20110406 My Favorit City in Korea

Today I want to introduce a city in Korea. When I asked people about the name of city in Korea, most people answered Seoul, the capital of Korea. Actually, it is a capital in Korea, but today I want to introduce another city in Korea, Ulsan. Although I am living in Seoul now, I lived in Ulsan for over 6 years so I had a lot of memories in this city. This city is famous as a beautiful east sea coast, the city of whale, 2002 Korea-Japan World Cup, one of the biggest industrial cities in Korea that has many global businesses such as Hyundai Motors, Hyundai Heavy Industries, SK Complex and so forth. But today I want to introduce this city as a city of culture and history with several cultural assets in this city.

First, there were various dinosaurs in Ulsan before people could live on the earth. Especially in Ulsan we can see many footprints of dinosaurs of the Lower Cretaceous period, about 100 million years ago. The footprints show the same direction, indicating that the dinosaurs were peacefully rambling over the area. These fossilized dinosaur footprints are in a good shape and thus, it is regarded as significant for the study on various fields such as the geological history of Ulsan.

Second, there are two kinds of petroglyphs that show us the prehistoric lifestyles: petroglyphs of Bangudae and petroglyphs in Cheonjoen-ri. Petroglyphs are prehistoric pictures carved on rocks showing various kinds of things that the prehistoric people did. Petroglyphs were usually carved on the huge rocks considered a holy place and people gathered there to perform their ritual ceremonies for fertility and abundance. In these petroglyphs, there are about 270 figures of sea animals including whales, various land animals such as tigers, deer and also very lively described human appearance. In particular, it shows clearly the aspects of fishermen in the whaling ships with the characteristics of many whales, such as sperm, gray and killer whales, so that we can understand that Ulsan has been the base of hunting whales since ancient times. Therefore not only can these petroglyphs show us the natural environment and the ecology of the long prehistoric age but also they show us the outstanding aesthetic sense and the lifestyle of prehistoric people who hoped for richness and large productivity through the existence of the carved figures.

Third, it is easy to find the historical remains of the Shilla dynasty in Ulsan because Ulsan is not far away from Kyungjoo, capital of the Shilla dynasty. The representative property is Cheoyongam. The rock island on the screen is Cheoyongam. It is called so because of its reputed connection with the mythical prince, Cheoyong. Cheoyongam has a historic tale. A long time ago, King Heon-gang, 49th king of the Shilla dynasty was taking a rest on the shore with his officials. Then suddenly thick clouds and mists appeared even though it was daytime, so they couldn't find the way to go. One minister said the dragon in the east sea made this strange phenomenon, so they should do good things for him. As the king gave his ministers order to build a temple there for a dragon, surprisingly the clouds and mists disappeared. The mythical King of the east sea came out from the sea with his seven sons and performed music and dance with joy. One of the princes, Cheoyong followed the King of the Shilla dynasty and went to Kyungjoo. King Heon-gang gave him a beautiful wife as a gift and also a politically important position in the Shilla dynasty. However, the goddess of smallpox loved Choeyong's wife, so he changed his appearance into a handsome guy and finally slept with her. At that time, Choeyong came his home and found this scene, but he wasn't surprised by even this situation. He danced and sang a song rather than got angry with the intruder. Just then the goddess of smallpox was deeply moved by Cheoyong's generosity and swore that he would not approach the place that has the picture of Cheoyong's face. Since then Cheoyong’s face became a symbol of protection from bad luck. Nowadays, we also hold the Cheoyong cultural festival in Octobers every year to pay a tribute to the mind of Cheoyong.

As I mentioned, there are various cultural assets of many periods in Ulsan. They are our valuable properties that will bring glory to Ulsan forever. Now, if someone asks you what sort of city Ulsan is, You can answer without hesitation like this, "Ulsan is the city of glorious civilization as well as the center of soccer and industry in Korea".