Gwanghwamun

The east gate of the inner city.

Gwanghwamun

Guanghua gate (Korean: 광화문; English: Gwanghwamun) is the main gate of Jingfu palace of Lee's Korea (1392-1910), the last unified dynasty in the history of Korean Peninsula. It is a three arched brick structure gate, which means "light everywhere, educate everywhere". It was destroyed three times and built four times. The gate was changed and relocated many times. The last time it was rebuilt in 2010, near the former site of the gate.

Guanghuamen was founded in 1395 (the 28th year of Hongwu, Taizu). In 1910 (the second year of chunzong Xuantong), Japan and South Korea merged, and the Korean Peninsula became the territory of Japan. In 1926, Japan built the Korean governor's mansion between Guanghua gate and qinzheng gate of Jingfu palace, and most of the palaces were demolished one after another.

On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the recovery of South Korea in 1995, the government of Kim Yong San demolished the building of the governor's mansion on the ground of restoring the traditional culture of the country and "eliminating the symbols of the Japanese ruling period", and began to rebuild the Jingfu palace and its affiliated buildings on a large scale on the original site, and wrote the inscription of Guanghua gate by Park Chung Hee.

In August 2010, the Guanghua gate, which was rebuilt again in South Korea, was restored from the so-called "de Sinicization" plaque to the traditional Chinese plaque.

Traffic information

Get off at Guanghuamen station of Seoul Metro Line 5 and get out of exit 9.

Opening Hours

March to October 9:00-18:00 (admission before 17:00) November to February 9:00-17:00 (admission before 16:00) may to August: open to 19:00 on weekends / public holidays

Historical evolution

Guanghua gate is the national gate of South Korea. Originally, Guanghua gate was a wooden structure building on a stone altar. Because of its exquisite technology, ingenious structure and magnificent appearance, it is considered to be one of the greatest gatehouses in South Korea's history, ranking first among the five palace gates in South Korea. His own bumpy life experience is the best reflection of South Korea's humiliating colonial history.

In 1395, Guanghua gate was built as the main gate of Jingfu palace in the period of emperor Taizu of the Korean Dynasty. Guanghua gate was originally named as the fourth main gate. In 1425, it was renamed Guanghua gate, taking the meaning of "light everywhere, educate everywhere".

During the Japanese colonial period, the Guanghua gate was demolished, and the Japanese colonists built the Japanese governor's office on the original site of the Guanghua gate. After Korea got rid of the Japanese colonial rule, it rebuilt a reinforced concrete structure of Guanghua gate. The original Chinese character plaque was replaced by the plaque of "Guanghua gate" inscribed in Korean by then Korean President Park Chung Hee.

At the end of the 16th century, Japanese General Hideki Toyotomi invaded the Korean Peninsula and burned the Guanghua gate. After that, it was not until 1864 that Guanghua gate was rebuilt. But not many years later, Japan again occupied the Korean Peninsula.

In 1910, the ITO Bowen government of Japan forced the Korean government to sign the "Japan ROK merger treaty" and formally annex the Korean Peninsula. During the period of Japanese colonial rule, in 1926, Guanghua gate was moved to the east gate of Jingfu palace in order to build the governor's office of the colonial authority. Even if it was relocated, it could not save the fate of Guanghua gate. In the Korean War from 1950 to 1953, Guanghua gate was burned again.

In 1968, South Korea's Park Chung Hee government rebuilt the Guanghua gate. This time, a large number of materials such as steel and cement were used, which is quite different from the historical records of the wooden structure of Guanghua gate. The reconstruction site is more than ten meters behind the original one. Park Chung Hee also handwritten a plaque of Guanghua gate, but the three characters of "Guanghua gate" were written in Korean.

On December 4, 2006, in order to restore the original historical appearance of Guanghua gate, the South Korean government, after several years of investigation and argumentation, started the reconstruction project of Guanghua gate and decided to restore the wooden structure of Guanghua gate and rebuild the missing wooden plaque. In the whole process of reconstruction, the project has been in a state of "closed door", not open to the media and the public.

The restoration of Guanghua gate plaque, restore the history of Chinese characters plaque tradition. This paper uses digital technology to restore the font of Chinese characters when Jingfu palace was rebuilt in 1865. 　

Reconstruction works

In 2006, after several years of investigation and demonstration, the South Korean government officially launched the reconstruction project of Guanghua gate, which is to demolish the reinforced concrete structure of Guanghua gate, and restore the Guanghua gate with wood 14.5 meters to the South and 10.9 meters to the West. It also restores the original appearance of history by digital technology.

August 15, 2010, the 65th anniversary of Japan's surrender in World War II. The opening of the Guanghua gate in Seoul, the capital of South Korea, marks the beginning of the 65th anniversary of the recovery of South Korea.

Guanghua gate is the "gate" in the eyes of South Koreans. It has experienced many wars, one migration, two destruction and three reconstruction. After 84 years, this door, known as "the wound on the heart of the Korean people", has come to light again, which makes the older generation of South Korean people sigh.

The newly built Guanghua gate is magnificent. Whether it's the painted plaque of the gate tower, the 8-meter-wide front steps of the platform, or the animal carvings and Dougong bags on the eaves, it's all restored vividly.

There are three rainbow doors. The one in the middle is for the king to pass through. The ceiling is painted with a pair of Phoenix symbolizing the king and the princess. The one on the left is painted with Xuanwu, the northern Guardian God, while the one on the right is painted with a pair of unicorns. It is reported that the reconstruction of the entire Guanghua gate cost 30 billion won and took four years.

Disputes over plaques

In the renovation project of Jingfu palace started in 2005, the plaque of Guanghua gate was restored at the same time.

In February 2010, the Korean Department of cultural relics decided to restore the Chinese character plaque made in ancient Korea through the meeting of the cultural relics Committee. This plaque was written by Ren Taiying, a military officer in charge of the reconstruction of Jingfu palace in the period of Emperor Gaozong of ancient Korea. Based on the photos of the ancient Guanghua gate, the cultural relics hall completed the engraving of the plaque on July 27.

On July 31, 2010, more than 20 members of the Korean society and the Korean character culture association held a press conference at the main entrance of the government complex on Sejong road in Seoul. They said: "it is an insult to Korean to hang a Chinese character plaque behind the bronze statue of King Sejong standing in Guanghuamen square." They stressed: "the name" Guanghua gate "is also Shizong king, and the street where Guanghua gate is located is also Shizong road." Korean plaque is the spirit of the 21st century. ". King Shizong is a famous monarch in the history of South Korea. He created Korean in his reign.

"A correct understanding of the national group of Park Zhengxi" and others also held a press conference in front of the Ministry of culture and tourism on the same day, saying: "the plaque inscribed by former President Park Zhengxi who has been in Guanghua gate for nearly 40 years is a precious part of history." They said: "the Korean plaque with the inscription of former President Park was removed in 2006, which is a part of" erasing the traces of President Park Chung Hee "carried out during the Roh moo Hyun administration."

August 15, 2010 is the recovery day in South Korea. Some South Korean citizen groups advocate that the plaque of Guanghua gate which will be open on the recovery day should be changed into Korean

.

"None of the five palaces in Seoul is decorated with Korean plaques," explains Kim yuan Ki, director of the palace and mausoleum cultural relics department of the Korean cultural relics department. "Although we respect the excellence of Korean, the principle is to respect the prototype of cultural relics.".

Professor Cui enzhe of Guanghuamen Restoration Research Committee said: "Chinese characters were used in Gaozong period. Based on this, we found these three characters written by Ren Taiying, a famous general of the Korean Dynasty. The handwriting contains the style of a great general, which is very consistent with the style of Guanghuamen."

In November 2010, cracks were found on the plaque, so it was rebuilt. In this process, Korean groups considered the symbolic meaning of Shizong road where Guanghua gate was located, and advocated that Korean characters should be used on the plaque. The Department of cultural relics has conducted a public opinion survey and held a hearing on this issue for more than two years, and collected opinions from all parties through the first and second round of seminars.

On December 27, 2012, the Cultural Heritage Committee of Korea's Department of cultural relics held a joint meeting in the National Palace Museum on historical sites, architecture, movable property and modern cultural heritage, and decided to continue to use the Chinese characters written by Ren Taiying (1791-1868), a senior general trained by Emperor Gaozong during the reconstruction of the Guanghua gate, on the newly made Guanghua gate plaque. At the meeting on that day, members of the Cultural Heritage Committee agreed that the Korean plaque did not conform to the spirit of restoring cultural heritage. Therefore, the plaque should be restored according to the characters written by Ren Taiying during the reconstruction.

Address: East Gate of Jiayuguan inner city, Gansu Province

Longitude: 98.225023

Latitude: 39.803129

Chinese PinYin : Guang Hua Men