Icheon (; ) is a city in Gyeonggi Province, South Korea. Together with Yeoju, Icheon is known as a center of South Korean ceramic manufacturing and is a UNESCO City of Crafts and Folk Art. Other famous local products include and rice. Local institutions of higher learning include Korea Tourism College and Chungkang College of Cultural Industries. The city is also home to Hynix, the world's second largest memory chip maker.
Fires
Major building
occurred on 7 January 2008 and on 29 April 2020.
Geography
Neighboring districts include
Yeoju, Gwangju,
Yongin, and
Anseong within Gyeonggi Province, as well as
Eumseong County in North Chungcheong Province.
The Yeongdong Expressway and Jungbu Naeryuk Expressway pass through Icheon. In 2016, the city will connect into the Seoul Metropolitan Subway via Yeoju Line's Icheon Station.
Administrative divisions
Icheon is divided into 2 towns (
eup), 8 townships (
myeon), and 4 neighbourhoods (
dong).
|
| 長湖院邑 |
| 夫鉢邑 |
| 新屯面 |
| 栢沙面 |
| 戶法面 |
| 麻長面 |
| 大月面 |
| 暮加面 |
| 雪星面 |
| 栗面 |
| 倉前洞 |
| 增浦洞 |
| 中里洞 |
| 官庫洞 |
Population and Business
There are 230,000 people living, including about 220,000 Koreans and 11,000 foreigners. More than 1,200 companies employ about 40,000 people.
Climate
Icheon has a humid continental climate (
Dwa in the Köppen climate classification).
City symbols
-
City bird: Magpie
-
City flower: Azaleas
-
City tree: Pine
Ceramic village
The Icheon Ceramics Village features 300-plus ceramics-making firms in the area of Sugwang-ri, Sindun-myeon, Saeum-dong, and a popular visitor attraction.
They use traditional skills and produce porcelains in some 40 traditional firewood kilns. This pottery is recognized both at home and abroad for its quality.
The Saeum-dong and Sindun-myeon areas also include a ceramics village with many ceramics stores. Potters have researched traditional methods and revived the manufacture of ceramics in the style of Goryeo celadon and Joseon white porcelain here. The village is the center of the effort to preserve these traditions.[Official pages of Icheon city]
UNESCO
Icheon was designated as a
UNESCO Creative City for Crafts and Folk Art, in in 2010. In 2018, the city was elected as the first designated city for Craft and Folk Art among South Korea's creative cities. It served as the designated city until September 2021.
Education
University
-
Korea Tourism College
-
Chungkang College of Cultural Industries
Twin towns – sister cities
Icheon is
Sister city with:
-
Santa Fe, United States (2013)
-
Seto, Japan (2006)
-
Wuxi, China (2005)
-
Limoges, France (2015)
-
Santa Clara, United States (2019)
Notable people
See also
External links
