Gangjin County Library Publishes "Kkotdongne Gundoongmyeon" Our Neighborhood's Old Stories

The Aesthetics of Locality: Unveiling the Hidden History and Culture of Gangjin

The Gangjin County Library in Jeollanam-do has published the fifth volume of "Our Neighborhood Old Stories," a collection of fairy tales weaving together Gangjin's hidden history and culture.

According to the county on the 13th, the book compilation involved fairy tale writers Kim Ok-ae, Kang Hyun-ok, and Jang Mi-yeon, all natives of Gangjin, who contributed the text, and painter Kim Chung-ho who provided the illustrations. The book was supervised by local historian Yang Kwang-sik, director of the Gangjin Literary and Classical Research Institute.

‘Our Neighborhood Old Stories: Kkotdongne Gundoong-myeon’ published this year by Gangjin-gun Library
[Photo by Gangjin-gun]

This year’s fifth edition of the "Gangjin Stories" fairy tale book includes six stories related to Gundo-myeon: △ General Oh Shin-nam of Anji Village △ the guardian deity of Hwabang Village, the large rock face on Mt. Hwabang △ Eosangbo located between Pungdong-ri and Yongsori in Gundo-myeon △ stories of tenant farmers during the Japanese colonial period △ Hwabang Village Nongak (traditional farmers’ music) △ and Kim Byeong-yeon, known as the so-called Kim Satgat, a scholar and poet of the late Joseon Dynasty.

The participating writers shared that while writing the "Our Neighborhood Old Stories" edition about Flower Village Gundo-myeon, they felt, "People lived in this land of Gundo," and "They must have endured hardships by helping each other." They added, "We became solemn and felt a warm feeling in our hearts, and throughout the work, we felt a surge of local love and growing pride."

Gangjin County Governor Kang Jin-won stated, "We are now living beyond the global era, in the glocal era," and added, "Through valuable materials related to neighborhood stories, the stories of our villages will become wisdom and light in the lives of our local children, adults, and visitors to Gangjin."

Since 2019, Gangjin County has been publishing the "Our Neighborhood Old Stories" book annually to discover and preserve the long-passed down stories of Gangjin.