Spring in front of Guanghan Building
The famous Korean classic literary work “The Legend of Chunhyang” is not only well-known in the Korean peninsula, but also in the world’s literary history. The novel tells that Chunxiang, the daughter of the geisha Yuemei, met Li Menglong, the son of a scholar-officer, during a spring tour of Guanghan Tower in Nanyuan. Daoist Bian Xuedao covets Chunxiang’s talent and looks, and intends to occupy it. Chunxiangning refused to obey and was severely tortured. It was not until Li Menglong Jinbang High School became the censor of Jeolla that he was finally reunited and the husband and wife were reunited.
A “Biography of Chunhyang” reflects the Korean nation’s yearning for love and justice. The city of Namwon in Jeollanam-do, the place where the story described in “The Legend of Chunhyang” took place, is of special significance to Koreans. They love Namwon because they love Chunhyang, and they love Chunhyang Festival because they love Namwon. Since 1931, the first Chunxiang Festival has been held in Nanyuan City. Due to the limited conditions at that time, only the celebrations for the anniversary of Chunxiang and Li Menglong’s first meeting were prepared, and Chunxiang’s ancestral hall was built. As the scale of the Chunhyang Festival gradually became more complete, in 2009, the Chunhyang Festival in Namwon was awarded the title of Korea’s Excellent Festival by the Korea Tourism and Cultural Development Agency, and has won this honor for two consecutive years. Every April and May in spring, the Spring Fragrance Festival with the theme of love is launched as scheduled, covering all aspects of clothing, food, housing and transportation, and is deeply loved and welcomed by people.
In 2010, the Spring Fragrance Festival will be held from April 23 to April 26. As early as a month before the Spring Fragrance Festival, Nanyuan had already started the national “Miss Chunxiang” audition. In recent years, a must-have program for the Chunhyang Festival is to select “Miss Chunhyang” who is most in line with traditional morality and appearance from all over Korea. Contestants not only have to compete in appearance and manners, but also perform traditional singing and dancing skills demonstrations and etiquette and moral quizzes. Starting from the traditional literature competition and the worship of the incense tomb on April 23, this year’s incense festival kicked off. The opening ceremony consists of a large-scale congratulatory performance and a fireworks (fireworks) display, culminating on the 24th and 25th. During this period, not only a grand performance of traditional Korean music, but also a display of Korean traditional culture will be held: including the Chunhyang wedding rehearsal in front of the restored Chunhyang house, as well as a country-wide country song convention and Sukjong-era folklore. life experience. The official competition of “Miss Chunxiang” is the highlight of the Spring Festival, attracting a large number of domestic and foreign tourists to watch and participate. On April 26, this grand festival will end with the full play “The Legend of Chunxiang” staged at the Chunxiang Theater.
When we came to Nanyuan, it was April 24th. As soon as we arrived at the long-distance bus station, we already felt a strong Spring Fragrance atmosphere: a number of tourism promotion sites have been set up in the long-distance bus station to distribute tourist maps and various festival arrangements for tourists. Brochure with consultation in multiple languages. When the car traveled to Nanyuan City, although the roads were crowded because of this event, all the vehicles were in an orderly manner: the traffic department has dispatched staff to direct each road to serve the vehicles participating in the Spring Fragrance Festival. From a distance, all the venues where the event was held had huge balloons hanging in the air and pulling out banners. On the bridge that must be passed to the venue, the content of the story of Chunhyang is engraved. At this time, people all set out with their families, and there were stalls selling all kinds of food and souvenirs along the river and roadside. The venue for the Chunhyang Festival is called Chunhyang Folk Village. In order to commemorate Chunhyang, the Koreans specially built the Chunhyang Museum, Art Museum and National Music Exhibition Hall here.
The Chunhyang Museum displays various versions of “The Legend of Chunhyang”, as well as the folk customs and market conditions of Namwon in the Joseon Dynasty. Of course, the political situation reflected in “The Legend of Chunxiang” is also reflected in the museum. The National Music Exhibition Hall starts to stage South Korea’s most ethnic song and dance drama from 3:00 pm. One of the shows is drumming and vindicating injustice. I saw the performers dressed in their own clothes, singing and dancing, not only using the drumsticks in their hands to dance. The beautiful water sleeves are produced, and the drumming is even more brilliant, and the singing and acting are excellent, which is very comparable to traditional Chinese drama. At the same time, the famous Joseon era rap “Pansori” was also performed: that is, one person sang the lyrics, a drummer played the drums, and several other people dressed in hanbok as the audience to cooperate with the performance. It is a pity that some young Koreans are not very interested in these traditional projects. Their
favorite is the Happy Valley next to the National Music Hall: taking a group photo on a “pirate ship” at the filming location of the famous Korean TV drama “Heroic Chunhyang” Memories seem to be more meaningful than commemorating Chunxiang from hundreds of years ago. For them, going out and falling in love is also one of the themes of the Spring Fragrance Festival.
In front of Chunxiang Square, a large-scale children’s Chunxiang talent show is being held. These children under the age of 18, dressed in traditional Korean clothing – Hanbok, confidently displayed their traditional talents, sometimes playing Gayagum, sometimes fan dancing, and won rounds of applause from the audience from time to time. Another event next to the square is a traditional wrestling match, where two contestants are seen gearing up, hugging each other’s ankles, and trying their best to knock each other down after the referee’s whistle. Below the hillside, the water column of the musical fountain is dancing with the music. Among the tourists sitting in the pavilion, there are not only adults and children in various hanboks and suits, but also some monks and nuns in cassocks, and even nuns in black robes. . The most peculiar thing is that you can often see some men dressed in traditional Chinese clothes, with buns on their heads and long beards. These people seem to have walked down from ancient paintings, but people in Korea are not surprised.
When we arrived at the “Guanghan Building” where another celebration was located, it was almost evening. But there are still a lot of tourists here, and activities are being held enthusiastically. Guanghan Tower is the place where Chunxiang and Li Menglong met for the first time. In this park, there are pavilions and pavilions, small bridges and flowing water, as well as houses and wax statues imitated according to the scenes in the novel. The Guanghan Building is two stories high, with Chinese characters inscribed on the plaque. Surrounded by rivers and blooming spring flowers, the stone bridge in front of the building is titled Wu Que Bridge in Chinese characters. In front of Chunxiang’s former residence, people took out coins and made wishes to the couple. There are also traditional entertainment items in the park, such as pot throwing, hoops and swing competitions, which make visitors very happy. On the other side of the park, Bian Xuedao in ancient costumes tried Chunxiang’s plot, and a bullock cart was also arranged to pull the prisoners. The children onlookers did not know what the prison cart meant, so they crowded inside and had a great
time … In this Spring Fragrance Festival, what people feel most deeply is the importance the Korean government attaches to traditional culture and the orderly activities. The theme of Chunxiang Festival is loyalty and love, and all the exhibitions and performances are celebrating the theme of the festival. At all attractions, including all kinds of performances, there are no admission fees and no fees. At the venue, there are tour desks, drinking water and medical care providers everywhere. Nanyuan held such a grand tourism and cultural event just for a classic literary work “The Legend of Chunxiang”.
