The Jinju’s Centrality and the Restructuring of Jinju as a City of Culture and Arts

Abstract

This study examines how tradition is expressed in Jinju, where the so-called ‘tradition’ operates strongly, how that tradition unite the citizens of Jinju, and how the Jinju citizens are trying to restructure the city based on their experiences and historical transmission. A notable aspect among Jinju’s historical experiences is that it was an administrative center. The fact that Jinju has been referred to as the center of Gyeongsangnam-do and the center of West Gyeongnam region originates from the historical experience of the city as an administrative center. The reason Jinju seriously lost its municipal standing was because of the relocation of Gyeongsangnam-do provincial government building in 1925. Jinju, which was located outside the zone of modern railway and open ports since the modern open port era, was already being excluded as a place lagging behind in transportation. With the relocation of Gyeongsangnam-do provincial government building, the people of Jinju suffered a great loss. Several measures were taken as recover from the loss Jinju experienced. First, the people of Jinju had to claw back ‘the provincial government building that was lost’ in order to retain its status as a city. Whenever Jinju had to confront other areas with current issues, the people of Jinju called attention to the Gyeongsangnam-do provincial government building as a way to regain the past status of Jinju and stop its further decline. The problem of the provincial government building remained as a memory and experience among Jinju people and their efforts for reclaiming the provincial government building and envy for being a center of Gyeongsangnam-do became the source of competition and jealousy with other areas within Gyeongsangnam-do. Jinju, after its loss of provincial government building, went on to restructure itself as a culture and arts city based on the city’s inherent history and cultural resources as well as on the cultural capacity of its people in order to build its new centrality. It relied on the history of Jinju that no other new modern industrialized cities could compete with and mobilized historical events that demonstrate the symbolic historicity of Jinju in the general history of Korea. In addition, as the origin of culture that is symbolized in the Gaecheon Art Festival, Jinju became a leader of culture that received recognition on a national level. Besides, the city united the people of Jinju and the internal energy of the city noting the ‘Jinju Spirit’ which is based on historical consciousness. Also, it is establishing the city image as a city of culture and arts while embracing cultural resources that were acquired unexpectedly from outside. In particular, one thing that have been frequently mentioned in the course of restructuring of Jinju as a city of culture and arts was the Japanese invasion of Korea in 1592. The Japanese invasion of Korea in 1592 operated as an important mechanism for restructuring Jinju as a city of culture and arts rooted in tradition and building Jinju’s unique identity.