Hwajinpo
Hwajinpo is a lake(lagoon) in South Korea(Gangwon-do Goseong-gun).
Basic Information[edit]
Hwajinpo is a lake that is 2,389,843wide. Its circumference is about 16 km. It’s exact location is North latitude 38°27'23" and East longitude 128°26'03".
The lake was designated as a monument on December 16th, 1971. It is designated as the Gangwon Province Local Monument No. 10. It was originally a part of the East Sea, but it was isolated from the sea. Many shells and rocks caused the isolation. As a result, the water in Hwajinpo is a mixture of freshwater and seawater. This is a very unusual case of a lake that includes seawater.
At the entrance of the lake, there is white sand. It is known that not a lot of insects live in white sand, and because of the beautiful scenery you can see, Hwajinpo was used for a vacation spot for a long time, and many people still visit Hwajinpo for the scenery and the vacancy of insects.
Along the lake, there are many attractions to visit. There are many various creatures living inside the lake including some endangered species. It is known that you can see swans as well during November and December. As a result, there are more visitiors in the winter season than in the summer season because there aren’t that many places that you can see swans in South Korea. The fee to enter is 3,000\ for adults and 2,300 \ for teenagers and children. This fee has not been changed since 2005.
History[edit]
The area that the lake is in is very close to the 38th parallel north line which is the line that divides Korea into North Korea and South Korea. It’s on the north side of the 38th parallel north line and the south side of the Military Demarcation Line. Therefore, the lake was once included in North Korea, before the Korean War.
After the armistice during the Korean war, it became South Korea’s territory. It was a normal lake which not much but water back then, but Sherwood Hall, who was a missionary doctor, built a chapel nearby the water, during the Japanese occupation. This chapel was named “Hwajinpo’s castle(화진포의 성)”. After Korea’s independence from Japan, this castle was used for the Kim family for summer vacances. Nowadays this castle is used for a museum about security history, and there are items about The Korean War. This castle is very famous for its view as you can see the whole Hwajinpo seashore from the second floor. It is also surrounded by a lush forest which has been there for more than 100 years. This lake made an appearance as one of the main elements of the famous K-Drama ‘Autumn in My Heart’ in the 2000s. As a result, many fans of the drama came to the lake to see how the film was made and to take photos of parodies of the scenes in the film. After the lake made an appearance in ‘Autumn in My Heart’, several other films and dramas used this lake as a filming place. There are still some fans of the Drama visiting the lake.
Myth[edit]
There is a myth about why the lake was named Hwajinpo. This is what the myth says so.
Once upon a time, there lived a very rich man named ‘Lee Hwa-Jin’. Although he was very rich, his personality was very rude and selfish. He was extremely rude to his neighbors and visitors. In Korea, monks frequently visit homes for donations, so there was a time when a monk visited Hwa-Jin’s house as well. Usually people give monks something like grain which is useful and show thanks to the monk. But Hwa-jin gave the monk cow dung instead of grains, and the monk took it without complaining a bit.
Hwa-jin’s daughter-in-law was extremely shocked when she saw such thing happen. She quickly grabbed some rice and gave it to the monk, begging for the monk to forgive Hwa-jin. The monk received the rice and said
“Follow me, and do not look back whatever happens. I’m telling this for you.”
Hwa-jin’s daughter-in-law followed the monk and went away from the house. When she walked away from the house, she heard something happening behind her. Even though the monk said never to look back, Hwa-jin’s daughter-in-law did look back while she was walking, and she saw all Hwa-jin’s house and field have sunk in the water and became a big lake. Hwa-jin’s daughter-in-law was very kind, and because she was so sad, and she cried so hard that she immediately became a stone. After this event, people felt happy about the event happened to the greedy rich man and the people of this village called the lake ‘Hwajinpo’. The name came from ‘po’ which means ‘lake’ in Chinese characters that Korea used at the time. And the myth has been passed down until now, and the name is still being used.
This myth is one that has been passed down from mouth to mouth. So, there are a lot of different myths about how the lake has been made. This is one of the myths that is most known. And other different myths are all likely the same as this one and has a little detail different. For example, another myth says that the daughter-in-law left with the monk, but when she came back she saw the house turned into a lake and got shocked and became a rock. Like this, there are a lot of different myths, but they all say that a greedy man gave a monk cow dung, and his house became the lake.
Attractions[edit]
There are many attractions at Hwajinpo. There are many politicians’ villas at here such as Kim Il-Sung’s villa, Lee Ki-poong’s villa and Syngman Rhee’s villa. There are also some museums, such as the Hwajinpo Ecological Museum and Hwajinpo Marine Museum.
Eungbong is a peak at the southern part of Hwajinpo. It’s height is 122m. It is famous for the beautiful scenery which you can see at the top of Eungbong. There are also other attractions at Eungbong, such as a pine forest and a forest bathing place. It takes about an hour to go up to the top.
The Hwajinpo Ecological Museum is a place where you can see how a lagoon is made and some information about the creatures that live in Hwaijnpo. There are more than 100 kinds of species in the museum. They are famous for the ‘Hwajinpo-ho’, as it is the biggest lagoon in South Korea. They also have a model of real-sized dinosaur bones. It is free as long as you paid the fee to get inside Hwajinpo. As it is close to the Hwajinpo bathing beach, many tourists visit both attractions at the same day.
The Hwajinpo Marine Museum is in the shape of a ship. There are statues of shells, sea mussels and more sea creatures nearby the museum for photos. There are more than 1,500 kinds of species in the museum and about 40,000 exhibit items in the museum. The biggest part of the museum is the aquarium, and its tunnel. You will be able to see all kinds of fish swimming around you in a transparent tunnel. The museum also has a 3D theater for movies about how Hwajinpo was made and what values Hwajinpo has. This museum is free as well as you paid the price to enter Hwajinpo.
References[edit]
http://www.ohmynews.com/NWS_Web/view/at_pg.aspx?CNTN_CD=A0000348964&PAGE_CD=
http://www.ohmynews.com/NWS_Web/view/at_pg.aspx?CNTN_CD=A0000364673
http://www.heritage.go.kr/heri/cul/culSelectDetail.do?VdkVgwKey=23,00100000,32
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