In the center of Seoul, we saw a flowing river. There are parents with children strolling around, and young couples soaking their feet in the stream and sitting on the shore chatting, relaxing and comfortable. Bridges of different shapes are dotted on the river, which is in harmony with the skyscrapers on both sides of the river. What a nice place to relax! This river is called Qingxichuan. This used to be a stinking ditch, but it was buried and a viaduct was built on it. Viaduct provides great convenience for people to get in and out of Seoul, but it destroys the beautiful landscape of the city, and the exhaust gas and noise produced by a large number of cars passing by also pollute the environment. In 2002, Seoul city government decided to rebuild Cheonggyecheon, demolish viaducts and dig rivers, thus giving Cheonggyecheon a beautiful and pleasant look. On the night of June 65438+ 10 last year, fireworks exploded over the center of Seoul, and 200,000 citizens cheered on both sides to celebrate the completion of the restoration project of Cheonggyecheon. When the tour guide talked about all this, he couldn't help showing a proud expression on his face.
A river that witnessed the development history of the Republic of Korea in the past 500 years, a river that was seriously polluted by mud and garbage covering its riverbed, dirty wooden sheds and sewage randomly built along the river, and a river with a large amount of sewage flowing in the center of the city made the surrounding residents miserable and destroyed the overall image of the city. A river that disappeared after completely covering asphalt roads and shops on both sides became a commercial center was excavated again in 2003.
In July 2002, when Lee Myung-bak became the mayor of Seoul, the Cheonggyecheon Restoration Command began to work. More than 60,000 shops and 1.500 stalls along the line were relocated, and the design of bridges and artificial landscapes began one after another under the opposition of shopkeepers. In July 2003, the restoration project officially started. Two years and three months later, a clear and tidy river replaced the aging and dilapidated elevated highway and presented it to Seoul citizens and global tourists.
No matter from which angle, the renovation and restoration of Cheonggyecheon in Seoul can be regarded as a model of water environment management. First, the project is big. The total length of the project is 8. 12 km, and the viaduct covers 5.84km.. 22 bridges were repaired and renovated, and fountains 10, squares 1 0 and cultural halls 1 0 were built, with a total investment of 390 billion won (about RMB 310.2 billion). Second, it takes a short time. It took only two years and three months from July, 2003 1 to 2005 10/opening to the outside world. Third, the public agreed that since Qingxichuan resumed its opening up two years ago, it has received 62 million tourists, with an average of 77,000 visitors per day. A few days ago, the reporter made a special trip to Seoul, South Korea, and personally experienced this historical, cultural and natural river.
The sculpture "Spring" symbolizing Cheonggyecheon was produced by 1 for many years, and finally appeared in Cheonggyecheon Square on September 29th, 2005. The tower is spiral, shaped like a snail and 20 meters high. It not only symbolizes the continuous gushing shape of Cheonggyecheon, but also symbolizes the endless development of Seoul. The sculpture was designed by Claes Oldenburg, a world-famous sculptor, and the total production cost was as high as $3.4 million. )
In the autumn of 2006, I made a simple investigation on the ecological river Cheonggyecheon in Seoul, the capital of South Korea, and expressed my sincere admiration for the important measures taken by the Seoul municipal government to restore the life of Cheonggyecheon after several years of renovation.
The Birth and Governance History of Qingxichuan
Cheonggyecheon was called "Kaichuan" in the Korean dynasty. After Japan occupied Korea, it began to be called "Cheonggyecheon". This new name should probably be 19 14 when Japan renamed the rivers in North Korea.
Before Seoul was designated as the capital in 1394, Cheonggyecheon was still a natural river. Surrounded by mountains, water flows naturally in the center of Seoul, the relatively low-lying capital. Therefore, before the Korean dynasty renovated the capital waterway, natural rivers flowed in it. Modern Qingxichuan, with a total length of about 5.8 kilometers, flows into the Han River from west to east.
Due to the influence of monsoon, Seoul is dry in spring and autumn and humid in summer. So in the spring and autumn when there is less rain, Qingxichuan has become a dry river most of the time. On the contrary, in the rainy summer, a little rain will flood, and the amount of river water will fluctuate greatly with the difference of dry season and rainy season. Because Qingxichuan is located in the city center, there are many shops and houses around, houses are flooded, bridges are destroyed, and overflow deaths occur from time to time. Therefore, urban construction and drainage river regulation in the early Korean dynasty became a very important cause.
1394, South Korea moved its capital to Seoul, and Cheonggyecheon became the central axis of Seoul's urban form. Qingxichuan is an urban river that runs through the city center. As the central river of the city, Qingxichuan's natural function is the sewer function. In fact, during the 500 years of the Korean dynasty, the capital Seoul was able to maintain its position as the historical and cultural center of South Korea precisely because Cheonggyecheon played the role of a sewer. In addition, Cheonggyecheon is also a public leisure place for Seoul people. Every holiday, it becomes a place for folk games, such as stepping on a bridge, flying kites, lotus lantern activities and stone fighting games (games in which both sides split up and throw stones at each other).
The real governance project of Cheonggyecheon began with the third generation king of the Korean dynasty, Emperor Taizong of Korea. From 1406 to 1407, the natural riverbed on both sides of the river was cleaned, widened and dammed, and the river was treated many times, which created the shape of the river. However, due to incomplete management, there will be floods every time it rains heavily.
Therefore, in 14 1 1, a temporary organization for river management, "channel opening supervision", was established. From the second year, that is, 14 12, 10/5 to February 15, * * was put into use. The so-called "opening the river" originally refers to the excavation of the river, that is, the civil engineering to control the natural river. However, since the Kaichuan project began, "Kaichuan" at that time has become a proper term specifically referring to Qingxichuan.
If the Kaichuan project in the period of Emperor Taizong of Tang Dynasty was to control the mainstream of Kaichuan, then the fourth generation country of North Korea, Wang Shizong, mainly controlled tributaries and Hosokawa Morihiro to prevent tributaries from flowing into the upper reaches of Kaichuan at the same time and the city center from being flooded. 144 1 year, a marker was set in the water on the west side of Ma Qian Bridge, and the scale of feet, inches and levels was engraved on the stone pillar of this marker to measure the water level, which was called the water mark. The water mark quantifies the water level in Kaichuan, which is helpful for flood control.
The most remarkable thing during the reign of Sejong was to locate the nature of Qingxichuan as the river of life in the city center. When the Korean dynasty made Seoul its capital, it was fully considered from the perspective of geomantic omen that the flow direction of the Han River around Seoul was from east to west, while the flow direction of Neichuan-Qingxichuan flowing in the city center was from west to east. However, because it is located in a densely populated city center and there are no existing facilities such as sewers, Qingxichuan can only become a garbage dump and sewage field.
As a result, on the nature of Qingxichuan, there appeared the proposition that "as an important water in geomantic omen, it should be kept clean" and the realistic proposition that "because there is a large population living in Beijing, it will produce a lot of garbage and need a river to discharge pollutants". In this debate, Sejong accepted the latter's proposition and designated Qingxichuan as the river of life. In the 500-year history of the Korean dynasty, Cheonggyecheon played a role in cleaning up the domestic garbage discharged from the capital and ensured the cleanliness of the whole capital.
After King Sejong, the king who was most keen on Kaichuan Rectification was the 2 1 generation Wang Yingzu of North Korea. Yingzu secretly compared his river management with the canal management of China's ancient Xia Di Yu and Sui Di, and thought it was one of his greatest achievements.
Kaichuan, built by Emperor Taizong and Sejong, has undergone earth-shaking changes in the more than 50 years since Yingzu ascended the throne. Although large and small accidents such as flooding of nearby houses and bridges occur from time to time, it is very common for Kaichuan. In addition, Kaichuan, under the rule of Emperor Taizong and Sejong, had a sewage treatment capacity that could cope with the sewage discharged by 654.38+10,000 people in the capital at that time.
1945 When it was liberated, the riverbed of Qingxi River was full of silt and garbage, and the dirty wooden sheds and sewage discharged along the river seriously polluted the river. In addition, after the end of the Korean War, many of the refugees who flooded into Seoul to make a living lived near Cheonggyecheon. Some of them built wooden sheds on the ground, while others struggled on the water.
The dirty wooden shed village formed along the river and the domestic sewage discharged here have accelerated the pollution pace of Qingxichuan. A large amount of sewage flows in the city center, which makes the surrounding residents miserable and damages the overall image of the city. According to the economic strength of South Korea at that time, the only way to solve the problem of Cheonggyecheon was to build it.
The Qingxichuan Covering Project started at 1955 upstream of Guangtong Bridge 136 meters, and did not officially start until 1958. In addition, the Qingxi viaduct with a total length of 5.6 kilometers and a width of 16m from Guangqiao to Machangdong was started in August 1967 and completed in August 197 15. The wooden shed around Qingxichuan was demolished, and modern commercial buildings sprang up. The river with cross-flow of sewage was transformed into a clean asphalt road, which was built on the elevated above it. Cars fly around like arrows, transporting more than 6.5438+0.2 million people a day.
After the completion of the elevated road, the surrounding area is the center of downtown industry, and there are large and small shops such as tool shops, lighting shops, shoe shops, clothing stores and used book stalls on both sides of the road. People come and go, and hundreds of thousands of cars shuttle on the road every day. With the passage of time, the surrounding area of Cheonggyecheon has gradually become synonymous with the noisy area of Seoul. But Cheonggyecheon has condensed the history of Seoul in the past 50 years, and no place can compare with it.