57% of 20-Somethings Ignorant of Korean War

Source: Korea Times

Fifty-nine years after the outbreak of the 1950-53 Korean War, nearly four in 10 South Koreans aren't familiar with the tragic fratricidal war, according to a recent survey.

A survey of 1,000 adults over 19, conducted by the Ministry of Public Administration and Security (MPAS) in April, showed that 36.9 percent of respondents said they didn't know when the Korean War had broken out.

By age, 56.6 percent of those in their 20s said they didn't know when the war had occurred, while 28.7 percent of those in their 30s and 23 percent of those in their 40s said the same thing, it said.

``This is a very serious problem that more and more people, especially youngsters, are not well aware of or not interested in the Korean War, where millions of South Koreans were killed,'' an official of the Ministry of National Defense said. ``Pan-governmental efforts are required to make people understand properly about the Korean War and, in particular, educate youngsters about the war and history.''

The official referred to a survey last year, suggesting that more than 35 percent of elementary school students misunderstood that the Korean War had broken out following the South's invasion into the North.

The war broke out on June 25, 1950, when North Korean troops invaded the South, crossing the 38th parallel, the line diving the two Koreas. Twenty-one countries dispatched troops under the United Nations flag to fight against North Koreans backed by China.

The war resulted in a devastating death toll with at least 2 million Korean civilians killed, according to data. South Korea sustained more than 1 million casualties, while estimated communist casualties were 2 million. Casualties among the United Nations allies totaled 16,532.

The war ended in a truce, not a peace treaty. The two Koreas remain technically at war.

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Similar to the previous article about Korean-Canadians being sympathetic to North Korea I find this story puzzling. How can South Koreans not know their history? In Canada WWI and WWII were more than 60 years ago but all Canadians know the stories and pay our respects everytime there's Remembrance Day or an anniversary.

Is the South Korean school system just not teaching anything related to the war? If so that's a shame cause all war veterans should be rememebered. Why is there no hatred at all between the two Koreas? Is it foreshadowing for a possible reunification? That's seems to be a pipedream. As the article states, the two countries are still at war. IIRC The Vietnam war ended nearly 35 years ago and the two sides still hate each other. They still argue over the flag every day!

Great Wall of China 'even longer'

Source: BBC

The Great Wall of China is even greater than previously thought, according to the first detailed survey to establish the length of the ancient barricade.

A two-year government mapping study found that the wall spans 8,850km (5,500 miles) - until now, the length was commonly put at about 5,000km.

Previous estimates of its length were mainly based on historical records.

Infra-red and GPS technologies helped locate some areas concealed over time by sandstorms, state media said.

The project found that there were wall sections of 6,259km, 359km of trenches, and 2,232km of natural defensive barriers such as hills and rivers.

The study was carried out by the State Administration of Cultural Heritage and the State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping.

Barricade

Experts said the newly-discovered sections of the wall were built during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), and stretch from Hu Mountain in northern Liaoning province to Jiayu Pass in western Gansu province.

The project will continue for another 18 months in order to map sections of the wall built during the Qin (221-206BC) and Han (206BC-9AD) Dynasties, the report said.

The wall, the world's largest man-made structure, was built to protect the northern border of the Chinese Empire.

Archaeologists had lobbied for the survey to be done to provide scholars with an accurate understanding of the construction.

Known to the Chinese as the "long Wall of 10,000 Li", the Great Wall is in fact a series of walls and earthen works begun in the 5th Century BC and first linked up under Qin Shi Huang in about 220BC.

I knew that the Ming Dynasty extended the wall but how did they not record over 3000 miles! As for archaeologists lobbying for the survey to be done to provide scholars with an accurate understanding of the construction, that's not very hard. It was built brick by brick using human force. And if someone died, they became part of the wall to save bricks!

I wish I was born in 1900.

We currently live in interesting times. Too interesting. As I sit here for my last week of work with nothing to do, and approaching my 30th birthday on Saturday, I’ve been pondering, would I have been better off being born in 1900 instead of 1979?

I’m a pretty simple straight-forward person. Living in this era, I always feel a little bit behind. Yes I can use the computer and can blog but other technological advances such as blackberrys, HTCs, texting, and video conferencing have passed me by. Perhaps I should have lived in a simpler time so I wouldn’t have to stress out over not be able to catch up both personally and professionally

So what would it have been like if I was born Feburary 7, 1900 in Canada.

SCHOOL

I’d be entering kindergarden in 1905. It would be a very small school, probably a one room classroom, and I’d get the same teacher for a few years. I’d know everyone in the class and we’d be in uniforms. I wouldn’t think that there would be a lot of teasing or fighting that we see today. Everyone would know everyone and there would probably be a little boy and I liked for those years.

TITANIC

At the age of 12, one of the first news stories I would have heard is the Titanic. I would read for days how majestic and wonderful it was. The unsinkable ship. Then read more in the following days that the Titanic sank off the coast of Newfoundland. I would grab the newspaper from my dad every morning to read about it. There would not be 24 hour CNN trying to interview victims.

WORLD WAR I

I would be 14 when the war started. I have an older brother who would have been 17. I would assume that during that time I would have had more siblings than just the one brother for this case, let’s keep everything the same and I have one brother. At 17 he may have gone to war. Looking back, that would have been really sad, but at the time people were excited about the Great War and were signing up to go. My brother might have relished a European adventure. I would have been waiting at home for his letters and excited to hear about his journey.

For me back at home, the entire job market would have opened. Even at the age of 14 I would have found a job to supplement my schooling. Anything from a barber to a street car driver. Women took over all the jobs that traditionally men did.

VOTING

Due to women’s influence in the workforce, women were allowed to vote in Canada in 1917. I would have gotten to vote in the 1921 election and would not have been happy as the conservative government was decisively defeated by Mackenzie King’s Liberals. I probably would have a hatred Mackenzie King for many years to come!


PROHIBITION

I would have been 20 during prohibition. This may have been a good thing although I’m not sure how much women’s drank back then. Not like today where girls are always drinking at bars. At work I was always invited to go out drinking and felt like an outcast when I didn’t. I don’t know how it is in other place but in Calgary the bar scene is crazy. Girls are always out drinking and getting into trouble, myself included from time to time. In 1920 I would have been safe

MARRIAGE

I would have been married by now. As an unmarried person turning 30 I hear from my family all the time. And I know many girl over 30 who aren’t married and have no intention of getting married. They just jump from one guy to the other which I don’t like. If I was born in 1900, I’d have been married around the age of 20, to the boy I liked in grade school. No bad dates, no stress. Just marry the boy down the street. As we approach 1929, I would have had a few kids by then, and be an established housewife. I wouldn’t be sitting in a office wondering why I got laid off.

STOCK MARKET CRASH

The stock market crash of 1929. It’s funny but I consider the current economic crisis to begin around October 2008 at the time I was 29 years old and 6 months. In stock market crash was October 1929. I’m 29 years old and 6 months. So either way I’m facing the same situation. The end of the roaring 20s. My husband may or may not have had a job. Going into the depression times would have been tough. No different then they are now.

Anyways, those are some thoughts I have today. I wish I was born in 1900. I was a much simpler time. Even though we know what’s coming as I turn 30. The Great depression, World War II and so on. Here’s hoping we don’t run into anything like that in the years to come because we are exactly at the same stage in history.

How about you? Would you have liked to have been born whenever you were born or been born in 1900?

Hundred Year Old Letters

Letters from China tell history of Asian immigration

It's amazing that these letters are still around as they are very important.
If you don't know where you came from, it doesn't matter where you're doing.
You can't really track history unless you walk in that man's shoes.
There's no room for hindsight. Hindsight is for the blind.

"I was surprised to know that a hundred years ago, the Chinese migrants, they are somehow having the same concerns that we now today have," said Wong, herself from Taiwan. "There's a lot of migrant families now in Canada. One member of the family has to earn the money either in Canada or, say, in China, and send the money to their family members... So I found wow, it's a little bit similar."

Not surprising at all. Money will always be an issue 100 years ago and 100 years from now.