From Mary’s Alley to a Culture Street: Contested Traditions in Insadong

To be honest, attempts to find tradition are ridiculous. We are doing this since it is our job. We can only make a living if we search for tradition. So we follow that path. There isn’t any one who consciously tries to maintain a tradition. We only keep it since it is profitable to mention tradition. What is the tradition of Insadong? As long as people use hanji [Korean rice paper], it will be a tradition and as long as people look for antiques there will be those trying to make money by selling antiques. That’s the way it is.