Gwangju, Gyeonggi

Not to be confused with Gwangju Metropolitan City with the same name or Guangzhou, China with the same Hanja name.

Gwangju 광주시
Municipal City
Korean transcription(s)
• Hangul	광주시
• Hanja	廣州市
• Revised Romanization	Gwangju-si
• McCune-Reischauer	Kwangju-si
250px
Emblem of Gwangju
Location in South Korea Location in South Korea
Country	South Korea
Region	Sudogwon
Administrative divisions	3 eup, 3 dong, 4 myeon
Area
• Total	430.99 km2 (166.41 sq mi)
Population (December 2013)
• Total	286,699
• Density	665.2/km2 (1,723/sq mi)
• Dialect	Seoul

Gwangju (Korean pronunciation: [kwaːŋdʑu]) is a city in Gyeonggi Province, South Korea, a suburb southeast of Seoul. The city is not to be confused with the much larger Gwangju Metropolitan City, former capital of South Jeolla Province, South Korea. Bunwon-ri in Gwangju took an important role of ceramic production during the Joseon dynasty. There had official kilns and produced superb quality of white porcelains for use at the royal court and to export to China.

History

In 1962, 4 myuns(towns) including 5 ris(townships) were incorporated to Seoul.

In 1973, 6 of ris were separated and these came to parts of Seongnam city. In 1979, gwangju myun promoted eup. In fact, Gwangju was a county but became a city in 2001.

Notable people

• Lee Hong-gi (1990), lead singer of F.T. Island
• Choi Soo-young (1990), part of the Korean girl group Girls' Generation (SNSD)
• Seungri (1990), part of Korean boy band BIGBANG
• Lee Hyeri (1994), part of the Korean girl group Girl's Day

Sister cities

• Zibo, China

Friendship City

• Fǎkù Xiàn, China
• Dornogovi Province, Mongolia
• Bathurst City, Australia

See also

• Joseon white porcelain
• Korean pottery and porcelain
• List of cities in South Korea
• Geography of South Korea

External links

• City government website