Muyae 24-gi martial arts demo and royal quiz contest win over family crowds
Traditional crafts and games fill Jeongjo Hyo Culture Park on Saturday
About 3,000 people turned out for the 2026 King Jeongjo Hyo Experience Festival, a celebration of the Joseon monarch's spirit of filial piety through play and hands-on activities, wrapping up the event on a high note.
Held Saturday at Jeongjo Hyo Culture Park in Hwaseong Special City, the festival was organized around the theme "Connecting Hearts Through King Jeongjo's Filial Piety," giving residents a chance to see, enjoy and understand the king's values and the region's historical and cultural heritage firsthand.
Families with young children began arriving early. Over the course of the event, roughly 3,000 residents filled the park, taking in performances and working through a range of traditional cultural programs.
A highlight was a demonstration of Muyae 24-gi, a recreation of the signature military martial arts of King Jeongjo's reign, which drew rapt attention from the crowd. Audience members were then invited to try the techniques themselves, turning the showcase into an immersive encounter with history.
The King Jeongjo Golden Bell quiz contest, open to children and families, also proved popular. Participants answered questions on King Jeongjo, filial culture and traditional history, picking up historical knowledge in a relaxed setting. Cheers rang out from contestants and spectators alike each time a correct answer was given, keeping the energy high throughout.
Craft stations for family-motto calligraphy and traditional knotting drew steady crowds as well. A wide array of hands-on programs — making hopae (personal identification tags) and mapae (official horse-requisition tokens), traditional archery, gyeokjaeng (a Joseon-era petition ritual), tuho ring-toss, jegi shuttlecock making and kicking, mask and ddakji making and play, and jokduri headpiece crafting — gave children an accessible entry point into Korean traditional culture.
Traditional sticker-style munjado scroll making, peach-blossom lantern crafting and royal court costume dress-up also drew interest. Parents and children making crafts side by side and posing for photos throughout the grounds gave tangible expression to the festival's central theme of connecting generations through filial culture.
Stage performances added to the festive atmosphere. A magic show was followed by traditional performing arts including beonanori (spinning-top acrobatics) and saja nori (lion dance), drawing crowds around the stage. With children and elderly visitors enjoying the shows together, the event became a genuinely cross-generational gathering.
The festival also stood out for moving away from a lecture-style transmission of filial values, instead weaving the theme into participatory content — performances, games, quizzes and crafts. By pairing the historical stories of King Jeongjo and Crown Prince Sado with family-oriented hands-on programming, the event also raised the profile of Jeongjo Hyo Culture Park itself.
"More residents came than we expected, and they enjoyed King Jeongjo's spirit of filial piety and our traditional culture together," a Hwaseong Special City official said. "With about 3,000 people taking part, we confirmed the potential for this to grow into a signature hands-on cultural event for Hwaseong — one that brings together history, culture and family."
7toy7@heraldcorp.com
