Chungcheongnam-do

The 53rd annual Baekje Culture Festival presented a good opportunity to publicize the Kingdom of Baekje and Chungnam Province. Being held under the theme of “Dreams of Great Baekje for 700 Years” from October 11 to 15, 2007, the culture festival truly fascinated the audiences. The budget received a large increase from 800 million won in 2006 to 4.7 billion won this year. The visitors had a wide range of choices compared to the previous year, from the Fantasy Parade of the Baekje Culture to the March of the Cavalry Corps, the Revival of Sabi Baekje, the Story of King Muryeong, Baekje Pattern Fashion Show, and Launch of Hwangpo Sailboats.

The 53rd Baekje Culture Festival set new records.
It's estimated that 1.26 million visitors participated in the 53rd Baekje Culture Festival over five days, doubling last year's 500,000 visitors. Among the visitors, about 100,000 were foreign nationals. With the enormous financial input of 100 billion won, the Gyeongju World Culture Expo reached the audience number of a million on October 14, 38 days after the opening, and charged the visitors for the programs and events. Compared to the Gyeongju World Culture Expo, the Baekje Culture Festival was more successful in terms of audience attraction and generating a direct and indirect economic effect that was worth 35.3 billion won.

One of the great achievements was a further globalization of the Baekje culture.
A good number of local governments of other nations including Japan, China, France, and Canada took part in the festival. The arts performance group from Jiangsu and Hebei, China and the folk dance team from Yamaguchi and the dance troupe from Ishikawa, Japanopened a new chapter in international culture and arts exchanges. Queues of Chinese and Japanese tourists were easily spotted at the relics of Baekje such as the Gongsan Fortress, Tomb of King Muryeong, and Mountain Buso and the various events. There were many foreign nationals participating in the events of the festival from the first day on October 11. In groups of twos and threes they were heard to comment on the beauty of the scene while watching the cavalry march and being fascinated by the grandeur of the horses and the unique costumes of Baekje. Groups of tourists in 20 or 30 explored the area following the flags of the guides. On October 12, about 80 high school students from Kumamoto, Japan visited the festival as part of the school excursion.
Mr. Martin(38) from Canadasaid, “It's incredible to come across such a wonderful festival in a small village. I think I am going to bring my friends next year.” Sugita Norihide, an assistant to the governor of Nara, Japan, expressed how he was touched by the festival, saying “I saw a vision of the Great Baekje Kingdom being revived during the march of the Baekje cavalry corps that shook the earth.”

There were more than 100,000 foreign visitors to the festival, which confirms its possibility as an international event in the future.
There was a sharp increase in the number of foreign nationals visiting Gongju and Buyeo around the Baekje Culture Festival, which reminds people of its possibility as an international tourist festival. As there were more foreign tourists at the scene than expected, 61 translators dispatched to Gongju and Buyeo found themselves in the middle of busy work every day during the festival. The number of official visitors from other countries reached up to 3,000 including 35 from the U. N., 44 high-grade public servants from 22 nations participating in the training sessions of informatization in Asia-Pacific, a diplomatic mission of seven people from Angola and Mongolia, and 380 others from ten nations that sent performance teams. There were also 600 delegates from China, Japan and Cambodiaand 50 college students from abroad studying the area. Adding common tourists that visited the festival, the total number rises to over 100,000. Ms. Park Ok-sun (56) from Gongju said, “It’s the first time in the 53-year history of the Baekje Culture Festival that there was so much foreign participation in Gongju. I think I am going to work on learning simple English over the next year.”

Highly praised foreign performance teams and diverse celebratory performances
One of the performance teams from other countries in the festival, the Wasso festival team from Osaka, Japan participated in the “Fantasy of Baekje Culture” which was a global parade of Baekje history and culture. The Chinese arts performance teams from Jiangsu, Hebei, and Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture, Chinaput their shows on the stage at Gudrae, Buyeo and Gongsan Fortress, Gongju. Splendid artistic shows were also performed by the KITA dance group from Ishikawa, Japan, the folk music performance team from France, the Apsala dance team from Cambodia, and the folk dance team from Yamakuchi, Japan in Gongju and Buyeo. One of the three major culture festivals of Korea, the Baekje Culture Festival, was held this year in Gongju City and Buyeo-gun, which were the capitals of the Baekje Kingdom, resulting in a leap towards the goal of becoming a global festival.