Masan
Encyclopedia
Masan was a formerly a municipal city
Administrative divisions of South Korea
||South Korea is divided into 8 provinces , 1 special autonomous province , 6 metropolitan cities , and 1 special city...

 in South Gyeongsang Province, South Korea
South Korea
The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...

. The city was situated on Masan Bay (마산만, Masan-man), approximately 35 km west of Busan
Busan
Busan , formerly spelled Pusan is South Korea's second largest metropolis after Seoul, with a population of around 3.6 million. The Metropolitan area population is 4,399,515 as of 2010. It is the largest port city in South Korea and the fifth largest port in the world...

. It was known for its textile industry, and it was the site of Hite
Hite
Hite Brewery Company Limited is a South Korean brewery company headquartered in Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul. Its main products are beer, rice wine, and mineral water. The company was established as Chosun Breweries in 1933...

 Brewery's production facilities.

During the control of the Mongolians, the town was known as Happo (合浦). Therefore, the old and still frequently used name for Masan-man is Happo-man.

Masan was known for its highest peak, Muhaksan
Muhaksan
Muhaksan is a mountain in southern South Korea, lying in Changwon with a peak reaching 761.4m above sea level.-External links:*http://www.visitkorea.or.kr/eng/info_db/dest/sight_detail.jsp?seqno=2210*http://english.masan.go.kr/04/02_02_06.jsp...

. The name Masan means "horse mountain". For that reason, many place names in Masan incorporate the syllable ma (마 or 馬), meaning "horse" and san, (산 or 山), meaning "mountain".

History

October 1274 After Korean officials encouraged Kublai Khan
Kublai Khan
Kublai Khan , born Kublai and also known by the temple name Shizu , was the fifth Great Khan of the Mongol Empire from 1260 to 1294 and the founder of the Yuan Dynasty in China...

 - head of the Mongol Yuan Dynasty
Yuan Dynasty
The Yuan Dynasty , or Great Yuan Empire was a ruling dynasty founded by the Mongol leader Kublai Khan, who ruled most of present-day China, all of modern Mongolia and its surrounding areas, lasting officially from 1271 to 1368. It is considered both as a division of the Mongol Empire and as an...

 - in 1265 that Japan would be easily subdued, the Koryo Korean state built over 300 large ships to aid an invasion of Japan. With over 20,000 Mongol troops as well as 5,000 Korean, the allied armies departed Masan on board 900 ships on October 2 of 1274 in an attempt to conquer Japan that eventually failed.

May 1, 1899 - The port of Masan was opened with pressure from Japan. Among the initial trading goods were salt, fish, cotton and other goods.

March 15, 1960 - A protest against electoral corruption was spearheaded by the Democratic Party in Masan. Approximately 1000 residents attended the demonstration, which took place at 19:30 in front of the Democratic Party Headquarters in Masan. The protest sparked violent clashes between demonstrators and police officers in which several students were killed. To restore order, authorities blacked out Masan and General Carter B. Magruder
Carter B. Magruder
Carter Bowie Magruder was a United States Army four star general who served concurrently as Commander in Chief, United Nations Command/Commander, United States Forces Korea/Commanding General, Eighth United States Army from 1959 to 1961.-Military career:Magruder was born in London, England, where...

 eventually dispatched US Marines to quell the unrest.

April 12, 1960 - The body of Kim Ju-yul was discovered in Masan Harbor. Kim - still dressed in his uniform from Masan Commercial High School - had disappeared in the March 15 clashes. Authorities claimed that he had drowned, but many Masan residents did not believe this explanation and forced their way into the hospital where Kim's body was stored. At the hospital, they discovered that grenade fragments behind his eyes had actually killed him. In the following days, mass demonstrations broke out involving as many as 40,000 residents throughout the characteristically politically left-leaning city. During renewed clashes with police, police opened fire and killed several protesters. Once again, the US military was called in to help restore order. At this point, public anger with the government had grown to new highs and rebellion against the Rhee government mushroomed around the country. Authorities subsequently declared martial law.

Thus, the events in Masan in 1960 helped spark the movement against corruption known as the April 19 Movement, which eventually led to the resignation of President Syngman Rhee and the beginning of the Second Republic
Second Republic of South Korea
The Second Republic of South Korea was the government of South Korea for eight months in 1960 and 1961. It succeeded the First Republic, but was followed by a military government under the Supreme Council for National Reconstruction.-Establishment:...

.

1979 - Protests broke out in Masan (as well as in Busan) against the regime of President Park Chung-hee following a brutal police crackdown on a sit-in strike of female textile workers from YH Trading Company. Workers in Masan's Free-export Zone even managed to create four labor unions.

2009 -
On December 7, the city council approved a proposal to merge Masan with Changwon
Changwon
Changwon is a city in and the capital of Gyeongsangnam-do in South Korea. Changwon city is 8th most populous city in South Korea, with a 2010 established population of 1,089,039. It encompasses a land area of on southeastern of South Korea. The population of Southeastern part of Korea, that...

 and Jinhae
Jinhae
Jinhae is a district in Changwon City, South Korea. This region is served by the Korean National Railroad, and is famous for its annual cherry blossom festival every spring....

, to form a yet-to-be-named city of over one million people. The city councils of the other two cities have also approved the merger, which would bring national funds to the metropolis through an existing law to aid cities with a population over one million. The Provincial Council of South Gyeongsang Province must approve the merger. A decision is expected in the penultimate week of December.

July 1, 2010 -
The three neighboring cities of Masan, Changwon and Jinhae unified to create Unified Changwon City, which has a population of 1.08 million.

Administrative divisions

Like most Korean cities, the city center of Masan is divided into administrative dong
Administrative divisions of South Korea
||South Korea is divided into 8 provinces , 1 special autonomous province , 6 metropolitan cities , and 1 special city...

. Outlying regions are divided into 1 eup and 4 myeon:
  1. Naeseo-eup (내서읍)
  2. Sanho-dong(산호동)
  3. Gusan-myeon  (구산면)
  4. Jindong-myeon (진동면)
  5. Jinbuk-myeon (진북면)
  6. Jinjeon-myeon (진전면)
  7. Hyeon-dong (현동)
  8. Gapo-dong (가포동)
  9. Woryeong-dong (월영동)
  10. Munhwa-dong (문화동)
  11. Banwol-dong (반월동)
  12. Jungang-dong (중앙동)
  13. Wanwol-dong (완월동)
  14. Jasan-dong (자산동)
  15. Dongseo-dong (동서동)
  16. Seongho-dong (성호동)
  17. Gyobang-dong (교방동)
  18. Nosan-dong (노산동)
  19. Odong-dong (오동동)
  20. Happo-dong (합포동)
  21. Hoewon-dong (회원동) (divided into two administrative dong)
  22. Seokjeon-dong (석전동) (divided into two administrative dong)
  23. Hoeseong-dong (회성동)
  24. Yangdeok-dong (양덕동) (divided into two administrative dong)
  25. Hapseong-dong (합성동) (divided into two administrative dong)
  26. Guam-dong (구암동) (divided into two administrative dong)
  27. Bongam-dong (봉암동)

Education

Masan has three institutions of higher education: public vocational focused Masan Universityhttp://eng.imasan.kr/index.html, which is located on the northwestern outskirts of the city in Yongdam-ri, and the private Kyungnam University
Kyungnam University
Kyungnam University is a private university located in Changwon, the capital city of Gyeongsangnam-do, South Gyeongsang or Gyeongnam province for which the school is named in Southeastern South Korea. Kyungnam University alumni are widely considered to be the most powerful group in Gyeongsangnam-do...

 (경남대학교)http://www.kyungnam.ac.kr/engVer/index.php, which is located in the southern part of Masan adjacent to Shin Masan. And the small private Christian Chang Shin College
Chang Shin College
Chang Shin College is a private Christian college located in Changwon City, South Gyeongsang province, near the southern coast of South Korea. It employs about 60 instructors on two campuses...

, http://www.csc.ac.kr/ in the northeastern part of the city.

Entertainment and sports

The original central business district of Masan is located in Chang-dong. Hapseong-dong is also a commercial neighborhood. An area with many bars, restaurants, and other forms of entertainment is located in Sinmasan.

Masan's baseball stadium http://www.worldstadiums.com/stadium_pictures/asia/south_korea/kyongsangnam_do/masan_baseball.shtml occasionally hosts the Lotte Giants
Lotte Giants
The Lotte Giants are a professional baseball team based in Busan, Korea, and one of the original franchises of the Korea Baseball Organization league. The Lotte Giants are owned by the Japanese-South Korean Lotte conglomerate....

, a Korea Baseball Organization
Korea Baseball Organization
The Korea Baseball Organization is the governing body for the professional leagues of baseball in South Korea. KBO should not be confused with the Korea Professional Baseball League. KBO was founded in 1981 and has been governing two leagues, Korea Professional Baseball and Futures League since...

 team shared with Busan
Busan
Busan , formerly spelled Pusan is South Korea's second largest metropolis after Seoul, with a population of around 3.6 million. The Metropolitan area population is 4,399,515 as of 2010. It is the largest port city in South Korea and the fifth largest port in the world...

. A professional women's baseball team, one of several in South Korea, plays in Sinpo-dong. An amusement park and zoo are on the tiny island of Dot-do in Masan Bay. The park is only open in the summer.

Masan is also very close to Geojedo, a large island that can be reached by bus, car, or ferry.

Food

Masan is generally known for its fishing industry and is the origin of spicy Agujjim
Agujjim
Agujjim or agwijjim is a Korean jjim dish made with the fish agwi. It is usually translated as 'braised spicy angler....

, a steamed dish made with agwi (아귀, blackmouth angler
Goosefish
Monkfish are a family, Lophiidae, of anglerfishes. They are found in the Arctic, Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans where they live on sandy and muddy bottoms of the continental shelf and continental slope, at depths in excess of ....

). Until the 1940s, the fish was not eaten and was frequently discarded due to its ugly appearance and low commercial value. However, as fish began to become more scarce in the late 20th century, the newly found delicacy became popular. Since it s creation, agujjim has been considered a local specialty of Masan, especially around Odong-dong, one of the neighborhoods there and is favored by the public nationwide.

Masan is also home of a famous fish market (locally known as "Eosijang"). It is located near a street with a concentration of agujjim restaurants. A municipal officer of Masan city hall stated that it is the oldest and largest fish market in Gyeongsangnam-do, even older than Jagalchi Market
Jagalchi Market
Jagalchi Fish Market is a fish market in the neighborhood of Nampo-dong in Jung-gu, and Chungmu-dong, Seo-gu, Busan, South Korea. The market is located on the edge of Nampo Port , Busan. The name is said to have originated from jagal because the market used to be surrounded by many gravels...

 in Busan.

Transportation

Construction of the Machang Bridge was commenced in the Second Quarter of 2004. The bridge will provide a vital link across Masan Bay, alleviate congestion in the tri-city area of Masan, Jinhae
Jinhae
Jinhae is a district in Changwon City, South Korea. This region is served by the Korean National Railroad, and is famous for its annual cherry blossom festival every spring....

, and Changwon
Changwon
Changwon is a city in and the capital of Gyeongsangnam-do in South Korea. Changwon city is 8th most populous city in South Korea, with a 2010 established population of 1,089,039. It encompasses a land area of on southeastern of South Korea. The population of Southeastern part of Korea, that...

, and be an alternative route for travel between Korea’s two southern provinces, Jeollanam-do and Gyeongsangnam-do. The 1.7-kilometer bridge is expected to see operations commence in mid 2008.

Machang Bridge will be the first large-scale bridge to be built in South Korea as a public-private partnership http://www.provin.gyeongnam.kr/kor/field/04_04.html. The sponsors of the project, Bouygues Travaux Publics and Hyundai Engineering & Construction, have been pursuing the Project since the late 1990s. MCB Co., Ltd, the Concessionaire, is jointly owned by the sponsors and MKIF http://www.macquarie.com/kr/en/krif/assets/machang_bridge_details.htm#http://www.bouygues-construction.com/en/galerie/index.html.

Masan Port

The port was once operated by the Mongolians (Yuan Dynasty
Yuan Dynasty
The Yuan Dynasty , or Great Yuan Empire was a ruling dynasty founded by the Mongol leader Kublai Khan, who ruled most of present-day China, all of modern Mongolia and its surrounding areas, lasting officially from 1271 to 1368. It is considered both as a division of the Mongol Empire and as an...

 in China) and used in the preparations to conquer Japan - which eventually failed. To this day, Masan features the small but historic "Mongojeong" (몽고정,蒙古井) meaning Mongol Well. It is located on Jasan-dong 117, and represents the Mongolian influence on the city.

Today, Masan Port is one of the city's most dominating features. It was first opened in 1899. The port connects much of the outside world with the Changwon Industrial Complex, Masan's Free Trade Zone and the future Sachun Industrial Complex.

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The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

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Texas
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Mokpo
Mokpo is a city in South Jeolla Province, South Korea, on the southwestern tip of the Korean Peninsula. Mokpo has frequent train service to Seoul and is the terminus for a number of ferry routes serving islands in the adjacent Yellow Sea...

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South Korea
The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...

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Shulan
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China
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Zapopan
Zapopan is a city and municipality located in the Mexican state of Jalisco, which is part of the Guadalajara Metropolitan Area. It is best known as being the home of the Virgin of Zapopan, an image of the Virgin Mary which was made in the 16th century. This image has been credited with a number of...

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Jalisco officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Jalisco is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is located in Western Mexico and divided in 125 municipalities and its capital city is Guadalajara.It is one of the more important states...

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Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

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Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

 

See also

  • List of Korea-related topics
  • Changwon
    Changwon
    Changwon is a city in and the capital of Gyeongsangnam-do in South Korea. Changwon city is 8th most populous city in South Korea, with a 2010 established population of 1,089,039. It encompasses a land area of on southeastern of South Korea. The population of Southeastern part of Korea, that...

  • Masan-Hoiwon-gu
    Masan-Hoiwon-gu
    -See also:* Changwon* Masan* Uichang-gu* Seongsan-gu* Masanhappo-gu* Jinhae-gu...

  • Masan-Happho-gu
    Masan-Happho-gu
    -See also:* Changwon* Masan* Uichang-gu* Seongsan-gu* Masanhoewon-gu* Jinhae-gu...


External links

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