Grivotte was weeping hot tears
because they would not bathe her at the piscina. They said she was with a
wasting disease, and they could not dip somebody like that into the cold water.
So she had been wearing herself out for half an hour in telling them that they
were only grieving the Blessed Virgin, for she believed she would be cured. She
was beginning to cause a scandal till one of the chaplains approached and
endeavoured to calm her. Then after receiving Father Fourcade’s express
permission, she had been obliged to insist and beg and sob in order prevail
upon them to do so.
And then it had all happened as she had
previously said it would.She had not
been immersed in the icy water for 3 minutes- all perspiring as she was with
her consumptive rattle-before she had felt strength returning into her like a
whipstroke lashing her whole body. And then flaming excitement possessed her;
radiant, stamping her feet, she was unable to keep still. On the previous night
she was seen lying on the carriage seat, annihilated, coughing and spitting
blood, with her face of ashen hue.”
I said:
“ At the end of your book you wrote that
La Grivotte had relapsed into her mortal disease dying on the train back to
home, implying that the cure was neither permanent nor supernatural, but rather
a case of autosuggestion in an hysterical religious atmosphere.
Yet you remained in communication with
the woman long after her recovery, and were perfectly aware that there had been
no relapse. She actually lived in perfect health until 1920.
Dr. Boissarie, or Dr. Bonamy in your
book, the President of the Medical Bureau, questioned you as to the honesty of
your account, pointing out that you had said that you had come to Lourdes to
make an impartial investigation.”
Emile:
“I replied to Dr. Boissarie that being an
artist I could do whatever I liked with my writing. I wrote to express my view about
this religion of human suffering, the redemption by pain, weeping humanity desperate
with anguish, like some despairing invalid, irrevocably invalid, and whom only
a miracle could save.”
I said:
“Almost 7,000 cures have been documented
at the waters of Lourdes. The Church has vigorously investigated all these
cases and validated a mere 67 of them.These 67 were also authenticated as miracles by the International
Medical Committee of Lourdes (CMIL).
All three miracles that you observed, of
Clementine Trove (Sophie Couteau in your book), Marie Lemarchand (Elise
Rouquet) and Marie Lebranchu (La Griovote), all are included in the 67 approved
miracles by the Church and CMIL.”
Emile:
“The Lourdes miracles can neither be
proved nor denied. In none of the miracles that I observed was I able to
discover any real proof for or against the miraculous nature of the cure. Even
were I to see all the sick at Lourdes cured, I would not believe in a miracle.”
Then, may I ask you a last question, did
Sophie really tell : ‘I hadn’t brought many bandages for my foot with me, so it
was very kind of the Blessed Virgin to cure me on the first day, as I should
have run out of linen on the morrow.”
Emile just smiled…..
THE END
This is an imaginary interview in memory
of Emile Zola.
In the early evening when the Myeongdong streets get closed
to vehicles traffic, the food stalls start to arrive serving various kind of
Korean dishes. As the neon lights lit up the smoke from the grills raised to
the air spreading mouth watering smell. You can walk from stall to stall
finding foods judging from the appearance and the smell.
But unlike in Bangkok where you can eat entire meals on the
sidewalk, in Seoul the street food are more along snack kind of food, things
that can be eaten standing up or walking, catering to Seoul people that are walking
from subway to subway.
In the dense grid of streets in Myeongdong, the food stalls
lined-up in the middle of hotels, skin care shops, restaurants, cafés and night
clubs. It is the hot spot of Seoul for tourists. From stalls to stalls, you can
hunt for foods, but you must try first the Tteokbokki, a rice cake with fish,
egg, scallion and a sweet and spicy red sauce. The firmness of the cake
combined with the aroma of scallions and sesame seeds make it a delicious snack
on a cool evening. A Tteokbokki serving costs around 2000 to 4000 KRW.
Photo by cutekirin, Wikimedia
Along the rather spicy Tteokbokki, you may accompany it with
Gimbap, a sushi like rice rolls, consisting sticky rice – ‘bap’ rolled up inside
a seaweed sheet - ‘Gim’, filled with ingredients such as vegetables, tuna, crab
stick, pickles and other variety. A serving of 3 to 4 roll slices costs about
1500 KRW.
Photo by cutekirin, Wikimedia
Then you can try Hweori Gamja or tornado potato which is
very popular Korean street food. It is a deep fried spiral cut potato, like
tornado, which is then dipped in all kinds of toppings. These can include
cheese, red pepper, honey or brown sugar. The tornado potato is a nice snack, easy
to eat while walking in Myeongdong night market.
Photo by tragrpx, Wikimedia
After eating those “snacks” than you can eat your “main
dish” Sundae. Don’t be mistaken it is
not an ice cream, it is a Korean style blood sausage. Although the appearance
of the sausage is rather off-putting, it is black, it is surprisingly tasty. It
is originated back to the Goryeo period, recorded in 19th century cookbooks and
it was initially meant to be served for special occasions. Depending on the
vendor, the blood sausage can be stuffed with meat, glass noodles and all kinds
of vegetables. A serving can cost about 6000 KRW.
Photo by SauceSupreme, Wikimedia
Now you must be stuffed already, if not you can try thePpopgi. This is
an old fashioned sugar candy, mostly sold and made by the older Korean
generation. This ppopgi candy only has 2 ingredients, baking soda and sugar,
but timing and technique are key to making the perfect ppopgi. Each ppopgi has
a different shape pattern, back in the days if the kids could eat around the
pattern without braking it, they would get a free ppopgi from the vendor. Try
it, it is harder than it looks like.
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