Guangdong and Korea Share Their Culture

Well the whole process of getting two completely different TV networks collaborate to produce a program together must have been extremely challenging especially the language barrier Right, Conn-youngIt was indeed but at the end we pulled it together which made this experience more fruitful.

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Definitely. But apparently quite a few people from Arirang Today also took a part in this collaboration project and all ready to share with us.

That's right. To start offwe have Arirang Today's producer Park Hee-ju joining us now in the studio. Hello Hee-ju.

[Reporter : ] Hello. It's good to see you back in our studio, Conn-young. Although it was also nice to see you on TV on a Saturday!

Definitely something to remember.
So Hee-ju Why don't you tell us about what you covered there.

[Reporter : ] We already know the main purpose of 'Time to the World' was to work together in harmony to take a leap forward into the world and in order to do that bridging the cultural gap between two areas automatically becomes an important task.
So I looked into the relationship between Korea and Guandong Is there any cultural exchange going on there

The campus of the Guangdong University of Foreign Studies is filled with the youth and vitality of all its students.

September has brought changing leaves and chilly winds to Korea, but the campus here remains green thanks to the mild climate all year round.

Here, we heard something familiar.

[SOV]
[Interview : ] "We are now going to break up into groups to talk about why you are studying Chinese here in China, or why you are a Korean language major in China".

It's a class for students in the Department of Korean Language.

It's a conversation class where the Chinese local students are encouraged to talk with exchange students from Korea visiting the Guangdong University of Foreign Studies.

[Interview : ] "Where are you from

[Interview : Kim Ji-su, Student Daejin University] "My friend over here and I are from Daejin University in Korea. These students are Korean language majors here at Guangdong University of Foreign Studies".

[Interview : Lin Yiyan, Student Guangdong University of Foreign Studies] "Hello, I'm Lin Yiyan, a senior of the Department of Korean Language at the Guangdong University of Foreign Studies".

Having students from the two countries study together is a perfect match!

[SOV]
[Interview : ] "I learn Korean because I am "interesting" in it".

[Interview : ] "It's not "interesting" but "interested"."

[Interview : ] "And it's better to say "I am learning Korean"."

[Interview : Zhang Siyin, Student Guangdong University of Foreign Studies] "I chose to study Korean language because I'm very interested in Korea and its language, while those students chose to study Chinese language because they are interested in China and Chinese. So when we get together, we have a lot of things to talk about because we can relate to each other".

How did people in Guangdong come to be interested in Korean language[Interview : Quan Yonggen, Dean of Department of Korean Language
Guangdong University of Foreign Studies] "As Korean companies began to invest in the Guangdong area, they began to require more employees who could speak Korean. In 2000, we began to think that we needed to establish a Department of Korean Studies".

We decided to meet other Chinese locals in Guangdong learning about Korean culture.

The Korea Tourism Organization's Guangzhou branch is called the Korea Plaza.

The visitors here are all eager to learn about Korea.

[Interview : Holly She, Visitor] "I came to learn Korean. I think I will be able to have basic conversations if I ever travel to Korea, and be able to move around without much inconvenience".

The visitors here say they learned about Korea from TV dramas and K-pop.

[Interview : Chen Ji, Visitor] "I think that Korea is a beautiful country. I began to take an interest in Korea when I began watching Korean movies".

This is a basic Korean language class where the students learn to pronounce the Korean alphabet.

Their eager facial expressions and meticulous notes show their passion for Korean language and Korean culture.

The language course is followed up by a cultural experience class. Today, the students learn about hanbok.

[SOV]
[Interview : ] "Fold the long one, and wrap the shorter one around like this".

[Interview : ] "The students are fascinated by the intricacies of hanbok".

[Interview : Cha Hyeok-jin, Section chief Korea Tourism Organization] "At Korea Plaza, we have basic and intermediate Korean classes for the Chinese locals. In the intermediate class, we learn about Korean culture in addition to the language"

The bow is Korea's most traditional greeting. The local Guangdong students take a step closer to understanding Korea by experiencing Korea's oldest form of etiquette.

[SOV]
[Interview : ] "You can't let your rear end stick out like this".

[Interview : ] "It's because you're nervous".

[Interview : Iris Li] "It's very elegant, and very elaborate, like the traditional dresses from the British royal palace".

Not far from the Korea Plaza,

there is a taekwondo dojang filled with energetic shouts.

[Interview : ---, Taekwondo master] "After the Guangzhou Asian Games, there's been a lot more interest. It's a philosophy. Many people learn taekwondo to learn the etiquette of Korea".

The students here began training to learn about Korea's taekwondo philosophy.

[Interview : ] "Korean students, please raise your hand".

[Interview : ] "Chinese students, please raise your hand".

More than half of the students here are local Chinese.

[Interview : Song Ji Ly, Taekwondo student] "I started learning taekwondo to lose weight, and it became a hobby. It's a martial art with etiquette and determination. It's wonderful".

Of course, the most exciting part of taekwondo is sparring!

A match between Korea and China!

In China, people from the two countries are coming closer together through Korean culture.

[Interview : Song Yo-seop, Taekwondo student] "Taekwondo is part of Korean culture. It makes me proud when I see Chinese people feeling joy from learning taekwondo".

[SOV]
[Interview : ] "Taekwondo, we love you!"

We see a very diverse age group From little kids to adults all eager to learn[Reporter : ] That's right. Especially at the Korea Plaza because it's free of charge and everyone who's interested in getting to know Korea can come in, there were a lot more people taking the class than I predicted. I was actually quite shocked.
And the teacher in charge of the culture class.she actually started teaching Korean in Beijing the nation's capital which is most affected by the Hallyu phenomenon in China.. and she claims that people of Guangdong tend to show more interest to learn about Korea than people from Beijing but there's less information So classes like these are crucial.

And I heard there is a large number of Korean students going to Guangdong to learn Chinese as well

[Reporter : ] That's right. Some of the Korean students I met at the Guangdong University of Foreign Studies are business management majors. hoping to learn Chinese and the fast growing economy of Guangdong at the same time
According to the universityeconomic cooperation between two nations is also very active automatically boosting academic exchange between Korean and Chinese students.