Gwangyang City Honors Maechon Hwang Hyun & Poet Yoon Dong-ju on March 1st Movement Day

Maecheon’s Birthplace Resisting the Eulsa Treaty with Death

Jeong Byeong-wook House Preserving Yun Dong-ju’s Handwritten Manuscripts

Gwangyang City in Jeollanam-do announced that it proposes visiting the birthplace of Maechon, who resisted the Eulsa Treaty with death, and the Jeong Byeong-wook House, which preserves the posthumous works of Yun Dong-ju, to commemorate the upcoming 104th anniversary of the March 1st Movement.

In Seoksari, Bonggang, Gwangyang, there is Maechon Hwang Hyun’s birthplace, who left four death poems in protest of the Eulsa Treaty and resolutely died for the country, as well as the Maechon History Park honoring his patriotic spirit.

The birthplace of Maechun, who resisted the Eulsa Treaty with death ［Photo provided by Gwangyang City］

Maechon, the last scholar of Joseon, was an outstanding writer who left over 2,500 poems and a historian who meticulously recorded 47 years of history.

Eight items including Maechon’s records such as Maechon Yarok, Oh Ha Gi Mun, Jeolmyeongsi Cheop, handwritten materials, stationery, and daily life artifacts have been recognized for their value as anti-Japanese independence cultural heritage and designated as national registered cultural properties.

The birthplace where Maechon was born and raised is a neat thatched house with a small well and a cozy pavilion, where you can see Maechon’s portrait painted by Chae Yong-shin, the top portrait artist of the time, and his death poems.

Nearby, Maechon History Park features Maechon’s burial site, a monument shaped like a brush and book inscribed with his life story, Yeongmojae, and a monument with poet Moon Byung-ran’s poem “Maechon Song,” making it a pleasant place for a leisurely stroll.

In Mangdeok Port, Jinwol-myeon, there is the “Jeong Byeong-wook House Preserving Yun Dong-ju’s Posthumous Works (Registered Cultural Property No. 341),” which preserves the handwritten manuscript of “Sky, Wind, Stars, and Poems,” the most beloved national poet of Koreans, Yun Dong-ju.

Yun Dong-ju, dreaming of publishing a commemorative book upon graduating from Yeonhui College, compiled three volumes of “Sky, Wind, Stars, and Poems” handwritten by himself and gave them to his mentor Lee Yang-ha and his cherished junior Jeong Byeong-wook, but his poems written in Korean never saw the light of day during his lifetime.

The house of Jeong Byeong-wook, who preserved Yun Dong-ju's handwritten manuscripts
Photo by Gwangyang City

Yun Dong-ju, imprisoned in 1943 on charges of independence activism, died in a foreign prison in February 1945, but the only surviving handwritten manuscript among the three volumes preserved at Jeong Byeong-wook’s house was finally published in January 1948, reviving Yun Dong-ju as a poet.

At Jeong Byeong-wook’s house in Mangdeok Port, Gwangyang, the situation of secretly hiding the handwritten manuscript “Sky, Wind, Stars, and Poems” is recreated, and nearby at the “Yun Dong-ju Poetry Garden,” 31 poems included in the posthumous collection are clearly engraved on monuments.

Additionally, the name of the sea footbridge connecting Mangdeok Port and Baealdo Island Garden was named “Byeolhae-neun Bridge” inspired by Yun Dong-ju’s representative work “Counting the Stars at Night,” showing how deeply Yun Dong-ju is embedded throughout Gwangyang.

Jeong Gu-young, head of the Tourism Division, said, “On the 104th anniversary of the March 1st Movement, we hope people visit Gwangyang to honor the patriotic spirit of Maechon Hwang Hyun, who resisted Japan’s forced annexation with death, and the poetic spirit of the national poet Yun Dong-ju, who wrote pure poems in Korean,” adding, “We also ask that people remember the sacred friendship of Jeong Byeong-wook, who risked danger during the harsh Japanese colonial period to protect Yun Dong-ju’s handwritten posthumous works.”

Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Heo Seon-sik hss79@asiae.co.kr

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