SYNWHA

To westerners in the 19th century, Koreans were perceived as people who like poetry and songs and like and enjoy mountain as they climb to the top of the mountain when the weather is nice to write poetry or sing. In the region south of the capital, poets and writers wrote poetry strolling around enjoying the nature. They were proud of writing many poems competed each other to write more beautifully. Thus, for Koreans, mountain was an emotional resting place to enjoy beauty and mood and a romantic place that offers subjects to meditate on. King Jongjo (King in the 18th Century Chosun Dynasty) wrote Sangrimshipkyong(a poem about a garden), which shows that the back garden of the palace transcends from being a place to enjoy nature and becomes a space of beauty and sublime thinking. Thinking and learning was mastered on the mountains, and there, culture and art was born. However, in the contemporary world, mountains are perceived only as a common and insignificant place for hiking or exercising. Today, the artistic attitude of our ancestors and the beauty (poongryu) they enjoyed are long gone.