[World Cities] Jeonju, South Korea

Jeonju, South Korea

JEONJU, SOUTH KOREA
Date Modified: 06.28.2008
Content: Jeonju - General Info and Links
Source: Wikipedia





Area: 206.25 km2
Population: 645,108 (2005)
Population density: 303.1 people/km2

Jeonju (Jeonju-si) is a city in and the capital of North Jeolla Province, South Korea. It is situated about two and a half hours south of Seoul and is an important tourist center famous for Korean food, historic buildings, sports activities and innovative festivals.



>>History
Located in the fertile Honam plain, famous for strawberries and exceptional produce, Jeonju has been an important regional center in the province for centuries.


Jeonju gained its reputation as a "royal city" when the founding father of the Joseon Dynasty, General Yi Seong-gye, attained a massive victory in 1302 against Japanese invading forces.


In 1894, the town was occupied by Donghak peasants' rebellion. Jeonju was given a metropolitan status in 1935, and the city was founded in 1949.


Recent leadership in both innovation and preservation of the past has been shown by Jeonju Mayor Wan-ju Kim, considered one of the more visionary and distinguished leaders in South Korea.


>>Culture
- Jeonju bibimbap, a traditional local food, is well-known across South Korea. There are also several very famous vegetarian restaurants serving Jeonju style food, with a pine wine.
- National Jeonju Museum exhibits ancient relics from the Baekje days.
- There are extensive royal museums, temples, a castle fortress on a hillside, and a rather famous paper museum, as well as an annual paper fashion show highlighting high style and traditional Korean clothing made of paper.
- The Jeonjeu film festival draws annually 50,000 visitors.
- Jeonju is planning an annual "Fun Festival" as well as a "Royal City Sports Festival" for a weekend of five different races in September.



>>People and Everyday Life
Education is a major industry in the city because of the lack of a lot of manufacturing jobs. Hakwons, or private learning academies, are found on just about evey other city block or so, ranging in size from single classrooms to entire multi-floor buildings, specializing in everything from musical instrument instruction to languages to computer skills to vocational studies. Many university students, when they can find a job, end up being teachers at a hakwon, school, or university, unless they apply for a different kind of job outside the city, like in Seoul. The city also exports teachers and professors to other cities in the province. Perhaps keeping with the city's tradition of being a place of the upper class, there is a particularly strong emphasis on education, because other than one's wealth, these days whether one is educated or not is one of the main distinguishing factors between people of lower class and those of the above (if such distinctions can still be made), especially in the still very rural area that Jeonju is in where there are a lot of farmers. In fact, the city can probably boast one of the lowest (if not the lowest) teacher to non-teacher ratios in the country (meaning there are a lot of teachers compared to non-teachers, or people who were teachers at some point in their lives to those who weren't).


For recreation, many people take advantage of the nature that is always closeby and go on hiking trips in the numerous and splendid mountains and parks. There are also quite a lot of historical sites to visit, which are home to ancient and unique stone monuments and relics.


Right beside the zoo, which is itself a large and lovely park area, there is the Samsung Sound and Culture Hall, which is a large and modern concert complex, and is very accessible from the city. There are frequent music concerts and recitals all year round, and musicals when they stop by. Quite a few internationally famous piano players come from this city and sometimes perform here when they return home from tour.


The major Korean broadcasting networks all have branch stations in the city, and they in turn produce some local shows in addition to the main broadcasts, for the entire province. The regional shows tend to be educational documentaries, cultural or historical-related, and a few quiz shows. One quiz show by the local MBC, Quiz School, is hosted by Bae Dong-Sung, whose area of operation is usually Seoul, but was imported for the show. Episodes of this show can be viewed free of charge on the internet, after the initial television broadcast, and is an example of a small local TV station being able to broadcast itself worldwide by taking advantage of the very good Korean IT technology. The questions tend to (but do not always) ask about local culture and history, maintaining the tradition that Jeonju is a place that holds its culture and history in high regard. There is also an English segment to the show in which the contestants are taught a phrase and asked a question in English by bi-lingual Canadian co-host Thexder, reflecting the necessity of foreign language education and an international perspective.

MORE INFO

Jeonju City Government Website
http://www.jeonju.go.kr/open_content/en/main_page.jsp

#Credit: http://www.esljobproject.com/esl_info/jeonju.htm#