Restoring Cheonggye Stream

photo by rinux

Cheongye Stream is a combination of natural and artificial stream with a distance of 10.92km in length, geographically it divides Seoul city into north and south and defines the boundary in politics, society and culture, the noble and rich would live in the northern while common and poor people live in the southern villages.

Flowing through the capital, like many other stream around the world, the Cheonggye Stream provided water and food, however during the monsoon season, flooding and sanitation caused major problem, the river would flowed backwards and sanitation problems occur causing contagious diseases that affect the city.

During the presidency of Syngman Rhee, Cheong Gye Cheon was covered over with concrete for roads and, in 1968, an elevated highway was built over it. In July 2003, Seoul mayor Lee Myung-bak initiated a project to uncover and restore the stream. It was a major undertaking as not only did the highway have to be removed, but years of neglect and development had left the stream nearly totally dry and 120,000 tons of water had to be pumped in daily. Source: Wikipedia

It appears that some Korean environmental organizations are against this project, personally I think it is a very good idea, what is the city without its history and culture? Restoring the Cheonggye Stream recover 600 years of Seoul’s history, helping Seoul to be reborn again.

More pictures of the past and present at Life in Korea

Tags: Cheonggye, Cheonggye Seoul, Cheonggye Stream, Korea, Korea Stream, Lee Myung-bak, Seoul Stream

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