By Umer Nangiana
For years, Koreans have believed that all things in nature are animated by Gi, a tiny seed that contains all the energy needed to grow a tall, thick tree. The country’s four distinct seasons, the mountains that cover 70 percent of its territory and the sea that laps at its shores on three sides all flow with endless amounts of Gi.
Korea is noted worldwide as a treasure trove of international ecological resources such as UNESCO World National Heritage sites, Ramsar Convention on Wetlands-registered sites and UNESCO Biosphere reserve.
You would get to know all this and much more from education and information stall of the Embassy of South Korea at the on-going Doha International Book Fair at the Qatar National Convention Centre (QNCC), even before you venture to see Korea first-hand.
You can also get your name written in the Korean language of a creative set of letters based on the shapes of the human vocal organs.
“We have displayed books here that cover Korean culture, history, cuisine, K-Pop, economy and books related to study options in Korea. These are what people usually are interested,” Sookyoung Lee, a volunteer at the stall, tells Community.
“We are selling some posters of Korean actors and Pop groups. We are also giving out some complementary pamphlets containing information on tourism to Korea and the kind of cuisine that you would find there,” she adds.
The selection of books in each section is very wide. For instance, in the history section there are books detailing different aspects of history in detail. They also have books on how to learn Korean language and in the economy section you would find books describing the evolution of economic development in Korea, as to how it started and where does it stand now.
And then there are books in cuisine section that explain different types of foods found in Korean and their history. In a nutshell you would get to know everything about Korea.
“We also have CDs for music including Gangnam style, Infinite and others, besides Korean movies,” says Lee. “We are not selling these books here. These are just for exhibition purposes here. But we have been selling posters here and they have attracted a good number of people,” she adds.
There is also a section where Lee writes visitors’ names in Korean language based on the pronunciation of their names. It is very popular, she says. “People coming here really want to know how to speak Korean language because I think they already speak some of it which they have picked from watching Korean TV dramas and films, websites and music,” says Lee.
She says a good number of Qataris were interested in learning the Korean language. Their contact details are noted and would be passed on to the embassy so that something can be arranged for them.
“So many people wanted to know about the Korean language, culture and especially the girls wanted to know how to cook Korean food and people were really interested in knowing where the authentic Korean restaurants are located in Doha,” says Lee.
Based on the feedback from the visitors, she says, they are planning to come up with the even bigger and better stall for the next year’s book fair.
“This year we did not have books to sell here because the idea was the people would get books on Korea from the shops here. But some people told us they could not find many [of these books],” says Lee, pointing to books on display in sections behind her.
However, the posters of the Korean actors and pop stars have been selling really well. Lee says she was so surprised that people here were so well aware of all the Korean showbiz stars, they did not only recognise the faces that in the posters but they demanded posters of many K-Pop stars that were not available at the stall.
“I am from Korea and some of the stars that people asked for even I did not know of. I would say, ‘oh who are they’ and then I Google them,” says Lee, smiling. She believes the stall would have a wider selection of posters and books on Korea and Korean pop stars for the next year’s festival, because the demand was really high this year.
INFORMATIVE: A volunteer giving a visitor information on Korea. Photos by Umer Nangiana
