Introduction of Cheonan City, Chungcheongnam-do province

By Senior Editors Jang Chang-yong, Kim Hyung-dae

Industrialization of Korean Wave Culture Creates National Wealth. Culture refers to the activities and spirit that realize the ideals of humanity.

Culture is a concept that encompasses all behaviors, rituals, lifestyles, and spirits related to the rituals that humans eat, drink, watch, enjoy, feel, and live.

This is why K Spirit is the basic concept of the K Culture Expo, which the Cheonan City will host for the first time in Korea. It is based on the idea that each of our spirit and behavior is the basic spirit that makes up the culture of the Korean people, or Hallyu (Korean Wave).

Until now, when we think of Korean Wave culture, we often think of K-Pop such as BTS and Black Pink, or the movie Minari (Dropwort) or Samulnori (Play with Four Musical Instruments), or the famous Hanbok (traditional Korean costume), but with this fair, we can find meaning in bundling these individual cultural contents together and showing the world the past and present of the Korean people, so that the Cheonan City can be positioned as the origin of the new wave that is spreading to the world with the pride of the Korean people.

Today, the Korean Wave is very popular among the young people around the world. Everywhere you look, people are humming BTS's music, swaying to Psy's ‘Gangnam Style,’ and eager to learn K-culture about Korea. The popularity of the Hallyu among foreigners is evidenced by the fact that hotels in Seoul are packed with tourists who come to see BTS performances.

The Korean Wave is now not only raising the image of Korea as a cultural nation, but it is also contributing significantly to the creation and growth of the national wealth of Korea through industrialization, export promotion and tourism.

In order to respond to this enthusiasm and establish K-culture as a firm centerpiece, the Cheonan City has decided to expand its scope to include art, content, sports games, clothing, food, and architecture, and has big dreams of hosting the World Expo in 2026, making Cheonan a high-quality cultural city of not only Korea but the entire world.

Cheonan City Mayor Park Sang-don is requesting the support of Chungcheongnam-do and each city and county in promoting the K-Culture World Expo.
Cheonan City Mayor Park Sang-don is requesting the support of Chungcheongnam-do and each city and county in promoting the K-Culture World Expo.

Mayor Park Sang-don carries a nickname, "Master of Administration."

Mayor Park, who planned and organized the Expo, began his public service as an appointed official, and has since held public positions as an elected member of the parliament and mayor of Asan, Boryeong, and has earned a reputation as a "Master of Administration" by promoting local developments and resident-centered city government wherever he goes.

As former mayor of the Boryeong City, Mayor Park has made a significant contribution to regional development by planning and globalizing the Mud Festival as a natural resource on the west coast and established it as another Hallyu culture.

In order to organize this fair, Mayor Park showed his persistent efforts and planning skills by organizing a dedicated team and encouraging his staff members, and during the last Presidential election, he asked the then Candidate Yoon Suk-yeol to include a promise to hold an event promoting K-culture in Cheonan during his election campaign.

It is expected that Cheonan, a city of high-quality culture where the Independence Memorial Hall is located, along with Mayor Park Sang-don, will further develop into a center for Hallyu Culture through this fair.

Cheonan City signed a mutual agreement with the Independence Hall to host the 2023 Cheonan K-Culture Expo on Sept. 1, 2022.
Cheonan City signed a mutual agreement with the Independence Hall to host the 2023 Cheonan K-Culture Expo on Sept. 1, 2022.

Mayor Park Sang-don is well-known for his plans for the Cheonan City. He says: “We’re ready and always strive to make Cheonan a bigger and happier city together with our citizens.

He says: “The highest value of government operation is the people. Our dream is to realize the dream of both us and our citizens and try to attain our goal, “a people-centered Cheonan in which women and children live happily.”

Mayor Park states: “We take strong interest in creating a Cheonan city that provides all citizens an environment in which they can realize their dreams and live happily.”

Then he says: “We will do our best to repay all of our citizens for their hard work put in and devotion made for the sake of our city, and I promise my best efforts for the attainment of our goals, including continuous growth and development of our city, Cheonan,”

According to Wikipedia world encyclopedia, Cheonan is the largest and most densely populated city of Chungcheongnam-do Province in Korea, and is also the third largest city in the Hoseo region of Korea after Daejeon and Cheongju.

Cheonan has been called "the core city of the Korean nation" due to its location 83.6 km (51.9 mi) south of the national capital, Seoul, in the northeast corner of South Chungcheong, serving as a transportation hub to the Seoul Capital Region and surrounding regions.

Cheonan is connected to various freeways and railways including the National Highways 1 and 21, the Expressways 1-Gyeongbu and 25-Honam, and the city's Korail station serves the Gyeongbu Line and the Janghang Line, with services of the KTX. Cheonan is one of the furthest places from Seoul connected to the Seoul Subway Line 1.

History of the Cheonan City:

Cheonan has always been a major transportation hub of Korea because of its proximity to Seoul and its location near a gap in the eastern mountain range (Charyeong Range) that allows passage through to the major southeast centers of Daegu and Busan. Cheonan's Samgeori (meaning “3-way intersection”) park has been noted as a strategic point of transportation and a place where culture has spread for a long time.

It is the place where Samnamdaero, which starts in Seoul, parts, leading one branch of the road through to the south-eastern Yeongnam region (which includes Gimcheon, Daegu, Gyeongju and Dongnae), and leading the other through Gongju and Nonsan to the Honam region (which includes Jeonju, Gwangju, Suncheon, and Yeosu).

Due to its strategic location, Cheonan has also been an important postal center where early communications from the south converged before heading to Seoul, or where messages from the capital diverged into the southern regions.

More formal and structured mail services later emerged with the construction of the city's first postal outlets, and the entire history of mail service in Cheonan (and in South Korea in general since 1883) is now on display in the country's largest postal museum in Yang-ji-mal in eastern Cheonan.

Cheonan was a relatively small town for much of the early half of the 20th century. As a transportation center, it was the site of an early engagement in the Korean War, the Battle of Cheonan.

Then, in 1963, three municipal districts in the area that were growing in size were merged and promoted to the category of si, meaning city, by order of Law No 1176.

Thus the City of Cheonan was born, comprising the populations of Cheonan-gun, Cheonan-eup and Hwanseong-myeon. Over the next two decades, the city grew in size by incorporating neighboring populations, including that of Byeongcheon-myeon in 1973.

Geography: The city is flanked to the east by the Charyeong Mountains, and spills out over plains and rolling hills to the west. Some of the mountains in the city's vicinity include Malloesan (611m), Seonggeosan (579m), Taejosan (422m), Heukseongsan (519m), Gwangdeoksan (699m), and Manggyeongsan (600m). The city itself is generally flat, with only a few areas, such as Anseon-dong, that are built up on hilly terrain.

To the west is the city of Asan, to the north are the cities of Anseong and Pyeongtaek in Gyeonggi-do, to the south is the county of Sejong City and the city of Gongju, and to the east of the city are the counties of Jincheon and Cheongwon in Chungcheongbuk-do.

Cheonan is growing as a gateway to Chungcheongnam-do and a city behind the Seoul metropolitan area, located 83.6 kilometers south of Seoul on the highway. Gyeongbu Line connects north and south, and Janghang Line connects to the southwest. Land routes connect to Seoul, Daejeon, Sejong, Gongju, Asan, Jincheon, Pyeongtaek, and Anseong.

Symbols: As in the case of many cities, towns and districts, Cheonan also has its own symbols, as shown below:

City Tree: Weeping willow

City Flower: Golden bell flower

City Bird: Dove

City Animal: Dragon

Education:

The city has been designated the high tech headquarters for Korea. A number of colleges and universities are located there, including:

Baekseok Culture University (formerly Cheonan College of Foreign Studies), Baekseok University (formerly Cheonan University), Cheonan Yonam College, Dankook University (satellite campus), Hoseo University (satellite campus), Kongju National University's Cheonan campus - College of Engineering (formerly Cheonan National Technical College), Korea Nazarene University, Korea University of Technology and Education

Namseoul University, Sangmyung University (satellite campus), Sun Moon University (satellite campus), and Soonchunhyang University

Temples:

Gagwonsa Buddhist temple is located on Mt. Taejosan. Located on the temple grounds is a large bronze sitting Buddha, which is 15m high, 30m in circumference, and weighs over 60 tonnes. The Buddha sits with the peak of Mt. Taejosan directly behind it, and faces west out over the city and valley. Worshippers and tourists alike climb the steep stairs from the base of the mountain.

Mt. Taejosan is also home to the smaller Seong-bul-sa temple.

In the southwest of the city, near the city's border with neighboring Asan, sits Hyeonchung-sa Temple, a large complex that houses a main temple and an elaborate garden. The temple was built by Confucian scholars and is a shrine to Admiral Yi Sun-sin (his grave is located on the grounds). The temple and grounds also house a number of National Treasures.

Parks: Samgeori park has been a strategic point of transportation and a place where culture has spread for a long time. The Samnamdaero, which starts in Seoul, parts here. One branch of the road leads to the Yeongnam region. The other branch leads to the Honam region.

Haneulgeori is a resting area for the animal residents of Cheonan Samgeori Park, and it provides scenery for visitors with its willow trees and small pond.

Taejosan Park is located at Mt. Taejosan. The park covers an area of over 327,000 square meters. Visitors there may find a sculpture park, six camp sites, a grass field, tennis courts, and an outdoor performance area. There are many facilities for youths and families, and residents use the area for rest and relaxation. For hikers and day-walkers, there is also a very extensive trail network. The park also encompasses the Joabulsang Bronze Buddha statue and the Gagwonsa Buddhist Temple.

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