Sebae (세배) Revisited and Identity Politics

[samedi]

When I mentioned sebae (세배) - the tradition of bowing to one's elders for the lunar new year - in an earlier entry I hardly thought that I would have further reason to write about the subject until next year. Guess that was a premature conclusion

Comments

[samedi]

With Hong Kong and Macau having been colonies of Britain and Portugal, respectively, it's very interesting to hear that someone speaking Cantonese might be enough to be considered Chinese. With Korea having made historical efforts to limit contact with the outside world (well, Europeans and Americans for the most part) it's a little easier to see why Korean language proficiency would be tied to identity.

My English name, Paul, can be written in Korean as 폴. ('Pol') It's not 100% accurate but it does get the point across without being mixed up with other Korean words. (The words for 'arm' and 'eight' sound similar.) When I took Chinese in university I was given a Chinese name - 白立陽 - and I use that from time to time as well. Each of the 漢子 corresponds to a word in Korean, so the translation makes sense. (Becoming 백입양) Except ... the last two syllables combine to form the word 입양, which is the word for adoption. Or, as a verb, "to adopt a son into one's family". Does that make me an orphan waiting to be adopted into a Korean family? :P