By Jane Han
NEW YORK — Its a typical day in Manhattans Central Park on Friday.
Joggers doing their rounds, people walking their dogs and kids running around, nothing out of the ordinary — except for a crowd of Koreans chanting manse, the Korean version of hooray, right at the heart of the giant urban oasis.
Yes, it may definitely catch a few passers-by by surprise, but its just part of the March 1 Independence Movement Day project masterminded by three young Korean-American college students.
I cannot wait to hear the Korean national anthem ring throughout Central Park and hear the Manse Undong (manse demonstration) accompany the national anthem, Woo Tae-young, who spearheaded the project, said in a Korea Times interview, a day ahead of the event.
Manse Undong is a historic and symbolic demonstration that marked the beginning of Koreas fight for independence from Japans colonial empire on March 1, 1919.
This is the first time a group of Koreans to reenact the demonstration in New York City and Woo says it is a long overdue event.
We are aware of Koreans interest in spreading and sharing Korean history and culture abroad, but we believe that in order to share the right information and to spread the truth, we ourselves need to take interest and show our national history and culture, he said, adding, Especially for second-generation Koreans and Korean-Americans, Korean history is hard to come by without regular exposure to Korean media or literature.
Woo, a first-year student at New York University, grew up in the U.S. getting just a page or two of Korean history at school.
I was very disappointed to find Korean history fill up the last page of an entire chapter on Japanese history, he said. World history books, regardless of grade level, barely carried any Korean history, so for people in the American education system, that one page is all of Korean history known to them.
And so on October 2012, Woo and his two friends at NYU developed the March 1 project with the grand purpose of enabling a broad audience experience Korean history and culture.
Through crowd-funding, organizers raised more than 33 million won ($30,500) to put together the Central Park event at which more than 300 people are expected to gather for a three-hour long ceremony at the Naumberg Bandshell, an outdoor theater.
The event is set to open with a samulnori (traditional Korean percussion music) performance, followed by the screening of a Korean history film, Manse Undong reenactment and a performance of ganggangsullae (a Korean circle dance).
Some critics may wonder why Koreas independence movement should be promoted overseas in the U.S., but Woo says theres a clear reason.
If we just wanted to promote Koreas independence movement, of course we would have done an event in Korea, he said. The reason why were holding this event here in New York City is because there are so many — maybe too many — Korean-American students and second-generation Koreans who have lived abroad since they were young who do not have much idea about Korean history and culture.
He stressed, The students living abroad will become leading figures in the Korean and Korean-American communities throughout the U.S. and the world, so we believe that it is very important for them to take more interest in their roots.
NEW YORK — Its a typical day in Manhattans Central Park on Friday.
Joggers doing their rounds, people walking their dogs and kids running around, nothing out of the ordinary — except for a crowd of Koreans chanting manse, the Korean version of hooray, right at the heart of the giant urban oasis.
Yes, it may definitely catch a few passers-by by surprise, but its just part of the March 1 Independence Movement Day project masterminded by three young Korean-American college students.
I cannot wait to hear the Korean national anthem ring throughout Central Park and hear the Manse Undong (manse demonstration) accompany the national anthem, Woo Tae-young, who spearheaded the project, said in a Korea Times interview, a day ahead of the event.
Manse Undong is a historic and symbolic demonstration that marked the beginning of Koreas fight for independence from Japans colonial empire on March 1, 1919.
This is the first time a group of Koreans to reenact the demonstration in New York City and Woo says it is a long overdue event.
We are aware of Koreans interest in spreading and sharing Korean history and culture abroad, but we believe that in order to share the right information and to spread the truth, we ourselves need to take interest and show our national history and culture, he said, adding, Especially for second-generation Koreans and Korean-Americans, Korean history is hard to come by without regular exposure to Korean media or literature.
Woo, a first-year student at New York University, grew up in the U.S. getting just a page or two of Korean history at school.
I was very disappointed to find Korean history fill up the last page of an entire chapter on Japanese history, he said. World history books, regardless of grade level, barely carried any Korean history, so for people in the American education system, that one page is all of Korean history known to them.
And so on October 2012, Woo and his two friends at NYU developed the March 1 project with the grand purpose of enabling a broad audience experience Korean history and culture.
Through crowd-funding, organizers raised more than 33 million won ($30,500) to put together the Central Park event at which more than 300 people are expected to gather for a three-hour long ceremony at the Naumberg Bandshell, an outdoor theater.
The event is set to open with a samulnori (traditional Korean percussion music) performance, followed by the screening of a Korean history film, Manse Undong reenactment and a performance of ganggangsullae (a Korean circle dance).
Some critics may wonder why Koreas independence movement should be promoted overseas in the U.S., but Woo says theres a clear reason.
If we just wanted to promote Koreas independence movement, of course we would have done an event in Korea, he said. The reason why were holding this event here in New York City is because there are so many — maybe too many — Korean-American students and second-generation Koreans who have lived abroad since they were young who do not have much idea about Korean history and culture.
He stressed, The students living abroad will become leading figures in the Korean and Korean-American communities throughout the U.S. and the world, so we believe that it is very important for them to take more interest in their roots.
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