Uiwang City said on April 20 that it held a graduation ceremony for "Bipa Players in Shinjungdo," a program that trains performers of the bipa, a traditional Korean lute depicted on the Shinjungdo—a designated tangible cultural property of Gyeonggi Province—inside Cheonggye Temple's Geungnakbojeon hall.
The program was supported by the Cultural Heritage Administration’s traditional mountain-temple heritage initiative and has produced 56 graduates from 2022 through this year.
This year’s course ran eight sessions totaling 16 hours between Feb. 28 and April 18, and 13 trainees completed the program.
Graduates presented a public recital for visitors, showcasing the skills they honed and highlighting the beauty of traditional music. They are expected to perform as bipa players at Cheonggye Temple and at local events going forward.
A city official congratulated the graduates, saying, "We warmly congratulate them on completing the bipa training at Cheonggye Temple, one of Uiwang’s landmark heritage sites." The official added, "We expect them to actively promote Uiwang and the value of our national heritage as the region’s representative bipa performers."
