The everlasting story of Chunhyang

Among the rich history of Korean folk tales, the Chunhyangjeon (춘향전, “The Story of Chunhyang”) is one of the best known love stories and folk tales of Korea.

Date of composition and author are unknown, but its present form took shape around 1694~1834 from the surviving tale, the Song of Chun Hyang.

The story follows Yi Mong Yong, the hard-studying scholar, as he sees ChunHyang on a swing and falls in love with her. He relentlessly follows her until he gets her mother’s permission to marry her.

The tragedy strikes when Yi Mong Yong has to move to Hanyang (Seoul now), and leaves his new bride behind. She promises to wait, but the new mayor has his eyes on her, and thus her troubles begin. He pursuits her, and she shuts him off saying she’s already married. She gets imprisoned but Chunhyang doesn’t lose her hope in her husband’s return.

Yi Mong Yong comes back, after he passes his exam as a secret royal inspector, and saves Chunhyang from the greedy new mayor hated by everyone, and they live happily ever after.

This Korean tale of love and loyalty has many attributes that people from different countries can relate to. Each country has its own love story that overcomes impossible obstacles and make love happen.

Like any other literature, the story of ChunHyang also reflects its society. This story of true love and the difference in social status is a national story. The common people might get vicarious pleasure from the main characters who got over the difference of social standings and punished the greedy lord. Also keeping female’s integrity, one of the story’s main recurring themes, is the traditional Korean’s conservative moral.

I have had the chance to watch this story come alive in a theatrical show, and besides being true to the story and portraying it very well, the cast were all children which made it even more entertaining. The show that included traditional Korean dances fusion with recent K-pop songs made for an interesting and lively adaptation of the story.

The traditional story had on a fresh approach, as the actors tried to introduce the different characters from the original story. The smart scholar, the nice maiden and the greedy evil mayor, are all characters from folk tales around the world.