Cheonggyecheon history and culture entry
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Cheonggyecheon Stream, the wash place for women during Joseon Dynasty
Cheonggyecheon Stream, the wash place for women during Joseon Dynasty in cheonggyecheon in Yun Seok-jung, a child literature writer, was born in Supyo-dong
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Description
Yun Seok-jung, a child literature writer, was born in Supyo-dong, Cheonggyecheon Stream in 1911 and spent his childhood there. He said, "Cheonggyecheon is a clean stream, so wives of households came out and washed clothes in the water. The stream was like a laundry cleaner, and women would gather there and talk about their household stories." Also, he stated that the child song “Pongdang Pongdang”, which is an onomatopoeia of the water’s splashing sound, is a song that he composed reminiscing his older sister who used to do the laundries at the stream. This is very different from an old saying that excremental water flowed in the Cheonggyecheon Stream due to sewers in Hanyang. This is a misunderstanding. Joseon’s hygiene management was thorough since there were public wells in each village. During the period of Joseon Dynasty, relatively clean water flowed in Cheonggyecheon Stream except when the weather was very dry. Especially, during summer or after rainfall, pure water flowed in the stream. The women of Joseon came to Cheonggyecheon Stream and gossiped with each other while doing the laundry. Laundry was a labor, but these women relieved their stress by beating the clothes with bats, and chatting with friends. This wash place was a resting area for women. It was the year of 1923, during the era of Japanese occupation, when drain pipes were constructed in the Cheonggyecheon Stream. After since the sewer pipes were built, excremental water flowed in the Cheonggyecheon Stream. It was the year of 1924 when charged laundry facilities began appearing at the stream. The Government General of Seoul built public laundry facility that could be used by 200 people at a time, and received usage fee. During the Japanese colonial period, the stream to women of Joseon was not a resting place but a place of labor where people paid money to wash clothes.
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Source
Korea Tourism Organization and Visit Seoul.