`Made in Changshin-dong`

Lana Wachowski, a Hollywood movie director who visited Korea at the end of last year, highly praised shopping centers in Dongdaemun, saying, “Everything that I want is in one building.” The Dongdaemun region is also known as the center of Korean fashion among foreigners, 24/7 open. It sells clothes that are “made in Changshin-dong,” which some 3,000 sewing factories are located. Changshin-dong is a typical ordinary neighborhood, but without those who operate sewing machines until late at night, Dongdaemun cannot be highlighted.

During the Joseon Dynasty, Changshin-dong area was famous for summerhouses of Yangban, aristocrats of that time. Back then, Lee Soo-gwang wrote “Jibong Yuseol,” the first Korean encyclopedia, in the neighborhood. During the Japanese colonial rule, however, the neighborhood was used as a quarry to supply stone for the Joseon Government-General building. Due to a large influx of population after the Korean War, a record in 1957 shows that the average population per 3.3 square meters was 2.6 people. Sewing factories in Seoul used to be around the Cheonggye Stream in the 1960s and 70s, but demand growth increased their presence to Changshin-dong. The factories near the Cheonggye Stream disappeared but those in Changshin-dong remain unchanged, supplying goods to Dongdaemun.

The Seoul Museum of History hosts an exhibition “Made in Changshin-dong” covering the history of the neighborhood. It displays old pictures and documents and reproduced sewing factories and doss houses. The exhibition that this reporter went Thursday took me a trip down memory lane during the era of economic development. Pictures of alleys in today’s Changshin-dong were quite a contrast. Sewing factories of the past were full with teenagers, but middle-aged people over 50 are working. Many of the middle-aged who learned sewing in their teens in factories near the Cheonggye Stream have been working with the skill for a living. They churn out a product in a day after taking an order.

They are the driving forces who have been working sincerely but unyieldingly and achieving the “miracle of the Han River.” The Seoul metropolitan government tries to designate sewing factories in Changshin-dong as modern cultural heritage. If the city government purchases some of them and retain them, they would be a great exhibition reflecting the 20th century of Korea. It could be a place where our descendants can rekindle their fighting spirit in times of difficulties.

Chief Editorial Writer Hong Chan-sik (chansik@donga.com)