Special to Somewhere Tours
A Morning Earth Site
SWT-A97
A Human Treasure’s Tour
SWT-A97 / Korea, Hong Kong and China
8 DAYS IN KOREA - 8 DAYS IN HONG KONG and CHINA
Korea: Antiquing in Seoul, Meet Human Treasures
Andong Mask Dance Festival
Hong Kong International Art and Antiques Fair
China Shanghai Antique Markets
YiXing meet the teapot artists
The “Autumn Antiquities Adventure” is a Human Cultural Treasure “connoisseur’s tour” and truly a remarkable opportunity. You will visit outstanding artists in Korea, Hong Kong and China. Included are many Human Cultural Treasures. In addition, in Korea you will visit the ancient city of Gyeongju witness the famous Andong International Mask Festival that is claimed to be “the most memorable, fascinating and fun time to be held in Korea”.
In Hong Kong, you will attend the Hong Kong Art and Antiques Fair. In China, you will visit Shanghai’s famous antique markets where you might find an exportable piece, walk on the Great Wall in Beijing, attend spectacular performances and meet teapot artists in YiXing. This will be a truly remarkable tour.
Autumn Antiquing: Asia
ordinary people to express their views of society and poke fun at the establishment. During the 10-day festival, diverse performances will be held every day to entertain visitors. The programs consist of Korean and international mask dance performances as well as modern performances, mime and marionette performances.
Performances will be held both at the Andong Gangbyeon Festival Grounds and inside Hahoe Village. Hahoe Village is a remarkable place to visit. Residence of this village preserve the ancient traditions of village life by living in homes as they were during the Chosen Dynasty. Among the many traditions they preserve is the carving of the Hahoe Byeongsan Mask reputedly the oldest type mask in Korea.
You will also witness OEUK 2009, Korea’s first onggi festival. If it is anything like other Korean festivals, it will be spectacular.
Thirty years ago, we thought that onggi was about to disappear.
Onggi is Korea’s longest and for many ceramic artists most fascinating ceramic traditions.
The word was that all of the remaining onggi potters were in their 60’s and young people didn’t want to learn the onggi processes.
Refrigerators, plastic and glass containers seemed to replace the onggi jar used for the storage of may foods. Many onggi studios did close but a very remarkable thing occurred. Young artists wanted to learn and onggi family members did not want to see it disappear after thousands of years of unbroken history. Korea may not have the hundreds of onggi studios we found thirty years ago but onggi is alive and well in Korea and promises to stay. Besides, Koreans discovered that a good onggi jar is much better for storing many of their foods than are the “modern methods”. At OEUK 2009 you will witness Korean history in action.
Autumn in Asia is a beautiful time and we have a remarkable tour planned to celebrate it. We will travel throughout Korea meeting their Human Cultural Treasures and other outstanding artists. This in itself is a remarkable opportunity as some of these visits are by special invitation.
Since it is autumn, we will visit
one of Korea’s great events -
The Andong International Mask
Dance Festival. The Andong
International Mask Dance
Festival brings together mask
dancers from throughout
Korea with international mask
dancers in an event many call
“the most memorable, fascinating
and fun time to be held in
Korea.”
Mask dances were a way for