Namwon and Chunhyang

A trip to Namwon and the story of Chunhyang

This weekend my boyfriend decided to take me on a trip to Namwon. I really didn't know anything about the place, I just knew it was located about an hour south from Jeonju. My boyfriend told me that Namwon is a birthplace of Chunyang and Lee DoRyong, but since I had no idea who they were, so I asked him about them. My boyfriend was like: "well.... hmm... I'll tell you when we get there." And I really wanted to know so I asked him if they were some important people in history or something and he said ya, but he didn't know how to explain and since I kept pushing him to tell me, he then admitted he wasn't even sure, but that there were several movies and dramas about these two people.

Well it turned out later that Chunhyang and Lee DoRyong are not really historical figures, but main characters from one of Korea's most famous and most popular love stories :) There is even a museum about this story with big and beautiful pictures. I asked my boyfriend if he'd never been to that museum before but he said he has, so I wondered why he didn't know the story. He laughed and said he was just looking at pictures lol he can be so cute sometimes ^^

Anyway, if you go to Namwon, you have to visit Gwanhallu gardens. It is basically a place dedicated to this story. And it is really beautiful, there are pavilions, lakes, bamboo trees, it really looks nice. So you can walk around and visit the museum of Chunyang story. AND if you want you can also become the character of this story. For only 9000krw (9$) you can get dressed as Chunhyang and Lee DoRyong and you get a framed photo too. We thought it was interesting and fun and decided to try it. I really wanted to see how my boyfriend would look like in those clothes and wow, I thought he looked awesome :D But anyway, see for yourself.

After Gwanhallu gardens we visited Chunhyang Theme Park. Another place dedicated to this story. You can walk around and see the story through five parts of the park, each dedicated to one part of the story: First Encounter, The Pledge of Love, Love and Separation, Suffering and Imprisonment, and lastly, the Celebration.

So let me tell you really quickly about this story.

THE STORY OF LEE DORYONG AND CHUNHYANG

1. FIRST ENCOUTNER: Lee Doryong is an intelligent young man. One day he visits the Gwanghallu pavilion and sees a girls in a distance playing on a swing. He asks his servant about the girl and finds out her name is Chunhyang and she is the daughter of a kisaeng called Wolame (kisaeng is a female entertainer in old Korea, kind of like a geisha, I guess). He is completely taken by her beauty and falls in love immediately.

 2. MARRIAGE AND PLEDGE OF LOVE: Lee DoRyong visits the house of Wolmae with his servant. He askes Wolame for permission to marry Chunhyang and she accepts. Chunhyang and DoRyong get married and pledge eternal love to each other.

3. THE SAD GOODBYE: Lee DoRyong's father, who is an important government official, has to move to Hanyang (today's Seoul) and Lee DoRyong has to go with him. While he is gone, a new magistrate is appointed in the area, a bad man who neglects his duties and only cares about parties and women.

4. SUFFERING AND IMPRISONMENT: The magistrate sees Chunhyang's beauty and wants to have her, but she refuses because she is married and wants to stay faithful to her husband. The magistrate is upset by the refusal and decides to punish her. He has her beaten and sent to prison.

5. REUNION IN PRISON: After Lee DoRyong wins first place in the state examinations, he becomes the secret royal inspector. He goes back to visit Chunhyang, but soon hears about what happened to her. He disguises himself as a beggar and goes visit Chunhyang in prison.

6. THE CELEBRATION AND HAPPILY EVER AFTER: The magistrate plans to kill Chunhyang on his birthday. But Lee DoRyong breaks into the banquet with a bunch of men and punishes the magistrate. After that Lee DoRyong and Chunhyang are finally together again and live happily ever after :)

Well that is a really short version that I just wrote, but it captures the point. :) Because of this story, Namwon is also know as the city of love. ^^

Namwon is a really nice place to visit, whether you know the story or not. Both Gwanghallu gardens and Chunhyang Theme Park are beautiful. Here are a couple of photos from the two places.

  

If you have a chance to visit Namwon, please do so, I recommend it. Oh but don't forget to have some type of mosquito protection! We always keep our 'off' spray in the car but somehow always forget to use it... so I have six new mosquito bites on my legs :'(

Anyway thank you for reading and please feel free to comment. ^^