China News Agency, Seoul, December 29th: How does the "Ceramic Road" provide impetus for South Korea-China exchanges?
——Interview with Kim Tae-wan, curator of the National Maritime Museum of Korea
China News Agency reporter Liu Xu
To celebrate the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and South Korea, the "China-South Korea Maritime Civilization Exchange Exhibition" jointly planned by the Ministry of Oceanography and Fisheries of the Republic of Korea, the National Maritime Museum and the China Maritime Museum was held from September to November this year.
During the two-month period, more than 300 exhibits such as ship models, porcelain, paintings and handicrafts were presented to the audience, and the stories of China-Korea maritime civilization exchanges were told in four parts: "learning, communication, drifting and art".
Recently, Kim Tae-wan, curator of the National Maritime Museum of Korea, accepted an exclusive interview with China News Agency "East and West", introducing the traces of the exchange of maritime civilizations between South Korea and China, and exploring the possibility of future friendship between the two countries from the perspective of maritime history.
The interview transcript is summarized as follows:
Reporter from China News Service: The National Maritime Museum of Korea held the "China-Korea Maritime Civilization Exchange Exhibition" some time ago. Could you please introduce the overview of this exhibition and what exhibits are worth paying attention to?
Kim Tae-man: To commemorate the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between South Korea and China and review the long history of maritime cultural exchanges between the two countries, the National Maritime Museum of Korea prepared this exhibition.
Because it is co-organized with Shanghai's national museum, the China Maritime Museum, the audience can enjoy various materials and exhibits from Korea and China.
Although the cooperative exhibition unit is the China Maritime Museum in Shanghai, since last year, we have been in contact with museums in various coastal areas of China to prepare exhibitions. The northernmost one is the China National Maritime Museum in Tianjin, as well as Qingdao, Quanzhou, Xiamen, Guangzhou, etc. local museum.
This exhibition is to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between South Korea and China, so the exhibits collected and displayed are all for this theme, including the main figures in history, artworks, records, books or maps related to the ocean, as well as ocean-themed items in China and Korea. Traditional paintings.
The exhibition is divided into four themes, namely learning, communication, drifting and art.
Specifically, "xue" refers to the exchange of scholarship, religion, and ideas; "jiao" refers to the transaction records of marine cultural relics and commodities; Encountering unexpected weather or wind and waves, they may drift to Southeast Asia, Okinawa, Japan or the Philippines with the wind and waves. After being rescued and returning to Korea, they record these experiences and knowledge through writing or oral. This is this part of the exhibition The content presented; "Yi" refers to "art", displaying artworks from mainland China, or artworks that have been passed from the peninsula to mainland China.
China News Agency reporter: In the exhibition, what are the characteristic exhibits that reflect the exchange of marine civilizations between China and South Korea?
Jin Taiwan: In this exhibition, the audience enjoyed more than 300 exhibits with high artistic value such as ship models, ceramics, paintings, and handicrafts, and more than 70 pieces were leased from the China Maritime Museum.
Among them are some exhibits worthy of special attention, such as the representative collection of essays "Guiyuan Bigeng" by Cui Zhiyuan, a scholar who studied in the Tang Dynasty in the Silla period, and "Haishan Pavilion" by Zheng Tan, a painter who combined Chinese painting techniques with Korean characteristics to depict the scenery of the east coast of the peninsula. ".
What I especially recommend is the model of the ship.
Because the sunken ships of the ancient nautical period were buried under the sand, but occasionally they were discovered and excavated by fishermen or scientists, and displayed.
There are such ships in both China and South Korea, such as the "Xin'an Ship" of China's Yuan Dynasty discovered in South Korea, and the cargo ship "Penglai No. 3 Ancient Ship" discovered in China in 2005.
The models of these ships are important exhibits in the exhibition.
The interesting point is that a Chinese ship was found off the coast of South Korea, and a Korean ship was found on the coast of mainland China.
Korean ships sank in the oceans of China and were excavated hundreds of years later to be displayed before the eyes of modern people.
Therefore, I think the ship is the most symbolic expression of Korea-China maritime exchanges.
China News Agency reporter: This exhibition reviews the long history of marine cultural exchanges between China and South Korea. What role do you think marine exchanges play in the exchanges between China and South Korea?
Kim Tae-man: The history of marine cultural exchanges between South Korea and China started from 6,000 to 7,000 years ago and has continued to this day.
From the perspective of freight or logistics, the ocean is actually a highway.
Especially in the past, land passages were very slow, whether by foot or by horse-drawn carriage, and very few things could be transported.
However, sea shipping is fast and can carry a lot of things, so it is a widely chosen logistics form.
But the only problem is that the waves of the ocean are unpredictable and dangerous.
Sea freight is the preferred logistics method if climatic factors are not considered.
In addition, the sea is more open than the land.
In ancient times, there were no visas, and there were no obvious national boundaries on the sea. Although people from different countries spoke different languages, their passage at sea was relatively casual, and communication was very easy.
People exchange goods and also exchange cultures.
It can be said that without the active maritime exchanges at that time, our cultural prosperity could not have developed to the present level.
The sea route between South Korea and China is called the "ceramic road" because the Yellow Sea between the Korean Peninsula and China is the core channel for trading ceramics. Compared with land transport, transporting ceramics by ship can not only carry a large amount of goods, but also is not easy. Therefore, ceramics have become the best commodities for South Korea-China maritime trade.
The Chinese ceramics that flowed into the Korean peninsula from the "ceramic road" were redeveloped through the art and technology unique to the Korean peninsula, and produced products such as Goryeo celadon and fencheongbaekware, which were then sold abroad.
Through many exhibits in the exhibition, we can see the similarity between South Korea and China.
Take architectural tiles as an example, several types are directly imported from mainland China.
These small examples have witnessed the frequency of exchanges between South Korea and China in the past.
Today, large ships between South Korea and China travel from Qingdao, Shanghai and other places to the world through the Port of Busan, and then return to Tianjin, Qingdao, and Shanghai from the Port of Busan. The goods transported by these ships may be completely different from those hundreds of years ago, but this kind of Maritime exchanges have also played an important role in the cultural exchanges between China and South Korea.
China News Agency reporter: In the future exchanges and cultural exchanges between China and South Korea, what impetus can this "ceramic road" provide?
Kim Tae-man: Looking forward to the future through history, I hope to find the driving force for future development through the history of Korea and China's complementary and win-win development culture.
For example, this exhibition is a start. Next year or in the near future, we will continue to cooperate with China to hold joint exhibitions, covering a wider range of themes and scope.
We hope that after the epidemic is over, exchanges and communication between South Korea and China will be more frequent than now. We can co-organize exchange exhibitions with institutions and museums in Xiamen, Quanzhou, Guangzhou, Tianjin and other places in China.
In short, both South Korea and China are pursuing their own policies of opening up to the outside world, and a very important part of this is maritime exchanges, seeking new development momentum through sea routes.
Therefore, when we look back at the maritime civilization exchanges between South Korea and China in the past thousands of years today, we can understand these maritime cooperation beyond the maritime industries such as shipping, logistics, ships, and even marine science and technology, and strengthen the mutual dependence between the two countries through maritime exchanges. Strengthen trust and cooperation and seek common development.
(use up)