The second most important holiday in Korea, Lunar New Year, was a great time for us to get together with old friends and new friends for a weekend retreat. A little break from our concrete jungle meant we all headed out of the city to Namhan San-seong or South Han Mountain Fortress.
This ancient fortress, which contains fortifications that date back to 672, was built on the western edge of Namhan mountain to protect Korean dynasties fromTang China.
Most of the structure that exists today was planned, beginning in 1624, when the Manchus were threatening Ming China. In 1636, the Manchus invaded and the king fled with his court and 13,800 soldiers to Namhan San-seong. Here they were well defended and the king enjoyed the protection of a bodyguard composed of 3000 fighting monks.
The Manchus were not able to take the fortress by storm, but after 45 days of siege the food supply inside ran out, and the king was forced to surrender, giving his sons as hostages and shifting allegiance from the Ming.
-Our Group-
**Check out Wikipedia @ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Namhansanseong**
3 comments:
fighting monks - probably the coolest concept in the universe.
I like the duct tape label!
How did you to it?
The fighting monks is a cool concept. As for the duct tape, there is a step-by-step tips and tricks section in one of the photoshop magazines we received for Christmas. It was fun to make.
Post a Comment