Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rcrh6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T07:02:24.552Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

5 - Challenges of Modernity

The Rise of Modern Industrial Soju and the Revival of Traditional Soju

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 January 2021

Hyunhee Park
Affiliation:
City University of New York
Get access

Summary

Chapter 5 explores the great transformations that soju has undergone during the contemporary period, which spans the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, and the consequences of that change for the societies that have consumed the spirit. During the period of Japanese colonial rule (1910–1945), new distillation methods introduced to Korea from Japan fundamentally changed the methods of distillation from the traditional still to continuous distillation using large machines. Even after the end of Japanese colonialism, and the Korean War (1950–1953), the Korean government supported factory-manufactured soju made from potatoes because the country lacked grain. Only in the 1980s did the government begin to promote traditionally distilled soju as a minsokchu (national folk liquor), part of its policy of promoting national culture. At the same time, the modern form of industrial soju continued to develop in variety, contributing to the popularization of soju at cheaper prices, at different levels of alcohol content, and with a variety of tastes. With these developments underway, producers began to export soju to other countries, in the long run making it into a global brand. With these dramatic changes in its production, distribution, and consumption, people began to debate what constituted traditional soju.

Type
Chapter
Information
Soju
A Global History
, pp. 164 - 199
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×