Gwangju Haksaengun-dong Bowl Sangji

This site preserves part of the school grounds attended by the students who led the Gwangju Student Independence Movement, designated as heritage. The Gwangju Student Independence Movement did not arise from an accidental clash between Korean and Japanese students, but was an active expression of accumulated national consciousness and the will for independence — a national movement against Japanese oppression, exploitation and discriminatory education. After anti-Japanese demonstrations began in Gwangju, some 54,000 students from 194 schools across the country took part, an event that shocked the Japanese colonial authorities. The origins of the movement can be traced to secret societies formed by students of Gwangju Public High Common School, Gwangju Public Agricultural School, Gwangju Public Girls' High Common School and the Jeollanam-do Public Normal School — the Seongjinhoe (醒進會), the Dokseohoe (讀書會, "Reading Society") and the Sonyeohoe (少女會, "Girls' Society") — formed with the aim of "liberating the Korean people from the Japanese empire." These groups instilled a spirit of independence in fellow students and built solidarity through several rounds of school strikes in defiance of the Japanese authorities. This spirit of independence and solidarity became the driving force behind the anti-Japanese demonstration of 3 November 1929, sparked by an incident at Naju Station on 30 October in which Korean schoolgirls were harassed by Japanese students, and it went on to spread across the whole country. Gwangju Public High Common School is now Gwangju Jeil High School; Gwangju Public Agricultural School once stood in Im-dong, Buk-gu, but the site has since become residential land; Gwangju Public Girls' High Common School is now Jeonnam Girls' High School; and the Jeollanam-do Public Normal School stood on the site of the present Central Library. Of these, parts of Gwangju Jeil High School (225 Dongnip-ro and 33 Dongnip-ro 237beon-gil, Buk-gu, Gwangju) and Jeonnam Girls' High School (8 Jebong-ro 158beon-gil, Dong-gu, Gwangju) have been designated as a monument.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Buk-gu, Jeonnam & Gwangju

Designation

Provincial Monument · 시도기념물