My name is Yoon-soo Go of Daejeon Modern Archives Forum.
Today, I want to start my talk with this picture.
This is a picture of "Soje-ho", the lake, which used to be in Daejeon 100 years ago.
By the condition of this picture, the lake was little frozen and the trees had bare branch.
I am guessing it was shot in one winter season.
You can figure out it was very beautiful lake from this photo.
Cause this lake was very beautiful, "Si-yeol Song, Woo-am" built his house near the lake when he came down from Seoul.
And he sang a song, such as today's "8 scenes of Daejeon", admiring the beauty of Soje-ho.
You can see some water in the front and low hill behind.
This hill is "Sol-lang mountain".
In front of this photo, you can see the traditional Korean village shape which had 'behind the mountain, front of water'.
Soje-ho used to be located in Soje-dong, named after Soje-ho, eastern from Daejeon Station.
As you can see in this picture, the lake has gone and now there is a stream called "Daedong-cheon".
This is the map of Daejeon, the late 1910.
At the right side, indicated by blue color, this is Soje-ho.
As you can see in the map, it was not a small size.
However, near the lake, you will be able to find the word "Daesin-goong" and "Soje-park".
The park was built in that position, which used to be a town. And Daesin-goong is Japanese shrine made by the Japanese.
That is to say, the beginning of 20C, Soje-ho and the town, tipycal and traditional Korean village, was changed into the Japanese shrine and park.
How can we account for this transition of Soje-dong in the beginning of 20C?
The explanaiton of this change is also the secret story of 'the birth of city', which shows how Daejeon city was built.
The traditional Daejeon was originally combination of "Hoideok-hyeon", "Jinjam-hyeon" and the part of "Gongju-mok".
In simple, it was not complete and not a place with concluded scale and culture.
And it was 1895, the age of Garb-oh reformation, when the title 'Daejeon' was given formally.
Before that, Daejeon was just a expression which include field of reeds and wilderness around the Dajeon-cheon.
But Daejeon-myeon was constructed and it started to develop into downtown
which governs and controls the present entire town area.
They were not the Korean who made this Daejeon city.
They were the Japanese.
This is the population of Daejeon surveyed in 1910, when the modern population stats were first started.
The population of Daejeon from the Daejeon-myeon, shows that the Japanase were 1.4times more than the Korean.
And they became almost 2 times in 1913, and in 1919, they increased nearly 3 times.
Where did the increased Japanese live? "the Joong ang-tong", as you know well,
it was called "Choon il jeong-tong" in past.
Also, present "Inhyo-ro" was named "Bonjeong-tong" and the Japanese called it commonly "Honmachi".
People who gathered in here, ah, this is the view of Honmachi.
It is considered the latter 1910 or early 1920.
This picture shows symbolically how much the vast wilderness changed only for 10 years.
Straight streets, telegraph poles, and well-paved roads.
The Japanese built this shrine in 1905, even before the collapse of Joseon dynasty.
The reason that shrine was able to built in Soje-dong was, anyway, Soje-dong was close to the district where the Japanese lived,
and the second reason was the beautiful scenery, as you saw the picture a while ago.
After the construction of this shrine, it was decorated with a common park.
And when the Soje-dong changed into a park, the first Joseon public stadium was built.
And in this stadium, there seems like to be held many baseball game.
This is the song "Daejeon march", composed in 1930. There is also the expression of "Soje-dong baseball stadium".
So, Soje-dong turned into a park, a public stadium, and the space famous for the baseball stadium.
As I told you, the Japanese who settled in Daejeon gathered near the present "Joongang-ro", "Jeong-dong", and "In-dong".
The most inconvenient thing they experienced was the tributary problem.
The river always flooded when the rainy season, because the stream was not straight like the present one.
People published a city planning committee to improve the inconvenience from 1910, and started to remodel in this area.
The most important thing was, as I mentioned, about this Daejeon-cheon stream.
Therefore, they put tributaries together, made the artificial stream 'Daedong-cheon'. In this process, Soje-ho was filled.
And to prepare for the sands to fill the Soje-ho, they cut the Solrang and close mountains.
So, this area lose the almost past terrain.
As a result, in this new-built area, they put some inns up for the Japanese railroad worker.
This map is very colorful, isn't it?
This is the latest Daejeon urban area map, in rememberance of removal of Chungnam provincial government building.
You can see three inn villages near the Daejeon Station.
That is southern inn village, locating in the present Daejeon station market.
And the direction of Seongnam crossroads entrance, that is northern inn village. And Soje-dong, I mentioned now, is consisted of the head inn village.
The considerable number of the Japanese were the railroad workers who moved to Daejeon early.
As the growing of Daejeon, the passage of Honam-line and Gyeongbu-line, many huge train infrastructures were constructed such as train stations, water suppy towers, marshaling yards,
so many technicians and workers who can check and maintain them were needed.
Because they lived near Daejeon station, railroad inn villages were made.
However, most of this railroad inn villages were become destructed while the Korean War.
This is the bombed map, which shows the damage situation of Daejeon in the Korean War.
In this bombed map, you can notice almost northern and southern inn villages were destructed.
But the eastern inn villages, following the upper dots, you can figure that near the Soje-dong inn villages were saved from bombing.
The right, for me, the left is the aerial photograph taken around the Soje-dong, Daejeon in 1970.
Now you can see similar houses around the Daedong-cheon. This is the railroad inn villages.
The railroad inn villages remained intactly by 1970, 1980.
Our team visited to Soje-dong last year, and checked them over.
Accroding to the result, we confirmed there are about 40 inn villages left.
These colored parts are the inn villages.
Black colored parts are different types of inns. So we chose representative inns and did actual survey.
These are the railroad villages left in present.
You may think it's weird because of many Japanese houses in Soje-dong which are very different from modern view of Daejeon.
Besides the structure of houses, you can notice many detail parts are remaining very well, even though some sections might corrupt.
This town is very interesting.
I still remember the excitement when I came to Soje-dong first for this investigation.
At a word, the Soje-dong is for me, "museum without the roof" keeping the modern landscape of Daejeon untouched.
These are the roofs of inn villages you can see above. Many roof tiles, finishings, ridge end tiles are remaining mostly of Japanese colonial period.
And these telephone poles are interesting, too. Wood poles and concrete pole are still left.
Above the wood telephone pole, there remains wooden holding stack using in construction.
This is another funny picture. Isn't it funny?
House is holding the wood pole and the concrete pole.
When building the house, wood pole were included in the house, not destroyed.
There are sill many figures in Soje-dong interesting and different from present
More revealing is, I told that there still remains many inn villages, there are figured labels in these inns.
These are labels. Take a close look. The one is 'the 47th', and another is 'the 33th'.
We estimates that they were started to be made from 1920 and finished in 1930.
It means these labels are enduring neary 80 years.
Then, first, we looked inn villages into one by one,
and did actual survey in some representative types of inns.
So we got permission from the resident and did actual survey inside the house. This is a 3D view of inn village based on the survey.
This inn is, you may know "the peanut house", in popular.
It means duplex house, and translated 2-units house.
There are two houses in a one roof. The houses coexist facing the center wall.
The front door is made by the Joseon, that is, the Korean and the behind one is made by the Japanese,
We prefer a house facing south but the Japanese prefer a north one, reversely
That's why there are two doors.
As doing some interviews with the residents, we are recording the reason they came to Soje-dong, the feeling they felt,
and the memories about Soje-dong.
Also we are doing some works taking photographs of doors, windows, manhole rids and telephone poles, measuring the sizes, marking the positions
purposing 'every record of Soje-dong'.
Why are we obsessing the recording of Soje-dong?
This is because Soje-dong is included a redevelopment area around Daejeon station in 2009.
That is to say, it will be rebuilt.
As I told you before,
Soje-dong is the town showing symbollically and shorty how was the Dajeon city constructed.
Now Soje-dong is in the stage of preparing another change.
So we are working for recording of Soje-dong before it disappeared.
And not just a record, 'How can Soje-dong changed?'
We are trying to set a desirable way of it.
However, the most important thing is that this redevelopment is a big dilemma.
Many regulations, laws, property rights, and migrations.
It is too acute tension for us to work in Soje-dong or to make a proposal.
So we thought trying to be a resident of Sojedong.
And this picture is taken in winter.
We found a abandoned inn last winter.
And we sought the owner hard and lent this inn.
This is the picture of inn in those days.
We painted, repaired the framework of doors, fixed the roof and changed the abandoned inn.
So we opened it again in Spring, named "the 42t Soje-inn".
We also did housewarming.
We invited some inhabitants, performanced with the team "Just to be sure" just to be sure,
talked with residents and did a role which can share the history and worries about this town.
We should not force them thoughts of specialists or civil servants. That's what is Soje-dong should be a place where people are living now and for ever.
So we thought it is important to collect one's thoughts with the opinion of residents.
That's why we are doing such these group works.
Also keeping the records of Soje-dong.
In this picture, the photographer living in our Soje inn, is taking photos.
As taking photographs of old men and women, we shares their memories of life.
They are kids who hanged out in our Soje inn.
Actually, they are not sisters.
They came often because there is no place to hang out, and now we are almost friends.
Funnily, we took this picture in front of toilet.
We painted the door of toilet with our favorite color. It is not a just restroom! Very beautiful restroom.
And there are also some railroad facilities left in Soje-dong, not only inn villages. There is a railroad supply warehouse.
We borrowed this warehouse from Daejeon station.
And we will transform it just one night with mirrors.
On next friday, we will hold little Soje-dong warehouse concert.
Also, we will invite residents as a gift for greeting us.
And there are some public properties left in Soje-dong. Although they are worn-out and abandoned,
we are trying to give new functions to them and searching for another aim of Soje-dong.
You may think we are focusing only Soje-dong, but we are interested in the Daejeon city itself.
As previously stated, the area where Daejeon was born,
so-called Daejeon old-city is that we are worried about.
These dots are showing how many modern atrractions, architectures, and cultural assets which endured about 100 years are left in Daejeon old-city, not only for Soje-dong.
In 2010, when we investigated the whole cultural properties in Daejeon, there were leftt about 210 modern properties.
You might be concerned that how the Daejeon city should be changed.
In other words, Daejeon would not be completed by one's way and plan.
What we are concerned is to find the way conserving its historicity and sense of place,
not removing all traces someone left.
We like to start out from there.
Lastly, I want to tell you the word "Teo-mu-nee"
It means every land has some grains, patterns and traces in its way.
We use the word 'Teomunee' when we collide, discord or ignore the land and its grain.
I hope that Daejeon city should respect the grain of each village and make a plan on each land.
And based on that truth, we should draw our future and hope to practice that.
We believe when we disallow that, the city would be without "Teomunee"
This is it. Thank you very much.