Gochangeupseong Fortress: In the Footsteps of KBS's Hwang Jin-yi, Part 2

 The scene in which Ha Ji-won’s Hwangjinyi practises her dance before her first love, the impressionable and impetuous aristocrat ( played by Jang Geun-seuk) was shot at Gochang- eupseong.



See the last few minutes of this Youtube video from the KBS drama. 
Now I’ve been to other fortresses before in South Korea such as Nagan-eupseong, the fortress at Gongju and Hwaseong in Suwon, so what would make Historic Site No. 145 in Gochang-gun in North Jeolla Province (Jeollabuk-do) so special and worth visiting?

 Various sources suggest visitors take note of its distinctive round walls outside the fortress gates erected during the early Joseon Dynasty, a moat to discourage invaders and the absence of private dwellings ( unlike Naganeupseong, for instance) with only government buildings erected within its walls.

But I think what gives Gochang-eupseong its unique charm is its story of WOMEN POWER.

Professor Hur Kyoung-jin recounts a legend in the Spring 2005 edition of Koreana:
“At one time, two ramparts had to be built in the region at the same time, so men built one section at Seosan while women built another at Gochang. As an incentive, it had been decided that whichever town completed its walls first would be awarded a local magistracy…. However, since the men underrated the women, they would wile away the time in drink and merriment. In contrast, the women worked ceaselessly, hauling the stones and building the walls, without taking breaks. In the end, their steady efforts enabled the Gochang walls to be completed first. "

Dapseong Nori (walk around fortress) is held during the Gochang Moyang Fortress Festival 

( before or after September 9th in lunar calendar)

"To commemorate this legendary event, every year the women of Gochang walk all along the walls as part of a ‘wall-stamping’ festival. It is believed that anyone who walks the full length of the walls will be assured of good health and a long life. The effects are said to be especially beneficial if carried out during a leap year, when the gates to the afterworld would be open.”

A full circuit of these walls once is supposed to "prevent disease".

 Go round TWICE to enjoy a lifetime of good health AND

if you've the stamina to repeat the promenade for the THIRD time,

you've secured your ticket to heaven.

So if I manage to make my way to Gochang on the ninth day of the ninth lunar month, I'd need to bear in mind a few things:

1. Find out from the KTO when AND WHERE exactly this picturesque ceremony takes place. One blogger was too late for the event and had to be content with the sideshows.  Must remember to ask for the specific gate where this annual parade begins and ends.

2. I must NOT expect dramatic sights of ladies in hanbok gracefully and stoically bearing big rocks above their heads. Apparently, custom only requires symbolic gestures and the modern-day ajumma need only carry a stone as big as her dainty fist.

3. It's a 10-min walk from Gochang Bus Terminal to get to  Gochangeupseong.

sources:
http://english.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/SI/SI_EN_3_1_1_1.jsp?cid=658574
http://culture.gochang.go.kr/site_english/
http://culture.gochang.go.kr/site_english/festival/07-01.htm
http://jikimi.cha.go.kr/english/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvZxuVlq45Y
http://koreana.kf.or.kr/popup.asp?flag=view&article_id=5789&sword=gochangeupseong&volumn=19&no=1&lang=English

On Service, Street Vendors and Samul-nori, Suncheon, Part 4

Chance upon a sikdang just outside the walls of Naganeup-seong that serves a generous number of delicious side dishes with my main order, kimchi tchigae. But the service is wanting. Perhaps because I’m clearly a single female, not from one of the OECD countries, the waitress doesn’t bother to transfer the side dishes onto the table but plonks the tray down. A group of halbeojis who come in after me are treated with more courtesy. Never mind. Perhaps they’re locals and know her employer or parents personally.

What gets me a little more irritated is the presumptuousness of one of the gentlemen. Without so much as an “Excuse me, do you mind?” ( Yes, indeed, I do mind!), he switches off the TV in the corner which happens to be showing a Sunday TV programme with people consulting experts on the value of their family ‘heirlooms’ and antiques. Never mind, I mutter to myself for the second time. Concentrate on the meal and relish the side dish of my favourite beo-sot ( mushrooms) and the other vegetables. Learning to assume that such joints provide complimentary coffee if you know how to ask for it ( Service pronounced Sur-bee-seu).

After the satisfying lunch, there’s time to gawk at what the street vendors are selling: roasted chestnuts, different kinds of grains, persimmons, apples, pears, music cassettes, long johns for the winter ahead. Hear the sounds of a traditional military band made up of ajummas decked out in bright uniforms. Are they part of the local populace roped in to add more colour to the atmosphere for the benefit of tourists or are they filming some scene for a period drama?

After all, Naganeup-seong has been used as an outdoor location for for the popular and highly-rated drama series, “Jewel in the Palace” or “Dae-jang-geum”. For instance, the episode in which the hero enters a village stricken with an infectious disease to help the heroine was filmed here. It turns out that musical performances are regular weekend events here. I follow my ears and find my way to the village field where a group of samul-nori performers have been attracting a small crowd with their lively percussion music and their twirling tassels.

Source:
http://asiaenglish.visitkorea.or.kr/ena/CU/CU_EN_8_5_1_6.jsp

Rustic Charms of A Fortress Village, Suncheon, Part 3

Feel strange walking into Nagan-eupseong simply dressed in jeans, a pullover and sneakers. Should be wearing a plain hanbok or even some traditional peasant clothes stained the colour of persimmons with straw sandals instead. Such is the charm of this village that once I pass through its main gate, I am transported into another world and another time.

Nagan-eupseong Folk Village, 22 km west of Suncheon, was the site of the Paji Castle during the Baekje Dynasty and continued as a village in the Joseon dynasty. It’s more like a combination of Hahoe Village in Andong and the Korean Folk Village in Suwon because people still live and work here, alongside the open-air museum that it is. Unlike Hahoe which prides itself on being home to aristocratic families, Nagan-eupseong showcases the life of the ordinary folk.

Another striking difference is that Nagan-eupseong is a fortress village surrounded by a pretty thick wall with impressive gates at both ends of the village. The 1.41 km long and 4 m high walls, first built from sand and eventually stone, were intended to keep out Japanese invaders. These days, tourists such as yours truly are free to climb onto the ramparts. The double vision one gets standing there is quite strange: within the walls, I’m back in the time looking over rustic straw huts or tiled roofs of cottages and outside the walls, I’m immediately whisked back to modern times with the Korean 20th century style houses.

Am glad to have the company of three year old Dong Ok and his mum, a friendly ajumma that I meet on the tour bus. She points out to me various plants in the gardens of different cottages as we peer over the low stone hedges. We discover cotton balls which can be plucked straight off the plant, the purple flower of the doraji plant, another delicate bloom from the green tea bush, calabashes ( longish dark-green gourds sun-dried to use as bathing sponges). Persimmons and quinces hang from bare branches and the ginkgo trees are splendid as always.

There’s also a water wheel still in operation, the amusing entrance of a dragon kiln at the local pottery ( painted to look like a monster’s open mouth), a drinks dispensing machine boarded up to look suitably rustic and retro, a grand pavilion with an enormous drum, a long-bearded halbeoji in yellow earth-dyed garb who welcomes us as we watch him weaving ropes the traditional way.

The claim on the Suncheon website seems justified – there is a friendly atmosphere and if I’m fortunate enough to pass this way again, I’d like to stay in one of the minbaks available here to soak it all in very slowly.

Sources:
http://asiaenglish.visitkorea.or.kr/ena/SI/SI_EN_3_6.jsp?cid=762732
http://asiaenglish.visitkorea.or.kr/ena/SI/SI_EN_3_1_1_1.jsp?cid=312888http://www.nagan.or.kr/english/main.html