Iksan City Reborn as a National Representative 'Hyo Culture City'

Establishment of Foundation Including Selection of Hyohaeng Village and Promotion of Hyohaeng Projects

Photo by Iksan City Provided

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Hong Jae-hee] Iksan City, Jeonbuk, has embarked on creating a Filial Piety Culture City to spread filial piety culture in the region and establish it as a representative urban brand.

On the 27th, the city announced that it will focus on creating an atmosphere that encourages and practices filial piety culture together with local related organizations by storytelling filial piety cultural assets to build the foundation of a filial piety culture city.

To this end, the city is conducting a project to systematically organize and create storytelling from literature and old documents related to filial piety passed down in the region. The results will be used for developing filial piety culture programs and character education materials.

Along with this, two villages with examples of filial piety, Daejori in Yongdong-myeon and Hwasilli village, have been selected and are being operated as representative filial piety villages of Iksan. In March, signs designating these as filial piety villages were installed to widely promote the stories of filial piety passed down in the villages.

Additionally, for the first time this year, the city started a bathing fee support project for elderly residents in the myeon area, providing bathing coupons worth about 4,000 won quarterly to elderly people aged 70 or older who receive basic pensions and those in the near-poverty class.

Also, continuing from last year, the city is paying a filial piety allowance of 100,000 won per month per elderly person aged 70 or older to families residing in Iksan where four generations, including direct ascendants and descendants, live together.

Furthermore, various filial piety culture education programs are being conducted for local children, and storytelling grandmothers and grandfathers, as well as filial piety etiquette character education instructors, are being actively trained and dispatched to kindergartens and schools.

The city is also promoting various resident-participatory filial piety projects together with ‘Wonkwang Filial Piety Village,’ a senior welfare specialized corporation, to create an atmosphere for spreading filial piety culture in the region.

First, for youth, the city annually conducts the Filial Piety Character Practice Experience School and the ‘Hwadong Camp,’ a filial piety practice club involving about 30 youth clubs nationwide, to help them recognize the value of filial piety and cultivate proper character.

At the camp, programs such as filial piety relay presentations, special lectures on filial piety, and the filial piety Golden Bell quiz are held, giving youth time to find and understand the meaning of filial piety themselves.

Also, the Filial Piety Stay Camp, where parents and children participate together, fosters empathy through filial piety experience activities and education, encouraging the practice of filial piety at home.

Moreover, the city continuously holds the ‘Filial Piety Academic Seminar’ to redefine the theory of filial piety and study the development direction of the filial piety culture city Iksan, building a filial piety culture platform to discuss utilization plans.

In addition, the city contributes to spreading filial piety culture in the region by holding sharing festivals with local residents to support the Elderly Grand Festival, a place for intergenerational harmony, and the filial piety practice movement.

Mayor Jeong Heon-yul said, “We will discover and promote various policies so that the increasingly important filial piety culture can take root in the region,” adding, “Through creating a filial piety culture city, we will facilitate communication between generations and build a warm community where the elderly are respected.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.