Cheonggyecheon
The Cheonggyecheon used to be a naturally
formed stream before the Joseon Dynasty designated
Seoul as its capital. It was used for women
gathered along the stream, bringing a load of
clothes to wash and cauldrons to boil the clothes,
and children playing in the stream. During the
Japanese colonial period, the Cheonggyecheon
went through some changes different from those
made in the past. the Cheonggyecheon was filled
up with trash, ground and sand swept from the
bare mountains and severely contaminated with
wastes from shabby makeshift houses built alongside.
After the Korean War (1950~1953), even more
people swarmed into Seoul to find their way
and make their living and settled down along
the stream. It appeared that the handiest way
to put an end to the multitude of shabby, makeshift
houses and the dirty smell was to cover up the
stream with concrete. Finally, the work to cover
it up with concrete started as quickly as possible
by August 1958, with the 136m section near Gwangtonggyo
completed in 1955 ahead of the remaining sections.
In addition, a 5.6 km-long, 16 m-wide elevated
highway extending from Gwanggyo to Majang-dong
was completed over the stream in August 1971
after four working years. Thus, all makeshift
houses along the stream were demolished, freeing
the place for some modern commercial buildings.Then,
in the 1980s and 1990s, it came to be regarded
as a source of intense traffic, health and environmental
issues. Finaly, Seoul city dicided for recover
the stream and now it becomes an oasis of the
city, Seoul.
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