Slowing Down in Samjicheon
Story &
Photos by Bill Stephens
If you spend a week
in Seoul, it's easy to see why the national branding slogan "Dynamic
Korea" has replaced the "Land of Morning Calm."
But travel three
hours by train and then 30 minutes by bus and taxi to Samjicheon Village in the
Damyang region, and you'll experience perhaps what was meant by the more
traditional designation.
Rice fields and
traditional hanok-style homes provide a bucolic setting for this area in the
southwestern tip of the peninsula that has long inspired poets.
Samjicheon is an official
"slow city," a designation made by an an organization based in Italy,
where the Cittaslow movement started in 1999. The movement encourages nations
around the world to preserve the cultural legacies of small towns and promote
slower lifestyles, discouraging technology in favor of tradition.
Samjicheon, located
in South Jeolla province, was the first city in Asia to gain such status in
2007. Since then, four other towns in Korea have been named "slow
city". Only 111 cities world wide share this
distinction.
During a recent visit
to the town my fiancee and I, longtime residents of
Los Angeles, could instantly understand the charm of such places. After
lunching at a local restaurant known for its rice soup, we began wandering the
walled lanes of Samjicheon-population 500- where the traditional hanok-style
houses have sloped roofs and central courtyards. At one guest house, we found
owner Kim Young Bun washing sheets in the courtyard. She and her husband moved
here 10 years ago because he loves the hanok-style house, she said.
Kim also said the
area is attracting more tourists. Many enjoy the monthly "snail
market," where they can buy produce from local gardens, learn to make
traditional rice cakes and even go for an ox cart ride. Samjicheon is also
known for local delicacies like rice-based taffies,
which are made by melting rice syrup over a wood fire, and hangwa sweets made
from rice, beans and sesame.
For Professor Werner
Sasse, beyond such delectable attractions, the town offered a quiet place to
study and paint after he retired a few years ago. Sasse used to teach Korean
studies in his native Germany, so he knows more about Damyang's history than
perhaps the average South Korean. "Because Jeolla was historically outside
Korea's main political action, the Jeolla personality is more free and
easygoing," the scholar noted, referring to the overall character of this
region in the south. In the 15th century, he explained, exiled scholars in
Damyang invented Gasa poetry, which celebrates the country scholar's life. To
this day, there is an active community of artists and poets who live in the
area.
But make no mistake:
this is an agricultural region. Typical scenes on a Sunday morning: a man
tending his strawberries inside a greenhouse while listening to Korean radio
ballads, and a farming couple raking rice on the roadside. More than 50 percent
of Damyang County residents, who number roughly 50,000, farm for a living.
Even residents like
Hwang Jung Hee, who may not be a commercial farmer, grows her own food. She was
digging potatoes in front of her home when we met her. After some small talk,
she invited us inside, serving us sweet potatoes and home-made mul kimchi. The
79-year-old told us all of her children, except for one who lives with her,
moved to the "fast city," Seoul, but she won't budge.
"I like living
in a small town,"Hwang said. "The pace is slow. The water is good.
All the neighbors know each other. "The friendly woman offered us a spare
bedroom for free if we ever needed a place to stay.
In the afternoon, we
ventured just outside the slow city through graceful bamboos groves for which
the Damming region is famous, but even more relaxing was a nearby riverside
park where we joined other strollers and eventually reached a street lined with
majestic Metasequoia trees.
This
last anecdote may help communicate the genuine charm of the area. When my
fiancee and I returned to our minbak to check out in Samjicheon and pay our
bill, the owner Mr. Guk was gone. We called him on his cell phone. "Just
leave the money in your room, and I'll get it later," he told us without a
hint of concern in his voice, and wished us happy travels back to Seoul.
|