Shinan-gun Hosts the Nation's First Shrimp Egg Festival

South Korea's Saewoonan... Following Its Footsteps

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Seo Young-seo] Sinan-gun, Jeollanam-do (Governor Park Woo-ryang) will hold the first-ever Saewooran Festival, celebrating Korea's native shrimp orchids, from April 14 to 23 for 10 days at the 1004 Museum Park area in Jaeun-myeon.

Genetic Resources of Shrimp Larvae Hatchery in Sinan-gun
[Photo by Sinan-gun]

According to the county on the 23rd, Saewooran (蘭) is named because the nodes of its roots resemble shrimp. There are currently six species of native shrimp orchids in Korea: Saewooran, Geumsaewooran, Hallasaewooran, Yeoreumsaewooran, Sinansaewooran, and Dado-saewooran.

Sinansaewooran and Dado-saewooran were first discovered on Heuksando Island in Sinan-gun and were registered as varieties with the World Plant Taxonomy Society in 2009 and 2010, respectively. Among them, Sinansaewooran was newly designated as a Level 2 endangered wild species in 2017.

Additionally, Sinan-gun is known as a repository of Korea's native orchids. Since 2013, it has annually held exhibitions of shrimp orchids and spring orchids. Starting with the Daegwang Beach Forest in Imja-myeon in 2014, and from 2019 at the Bonsai Park area in Aphae-eup, it has been promoting restoration projects for native orchids such as Pungnan and Seokgok.

This Saewooran Festival site will be set up as an exhibition space inside and outside the festival grounds, featuring 300,000 shrimp orchid flowers on display and a walking trail through the shrimp orchid colony, harmonizing the subtle fragrance and colorful blossoms of the shrimp orchids. The festival will invite shrimp orchid enthusiasts nationwide to hold a national-level shrimp orchid competition and also host an academic conference on the preservation and future value of native plants.

Governor Park Woo-ryang said, “This festival will be a place where the charm of shrimp orchids, which have only been cultivated as ornamental plants by enthusiasts, can be felt by the entire nation. We will not limit ourselves to simple exhibition promotion but will take the lead in raising awareness of the importance of seed sovereignty for future generations through preservation and restoration projects of our disappearing resources.”

Meanwhile, the 1004 Museum Park is a 500,000㎡ marine complex cultural site with the beautiful pine forest of Jaeun Island and Yangsan Beach. It is one of Sinan-gun’s emerging representative tourist destinations, featuring unique themes such as the 1004 Island Su-seok Art Museum and the World Shell Museum.