Occasionally I reserve the right to just post cool photographs on my blog, which might have been the reason for starting it many years ago. This photograph is from 1912 in Daegu, Korea, of the subject of many a blog post, Seo Sang Dong (서상돈). Seo Sang Dong was a wealthy yangban (양반) of the area who attempted to mitigate growing Japanese colonial control in Korea by helping pay off the national debt through contributions. The National Debt Repayment Movement, 국채보상운동을, although a failed effort, was his contribution to modern Korean national history. In his off-time, he managed to sire many children, one of which would would become my wife’s great-grandfather. So Seo Sang Don is my wife’s great great grandfather. This kind of thing matters in Korea. Another of his accomplishments was his his supporting Catholicism in the Daegu area, contributing much of his land to the building of a church. In this photograph, we see him in 1912 with a bevy of French priests with some serious facial hair. In less than a month, I will be back in Korea and I suspect a good deal of my off-time will be spent looking for more on Seo Sang Don, including his old house, which I think can be seen in the photograph below and is apparently a museum.
