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Newly Designated and Registered Cultural Heritage Assets Enrich Busan’s Cultural Landscape, Advancing the City as a Cultural Heritage Hub

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Busan Metropolitan City (Mayor Park Heong-joon) announced on June 3 that the “Camellia Lady” Sheet Music Collection and the “Collection of Venerable Seongcheol’s Handwritten Manuscripts” held by Haewoljeongsa Temple have been officially designated as Busan Metropolitan City Registered Cultural Heritage assets.

◯ Following review and approval by the Busan Metropolitan City Cultural Heritage Committee (Tangible Heritage Division), the city designated and announced a total of five cultural heritage assets in 2026, comprising two Registered Cultural Heritage assets and three Tangible Cultural Heritage assets.

The “Camellia Lady” Sheet Music Collection, a popular song that led the golden age of Korean trot music, has become the first post-liberation popular song to be registered as cultural heritage.

◯ Released in 1964 and sung by Lee Mi-ja, “Camellia Lady” is one of Korea’s representative popular songs, composed by Busan-born composer Baek Young-ho and lyricist Hansando. As the theme song of the film Camellia Lady, it played a major role in shaping the popular music scene of its time and was widely loved by the public.

◯ The collection held by the Busan Modern and Contemporary History Museum consists of 157 music scores and three lyric sheets, totaling 160 items, ranging from an early score dated May 1964 to an arrangement score by Won Hui-myeong dated March 30, 1989.

◯ Created before the digital era, these handwritten musical records are valuable historical materials that reveal not only the history of popular music of the period but also the detailed production process and diverse stories behind the creation of popular songs, giving them significant cultural heritage value.

The “Collection of Venerable Seongcheol’s Handwritten Manuscripts” held by Haewoljeongsa Temple is an important resource for understanding modern Korean Buddhism, including the Bongamsa Reform Movement and the Buddhist Purification Movement.

◯ Widely known through the saying, “Mountains are mountains, and water is water,” the collection includes manuscripts personally written by Venerable Seongcheol from the 1947 reform movement at Bongamsa Temple in Mungyeong through his periods of residence at Seongjeonam Hermitage on Palgongsan Mountain and later at Haeinsa Temple during the late 1960s.

◯ Among the manuscripts, works such as Gongju Regulations and Dream of Bongamsa provide valuable insight into the Bongamsa Reform Movement, which continued from 1947 through approximately March 1950.

The Twelve-Panel Folding Screen of Monthly Farming Scenes and Yundaejip, both held by the Busan Museum, are highly valuable artifacts associated with Park Ju-yeon (1813–1872), a local official active in Dongnae during the Joseon Dynasty, and illustrate distinctive aspects of Busan’s regional history.

◯ The Twelve-Panel Folding Screen of Monthly Farming Scenes is a noteworthy work produced through the network connecting patron Park Ju-yeon (1813–1872), a local official of Dongnae, and artist Songam Lee Si-nul, an active painter in Dongnae during the nineteenth century.

◯ Yundaejip is a collection of writings left by Park Ju-yeon during his time at Oryundae. The title “Yundae” refers to Oryundae itself. The work is a valuable source for understanding daily life, perceptions of nature, cultural activities, and the aspirations of local administrative elites in nineteenth-century Dongnae, making it an important resource for regional historical research.

In addition, the privately owned Book of the Later Han is a government-printed historical record documenting the history of China’s Eastern Han Dynasty.

◯ Government editions printed using metal movable type produced by the state-operated Bureau of Typography are much rarer than privately printed editions and have been preserved in far fewer numbers.

Detailed information regarding these cultural heritage assets can be found in the public notice section of the city’s website at https://www.busan.go.kr/nbgosi. As of the official designation date of June 3, 2026, Busan Metropolitan City possesses a total of 588 designated and registered cultural heritage assets.

◯ Nationally designated and registered cultural heritage assets: 120

◯ City-designated and registered cultural heritage assets: 468

Cho Yu-jang, Director General of the Culture Bureau, stated, “Five new cultural heritage assets were designated through the Cultural Heritage Committee (Tangible Heritage Division) in May 2026, bringing the total number of cultural heritage assets held by the city to 588 as of June 3.”

He added, “We will continue to actively discover and promote Busan’s rich modern and contemporary cultural heritage so that all citizens can appreciate and enjoy these valuable assets.”