Daegu: Encyclopedia - Daegu

Daegu

Daegu or Taegu is the 3rd largest city in South Korea (after Seoul and Busan). It is officially called Daegu Metropolitan City. The city is located in North Gyeongsang province and is the capital of the province. Its geographical location is 35°52′N 128°36′E.

Daegu - History

Historical documents show that as early as 261 the city was recognized as Dalgubeol, and the city was given its current name in 757. In 1601, Daegu became the administrative capital of the former Gyeongsang province, and the city has been the capital of North Gyeongsang province since that province's formation in 1896. It's the capital of the province today. In the 1980s, Daegu became a separately administered provincial-level Directly Governed City (Jikhalsi), and was redesignated as a Metropolitan City (Gwangyeoksi) in 1995.

Daegu is the largest city in the North Gyeongsang region. During the Joseon Dynasty, the city was the administrative, economic and cultural centre of the entire Gyeongsang region, a role largely taken over now by Busan in South Gyeongsang.

During the Korean War, much heavy fighting occurred nearby along the Nakdong River. Daegu sat inside the Busan Perimeter, however, and therefore remained in South Korean hands throughout the war. After the war the city underwent explosive growth, and the population has increased more than tenfold since.

On February 18, 2003, a mentally ill man set fire to a train of the Daegu Metropolitan Subway stopped at Jungangno station. The resulting blaze killed nearly 200 persons, making the Daegu subway fire one of the worst disasters in South Korea since the end of the Korean War.

Today, Daegu is the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Korea with respect to both population and commerce.

Daegu - Climate and geography

Daegu sits in a basin surrounded by mountains. Palgong-san to the north, Biseul-san to the south, the foothills of Gaya-san to the west, and a series of smaller hills in the east.

The Geumho River flows along the northern and eastern edges of the city, emptying in the Nakdong River west of the city.

Because it is in a basin, Daegu is hotter than the rest of Korea during the summer. The mountains trap hot and humid air. Similarly, in winter, cold air lies in the basin. The area receives little precipitation except during the rainy season of summer, and is sunny throughout much of the year.

Daegu - Politics and Economy

Daegu is a conservative city. In the 2004 parliamentary election, Daegu voted in members of the conservative Grand National Party for every seat in the city.

The major industries of Daegu are textiles, metals and machineries. The quality of the apples grown around Daegu is renowned around East Asia.

Daegu - Culture

Traditionally, people from Daegu have been seen as conservative, modest, hard working, and patient. The women are known as particularly strong willed and beautiful.

Daegu is known as the home of Korean baseball. Before the advent of the professional leagues, its high school teams were avidly followed. The city was a co-host of the 2002 World Cup soccer game. A new football stadium was built for the event.

Traditionally Buddhism was strong, today there are still lots of temples. Confucianism was popular in Daegu, with a large academy based in the city. Christianity has gained its ground, and churches make up one of its cityscape today.

Because of the city's rapid growth, the architecture is generally functional but uninspiring. Some exceptions do exist in older buildings, and in some of the newest, such as the dongdaegu station, and the Exco building.

Daegu - People

Daegu's population is quite homogeneous with few immigrants. A number of immigrants from South and Southeast Asia work in automotive-parts factories on the city's west side. In addition, there is a small group of English-speaking Westerners working in the many English schools. The American military bases are also home to several thousand Americans. As elsewhere in Korea, Korean, Chinese, Japanese and Western food is most common but recently Indian/Pakistani and Russian foods have become available.

Daegu - Points of interest

The most popular parks in Daegu are Apsan, a mountain with trails, Buddhist temples, a Korean War museum, and a gondola ride to the peak; Palgongsan, which houses many historic Buddhist temples including Pagyesa and Donghwasa; Dalseong Park, which sits inside a 1500-year-old earth fortress; and Duryu Park, which has many walking trails as well as a large amusement park.

Nearby tourist attractions include Haeinsa—a Buddhist temple that houses the Tripitaka Koreana (a woodblock edition of the Tripitaka and one of the world's oldest extant complete collections of the Buddhist scriptures)—and the historic city of Gyeongju, the capital of the ancient kingdom of Silla.

There are five universities in Daegu, including Kyungpook National University ([1], founded in 1946), Yeungnam University, and Keimyung University. There are also some colleges.

Daegu has three American military bases, Camp Walker, Camp Henry and Camp George, the latter which houses Taegu American School (primarily for children of military personnel). Although non-military families can enroll their children at the school, most either home-school their children or send them to a small Christian private school which teaches about 25 children near downtown Daegu.

Daegu is also home to the K-League soccer club Daegu FC.

Shopping is centered in the downtown. There is main shopping district which is called Dongseongno. There are also a number of department stores. Many of these belong to national or multinational chains, but the local Debec department store also operates two branches.

Daegu - Transportation

There are two types of buses which are local and limited express. Limited express bus have more seats. As of 2005, Local bus costs 900 won, Limited express bus costs 1300 won. Bus route numbers are made up with 3 digits, each number indicates the area that bus serves. For example, number 407 bus runs from zone four, to zone zero, and then to zone seven. But, these are not always reliable, because some buses don't follow the rule.

Also, there are two subway lines. Fare is 800 to 900 won on distance.

Traffic is very heavy in downtown and some areas are also heavy many times on the day. However, Daegu's major boulevards handle fairly high volumes of traffic without too much trouble.

Daegu is served by Daegu international airport located in the northeastern daegu, and also by the KTX highspeed train at Dongdaegu Station, which was opened in 2004.

Daegu - Famous residents

Famous people born in Daegu include former president Roh Tae-woo, Daewoo Group founder Kim Woo Joong, and actresses Son Ye-jin and Lee Jung-hyun. For many years in the 1970s, 80s, and 90s, most winners of the Miss Korea beauty pageant came from Daegu.

Daegu - Administrative divisions

Daegu is divided into 7 wards ("Gu") and 1 county ("Gun").

Daegu - Sister cities

• Atlanta, Georgia, USA
• Almaty, Kazakhstan
• Qingdao, Shandong, PRC
• Minas Gerais, Brazil
• Hiroshima, Japan
• Saint Petersburg, Russia

See also

• List of Korea-related topics

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Daegu", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki