Gangjin to hold celadon festival in August

By Lee Hyo-sik

Staff reporter

Gangjin, South Jeolla Province ― Gangjin Country, a birthplace to the world’s famous Goryeo celadon, will hold the 38th Gangjin Celadon Festival on Aug. 7-15, attracting tens of thousands of visitors from both at home and abroad.

Ahead of the annual celebration of the Goryeo Dynasty’s remarkable cultural heritage, Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) CEO Lee Charm and other ``Korea tourism supporters’’ descended upon this rural town to help it promote the upcoming festival and itself as a tourist attraction.

The tourism supporters program is an initiation by KTO, designed to boost the number of visitors to local communities. Participants include KTO CEO Lee, foreign envoys, city officials, travel agency heads, scholars and students.

At the center of the celadon festival is the Gangjin Celadon Museum, which was established in 1997 for the preservation, research and exhibition of Goryeo celadon ware and the promotion of the people’s understanding of the historical importance and value of the celadon kiln in Gangjin.

The relics collected in the museum include celadon shards, ceramic casings and other potter related articles discovered through many excavations and filed surveys.

The celadon kiln site in Gangjin is widely regarded as a very important part of the Korean cultural heritage that symbolizes a triumphant artistic achievement by Goryeo potters.

The importance of Gangjin as the center of Goryeo celadon was dramatically highlighted by the discovery of a wooden strip inscribed with Tamjin, its name used during the Goryeo period, during the 2007 underwater excavation at Jukdo Island off the coast of Taean, which led to the discovery of about 23,000 celadon works.

``The museum is a must-see place for Gangjin visitors. It displays thousands of celadon artifacts, including several National Treasures. To boost interests among tourists, we hold an auction for newly made celadon at 3 p.m. every Saturday. The bid begins at the half of market prices. So it is a good chance to purchase fine works at cheaper prices,’’ Gangjin County vice head Ko Dae-seok said.

Visitors can also carve their initials and other marks on pottery, with the museum later firing it and sending it to the carver by delivery service.

Ko expects the upcoming celadon festival to attract nearly 700,000 visitors during the nine-day run. ``We have built additional parking lots and improved other tourism-related infrastructure. We will widen a road, leading to the museum and other festival venues nearby from the expressway, from the current two to four lanes.’’

Onggi & other attractions

Gangjin is also the birthplace of ``onggi,’’ or traditional Korean earthenware pottery. ``There used to be many technicians who produced high-quality onggi. But since kitchenware was made of plastic over the years, many have stopped making it. Now, there is only one technician keeping the tradition of onggi alive,’’ the vice county chief said.

But he said it is gaining popularity on the back of the recent well-being trend and potential health benefits, giving a rise to the onggi production. ``A growing number of restaurants and households across the country are purchasing onggi from our county. We hope that more people will become interested in learning how to make it and continue the tradition.’’

Gangjin was a place of exile for philosopher Jeong Yak-yong, better known as Dasan, during the Chosun Dynasty. He lived in the county for 18 years, writing a number of famous books, including ``Mokminshimseo’’ (Admonitions on Governing Officials).

Another tourist attraction is the Hamel Memorial Museum, which was established in 2007 to pay homage to Hendrick Hamel (1630-1692). He wrote the Report of Hamel, the first report that introduced Korea to the West.

In 1653, Hamel, who was a bookkeeper with the Dutch East India Company, was shipwrecked on Jeju Island while heading for Japan. During his 13-year stay in Korea, Hamel lived in Seoul, Gangjin, Yeosu. In particular, he stayed for seven years in Gangjin.

The Hamel Memorial museum is a wooden structure and displays 150 artifacts related to him. It serves as a regional educational institution to study the historical meaning of Hamel’s drift to the Chosun Dynasty, to research international relations in the 17th century, to enhance education through exhibition of relics and to promote cultural exchanges between Korea and the Netherlands.

Additionally, Gangjin is famous for traditional Korean food, widely known as ``hanjeongsik,’’ an assortment of varied side dishes served with rice. For being located in a bay, the county boasts abundant sea foods. At the same time, livestock farms in the areas produces high-quality hanwoo, Korea’s homegrown beef.

``Gangjin has a beautiful and clean marine environment, including an unpolluted mud flat. It also offers a variety of delicious cuisines. If its tourist spots are well developed and promoted, the county could become a major tourism hub in the southwest,’’ one foreign envoy said.

KTO CEO Lee Charm also echoed the view, saying Gangjin has a perfect natural setting to become a popular tourist attraction. ``But at the same time, it needs to boost lodging facilities and other tourism infrastructures to draw a large number of visitors. It also needs to prepare English information brochures and make the area more foreign-friendly.”

In response, vice county chief Ko said the Gangjin will do everything it can to improve its tourism settings by attracting investments from outside, asking KTO and other supporters to promote the county through word-of-mouth.