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| A gate at Suwon circa 1900-1910 |
By Robert Neff
In the morning, George C. Foulk, dressed in his uniform, called on the magistrate or governor of Suwon. His notes are rather sparse (unlike his notes of other locations) but he did describe the fortifications and the location of the yongmun ― with which he seemed fairly pleased.
"The main part of the town, which seemed but a village of thatched houses, lay in a valley between two lines of pretty pine wooded hills."
"The wall line is nearly square, running over the hill tops and across the valley north and south of the town: It is pierced for two great gates north and south, and other small and masked ones for military purposes."
"The official buildings are close against the western hill, and comprise a very large yongmun and a small palace: from the formed a wide avenue leads eastward, lined with offices, meeting the one real street of the city, which is but the road connecting the north and south gates ― a section of the highway leading from Seoul to the southern provinces of the country."
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| Gate of the Yongmun at Suwon circa 1900-1920. |
"On top of the hill back of the palace is a very graceful pavilion … for the commander-in-chief, from here the view over the country is magnificent embracing all quarters but the east."
"By it is a walled court, or drill ground and narrow stone stairways leading to an arch in the base of the wall."
"The wall is massively built and lined with picturesque bastions of odd shapes; like that of the other cities."
"It was whole and kept in good condition and with the great thickness of earth banked behind it would offer good resistance against even modern artillery."
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| A pavilion in the fortress at Suwon circa 1900-1920. |
As for the governor, Foulk wrote:
"The governor is about eighty-five years old, yet hearty and strong. While he was courteous and kind in his manner to me, he seemed greatly feared by the host of retainers about him.
"The discipline of the place seemed very rigid and minute, and all day long the air of the Yongmun was one of excitement and function, evinced in beating of drums, rushing about in all directions of gaily uniformed underlings, runners and policemen and shrill long drawn cries by people transmitting orders or announcing the approach of the visiting officials."
Foulk was surprised to discover that living in one of the Yongmun's buildings was a Chinese official with a small retinue of servants. He tried to discover the purpose of the Chinese official but found all to be evasive in answering and only managed to learn that, despite "the high rank of the Korean governor he was bound to call daily upon the Chinese officer."
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| The walls and gate of Suwon fortress circa 1900-1920. |
Foulk was further convinced of the obvious power that China enjoyed in Korea when orders were given for "no one to invade [his] quarters out of curiosity [but] some of the Chinese did so insolently." The gentle remonstrations to the offenders by the governor's officials were ignored.
Foulk's stay was fairly short ― almost as short as his notes ― but one of his remarks is fairly interesting:
"Suwon was said to have been founded as a royal city to be the residence of a King who abdicated in favor of his son; the King came here to live but died soon after though the young King was for a long time kept in ignorance of his death."
Foulk seems to be mistaken ― or perhaps I am― but the establishment of the walled city may go back to that dark page in Korean history involving the filial piety of King Jeongjo for his father, Prince Sado.
Over the years Prince Sado has been villainized ― perhaps rightly. He is associated with rapes and murders. "Our quarters," wrote his wife, "became a house of horrors in which no one could be certain they would not fall victim."
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| The gate in 2016. |
At a young age, Sado suffered from hallucinations ― his mental unrest may have further been aggravated by the mental abuse his father King Yeongjo (r. 1724-1776) heaped upon him. His father blamed him for any natural disaster and forced him to witness executions. After speaking with his son, his father would often wash his own ears out ― a gesture of wanting to rid himself of his son's presence.
Events climaxed in the summer of 1762 when the king ordered his son to climb into a rice chest and had it sealed and placed in the hot sun. Despite the pleading of Sado's son, the king ― his grandfather ― could not be swayed and Sado died eight days later.
When King Yeongjo died, Sado's son ascended to the throne as King Jeongjo (r. 1776-1800) and began a campaign of revenge. He had his father buried in the Suwon area and moved people from the surrounding villages to the new city he had built near the tomb. The city walls and a detached palace were constructed as a means of "protect[ing] the tomb and to maintain its glory."
This fortress and city came to be known as Hwaseong ― now part of modern Suwon. It is for this reason Suwon is known as the City of Filial Piety.
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| Pigeons and the walls of Suwon in 2016. |
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| The fortress of Suwon in 2016. |
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| A royal tomb near Suwon circa 1900-1920. |
