Ah, the sweet countryside beckons.
Its villages and meandering lanes humbly escort us to the past. If we
listen to its whispers, we may also hear stories about our future. Not
surprisingly, Daegu’s countryside has melted in all directions. Once, the walls
of Dalsung Park marked the city’s edge. Yeungnam University, built in the countryside in 1947, once a long, tedious bus ride east from the city
center, is now just another Daegu subway stop.
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| Yesterday's countryside: thatched roofs, mud walls, and clear streams |
In the 1960’s and 70’s, developing the
countryside was a key strategy of then president, Park Chung-hee. His New
Village Movement (새마을운동) spread the
values of diligence, self-help and cooperation. It was intended to establish an
entrepreneurial spirit in Korea’s rural communities.
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| The countryside still calls those few who listen |
Thatched roofs, mud walls, clear streams,
and the hard calloused hands of the Korean farmers, have given way to paved
roads and the faster pace of a wireless world. Between cities and the ribbons
of highways that wrap this peninsula ever so tightly, one may still find the
Korean countryside of days gone by. The old white crane, standing with
dignity in the distant rice field, knows the secrets of Korea’s past. The
romantic lure of the countryside still calls those few who will listen.
*Note:
this post was originally written for Platform Daegu, the city's new on-line magazine
As in the Soviet Union, only in the 20s and 30s, this movement deprived wealthy peasants of their property, many of whom were exiled to Siberia. However, in the 60s and 70s, since the Soviet economy could not cope with producing agricultural products, the authorities began to create gardening cooperatives in which city residents were given non-volcanic plots of land, and people could grow vegetables and fruits there.
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