Welcome to Gwangju: The City of Light

Gwangju: The City of Light

General introduction: With a population of 1.5 million, Gwangju Metropolitan City is the fifth largest city in South Korea. It’s divided into five districts and was the center of administration of the South Jeolla Province until 2005. Gwangju city was originally established in 57 BC. Gwangju has consistently played an important role in the history of Korea’s democracy and human rights movements. On both occasions of the Japanese invasion of Korea, in 1592 and in 1929, the patriotism of the Gwangju citizens and students who willingly sacrificed their lives culminated in major nationwide uprisings against Japanese colonial rule.

Gwangju is regarded as the birthplace of Korean democracy; the result of the democratic uprising that occurred in May 1980, when civilian demonstrations were staged in Gwangju against the newly installed military government led by Chun Doohwan. The May 18^th National Cemetery was built in order to recognize Gwangju as a sacred ground of democracy in South Korea. In memory of the martyrs of May 18^th, the Gwangju Prize for Human Rights was created in 2000 to recognize the work of international pro-democracy leaders, such as Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi, who fights against threats to democracy.

Gwangju Overview

Gwangju is also regarded as a city rich in culture and art, and there are always exhibitions and performances which make the city vibrant and colorful. Every two years, the Gwangju Biennale features a two-month long contemporary art exhibition that invites international artists to display their theme-based work. The Gwangju Design Biennale is staged in alternate years when the main Biennale is not held. Gwangju continues to host the annual Gwangju Kimchi Culture Festival, held in late fall, which promotes the varieties of delicious Korean kimchi and traditional Korean culture. Gwangju also supports a traditional music orchestra and numerous neighborhood festivals that contain ancient and modern Korean cultural offerings.

Asia Cultural Complex Logo

A Cultural Hub City of Asia:

The Korean government initiated a grand culture project in Gwangju, which is the largest of its kind in scale since the foundation of Korea. This project will turn a futuristic model of urban development into an innovative city. The backdrop of this project is to promote cultural development, having Gwangju as a starting point which begins with cultural exchanges and builds through the cycle of creative works, research activities and education programs.

Goals of a Cultural Hub City: Gwangju shall be the ground of exchanges, culture creation, studies and education for a peaceful Asia in the future. The city will embrace a futuristic urban development model at the national level as the landmark of a new “Culture State,” the driving force and a new model for its regional economy. Gwangju will be redeveloped as a place where Asian cultures are created, studied, accumulated and promulgated, through exchanges, and hence will serve as the Window of Asia through which Asian cultures can flow out toward the world. The Cultural Hub-City Project will perform the following tasks among others until the year 2023.
- Constructing “The Asian Culture Complex” at the site of the former Provincial Hall.
- Fostering the stronghold of urban cultures and building up urban cultural networks
- Enacting “The Special Act on Cultural Hub-City of Asia”
- Establishing a training institute to produce culturally creative human resources of the future
- Carrying out the “edu-culture” contents project to build up the futuristic environment for education and culture
- Carrying out the music contents project
- Carrying out the Asian Culture contents project
- Constructing a cyber-city for laying a “Ubiquitous” foundation
- Forming the basis for other cities to enhance their cultural economies in the manner of Gwangju

Gwangju District Offices:

• Buk-gu (North District): www.bukgu.gwangju.kr/eng/
• Dong-gu (East District): http://english.donggu.kr/main/main.php
• Nam-gu (South District): www.namgu.gwangju.kr/english
• Seo-gu (West District): http://seogu.gwangju.kr/eng/
• Gwangsan-gu (Gwangsan District): http://english.gwangsan.go.kr/

For more information, please click http://eng.gwangju.go.kr/