Arirang in Chinese Eyes

A key word to our understanding of Korean culture, Arirang, as recently added to UNESCO’s list of Intangible Cultural Heritage, plays a positive role in promoting the cultural image of Korea.In the eyes of Chinese people, Arirang, which originates from Korea folk-song, is now visualized as that in Korean songs, Korean culture and the world’s culture heritage in whole.In China nowadays, Arirang is unchained from the single emotion of pathos, and can now represent both joy and sadness. Originally a nostalgia folk-song by which the Korean people chant their pining for home land, Arirang is re-interpreted as a popular song of passion and gentleness, bearing the chance of solidarity and revitalization of a people. The Chinese people are also infatuated with the natural affinity brought by Arirang, thus paving the way for it’s ascending popularity in Asia as a whole.Transcending its one-fold significance of music and transforming into cultural product, Arirang is deeply branded with the characteristics, or rather, DNA of the Korean people. In China, Arirang standsasa symbol of not only the Korean people,but also the Republic of Korea and Hanguk-in. It has now become a cultural keyword in the understanding of the Korean people, the Republic of Korea and Hanguk-in. As a result, Arirang serves as a bridge between the Chinese people and the cultures of both the Korean people and the Republic of Korea. We can have a keen observation of Korean culture through Arirang, as IT industry plays the same role in our observation of Korean economy. Therefore, we tend to for man instant connection with Arirang and the Republic of Korea, and even label Hanguk-in as the Arirang people. Arirang thus becomes a common address of the Republic of Korea and Hanguk-in.Standing in UNESCO’s list of intangible cultural heritage, Arirang is now a cultural symbol of the entire world. As culture is not to be confined within a single ethnic group, it tends to become even more solid if shared, and even more splendid after being carefully carved. In the era of globalization that celebrates the chemistry of different cultures, Arirang has walked beyond the cultural circle of the Republic of Korean, Hanguk-in and their expatriates, and is remolded into one that caters for the aesthetic appreciation of different peoples.In final words, the Chinese people is now taking Arirang as the castaway of hatred, the melody that praises the beauty of Korea, and the cultural heritage shared by not only the Korean people, but also the world as a whole.With the beat and rhythm of Arirang, we expect to see a path of globalization being paved, mingling the traditions of Korean culture, ancient, modern and that of future.