A: I was born somewhere on the southern ridge of Inwangsan and Bugaksan ( or if you prefer, the northern ridge of Namsan.) My behaviour in my early days was erratic – I was placid to the point of being inactive during the spring and autumn seasons but during the rainy summer days, I was a wild child. My floods even destroyed houses and bridges.
Q: You were first known by another name – simply Gacheon meaning “The Stream”. When was that?
A: That was during the Joseon Dynasty. That was my heyday – fourteen tributaries connected with me and eighty-six bridges were built across me. I was really in the centre of things then as the dividing line between the rich and poor. The wealthy aristocrats lived on my northern side while the ordinary folk were found on my southern banks. People gathered on the bridges that straddled me on the first full moon of the year to fly kites and take part in “daribapgi” ( stepping on the bridge)
Q: I thought your main significance then was to collect the sewage and channel it towards the Hangang?
A: Why are you dredging up the more sordid aspects of my past? Truth be told, I hadn’t much choice in the matter. But dredging, literally, became a vital part of my life. That and fortification of my banks to stop me from overflowing at times.
Q: I understand you were given your present name during the Japanese colonial period?
A: Yes, that was a humiliating time. Oh the shameful irony of being named “Cheonggyecheon” meaning “Clean or Clear Stream” while I was suffering under their rule. By this time, I was reduced to a drain, a squalid stream amongst squatters’ squalor. Did you know the Japs wanted to fill me completely and kill me off? Luckily they didn’t have enough yen to do it.
Q: But I suppose the Korean War was a more trying time?
A: It was but it was the post-war period that finished me off with the overpopulation and pollution. I died in 1958 but it wasn’t a natural death, mind you. Death by choking from household trash and human waste, sand and earth from the mountains and then by concrete.
Q: You were entombed in a road overpass in the 1970s…
A: They didn’t call it a tomb. Instead they called it a symbol of the modernization of the country!
Q: But you were like the phoenix reborn when the mayor of Seoul proposed a restoration project in 2003.
A: Ah yes – Lee Myung –bak…people are calling him names like “The Bulldozer” over the Four Rivers Project but I can’t say anything negative about the man who helped to give me a new lease on life, can I?
Q: There were many who opposed him; they said it’d cost too much to bring you back to life…
A: How can you put a price tag on me?
Q: I heard that you even needed a daily injection of 120,000 tons of water from the Hangang because past construction had left you almost fully dry…
A:That’s not true. As I mentioned before, even in my youth, I was erratic- dry during some seasons and then prone to floods in summer. Hey, that water from the Hangang’s my lifeblood if you want to me to be a focal point of the city throughout the year. It ain’t Botox. Besides, now that I’m looking fresh and young again, I’m attracting so many visitors, local and tourists that the businesses will thrive.
Q: You’re also attracting more fishes, birds and insects.
A: See, I’m going to be instrumental in making this city a much better place to live and work in. You scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours…
Q: Isn’t that stretching things a bit? After all, you’re just a 5.8 –km stream, a tributary that leads to the Hangang.
A: Size isn’t everything…You ask the Seoulites what I mean to them. Even my detractors have shut up since they’ve seen what I’ve achieved for the people of this city.
Q: Ok –so how would you prefer to be remembered? As a picnic spot for office workers on their lunch break? A rendezvous for couples? A photographer’s haven? A tourist attraction? A hub for cultural activities? An overpriced symbol of urban renewal? A cliché-spouting creek?
A: What cheek. Haven’t your parents taught you to respect your elders? I think this interview is over, don't you?
See previous posting on Cheonggyecheon.
Sources:
http://english.sisul.or.kr/grobal/cheonggye/eng/WebContent/index.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Korea-Seoul-Cheonggyecheon-2008-01.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Seoul-Cheonggyecheon-01.jpg
http://lacreekfreak.wordpress.com/2009/04/24/daylighting-in-the-heart-of-seoul-the-cheong-gye-cheon-project/
http://www.koreaherald.com/lifestyle/Detail.jsp?newsMLId=20090710000074
http://travel01.seoulselection.com/index.php/articles/exploring-seoul/192-cheonggyecheon-four-years-on
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/biz/2010/07/291_68399.html
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/07/remove-highways-to-fix-traffic.php
http://world.kbs.co.kr/english/news/news_zoom_detail.htm?No=1034
http://e-seoul.org/?tag=seoul-pristine-stream-cheonggyecheon-history
http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=846778&page=5
