2 - What Hwaseong Meant to Jeongjo

Summary

KING’S SPIRIT AND AMBITION DECLARED TO THE WORLD

JEONGJO’S POLITICAL REFORMS reached a turning point by the twentieth year of his reign. He had now reached his mid-forties and had clearly become more confident. He had already secured the loyalty of several groups of supporters and had stabilized the national finances, and he was looking for the right time to project himself as a wise king to his people. The opportunity came with the construction of a new city, Hwaseong, some twenty-five miles (forty kilometres) south of the capital and the grand royal procession to that city in celebration of his mother’s sixtieth birthday. He seems to have sought to gather momentum from this majestic royal event in order to gain control over his opponents still lurking in Hanseong.

Though he did not openly express his wishes, probably for fear of opposition from some of his officials, Jeongjo wanted to build a city that would be under his direct control. He planned to step down from the throne in 1804, when his son (the future King Sunjo) would turn fifteen, and remain in Hwaseong with his mother but stay engaged in supporting his son’s own political reforms.

The construction of Hwaseong Fortress began in the spring of 1794 and was completed two-and-a-half years later, but the preparations had actually begun in 1789. In the seventh month of that year, Jeongjo moved his father’s tomb from Mt Baebongsan in Yangju to Mt Hwasan in south Hwaseong. He also changed the name of the tomb from ‘Yeonguwon’ to ‘Hyeollyungwon’, expressing his wishes for the prosperity of the royal family.

According to pungsu (Ch. feng shui) theory, traditional geomancy, the location of Hwaseong Fortress around Mt Paldalsan was a propitious spot where such auspicious mythical creatures as ‘the dragon would fly and the bonghwang (Ch. fenghuang) birds would dance’. The relocation of the tomb, however, was not undertaken just because the new site was an auspicious one. Hwaseong was an important area in terms of politics, economy, culture and national defence. It was a major point for both overland and marine transportation leading to three southern provinces (Chungcheong, Gyeongsang and Jeolla) and served as a southern key position for the defence of the capital.