Cheonggyecheon
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| Cheonggyecheon | ||||||||
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| Image:Seoul Cheonggyecheon river.jpg Cheonggye Stream in downtown Seoul. A long park runs on both sides of the stream. Every fifty feet or so, stone walkways are placed not just so people stay dry by hopping across the stream on them, but also to regulate the speed of the water flow. | ||||||||
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Cheonggyecheon (청계천, also known as Cheong Gye Cheon or Cheonggye Stream), is a 5.8 km creek flowing through downtown Seoul, Korea and then meeting the Jungnangcheon (중랑천), which in turn empties into the Han River.
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[edit] Restoration
During the presidency of Syngman Rhee, Cheonggyecheon was covered over with concrete for roads and, in 1968, an elevated highway was built over it. In July 2003, then Seoul mayor, now President-elect Lee Myung-bak initiated a project to uncover and restore the stream. It was a major undertaking as not only did the highway have to be removed, but years of neglect and development had left the stream nearly totally dry and 120,000 tons of water had to be pumped in daily.[citation needed] The stream was opened to the public in September of 2005 and lauded as a major success in urban renewal and beautification. However, there was considerable opposition from the previous mayoral administration of Goh Kun, which feared gentrification of the adjacent areas that housed many shops and small businesses in the machine trades.
The restoration helped Lee become a nationally renowned figure, making him a serious contender for the presidency, but did not come without controversy. In May 2005, just a few months before the project was to finish, Seoul vice-mayor Yang Yun-jae and local politician Kim Il-ju were arrested on bribery charges related to the project.[citation needed]
The project is estimated to have cost over 900 billion won (approximately US$ 900 million). In addition, about 12 trillion won (US$12 billion) is expected to be invested to re-develop the 792,000 square meter region near the stream into a major commercial and residential area over the next five years.[citation needed] Some Korean environmental organizations have criticized the project for its high costs, calling it purely symbolic and not really beneficial to the city's eco-environment.
[edit] Photos
Seoul-Cheonggyecheon-09.jpg
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Seoul-Cheonggyecheon-01.jpg
The beginning of the Cheonggye Stream |
Seoul-Cheonggyecheon-11.jpg
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Seoul-01 (xndr).jpg
Cheonggye Stream flowing through Seoul |
Seoul-Cheonggyecheon-02.jpg
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Seoul Cheonggyecheon night.jpg
The beginning of the Cheonggye Stream at night |
Seoul Cheonggyecheon at night.jpg
The Cheonggye Stream at night |
Cheonggyecheon dongmyo.jpg
The Cheonggye Stream east of Dongdaemun Market |
[edit] See also
[edit] References
J. H. Shin, "Dream and Hope of Korea, Cheonggyecheon Restoration," Magazine of Korean Water Resources Association, Vol. 37, No.1, 2004.
[edit] External links
[edit] Official pages
- Official website of Cheonggyecheon
- Seoul government homepage for the Cheonggyecheon restoration
- Mayor Lee Myung-bak's speech marking the start of the restoration project
[edit] Other pages
- Today's Cheonggyecheon from visitseoul.net
- Chonggyechon: New Stream of Seoul, special report of The Korea Times, September 29, 2005.
- "Investigate Everything About Cheonggyecheon", The Hankyoreh, May 11, 2005.
- "Restoring Cheonggyecheon Stream in the Downtown Seoul", Hwang Kee-yeon, Seoul Development Institute, 2004.eo:Cheonggyecheon
ko:청계천 ja:清渓川 vi:Cheonggyecheon zh:清溪川
