Hwang Chini


Hwang Chini, also spelled Hwang Jini, was one of the most famous kisaeng of the Joseon period. She was also known by her kisaeng name Myŏngwŏl. She lived during the reign of King Jungjong. She was noted for her exceptional beauty, charming quick wit, extraordinary intellect, and her assertive and independent nature. She has become an almost myth-like figure in modern Korea, inspiring novels, operas, films, and television series.
A crater on Venus, Hwangcini, is named after her.

Biography

Hwang was born around 1506 to a politician's son, Hwang Chinsa, and a woman named Chin Hyŏn'gŭm who was either a kisaeng or of cheonmin status. The story goes that her parents met while her mother was doing laundry, but the two could not get married and she became the youngest illegitimate daughter of Hwang. Her father was from a noble family in Kaesong. Legend has it that she was born as the daughter of a blind commoner. It is said that even at the time of liberation in 1945, mineral water came out in the hill of the well at the mouth of Jangdan, where she lived.
She was known for her beauty and her bold personality. As Hwang Chini grew older, many men wanted to marry her. According to legend, one day a coffin was passing in front of her house, but the coffin stopped and refused to move from her house just listening to her read her poetry. She then ran out and stripped off her outer skirt from her hanbok to cover the coffin, and only then did the coffin started to move again. The coffin was said to have carried the body of her lover who was born of a higher class, but due to her lower status the two could not wed and the man died of a broken heart. She then decided to become a kisaeng after losing her lover at the age of 15.
Women during the Joseon period were restricted inside the houses and were considered property. They could not marry whoever they wanted and a daughter born out of wedlock was considered an untouchable. Hwang Chini refused to follow strict social norms for women and chose the life of a kisaeng giving her the freedom to learn not only dance and music, but also art, literature, and poetry - topics that were not normally taught to young women during the time.
Hwang Chini's beauty was famous throughout the Korean peninsula. It is said that her beauty shone even if she was bare faced and had her hair pulled back out of her face. She was clever, witty, and artistic. Many men of the upper class and lower classes alike came from all over just to see her and her performances. Like many other kisaeng at the time, she asked a riddle to the men who came to visit her and only those who passed could interact and talk with her. The riddle would be later known as the Chŏmirigu idubulch'ul. Legend has it that she gave such difficult riddles in order to meet a man that was just as intellectual as her so that she might one day also get a husband, and the only man who solved it was a yangban by the name of Sŏ Kyŏngdŏk.

Works

Hwang Chini's riddle

Only a handful of sijo and geomungo pieces exist today. They show skilled craftsmanship of words and of musical arrangement. Hwang's sijo often describe the beauty and sites of Kaesong, the personal tragedy of her lost loves and responses to famous classic Chinese poems and literature.
Hwang appears to have been of noble birth. Her sijo are considered the most beautiful ever written. In the following poem, the term Hwang uses for her beloved has two meanings, alluding to both her sweetheart and a person who has been frozen by the winter cold. The English phrase "frozen love" may help to illustrate this double entendre in translation.
In this next poem, "Full Moon" is a play on Hwang's kisaeng name: Myŏngwŏl. The poem was written to a man famed for his virtue, Byok Kye Su, whom Hwang infamously seduced. "Green water" is a pun on Byok's name.

In popular culture

Literature

In the late 20th century, Hwang Chini's story began to attract attention from both sides of the Korean divide and feature in a variety of novels, operas, films and television series. Novelizations of her life include a 2002 treatment by North Korean writer Hong Sok-jung and a 2004 bestseller by South Korean writer Jeon Gyeong-rin.

Film and television