A look at the no. 1 online search words offers a glimpse of trends in our culture this year, and here the Chosun Ilbo tries to create a cultural map for the year 2006 from them. The whole world saw events marking the 250th anniversary of the birth of Mozart. The Salzburg Festival in the composer’s hometown, saw all his 22 works for the stage performed for the first time in the festival’s history. In fine art, auctions swept the nation's industry this year. An increasing number of people bought art works rather than just look at them in a museum.

From left: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Cardinal Nicholas Cheong Jin-suk, a scene from the musical 'Miss Saigon', and some 20 professors of Korea University's humanities faculty declaring a 'crisis of the humanities’ on Sept.15.

Women were especially powerful in the nation's cultural landscape this year. Kim Hong-nam was selected as director of the National Museum of Korea to preserve the nation's cultural heritage, the first woman in the job, and women writers practically monopolized the major literature awards this year: Lee Hye-kyung was awarded the Dong-In Literature Award, Kim In-sook the Daesan Literary Award and Eun Hee-kyung the Leesan Literature Award. They all asked for an end to such terms as “women’s literature.” At the top stands Gong Ji-young. Her hit novels “Our Happy Times” and “Things That Come After Love” and created a new phenomenon.

Meanwhile, the publishing industry had a chance to reflect on murky practice in the nation's publishing culture after it emerged that the translation of the best-selling “Don't Eat the Marshmallow......Yet!” had not in fact solely been the work of the credited celebrity translator, the TV presenter Jung Ji-young (31).

In academe, heavyweights from both sides of the ideological divide -- professor emeritus of Seoul National University Ahn Byong-jik, the centrist professor of philosophy at Hanshin University Yoon Pyung-joon, professor of political science at Korea University Choi Jang-jip, Seoul National University academic Baek Nak-cheong and Sogang University politics professor Sohn Ho-chul -- were engaged in fierce discussions over how to consider Korean society. The heads of humanities faculties at some 80 colleges around the nation called for the nation to think seriously about the crisis the humanities face and come up with measures to address it.

“History” was big watchword. The National History Compilation Committee made public the original and translated scripts of the Annals of the Chosun Dynasty online, giving rise to a new coinage: “Nestorian”, a combination of Netizen and historian. That interest in history was also reflected in a number of successful historical dramas. They included “Chumong”, about the founder of the ancient Koguryo kingdom, “Legendary General Yeongaesomun of the Koguryo Kingdom”, and “Daejoyoung from Goguryeo” who founded the Balhae Kingdom.

Musicals also left a mark on the nation's cultural landscape -- as many as 40 were performed simultaneously at the end of this year. In classical music, nine world-renowned orchestras including the Vienna Philharmonic, the New York Philharmonic and the Sachsische Staatskapelle Dresden performed here this year. But behind the splendid performances, there were concerns over a growing polarization of culture.

In religion, a decline in the number of Christians has become a big issue, and religious figures reflected on churches getting bigger and more materialistic. The nation's Catholics were delighted when Nicholas Cheong Jin-suk became Korea’s second Cardinal in 37 years.

(englishnews@chosun.com )