Tour Through Time: Stop 3: Harbin Railway Station

In March 1909 12 patriots including Ahn Joong-Gun swore an oath to sacrifice themselves for “the restoration of independence and preservation of peace in the East” forming the Donguidanjihoe society. As part of this they all cut off the first joint of their ring finger to show their faith in the cause.

When the Resident-General of Korea, Hiro-Bumi Ito arrived at Harbin on 26th October 1909 it was to meet with Russian Finance Minister General Kokotseff. Russia was starting to get nervous about the Japanese after they had gifted “territorial rights” to Kando, a Korean city, to the Chinese on 4th September 1909 in exchange for access to Manchuria via the Southern Manchurian Railway. As the man who had total control of all Japanese forces stationed in Korea, Resident-General Hiro-Bumi Ito was to reassure and calm the Russian’s fears.

However, Ahn Joong Gun was already there waiting for him, having slipped by the Japanese guards with a gun hidden in his lunch box. As Hiro-Bumi Ito stepped off the train Ahn Joong Gun fired his pistol, shooting him 3 times and seriously injuring 4 other Japanese ministers. He then waved a Korean flag and shouted for Korean Independence in Russian. Russian guards arrested him and held him for 2 days before turning him over to the Japanese. On reflection of the murder, Joong Gun was stated to have said “I have ventured to commit a serious crime, offering my life for my country. This is the behaviour of a noble-minded patriot”.

Our bonus exercise for this location is 271 prisoner squats. From Harbin Railway Station we will now travel 116 miles south west to Nong’an County.

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Tour Through Time: Stop 2: Paektu Mountain

109 miles later and we are tired, soggy, and Rich is a little broken, but we are here at the highest peak in Korea; the Paektu (white-headed) Mountain. Atop this extinct volcano lies Lake Chon Ji, the “Heavenly Lake”, where the water is so clear and calm that you can literally see the heaven meeting the earth. This was also supposedly the home of Korea‘s legendary founder Dan Gun.

To celebrate our arrival we will be completing a bonus exercise of 109 mountain climbers before continuing our journey 271 miles North into China to the city of Harbin, but who knows what famous event happened here?

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Tour Through Time: Stop 1: Hwa Dae

And we’re off! Well, Nick is! 😂 Our journey starts in Hwa Dae, Myonchon County in what is now North Korea. This is the birthplace of Major General Choi Hong Hi, the founder of Tae Kwon-Do. He was born here on 9th November 1918 whilst it was under Japanese rule and left at the age of 15 when his father sent him away to study calligraphy under Hang Il Dong, who was also a master of Tae Kyon, an ancient Korean art of foot fighting. From Hwa Dae we will be travelling 109 miles North West to the border of North Korea and China, but what famous landmark will we be visiting here?? 🤔

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Tour Through Time

So we thought it would be nice to expand on your theory and give you all a little bit more insight into the stories behind the pattern meanings. What better way than to take you with us on a virtual tour of Korea and beyond! We will visit the birthplaces of scholars, a restaurant that witnessed the start of a revolution, a railway assassination site, a heavenly lake atop an extinct volcano, memorial parks and tombs, battle grounds, temples and a great wall built to defend against a Tang invasion. We can’t be there in person but between myself, Mr Newman, and the rest of the NMA teaching team we will be running, walking and cycling the journey of over 2,000 miles, keeping you up to date with our progress and sharing virtual postcards as we reach each location.

Are you ready to join us on our Tour Through Time?

Start Tour Through Time