The Jeonju International Hanji Industry Fair (29th Jeonju Hanji Culture Festival) will open its splendid curtains with the theme 'This is Hanji' at the Korean Traditional Culture Center in Jeonju for three days from the 2nd to the 4th of next month.

The Jeonju Cultural Foundation (Chairman Woo Beom-gi) has prepared a colorful event featuring the opening ceremony, fashion shows, experiences, exhibitions, participatory programs, and evening events under the theme 'This is Hanji,' showcasing the traditional value of Hanji, its industrial potential, and its everyday uses.

This year's festival will kick off with an opening performance. Following a performance wishing for UNESCO's recognition of Intangible Cultural Heritage, the event will feature the National Hanji Craft Competition, the National Children's Hanji Art Contest, a runway show with citizen models, and an international Hanji fashion show all in one place. In the evening, the program 'Hanji Night' will continue with autumn busking and a nighttime event with a Hanji picnic concept, filling Jeonju's autumn atmosphere with a different charm during the day and night.

At the heart of the participatory program is the 'Jeonju Hanji Olympics.' It will be held for different groups during the festival period, with foreign exchange students and tourists participating on the 2nd, local kindergarten students on the 3rd, and citizen families who pre-registered on the 4th. Through activities like building Hanji towers, Hanji tug-of-war, breaking boards, and Hanji challenges, people of all ages can experience Hanji with their bodies.

In addition, in collaboration with the Sejong Institute, Hanji Olympics will be simultaneously held overseas. Hanji experiences such as Hanji yutnori, Hanji jegichagi, Hanji ddakji, Hanji kite flying, and more will take place in 10 locations in 4 countries including the U.S. (Oakland, San Francisco), Canada (Montreal, Waterloo), Vietnam (Quy Nhon, Vinh Long, Hanoi, Vietnam Hub), and the United Arab Emirates (Sharjah Hub, Ajman), expanding the games initiated in Jeonju to everyday life worldwide.

International exchange and expanding the city's outreach are the major features of this year. The foundation has been promoting Jeonju Hanji in Zimbabwe, Blantyre, and Prague, Czech Republic since September, and through exchanges with craft artists from Kanazawa, Japan, an exchange exhibition will be held from the festival opening day (October 2) to October 17.

The process of creating new works through the meeting of the materiality and aesthetics of Hanji made in Jeonju with interpretations of overseas crafts is a significant viewing point of this festival. Furthermore, the simultaneous Jeonju Hanji Olympics held domestically and internationally will accelerate the globalization of Jeonju Hanji and serve as a means to widely promote the city's bid for the Summer Olympics.

The exhibition section will divide Hanji's spectrum into traditional, modern, and applied categories. The 31st National Hanji Craft Competition started its call for entries in April and concluded judging on September 17, with the grand prize (National Assembly Speaker's Award) going to artist Park So-hye with the work 'Jeonju Jang.' The award-winning works in traditional (jihwahwa), modern (clothing, painting, sculpture), and applied (cultural products, others) categories will be displayed for a month on the 3rd floor of the exhibition hall.

In the 5th National Children's Hanji Art Contest, out of 1,200 Hanji distributed, a total of 614 pieces were submitted, and the grand prizes were awarded to Yoo Han-byeol (Seonghyun Kindergarten) in the preschool division, Park I-ru (Seoil Elementary School) in the lower grades division, and Yoon Da-yoon (Seoil Elementary School) in the upper grades division. Additionally, 549 award-winning works including excellent and encouragement prizes can be viewed during the same period.

The 'Hanji Business Model Pavilion,' which experiments with the industrial application of Hanji, will also be showcased. Architectural panels made based on the physical properties of Hanji such as thickness and tensile strength after about three months of experimentation will be installed on-site. On October 2 at 4 p.m., a 'Hanji Discourse' talk will be held with architects to professionally discuss Hanji as a material for architecture. It is expected to be a moment where Hanji expands beyond the realm of crafts into the language of space and structure.

Throughout the festival, there will be demonstrations of Hanji making, Hanji experiences, sales, traditional games, and small-scale events at various locations. At Jeonju Gyeonggijeon Hall, the reenactment of sealing the Annals of the Joseon Dynasty and the program 'Jeonju Gyeonggijeon Story' will continue, vividly conveying the meaning of traditional record culture on-site. Visitors can feel the delicate fiber texture of Hanji with their fingertips and reflect on the philosophy of recording and preservation in history at the historical site.