The Birth of Korean Cool

The Birth of Korean Cool PDF Author: Euny Hong
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 147113105X
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 290

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Book Description
How did a really unhip country suddenly become cool? How could a nation that once banned miniskirts, long hair on men and rock 'n' roll come to mass produce pop music and a K-pop star that would break the world record for the most YouTube hits? Who would have predicted that a South Korean company that used to sell fish and fruit (Samsung) would one day give Apple a run for its money? And just how does South Korea plan to use pop culture to beat America at its own game. Welcome to South Korea: The Brand. In The Birth of Korean Cooljournalist Euny Hong uncovers the roots of the 'Korean Wave': a fanaticism for South Korean pop culture that has enabled them to make the rest of the world a captive market for their products by first becoming the world's number one pop culture manufacturer. South Korea's economic development has been nothing short of staggering - leapfrogging from third-world to first-world in just a few years and continuing to grow at a rapid and unprecedented rate - and for the first time The Birth of Korean Coolwill give readers exclusive insight into the inner workings of this extraordinary country; it's past, present and future.

The Birth of Korean Cool

The Birth of Korean Cool PDF Author: Euny Hong
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 147113105X
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 290

Get Book

Book Description
How did a really unhip country suddenly become cool? How could a nation that once banned miniskirts, long hair on men and rock 'n' roll come to mass produce pop music and a K-pop star that would break the world record for the most YouTube hits? Who would have predicted that a South Korean company that used to sell fish and fruit (Samsung) would one day give Apple a run for its money? And just how does South Korea plan to use pop culture to beat America at its own game. Welcome to South Korea: The Brand. In The Birth of Korean Cooljournalist Euny Hong uncovers the roots of the 'Korean Wave': a fanaticism for South Korean pop culture that has enabled them to make the rest of the world a captive market for their products by first becoming the world's number one pop culture manufacturer. South Korea's economic development has been nothing short of staggering - leapfrogging from third-world to first-world in just a few years and continuing to grow at a rapid and unprecedented rate - and for the first time The Birth of Korean Coolwill give readers exclusive insight into the inner workings of this extraordinary country; it's past, present and future.

The Birth of Korean Cool

The Birth of Korean Cool PDF Author: Euny Hong
Publisher: Picador
ISBN: 1250045126
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 286

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Book Description
A FRESH, FUNNY, UP-CLOSE LOOK AT HOW SOUTH KOREA REMADE ITSELF AS THE WORLD'S POP CULTURE POWERHOUSE OF THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY By now, everyone in the world knows the song "Gangnam Style" and Psy, an instantly recognizable star. But the song's international popularity is no passing fad. "Gangnam Style" is only one tool in South Korea's extraordinarily elaborate and effective strategy to become a major world superpower by first becoming the world's number one pop culture exporter. As a child, Euny Hong moved from America to the Gangnam neighbourhood in Seoul. She was a witness to the most accelerated part of South Korea's economic development, during which time it leapfrogged from third-world military dictatorship to first-world liberal democracy on the cutting edge of global technology. Euny Hong recounts how South Korea vaulted itself into the twenty-first century, becoming a global leader in business, technology, education, and pop culture. Featuring lively, in-depth reporting and numerous interviews with Koreans working in all areas of government and society, The Birth of Korean Cool reveals how a really uncool country became cool, and how a nation that once banned miniskirts, long hair on men, and rock ‘n' roll could come to mass produce boy bands, soap operas, and the world's most important smart phone.

The Power of Nunchi

The Power of Nunchi PDF Author: Euny Hong
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0143134469
Category : Self-Help
Languages : en
Pages : 242

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Book Description
"A must-read for anyone interested in the art of intuitively knowing what others feel." --Haemin Sunim, bestselling author of The Things You Can See Only When You Slow Down and Love for Imperfect Things Improve your nunchi. Improve your life. The Korean sixth sense for winning friends and influencing people, nunchi (pronounced noon-chee) can help you connect with others so you can succeed in everything from business to love. The Power of Nunchi will show you how. Have you ever wondered why your less-skilled coworker gets promoted before you, or why that one woman from your yoga class is always surrounded by adoring friends? They probably have great nunchi. The art of reading a room and understanding what others are thinking and feeling, nunchi is a form of emotional intelligence that anyone can learn--all you need are your eyes and ears. Sherlock Holmes has great nunchi. Cats have great nunchi. Steve Jobs had great nunchi. With its focus on observing others rather than asserting yourself--it's not all about you!--nunchi is a refreshing antidote to our culture of self-promotion, and a welcome reminder to look up from your cell phone. Nunchi has been used by Koreans for more than 5,000 years. It's what catapulted their nation from one of the world's poorest to one of the richest and most technologically advanced in half a century. And it's why K-pop--an unlikely global phenomenon, performed as it is in a language spoken only in Korea--is even a thing. Not some quaint Korean custom like taking off your shoes before entering a house, nunchi is the currency of life. The Power of Nunchi will show you how the trust and connection it helps you to build can open doors for you that you never knew existed. A PENGUIN LIFE TITLE

Kept

Kept PDF Author: Y. Euny Hong
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 0743286847
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 293

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Book Description
Snob chic meets social satire in this wickedly funny debut novel about a fallen member of the Korean royal family who becomes a courtesan once her family stops footing her bills.

Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982: A Novel

Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982: A Novel PDF Author: Cho Nam-Joo
Publisher: Liveright Publishing
ISBN: 1631496719
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 176

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Book Description
A New York Times Editors Choice Selection A global sensation, Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 “has become...a touchstone for a conversation around feminism and gender” (Sarah Shin, Guardian). One of the most notable novels of the year, hailed by both critics and K-pop stars alike, Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 follows one woman’s psychic deterioration in the face of rampant misogyny. In a tidy apartment on the outskirts of Seoul, millennial “everywoman” Kim Jiyoung spends her days caring for her infant daughter. But strange symptoms appear: Jiyoung begins to impersonate the voices of other women, dead and alive. As she plunges deeper into this psychosis, her concerned husband sends her to a psychiatrist. Jiyoung narrates her story to this doctor—from her birth to parents who expected a son to elementary school teachers who policed girls’ outfits to male coworkers who installed hidden cameras in women’s restrooms. But can her psychiatrist cure her, or even discover what truly ails her? “A social treatise as well as a work of art” (Alexandra Alter, New York Times), Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 heralds the arrival of international powerhouse Cho Nam-Joo.

Without You, There Is No Us

Without You, There Is No Us PDF Author: Suki Kim
Publisher: Crown
ISBN: 0307720667
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 322

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Book Description
A haunting account of teaching English to the sons of North Korea's ruling class during the last six months of Kim Jong-il's reign Every day, three times a day, the students march in two straight lines, singing praises to Kim Jong-il and North Korea: Without you, there is no motherland. Without you, there is no us. It is a chilling scene, but gradually Suki Kim, too, learns the tune and, without noticing, begins to hum it. It is 2011, and all universities in North Korea have been shut down for an entire year, the students sent to construction fields—except for the 270 students at the all-male Pyongyang University of Science and Technology (PUST), a walled compound where portraits of Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il look on impassively from the walls of every room, and where Suki has gone undercover as a missionary and a teacher. Over the next six months, she will eat three meals a day with her young charges and struggle to teach them English, all under the watchful eye of the regime. Life at PUST is lonely and claustrophobic, especially for Suki, whose letters are read by censors and who must hide her notes and photographs not only from her minders but from her colleagues—evangelical Christian missionaries who don't know or choose to ignore that Suki doesn't share their faith. As the weeks pass, she is mystified by how easily her students lie, unnerved by their obedience to the regime. At the same time, they offer Suki tantalizing glimpses of their private selves—their boyish enthusiasm, their eagerness to please, the flashes of curiosity that have not yet been extinguished. She in turn begins to hint at the existence of a world beyond their own—at such exotic activities as surfing the Internet or traveling freely and, more dangerously, at electoral democracy and other ideas forbidden in a country where defectors risk torture and execution. But when Kim Jong-il dies, and the boys she has come to love appear devastated, she wonders whether the gulf between her world and theirs can ever be bridged. Without You, There Is No Us offers a moving and incalculably rare glimpse of life in the world's most unknowable country, and at the privileged young men she calls "soldiers and slaves."

Korea Style

Korea Style PDF Author: Marcia Iwatate
Publisher: Tuttle Publishing
ISBN: 1462906656
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 224

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Book Description
With over 500 stunning photographs, this design book reveals the relatively unknown, unique aesthetics of Korea. Korea Style reveals the central elements of Korean design: simplicity, moderation, constraint, and a deep respect for all things natural. Despite the filtering of Japanese and Western design ideas into Korea over the millennia, the peninsula has maintained its own identity and is gaining recognition for its own particular "style." Spatial, spiritual and material qualities are reflected in the pure beauty of its architectural design, while classic objects that immediately distinguish themselves as being uniquely Korean are used with distinctive flair in interior design and decoration. Korea Style is the first book devoted to the country's architecture and interior design--featuring twenty-two exceptional homes, studios, and public and heritage buildings. They range from vernacular to cutting-edge creations and are a celebration of Korea's culture, natural landscape, arts and crafts, and architectural history juxtaposed with a drive towards invention, experimentation and individuality.

A Geek in Korea

A Geek in Korea PDF Author: Daniel Tudor
Publisher: Tuttle Publishing
ISBN: 1462914071
Category : Travel
Languages : en
Pages : 160

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Book Description
For every fan of K-Pop music, Korean Wave dramas and Kimchi—or anyone intrigued by Korea and Korean culture—A Geek in Korea is a hip, new guide to the land of the Samsung smartphone and Gangnam Style. Author Dan Tudor first arrived in Korea on the eve of the 2002 World Cup when South Korea played Italy in the finals. What he saw inspired him to return and work in Korea. He served as The Economist magazine's Korea correspondent for three years, and he writes regular columns for the national daily Joongang Ilbo newspaper. Along the way, he has developed a great love and admiration for Korean culture and the Korean people. A Geek in Korea reinvents the culture guide for the Internet age. Packed with articles and photographs, it covers all the touchstones of Korean culture—from Buddhism and Confucianism to chapters on the traditional arts and disciplines like Taekwondo. There are chapters on cultural code words and norms; personal relationships; business and technology; and symbols and practices that are peculiarly Korean. A number of chapters are devoted to Korean pop culture, with attention to the stars, idols, and urban subcultures associated with them. For visitors to Korea, the author includes a mini-guide to his favorite neighborhoods in Seoul and other places of outstanding interest. Spotlighting the originality and creativity of the Koreans, debunking myths about them, and answering nagging questions like why they're so obsessed with education and success—Tudor has created the perfect book for the growing ranks of Koreaphiles in this inspired, insightful, and highly informative guide.

Crying in H Mart

Crying in H Mart PDF Author: Michelle Zauner
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0525657754
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 257

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Book Description
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the indie rock sensation known as Japanese Breakfast, an unforgettable memoir about family, food, grief, love, and growing up Korean American—“in losing her mother and cooking to bring her back to life, Zauner became herself” (NPR). • CELEBRATING OVER ONE YEAR ON THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER LIST In this exquisite story of family, food, grief, and endurance, Michelle Zauner proves herself far more than a dazzling singer, songwriter, and guitarist. With humor and heart, she tells of growing up one of the few Asian American kids at her school in Eugene, Oregon; of struggling with her mother's particular, high expectations of her; of a painful adolescence; of treasured months spent in her grandmother's tiny apartment in Seoul, where she and her mother would bond, late at night, over heaping plates of food. As she grew up, moving to the East Coast for college, finding work in the restaurant industry, and performing gigs with her fledgling band--and meeting the man who would become her husband--her Koreanness began to feel ever more distant, even as she found the life she wanted to live. It was her mother's diagnosis of terminal cancer, when Michelle was twenty-five, that forced a reckoning with her identity and brought her to reclaim the gifts of taste, language, and history her mother had given her. Vivacious and plainspoken, lyrical and honest, Zauner's voice is as radiantly alive on the page as it is onstage. Rich with intimate anecdotes that will resonate widely, and complete with family photos, Crying in H Mart is a book to cherish, share, and reread.

The New Koreans

The New Koreans PDF Author: Michael Breen
Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books
ISBN: 1250065054
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 481

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Book Description
"Just a few decades ago, the Koreans were an impoverished, agricultural people. In one generation they moved from the fields to Silicon Valley. The nature and values of the Korean people provide the background for a more detailed examination of the complex history of the country, in particular its division and its emergence as an economic superpower. Who are these people? And where does their future lie?"--