The Marmot’s Hole

If you’re into Korea’s early modern history and the colonial era, rush your ass down to the old river port town of Ganggyeong, now an eup attached to Nonsan-si.  As late as the 1930s, the town was a major trading center for agricultural goods and seafood—it had the third largest market in Korea behind Pyongyang and Daegu, and ships from the Yellow Sea would sail up the Geum River to dock at its port.  Unfortunately for Ganggyeong, the opening and development of the port of Gunsan, the development of Korea’s railroad system, Liberation and eventually the Korean War ate away at its importance and influence.  Now it’s a provincial backwater of some 14,000 souls, many of whom are connected in one way or the other to the town’s absolutely huge jeotgal market.  Its halcyon days may be long since over, but plenty of evidence of its former prosperity (and, perhaps more to the point, its former occupiers) still remains, and the extremely friendly locals will talk your ear off if you show even the slightest interest in the history of their community.

These are just a couple of the photos I shot.  I’ll post the rest—along with more details and research—once I return to Seoul.

OK, this isn’t in Ganggyeong. It’s an old missionary home on the campus of Hannam University in Daejeon. The university was founded in 1956 by American Southern Presbyterian Minister William A Linton (the Lintons, like the Underwoods, are barbarian royalty, the first one coming to Korea in 1895. Stephen Linton, one of the fourth generation of his clan, now engages in a lot of work in North Korea with the Eugene Bell Foundation, which provides medical assistance to our northern neighbors).  Anyway, the homes—of which I believe there are three remaining—were designed by the wife of William Alderman Linton, the university founder.  They represent a fascinating fusion of Western—particularly American—and Korean concepts.

An old Japanese department store in Ganggyeong. It might not look like the Lotte Department Store, but this was pretty nice for the 1930s, and the fact that a provincial center like Ganggyeong even had a department store gives you an idea of how wealthy it must have been.

One of many old Japanese office buildings in the old downtown area. Interestingly, on most of these buildings, the original Japanese signboards have been rather crudely covered over, as you see in this photo.

Not all the Japanese signboards have been erased, however. This was the office of the colonial electric company (note: Don’t quote me, but the signboard may have been restored in order to use the building in a movie set).

You see tons of decaying Japanese buildings like this all over Ganggyeong. In its own sort of way, the stagnation and decay is kind of charming, although local residents would probably beg to differ.

Look familiar? It should. Not many Japanese black-shingle buildings like this one left in Korea. The one in Beolgyo is a protected cultural property. This one, as far as I know, is not.