//Ulzzang

Today I will be posting a special article relating to beauty and the subculture known as "Ulzzang". This will be one of my running projects, this post may be updated as I am doing research on it; As I learn more about it, I will either edit or add more to this post. I might even add posts to the ulzzang tag.

짱 (jjang): Korean slang that means "best." Ulzzang means "best face" in Korean and the word is used both online and in real life. Basically, an ulzzang is someone who has a very attractive face, but most people use the term to describe people who have become popular for their looks.

The ulzzang craze started in South Korea but over the years it has spread to China, Thailand, Vietnam and other Asian countries. Many ulzzang want-to-bes (along with wannabes) post up their pictures on various websites, and voting and chatting can be done on many of them. Contests, both online and in real life, are often used to pick the best ulzzangs, but you do not necessarily need to enter or win. Some ulzzangs, however, have not relied solely on the internet. For example, some have gained popularity at school for being attractive. Most ulzzangs, however, use the internet to share their photos, and that is how many become popular.

Many ulzzangs use Haduri, which is a web camera program popular among teens in Korea. People also take normal or digicam pictures. Some even use Photoshop to edit themselves. Fakers don't make it far, and they usually get busted. With every widely spread trend, the ulzzang look comes with its own notoriety.

The most famous ulzzangs may earn celebrity status. Some may appear on shows, magazines, etc. Some ulzzangs may even become real celebrities by going into acting, singing, or modeling careers. A few examples of former ulzzangs are Goo Hye Sun, Park Han Byul, and Kim Hye Sung.

The two most known zzang categories:

Ulzzang/얼짱: Based on the face. 얼굴 (ŏlgul) means "face" in Korean.

Momzzang/몸짱: Based on the body. 몸 (mom) means "body" in Korean.

"Ulzzang" with "zz" is the most common way it's written out in English on ulzzang websites. Variations on romanization include eoljjang, uhljjang, uljjang, and so on.