Yeon Joo Hur, a hard-charging finance expert, told me stories about ancestor worshiping days in Korea, being a “tai tai,” or housewife, in Singapore, and hours spent singing with her family. As a thirty-six-year-old Buddhist, she wishes to see an end to the world’s conflict over religion.
Q: Tell me about where you grew up in Korea.
A: I was born in Busan, which is the second largest city and the largest port city in South Korea and has about 3.6 million people. It’s located on the southeast corner of the Korean Peninsula. Busan is famous for the freshness of the seafood and the famous “Haeundae” beach. When I was growing up, the city was pretty humble, compared with the capital, Seoul. But lately it’s becoming more cosmopolitan. Despite all the changes, I still feel the warm welcome from my hometown every time I visit. I stayed in Busan until I was fifteen and left for New York to pursue my piano studies.
Q: What are some of the similarities and some of the differences between Korean culture and your current community in Hong Kong?
A: Korean culture is largely influenced by Chinese culture. For example, Confucianism is an ancient Chinese ethical and philosophical system that was originally developed from Kong Fu Zi. It focuses on our human morality and good deeds, which became very important ideas that spread throughout Asia. It deeply influenced East Asia, including Korea, China, and Japan, for almost 2,500 years. Respecting elders, ancestor worshiping, every-day manners, how to behave during mealtime, and so on, was deeply rooted into our thinking.
My grandfather is an excellent example of a strong believer. Every time we have the ancestor-worshiping day (“Jae Sa”), all the family members get together for the ceremony. I believe we had thirteen or fourteen “Jae Sa” (it is the actual funeral day for the family member who passed away) a year. My mother was a wife of the first-born son, and she had to carry out the preparation for all the events, mostly preparing food for the ceremony and for the guests. It would take her about two whole days to prepare everything according to the strict recipe—for example, no garlic and only certain kinds of ingredients.
