Detail

`Hand Weaving, by which our traditional cloth such as hemp and ramie used to be manufactured, has been taken for this seventh of the folkways postage stamp series. In Korea, hemp, ramie, silk, and cotton were weaved by hand in country villages by women working in their home, following a process so complicated that it required exchange of labor among the village women. With the exception of some regions in Hamkyong-do, hand weaving was part of women`s job all over the country, and the manufactured cloth was a major source of income for their households. On occasions, it even served as a substitute for currency. The tradition continued until the last days of the Chosun Period, when it began to disappear as the new age of enlightenment, and with it a change in clothing styles and materials, approached. Fortunately, however, the traditional way of cloth weaving is still practiced in some isolated places such as Andong, Hansan, Keumsung and Naju. And this age-old method of hand weaving has been designated as an item of intangible cultural assets and is being handed down to the present generation. The Ministry of Communications issues four kinds of postage stamps in order to help preserve our tradition that is now fast dying out.`