Why did everyone in old Korea wear white?

If you have the good fortune to spend time looking over photos and videos of Korea in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, you will notice something quite striking: nearly everyone’s wearing white. There is a uniformity in the appearance of the people, marked by their plain, unadorned white clothing. Contrast this with the bright pinks, blues and greens we see foreigners wearing around the palaces and bursting through our screens in high definition as part of the latest K-drama, and you realize that there’s a disconnect between the past as it was and as it is imagined today.

Consider the following 1920s quote:

“While China and especially Japan are using so many different colors in their dresses, there is no such trend in the neighboring country, Joseon. They wear no color but white. Even when they use a color, it's an almost colorless jade. What makes everyone, regardless of gender or age, wear white? There are many countries and nations in the world, but none are like Joseon.”

But why did Korean people wear white? And why were they known as "Baekui Minjok" (People in white clothing )? Like any history, it’s difficult to explain.

Some argue that the reverence for white in the Mongolian steppes was directly linked to the reverence for white among the Korean people. Certainly, look very far back, when records seem to disappear, Korean people didn’t only wear white. Baekje, Silla, Gaya and Goryeo seem full of color. Women of social rank reportedly wore yellow. Furthermore, numerous edicts from the monarchs banned the practice of wearing white and encouraged blue to be worn.

The writings of the ruling class frequently criticized and controlled white clothing rather than praising it. This was due to the argument that, based on the Confucian theory of Yin and Yang and the Five Elements, Koreans in the East should wear blue clothing rather than white. Geomancy and the elements were factors that long influenced the destiny of this nation before capitalism and coffee arrived. The fact that white clothing was indistinguishable from mourning attire also served as a basis for exclusion.

Thus, in the first year of King Chungnyeol of Goryeo, the Bureau of Grand Historians said, “The East occupies the position of Wood among the Five Elements, so the color blue should be revered. White is the color of Metal, but since the people of the country currently wear white, this represents Wood being suppressed by Metal. We petition that the wearing of white clothing be prohibited.” The King apparently heeded this advice.

The records also shout at us thus:

"Our country begins at Mount Baekdu and ends at Mount Jiri; its topography is a land of water roots and wood trunks, with black as the parent and blue as the body. If we conform to the Earth, we will prosper, and if we act against it, we will suffer disaster. Therefore, from now on, let all civil and military officials wear black robes and blue hats; let monks wear black headscarves and large crowns; let women wear black silk; let pine trees be planted on the mountains to flourish; and let all vessels be made of brass, copper, and earthenware, so that we may adapt to the climate and land."

The position of cities, the fortune of kings, the rise and fall of families — all of this was done with tradition, color and geography in mind. In traditional folktales, female ghosts are always depicted wearing white mourning clothes. There are few, if any, female ghosts wearing red or black clothing.

However, Koreans' love for white is not limited to clothing. During the Joseon Dynasty, which adopted Confucianism as its governing philosophy, white was practically the ruling color. Scholars wore white robes, enjoyed poetry, calligraphy and painting on white backgrounds, and cherished simple and modest white porcelain. "Yeobek," or lingering white space, was everywhere. Officials were called "cheongbaekri," a term combining the characters for "cheong" (clean), "baek" (white) and "ri" (official). White rice has also long symbolized abundance and wealth for Koreans. Perhaps that is why the promise to ensure all the people could eat "ibap" (white rice) and meat soup was a theme most frequently mentioned by North Korean leader Kim Il-sung during his lifetime.

Today, we argue about aespa's Karina and other celebrities wearing red and blue during election season. We see the neutrality BTS have adopted recently with their black outfits and abandonment of purple. Cortis and their fans tell us "REDRED." A century or two ago, it was different.

But there was something about white as being the color of the Korean people. During the latter stages of the Joseon Dynasty, as imperial powers and colonial forces began to circle the land, the wearing of white became associated with unity and resistance. Sometimes referred to as "minbok" (the people’s clothes), it was as a symbol of national identity as well as ethnonationalism.

The Gabo Reforms of 1894, implemented under Japanese influence, recommended wearing colored clothing, citing the inconvenience of white clothes requiring frequent washing. The wearing of white was completely banned by law in 1906.

Newly arrived foreign observers looked at the ubiquitous white hanbok of the late Joseon and colonial periods and saw what they wanted to see. To the Japanese imperial authorities and Western observers like R. V. Laguerie in 1898, a nation walking around in desperately maintained white cotton and hemp looked like a people wrapped in perpetual mourning. This analysis was often likely intentional for it fit neatly into an exoticized narrative: a passive, melancholic population frozen in stasis, ripe for modernization and outside control. It was around the same time the notion of "han" was constructed and applied to the people, false consciousness given in order to suppress.

And yet, far from mourning, white traditionally symbolized purity, nobility and honesty. Confucianism championed the suppression of individualistic desires, while Buddhism encouraged emptiness and self-control. It was fabric in harmony with nature.

In 1946, Choe Nam-seon wrote, “Generally, the Korean people in ancient times regarded the sun as God and believed themselves to be His descendants. They regarded white light as sacred to signify the radiance of the sun and wore white clothes with pride, eventually making it a custom of the entire nation.”

It’s really hard to pinpoint why, how and to what extent Korean people wore white. But, when you compare the photos a century apart, you will notice that the pure white has been replaced by an outrageous array of colors. NewJeans and "Perfect Crown" got their depictions of Korean traditional culture right. Few others have. But perhaps all the contradictions are the real beauty of Korean history. It’s only simple when you want it to be.