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rutan668

Joined: 03 May 2006 Location: Incheon Korea
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Posted: Wed Aug 08, 2007 11:21 pm Post subject: Seoul's bogus 'French Quarter' |
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Seoul's bogus 'French Quarter'
It started when I saw a lost looking guy in near the Express Bus Terminal station in Seoul who asked me if I knew how to get to the French Quarter in Seoul. I work in the area but I said I wasn't aware of any 'French Quarter'. He said he was from a guide book and he wanted his guide book to be the first to feature Seoul's French Quarter. The only thing I knew about France in connection to Korea was that they had invaded once and stolen the oldest book in the world - and they still had it. So I presumed that his talk of a 'French Quarter' was merely the result of a soju hallucination and I bid him good day.
However, When I was getting Kimbap one day I noticed the strangest thing - the signs were in French and Korean - Not English and Korean, but French and Korean!. This called for further investigation. So below is the result of my investigation into the bogus 'French Quarter' of Seoul. No French people of course. - It's Korea for christ sake.
http://www.informationism.org/index.php?title=User:Informa3_Seoul_blog/Seoul%27s_%27French_Quarter%27 |
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reactionary
Joined: 22 Oct 2006 Location: korreia
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Posted: Wed Aug 08, 2007 11:42 pm Post subject: |
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my girlfriend loves that area. bought a french book, always tries to drag me there. i just shrug it off. |
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RACETRAITOR
Joined: 24 Oct 2005 Location: Seoul, South Korea
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Posted: Wed Aug 08, 2007 11:42 pm Post subject: |
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I believe the law states it's a minimum of two dead French babies found in a freezer and then it automatically becomes a French quarter. |
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rutan668

Joined: 03 May 2006 Location: Incheon Korea
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Posted: Wed Aug 08, 2007 11:48 pm Post subject: |
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reactionary wrote: |
my girlfriend loves that area. bought a french book, always tries to drag me there. i just shrug it off. |
What, they have a French bookshop! |
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dogshed

Joined: 28 Apr 2006
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Posted: Wed Aug 08, 2007 11:50 pm Post subject: |
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I remember someone talking about an area where French people actually live. Is that a different area? |
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rutan668

Joined: 03 May 2006 Location: Incheon Korea
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Posted: Wed Aug 08, 2007 11:54 pm Post subject: |
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dogshed wrote: |
I remember someone talking about an area where French people actually live. Is that a different area? |
I don't know, Maybe some french people do live there, but I've only seen Koreans. |
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Junior

Joined: 18 Nov 2005 Location: the eye
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Posted: Thu Aug 09, 2007 12:07 am Post subject: |
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The chinatown in Incheon similarly features zero chinese people.
maybe the odd Korean chinese person.
Some korean dude told me he learned Chinese because he grew up there. however he could barely speak any chinese and was just trying to impress the tourists with how "multicultural " korea is. |
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Richard Krainium
Joined: 12 Jan 2006
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Posted: Thu Aug 09, 2007 12:31 am Post subject: |
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RACETRAITOR wrote: |
I believe the law states it's a minimum of two dead French babies found in a freezer and then it automatically becomes a French quarter. |
Are you sure it's not four? Or two cut it half? |
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crazy_arcade
Joined: 05 Nov 2006
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Posted: Thu Aug 09, 2007 12:37 am Post subject: |
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What's this? A thread in which the people know absolutely nothing about the topic....
There is a french language school in the area and a concentration of French people...not more than a couple thousand at most. There's a few bakeries, cafes, maybe some import supermarkets and such. |
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komerican

Joined: 17 Dec 2006
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Posted: Thu Aug 09, 2007 12:44 am Post subject: |
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Junior wrote: |
The chinatown in Incheon similarly features zero chinese people.
maybe the odd Korean chinese person.
Some korean dude told me he learned Chinese because he grew up there. however he could barely speak any chinese and was just trying to impress the tourists with how "multicultural " korea is. |
There were never that many chinese in korea to start off with. The most were about 100,000 during the first part of the 20th century. Even though China is next door, due to politics and economics Chinese only started living in korea in the late 19 century.
World war 2, its end, the korean war, korea's poverty for most of the 20th century led many of those chinese to opt for better economic opportunties elsewhere. also, China turning communist in 1949 stopped trade and immigration with that country. |
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rutan668

Joined: 03 May 2006 Location: Incheon Korea
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Posted: Thu Aug 09, 2007 12:45 am Post subject: |
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crazy_arcade wrote: |
What's this? A thread in which the people know absolutely nothing about the topic....
There is a french language school in the area and a concentration of French people...not more than a couple thousand at most. There's a few bakeries, cafes, maybe some import supermarkets and such. |
What do they do there? I know they're dropping French from the Korean schools in favor of Chinese and Japanese so they can't all be teachers. |
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RACETRAITOR
Joined: 24 Oct 2005 Location: Seoul, South Korea
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Posted: Thu Aug 09, 2007 12:45 am Post subject: |
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Richard Krainium wrote: |
RACETRAITOR wrote: |
I believe the law states it's a minimum of two dead French babies found in a freezer and then it automatically becomes a French quarter. |
Are you sure it's not four? Or two cut it half? |
No, it's two in one freezer or one in two freezers. |
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Richard Krainium
Joined: 12 Jan 2006
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Posted: Thu Aug 09, 2007 1:00 am Post subject: |
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RACETRAITOR wrote: |
Richard Krainium wrote: |
RACETRAITOR wrote: |
I believe the law states it's a minimum of two dead French babies found in a freezer and then it automatically becomes a French quarter. |
Are you sure it's not four? Or two cut it half? |
No, it's two in one freezer or one in two freezers. |
Must be that French math. I never could figure that out. Thanks for the clarification! |
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Binch Lover
Joined: 25 Jul 2005
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Posted: Thu Aug 09, 2007 2:09 am Post subject: |
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Quote: |
What do they do there? I know they're dropping French from the Korean schools in favor of Chinese and Japanese so they can't all be teachers. |
Haha, are all the foreigners you meet teachers?? How about embassy workers, engineers, bankers...?
The area is called 서래마을 Seorae Maeul - ie Seorae Village. I've only been there once at night, didn't see any French people but went to the best Italian restaurant I've been to in Seoul, Popolarita. Highly recommended. |
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Troll_Bait

Joined: 04 Jan 2006 Location: [T]eaching experience doesn't matter much. -Lee Young-chan (pictured)
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Posted: Thu Aug 09, 2007 2:10 am Post subject: |
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komerican wrote: |
Junior wrote: |
The chinatown in Incheon similarly features zero chinese people.
maybe the odd Korean chinese person.
Some korean dude told me he learned Chinese because he grew up there. however he could barely speak any chinese and was just trying to impress the tourists with how "multicultural " korea is. |
There were never that many chinese in korea to start off with. The most were about 100,000 during the first part of the 20th century. Even though China is next door, due to politics and economics Chinese only started living in korea in the late 19 century.
World war 2, its end, the korean war, korea's poverty for most of the 20th century led many of those chinese to opt for better economic opportunties elsewhere. also, China turning communist in 1949 stopped trade and immigration with that country. |
There are relatively few Chinese in Korea because they've been made to feel unwelcome, especially by President Park Chung-hee.
http://oranckay.net/blog/?p=991
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethnic_Chinese_in_Korea
Why else do you think that Korea is the only country in the whole world without a real Chinatown?
http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/55a/326.html
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Discrimination is rife, resident Chinese say, in employment, doing business and acquiring nationality. |
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