Haeundae sand festival

By Shim Hyun-chul

Staff reporter

The refreshing sound of waves breaking against the shore echoes at Busan's Haeundae Beach.

Children build their own respective empires of imagination using the abundant white sand. Sandcastles are piled upward in brilliant shapes, though the walls are covered with decorative seashell jewelry. Holes poked at the bottom of the structures allow a sea-filled moat to form, and the image of the castle is sufficiently convincing.

The expression on a child's face building a sandcastle is a sober as an architect's while designing a skyscraper. But as the coming tide destroys the creation, the innocent children patiently begins work on another, unaware of the passing of time.

Everyone has at least one nostalgic memory of building a sandcastle on the beach. In honor of these faded, but warm recollections, a festival at Haeundae's beach resort calls adults and children alike to play in the sand.

The Haeundae Sand Festival began in 2005, as part of a commemorative event for the APEC summit, before evolving into an annual affair that now attracts more than 1 million participants to its environmentally-friendly activities. This year will mark the event's sixth installation and, although the festival is still young, it was named the ``2009 Cultural Tourism Festival'' by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

The Haeundae Sand Festival hosts a variety of activities, such as ``I'm a Sand Sculptor, Too,'' ``Children's Sand Olympics,'' a ``Beach Volleyball Competition'' and more. It is open to all ages. In keeping with the changing times, the festival also showcases an exhibition of sandcastles created by people of different nationalities, in addition to showing an exhibit on the history of sand festivals.

World-renowned sculptors Jeroen Advocaat from the Netherlands and Mark Anderson from England attended the festival this year, alongside both domestic and other overseas artists. The eyes of passersby were caught by the enchanting, surreal sights: the sandy beach embroidered with the Eiffel Tower, the Statue of Liberty, the Neuschwanstein Castle, the Little Prince, Taj Mahal, Forbidden City and Abraham Lincoln before they were washed out to sea.