Name a new fact your learned about Korean culture from reading the book

[Justine Ocsebio]

I learned that there were exiled Korean royalties in Japan once upon time. Marriages happened between them and the Japanese rulers, and their descendants became the ancestors of Japan’s emperors. I don’t know how much of this is true, but it’s an interesting idea.

[Teele]

I experienced culture shock when reading about the arranged marriages of Lady Sougyon, Park Hain and Embon. I wonder how they survive with loveless unions.

[crisanja]

I'm just beginning this book but what stuck out to me immediately was the symbolism of being born in the year of the rat. I have casually studied zodiacs and horoscopes but didn't realize that time of day mattered as much. The explanation of being unfettered and able to run around as one wishes due to being born at night during the year of the rat made a lot of sense. It also made sense to want a child born during harvest season in the year of the rat in order to have plenty to eat.

[Valerie Garske]

A husband can abandon his wife without any consequence, but the wife would disgrace her entire extended family if she divorced.

[RHD]

The interesting fact I learnt in this magnificent book is Korea's fight for independence. Right now Korea, both North and South, are forces to reckon with. In this book, we see a 'weaker' Korea. The book portrays Japan as power hungry back then. If in the early 20th Century Korea was still struggling with independence, then they have made major strides development wise as compared to Africa.

[Dabrielle]

I learned that Koreans tend to be very superstitious. They treat omens associated with birth and death very seriously and believed that these symbols foretold the future. The signs associated with Embon's birth were very worrying for Sougyon and would have been repeated to Embon as well. He believed they were premonitions about his life. The two blackbirds that swooped down, making sinister noises left Embon and Hain apprehensive. These birds seemed to foretell the massacre of Hain and the other freedom fighters.

[athurst123]

The narrator talks about her wedding and talks about it is a tradition for the mother of the bride to pour hot wax on the bride's eyelids so they are not able to look at their husband until after the ceremony.

[Mai Tran]

I knew there're all kind of practices in Asian cultures to keep the brides demure and compliance on their wedding days, but not pouring melted wax over their eyes to keep them downcast. It's sad how you'd find this kind of thing in each and every culture that looks down and oppresses their women.

[MsH2k]

I knew little about Korean culture or history before reading this book, so this is an easy question. One thing that I learned about was the alliance between China and Korea in their resistance against Japan: the enemy of my enemy is my friend.

[Adedayo+23]

I had no idea that they put wax on the bride's eyes on the day of the wedding so she cannot open them!! That sounds so dangerous! I wonder how many of them still do this and how many brides have to go to the hospital bc of wax getting in their eye on their wedding day.

I know! This stood out for me as well. The crazy and dangerous rituals women have had to endure throughout history in the name of culture are unimaginable. I hope this ritual is no longer practiced.

[Catie139]

What I'm noticing in this book is the tons of research that must have gone into this time period in Korean history. From styles of dress to what inhabits the gardens, let alone historical events. What's one fact you learned about Korea or this time period through reading this book that you hadn't known beforehand? Or, what is a fact about Korean culture that will help readers understand the story better?

I'll name the obvious: I didn't know 1912 was the year of the Rat. My western influence wanted 1918, the time of the last pandemic, to be the year of the rat, matching it to symbolism of the plague. But that must be disrespectful to those actually born in the year of the rat and its symbolism of plenty and never going hungry. It's also a lot more complicated than that, as the book shows. It's the various symbolisms tying together the time of day and the season. I wonder if there were fortune tellers in Korea that helped navigate the complicated omens of each person's birth.

Chinese Zodiac is actually quite famous in Asia. It may sound strange to Westerners, but it's a traditional thing in China, Korea, Japan, and other Eastern countries. It's similar to the twelve astrological signs, but it uses 12 animals (both real and imaginary) instead of 12 constellations. The signs will differ a bit according to each country's beliefs. Based on their own characteristic, these animals represent how others perceive you or how you present yourself. Of course, Asian fortunetellers would employ the signs for many things, such as predicting one's future, finding a good day for marriages, moving, or constructing. Still, that's their specialty which requires advanced research. If you are interested, you can search for this "Chinese Zodiac" term on Google. By the way, last year (2020) is the year of the Rat, too .

To give an idea of how "important" the zodiac is in Asia: just recently I was Skyping with a friend of mine who I met during the time I was living in Japan. I had wished her a "Happy Birthday" and she responded by giving me all the details about how she was born in the year of the Rat, and was very interested in knowing the animal of the year I was born (Snake). Interestingly, there is no connection with the zodiac that we are most commonly familiar with in regard to birthdays. That supposedly (according to astrologists) has a lot to do with our character/ personality as well.

[lavkathleen]

It was interesting to learn about their traditional inheritance law. Back then, it was the law of the land that the first-born male heir inherits everything.

I wasn't completely aware of this, but I'm not surprised. A lot of social norms serve men today, so I can only imagine how worse it was centuries ago. This is just one of the proofs and it already angers me.

[Serenity2010]

The difficulties of having a romantic relationship because of their class system are what captivated me the most. Embon could not be with the woman he loved because of his station and her heritage. Sougyon had to let her husband use her because divorce was out of the question and the way their marriage happened all together deprived her husband of his true love. It is all very rigid unless you are poor in Korea during this time.

[lavkathleen]

Lady Sougyon was glad she had a son because a son would stay in her life, whereas a daughter would not. Daughters evidently just disappear into their own families and their husbands' families. In America, we have the opposite tendency. There is an old saying "A daughter is a daughter all of her life; a son is a son until he takes a wife." I thought that was an interesting contrast.

Is that how America operated in the early 20th century, though? That's interesting. I guess Korea really look too lowly of women. Men are expected to still support their family even after they got married, whereas women are deemed useful only to their husbands and children. I mean, if woman are only allowed to do menial work... what did they think would happen?

[Honest-reviewer]

The new thing that I learnt has to be about the divorce. It is so weird that a male from the woman’s family has to decide whether she should be getting a divorce or not. I think that’s foolish. A woman should be given the rights to make her own life decisions.
I also got to know more about their dressing style and cuisines. Their dishes sound delicious!