Commercialisation is a double-edged sword. Discuss.

Annyong haesayo ! The Kimchi Gang had visited the Hahoe Village today. When we heard that we are going to a village. At first, we though that we will would be visiting a rundown village where the toilets would be very dirty, and where the sole form of income would be agriculture. However, we were proved wrong! The place seemed very commercialised. In fact, the first thing we saw was a carpark large enough to accommodate 100 cars, and it was completely filled with tour buses and cars. This made us think that the village was commercialised.

In a case of the Hahoe village, commercialisation refers to the modification of the culture into something more attractive to the masses. For example, our first activity was to watch the traditional mask dance by the villagers. . Traditionally, farmers have very intimate relationships with the land and their way of life. The dance was supposed to be used by farmers to express the life and hardships of the farmers. However, the dance now is used solely for entertainment as hundreds of tourists gathered to watch it. It makes us feel that much of the true meaning of the dances is not lost, and most of it was used for entertainment.

The second instance where we felt that the village was commercialised was when we took a tour in the village. We were enjoying ourselves and taking photos of the houses belonging to the villagers without much though. Upon further reflection, we feel that we had actually intruded on their privacy. If we were in their shoes, we would feel very frustrated as we would need to “lend” our houses to the foreigners to take photos and explore. This really makes us wonder why the villagers would choose to do this even though it makes them feel uncomfortable.

We realized that the village could not survive without commercialization. Geographically, the village is located far away from the capital. Without opening themselves up to visitors, the villages cannot earn enough money through farming although they are near to a river and have a fertile soil. Consequentially, this would discourage the young villagers from continuing their traditional practices. This will lead to a lost in the culture of the village as the youths are no longer willing to continue the practices of their ancestors.

Therefore, there is a need for the government to pump in money to preserve the village’s traditional practices of farming, culture dances and making crafts. By transforming a primary industry into a tertiary industry, it helps the next generation of villagers to sustain the traditional practices in the village while still maintaining a quality of life.

To conclude, our group feels that it is important for traditional villages to commercialise in order to preserve its original flavor. If not, traditional Korean culture might run the risk of disappearing. In other words, it  is better to have a fraction of the culture preserved than to have nothing at all.