My first toefl essay~~!!!

Describe a custom from your country that you would like people from other countries to adopt. Explain your choice, using specific reasons and examples.

131109 10v4

JeeHoon Lee

               "Ganggangsulae! Ganggangsulae!" You will hear people singing this song if you visit Korea in 'Chuseok,' which is a Korean traditional holiday. People will make a circle altogether, and dance to the right, and to the left. Like this, Korea is considered as a country with full of cultural contents and customs. Also, these contents are accepted in international society for its usage of many scientific methods. Out of these coustoms, I would want to introduce Ganggangsulae to the people from other countries to adopt.

            Before I go any further, I would like to briefly explain about Ganggangsulae, and it's oreintation. Ganggangsulae is a traditional Korean folkdance, which women danced in most of the times. The process of dance itself is quite simple. People make a circle together, hold each other's hands, and starts to walk slowly to the right or left. Then, they start to sing a song, "ganggangsulae!ganggangsulae!" Also, people moves in a circle quicker, enjoying the whole process.

            The orientation of 'Ganggangsulae' is not shown exactly. A lot of controversies between its orientation still exist even between the experts. However, there are some supported expectations among the people. The most supported expectation is related to war called 'Imjin war,' which is a war between Chosun dynasty and Japan in 16th century. In the war, there was one Koean general whose name was 'Leesoonshin.' This general was about to face a crucial naval battle agains Japanese navy. However, the quantity of Chosun's soldiers and battleships were lacking in a great degree compared to Japanese. General Leesoonshin asked civilians' help. He asked them to dance in a circle under the bright full moon, so that Japanese navy would misunderstand the quantity of Chosun's navy. Luckily, this plan worked out. Japanese soldiers got afraid after seeing Ganggangsulae, and they retreated back to their base. This is the most famous explain for the orientation of 'Ganggangsulae.'

            I want to introduce this custom, 'Ganggangsulae' to foreign friends because of the two reasons.

First, 'Ganggangsulae' explains the community spirit, which is one of the most important characteristic of Korean culture. The orientation of ganggangsulae itself shows the community spirit. In a national threat called Imjin war, people in the village worked altogether to win against the Japanese invaders. They could have ran away in the process, but most of the neighbors including the women left in order to protect their nation and 'minjok.' From this event, I think many people in the modern society, who is going through individualism can learn a lot and look back on themselves. Therefore I wanted to introduce ganggangsulae to the foreigners because it shows what the group of people can accomplish something, which can't be done by individual.

            Second, everyone can be together in the folkdance called 'ganggangsulae.' It has easy lyrics and dance gestures. This means that anyone from a child to grandparents can hold each other's hands and dance altogether. This is especially important since people dance ganggangsulae usually in 'Chuseok.' Chuseok is the biggest holiday in Korean. All the family members gather together in this holiday. Ganggangsulae will be the most suitable dance that everyone can enjoy at that moment. Therefore, I want to recommend foreigners to adopt ganggangsulae since it is a dance that every family members can enjoy altogether despite their age or gender.

            In conclusion, there are numerous kinds of customs in Korean history. Out of these customs, I specifically recommend ganggangsulae to my foreign friends since it is an easy dance that everyone can dance altogether. Also , a lot of people will learn about Korea's community spirit from ganggangsulae.