South Korea Guide
Jeolla
Gwangju
GWANGJU is the gleaming, busy face of "new Jeolla", and the region's most populous city by far. Once a centre of political activism, and arguably remaining so today, it's hard for Koreans to hear the name without thinking of the brutal massacre that took place here in 1980, an event that devastated the city but highlighted the faults of the then-government, thereby ushering in a more democratic era. A cemetery for those who perished in the struggle is located on the city outskirts. There's little else of note to see in Gwangju itself, except perhaps the shop-and-dine area in its centre, which is largely pedestrianized, and one of the busiest and best such zones in the country. This is the obvious place to see at first hand why Gwangjuites are deemed to be among the most fashionable folk on the peninsula, as well as the best place in which to sample the Jeollanese cuisine. Also located in this area is "Art Street", a warren of studios and the figurehead of Gwangju's dynamic art scene. Although most funding is now thrown at contemporary projects, the city's rich artistic legacy stems in part from the work of Uijae, one of the country's most famed twentieth-century painters and a worthy poet to boot. A museum dedicated to the great man sits on his former patch – a building and tea plantation on the slopes of MudeungsanPark, which forms a natural eastern border to the city.
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