If you’re sick and tired of carrying a fat wallet full of 10,000-Won notes to the casino, you’re in luck because there’s about to be a 50,000-Won bill with a woman on it!
SEOUL, South Korea — A woman will appear on South Korean banknotes for the first time, with the issuance of a new 50,000-won bill, the central bank announced Tuesday.
The front of the bill, which is South Korea’s largest-denominated note, will show artwork by and a portrait of Shin Saim-dang, a well-known artist who died in 1551. Shin was the mother of Yi I, a famous Confucian scholar. She is popularly referred to as a symbol of a "wise mother and good wife."
28/01/2009 at 10:54 am Permalink
If you read near the bottom of that article, you’ll note that the gov has nixed the new W100,000 note
28/01/2009 at 3:15 pm Permalink
I wish they’d chosen to concentrate on something about Shin besides the whole “good wife, wise mother” idiocy. There are so many fascinating things about her character, her art, and how she interpreted the role of women that make her eminently worth of this honor. She was actually quite the radical, but God forbid that Korean women should take her heading a family and becoming one of the best known artists of the day as the reason for her being a role model. No, they had to make it all about her popping out Yulgok . . . geez louise!
28/01/2009 at 3:17 pm Permalink
not too sad about the demise of the 100,000 won note, though . . . Kim Gu was awfully controversial, and the 100,000 won check is perfectly serviceable.
28/01/2009 at 4:12 pm Permalink
I checked the won vs. the USD exchange rate today, just for laughs. Bad idea (speaking as an American).
But now I need to make some time to read up on Shin Saim-dang. Very interesting figure.
29/01/2009 at 12:58 am Permalink
In that vein, Gomushin Girl, I’m glad they put her artwork on there along with her picture — at least a bit of What She Did rather than just the mother/wife thing.
I remember a lively discussion about Korea’s desperate need for female heroes back when Yi So-yeon went to space. Pretty much every female I can think of who’s held up as a female hero for Koreans is problematic in some way, and it makes me a bit sad when Canadians say Abraham Lincoln is their hero, or when Korean girls say Marie Curie and Florence Nightingale are their heroes. I’d be interested to hear who YOU would nominate as Korean female heroes who are awesome and should be on money.
I think Jang Mi-Ran is pretty damn cool, for my bit…but it’s a bit soon to have her on money. She should get a postage stamp, though.
As money goes, I think Sejong should just be on every denomination in Korea, like Mao in China, Ho Chi Minh in Vietnam, and Queen Elizabeth in most of the commonwealth.
29/01/2009 at 11:39 am Permalink
How so “problematic”? Certainly no more so than any man from history who is held up as an example for modern people to follow, even though anyone removed from us in time or place would have “problematic” episodes or attitudes. Certainly any male example we could hold up would also have those “problematic” bits. We don’t complain that Wren or Charlemagne or Caesar don’t perfectly jive with the roles of modern men. Instead of asking for the prefect example for modern Korean women from a history that has marginalized and excluded them, perhaps we need to re-examine the women we do have and come to a more comprehensive understanding of them and their accomplishments.
Shin *did* accomplish extraordinary things that are worth celebrating, and the “언진 어머니” bit may be very exaggerated (despite the devotion of her son Yulgok who ran off to a Buddhist temple to mourn her for the requisite three years when she died, he also wrote later that she really wasn’t that interested in her wifely, motherly duties with the ringing endorsement that she “wasn’t a bad mother”) and more to jive with her status of being *Yulgok’s* mother. I can’t imagine that the 언진 어머니” title would have taken off just for having raised seven kids – that really wasn’t that unusual.
What was unusual about her? She was one of the best known artists of the day. Not just a little bit known, but downright famous. She was remarkably well educated (including the Chinese classics), wrote poetry, calligraphy, and painted, lead her own natal family ancestral rites, and seems to have exercised a remarkable amount of control over her own life and family at a time when laws and regulations were becoming more and more restrictive for women of her class. In my mind, Shin is an awesome, fantastic, rule breaking rebel of a woman who definitely deserves a bank note. It’s not that she shouldn’t be honored, but she should be honored for the totality of her amazing life, not just for being a good mommy.
Similarly fascinating women in Korean history? Shin’s daughter and granddaughter were both well respected artists. In terms of government we have Queens Sondeok, Jindeok, and Myeongsong, diarist Lady Hyegyeong, the pilot Park Gyeongwon, poet Heo Nanseolhyun . . . meanwhile Yun Hui-sun and Yu Gwan-su have a military and independence connections. And that’s entirely leaving out the countless queens and dowager queens and concubines who were enormously influential but unacknowledged, and the incredible artistic accomplishments of legions of gisaeng and their more domestic counterpart wives and daughters whose works never saw public acclaim. There’s really no lack of extraordinarily accomplished and important women in Korean history – just in acknowledging their work. Of all of these I think Sondeok would be the obvious example for coinage, and I can’t think of why she hasn’t yet been honored just like her male counterparts.
Finally, I don’t think that Sejong is equivalent to either Mao (founder of current gov) and E II (reigning monarch), and I’m pretty sure we don’t want to see Rhee’s mug on every piece of currency or be eyed by Lee every time we open our wallets.
09/02/2009 at 10:47 am Permalink
I guess the 100,000-won bill has been nixed for now so that terrorist Kim Ku‘s visage can die a quiet death. Maybe when they finally try again for the 100K note, Tosan Ahn Changho will be taken more seriously.
I remember writing in an update that the 50K note would be coming in early 2009, but I don’t see a date in this Fox story. Does the announcement mean they’re finally distributing them?
How ironic it will be when some parents will be bribing their child’s teacher for more attention using the 50,000-won notes with this paragon of parental virtue on the front.