Bundang-gu

Coordinates: 37°22′58″N 127°07′08″E / 37.382782°N 127.118905°E / 37.382782; 127.118905
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Bundang-gu
분당구
Seoul
WebsiteBundang-gu Office

Bundang-gu (

telephone poles
overground, resulting in a clean cityscape with well-designed streets.

Bundang is the headquarters of Korea's leading

Seoul Ring Expressway
.

Bundang is home to many Koreans who lived overseas and the European-styled cafe streets serving brunch and pastas in Pangyo Avenue France, Baekhyeon-dong and Jeongja-dong reflect their culture. The city has a high percentage of parks and greenspace, most notably Bundang Central Park and Yuldong Park, which is built around the Bundang lake. Also, there is a jogging course with the 'Tan-cheon stream'. The Bundang's Seoul National University Hospital is among the largest in South Korea.

Name

The name Bundang came from the central town of Bundang-dong. The name "Bundang" is a new composite prefabricated name in the 1914 Japanese occupation of the administrative area. However, it was discovered during an investigation undertaken while Bundang was being developed that the character for Dang did not correspond to the one used centuries ago. Soon after

Chinese character used to write the Dang in Dangwu-ri had been altered. In another land reorganization conducted in 1906, soon after Itō Hirobumi had been appointed Resident General of Korea, the character was changed from 堂 to 唐. The new character means the Tang dynasty of China (pronounced dang, 당, in Korean), which in 688, assisted the kingdom of Silla to conquer the other two Korean kingdoms of Baekje and Goguryeo during the Three Kingdoms period. While this was the first unification of the peninsula, it was conducted through military conquest by a country conspiring with a foreign power. (There have been various opinions as to why the Japanese authorities made the decision to replace the character, none of which can be corroborated by historical evidence). Thus, the character for dang currently being used in Bundang today has a poor connotation, and there is debate among scholars and administrators as to whether it should revert to the pre-colonial character 堂
, which means "hall" or "government office".

History

Before 1989

Since the Joseon dynasty, the land Bundang currently occupies was a part of Gwangju (then county); at the time, Seongnam only had Sujeong and Jungwon gus. This largely agricultural area was nothing like the present day, dotted as it was with dozens of small villages. Before the early 1990s, Bundang was a large farmland of rice paddies.

After 1989

The local government announced on April 27, 1989, that it would undertake construction of a futuristic and environmentally conscious city with a population of 450,000 people. Sixteen dongs in the surrounding area were to be amalgamated into a single city. This would include nine dongs from Dolma-myeon: Bundang-dong, Sunae-dong, Seohyeon-dong, Jeongja-dong, Imae-dong, Yatap-dong, Dochon-dong, Yeosu-dong and Yul-dong; in addition to six dongs from Nakseng-myeon: Gumi-dong, Baekhyun-dong, Dongwon-dong, Geumgok-dong, Sampyeong-dong and Gungnae-dong; and one dong from Daewong-myeon: Sasong-dong (now Pangyo-dong). Bundang was adopted as this new district's popular name.

In the early 1990s, the Bundang area became a planned community as a response to alleviating the excessive demand for apartments in the similarly affluent, but much older Gangnam area. Before this period of expansion, however, there was mostly farmland in this area. There are still a few farms in the Bundang area, particularly in the Pangyo area. As the demand for more housing continues, Bundang is expected to continue expanding.

The primary site of construction was situated along a ten kilometer strip of the Gyeongbu Expressway, with the expectation that high quality homes would be built there. The government assigned the heavy responsibility of carrying out its construction plans to the Korea Land Corporation, a government-owned construction company that had carried out other large scale construction projects in the country. Throughout the development process there were mass demonstrations of local residents protesting the construction, petitions, and demands for countermeasures against the redevelopment project. Despite these numerous difficulties, through dialogue and compromise residents, construction was completed with little incident. Construction began on August 30, 1989, and was completed on December 31, 1996, at a cost of 4.16 trillion won.

Education

Bundang has 37

high schools,[3]
also 1 university, and 1 graduate school.

Bundang is also the site of Korea International School, located in Baekhyun-dong with an American curriculum for the expatriate and English-proficient Korean community. On the outskirts of Bundang there is an IB World School with a boarding program for foreign students called Gyeonggi Suwon International School (GSIS). Given its relative affluence, many private language academies are located in Bundang.

Economy

As previously mentioned, Bundang has the reputation of being one of the richest parts of Gyeonggi Province. Bundang is home to

SK C&C, a top IT services company. In addition, the state-owned Korea Land Corporation and Korea Gas Corporation both had their headquarters in Bundang.[citation needed
]

Since then, Kogas has moved to Daegu, and Korea Land Corporation has moved to Jinju innovation city as part of the South Korean government decentralization drive, along with giant Kepco's move to Naju, south of Gwangju Metro.

Nowcom has its headquarters in Bundang,[5] as well as Plantynet Co., Ltd. and subsidiary A&G Modes.

Culture and tourism

There are some ancient relics, sights or buildings of note. There are, however, two pleasant parks which have been established for residents' pleasure. Bundang Central Park, east of the road between Seohyeon and Sunae stations, has a lake, fountain, and several old houses, while Yuldong Park, to the east, has a larger reservoir and a bungee jumping platform, 45 m high.

Bundang is also home to

Roman Catholic buildings on the Asian continent. It is conspicuously located in the eastern part of Bundang. It employs a balance of both modern as well as gothic-style architecture, and features a replica of Michelangelo's Pietà; one of only three in the world officially authorized by the Vatican.[citation needed
]

Residents can enjoy musical and theatrical performances as well as art exhibitions at the recently opened (October 2005) Seongnam Arts Center, which is located in Imae-dong. There are four public libraries in the Bundang area, the Seongnam Central Library in Yatap-dong (also has a swimming pool for the local resident), the Bundang Culture and Information Center in Jeongja-dong, Seongnam City Gumi Library [1] in Gumi-dong and Rainbow library in Gumi-dong. The Bundang Museum of Nature is located in Jeongja-dong. For Yatap-dong, not only the library but one of the Bus Terminal and a big shopping mall is located

Also, in Jeong-Ja Dong, there are many cafes and bakeries known as "Cafe Street".

There are several nightlife areas, most notably the streets around

red light district
in Joong-dong).

Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, Bundang Cha Hospital [2] and Bundang Jesaeng Hospital are also located in Bundang.

Transportation

Bundang is served well by public transport, with many buses, and an underground

Suseo, Dogok and Seolleung stations. Recently, it has been extended south into the city of Yongin, and further extensions to this line are planned, with it being intended to stretch south to Giheung before sweeping west to Suwon and eventually even to Incheon
. The
Seoul Ring Expressway and Gyeongbu Expressway
.

Buses

Transit buses to Seoul

Transit (commuter) buses are called

Wide Area Lines in Seoul and with red color. Some buses operated by companies in Gyeonggi Province are in different colors (as in the picture below). Those buses are filled to capacity during rush hour
.

Bus No.1500-2 near Yuldong Park

Buses to Seoul are numbered in the 9000s and 9400s and serve most districts in Seoul. Bus 1150 and 5500-1 also goes through Bundang and into Central Seoul area. 1005-1 Bus goes to Central Seoul, but goes through Gangnam area, Southern Seoul, first. 9407, 9414 and 9607 go to Samsung station area, and 1500-2 goes through Bundang to Nambu Bus Terminal and Sadang station. New 8100s buses are more direct routes through Bundang to parts of Seoul. They do not stop at every station in Bundang and have select pickup stops.

Local Buses

There are many local buses and village buses, usually green or yellow in color. Some are blue colored. They connect smaller areas with each other in, or just outside, Bundang.

Inter-city buses

Bundang has an express bus terminal in

Gimpo Airport
.

Subways

Suseo station and Ori station
, it was extended from Suseo to Seolleung in September 2003. It stretched 18.5 km from Seolleung to Ori, but as of 2005, it stretches from Seolleung to Bojeong.

Yeoju Line. Migeum station
will open with Shinbundang's Phase 2 in April 2018. The subway is operated automatically.

Pangyo station to Yeoju

In Bundang,

taxis
are very common. There are available taxis in busy areas such as subway stations. There are two types of taxis: an "ordinary" (ilban; 일반) taxi and a "model" (mobeom; 모범) taxi, which is painted black and is bigger (in size) and much more expensive than the former ones.

Roads

Streets

Streets of Bundang are partly organized like a grid. The main road is Seongnam Daero which runs through Moran station, Seohyeon station, Sunae station, Jeongja station to Ori station.

Expressways

Bundang is close to

Gangnam-gu
.

Shopping

Notable shopping malls include

2001 Outlet at Migeum station, Nonghyup Hanaro Mart, Homeplus at Ori station
and Hyundai Department Store at Pangyo station. There are also big movie theaters at Ori, Seohyeon and Yatap stations. The CGV movie theatre inside Hyundai Department store at Pangyo station features a 4D theatre.

Administration

Administrative Division of Bundang

Bundang is divided into 21

dong
(동, "neighborhoods"):

Famous residents

Photos

  • Bundang, South Korea
    Bundang, South Korea
  • Bundang, South Korea
    Bundang, South Korea
  • a restaurant in Bundang
    a restaurant in Bundang
  • Bundang, South Korea
    Bundang, South Korea
  • A pet iguana in Bundang
    A pet iguana in Bundang
  • Bundang, South Korea
    Bundang, South Korea
  • Apartment Buildings
    Apartment Buildings

See also

References

  1. ^ 살기좋은 도시, 분당구에 오신것을 환영합니다 Archived 2012-08-01 at archive.today
  2. ^ http://valley.egloos.com/viewer/?url=http://gerckm.egloos.com/5695419
  3. ^ "페이지를 찾을 수 없습니다". www.bundang-gu.go.kr.
  4. ^ "페이지를 찾을 수 없습니다". 21 July 2012. Archived from the original on 21 July 2012.
  5. ^ "오시는길 Archived 2011-09-09 at the Wayback Machine." (Map Archived 2011-09-12 at the Wayback Machine) Nowcom. Retrieved on September 17, 2011. "경기도 성남시 분당구 삼평동 625 판교세븐벤처밸리 1단지 2동 9층"

External links

Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Bundang.

37°22′58″N 127°07′08″E / 37.382782°N 127.118905°E / 37.382782; 127.118905

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