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Spring is the best season to observe Seoul's charms. Seoul's springtime is amazing -- it emerges naturally, catching you unawares. Cherry blossoms bloom overnight one day in early April, informing you that spring has arrived. Azaleas are everywhere; walking along the lavender, pink and white-dotted riverbanks, you feel you are in paradise.
Seoul City Hall Plaza is a key center of the city's celebrations of spring. Musical and dance performances, sports competitions and fashion shows abound. Special events mark holidays such as Teachers' Day, Mothers' Day and Buddha's Birthday in May. Some events feature artists from around the world. On weekend evenings you can enjoy different outdoor programs and performances in the spring breeze. This happens everywhere in Seoul. From April to October, the Sejong Center and other cultural centers hold series of performances. You can listen to orchestral music or hip-hop, watch belly-dancers or ballet, or traditional Korea folk dancing in the open air in parks or along the Han River.
Cheong Gye Cheon, a stream running through central Seoul from west to east, is another attractive feature of the city. Since 2005 the river has been dressed up with sculptures and works of art -- a huge seashell stands at the mouth of the river, historical drawings dot the walls along its sides, and a photo exhibition under a bridge all catch the visitor's attention. Grassy areas and bushes line the 5.8-kilometer river. During the daytime pedestrians are lured by street fairs, book exhibitions and fashion shows. In the middle of May, the city government decorates the river with many colorful lights and a big flashing globe. When night comes the river sparkles with the reflected lights.
Spring is also a popular time for international conferences hosted in the city's five-star hotels, such as the Asia Pacific Summit of the Universal Peace Federation and the Seoul-Washington Forum hosted by the Korea Foundation. These events add an academic dimension and foster a rich diversity of scholarly exchange.
This year, Koreans experienced an especially happy moment as the South-North railway was opened on May 17, crossing the 38th parallel for the first time in 56 years, symbolizing a roadmap to unification. The media lauded this as the bloodline connecting the divided Korean people.
Spring 2007 was also a season of protests in Seoul. Despite the general spirit of harmony, there was also some discord as demonstrators protested South Korea's Free Trade Agreement with the United States, women protested Japan's refusal to acknowledge World War II comfort women, bank clerks went on strike for a salary raise, and public prayers were said for victims of the Virginia Tech shootings in the United States, perpetrated by a mentally disturbed Korean young man. However, all these activities were conducted in moderation, revealing another aspect of the Korean character -- keeping a balance between democratic freedom of expression and social order.
All this rich diversity of sight and sound, all this celebration of Seoul's colorful springtime is a beautiful reflection of the soul of Asia.
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(Zhang Quanyi is an associate professor at the Zhejiang Wanli University in Ningbo, China, and a PhD candidate at Shanghai International Studies University, studying policy making and collective identity. He is currently a research fellow at the School of International Studies at Yonsei University in Seoul, Korea, under a grant by the Korea Foundation. He can be contacted at qyzhangupi@yahoo.com. ©Copyright Zhang Quanyi.)
