Sunheung is a

township A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Ca ...

administered as part of the

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

Yeongju Yeongju () is a city in the far north region of North Gyeongsang province in South Korea, covering 668.84 km2 with a population of 113,930 people according to the 2008 census. The city borders Bonghwa county to the east, Danyang county of North ...

North Gyeongsang North Gyeongsang Province ( ko, 경상북도, translit=Gyeongsangbuk-do, ) is a province in eastern South Korea. The province was formed in 1896 from the northern half of the former Gyeongsang province, and remained a province of Korea until the ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

. The present local government administers an area of . Located in Sunheung is

Sosu Seowon ''Sosu Seowon'' is the oldest ''seowon'', private Neo-Confucian academy in Korea which was established during the Joseon Dynasty period. It was found at the entrance of Suksusa Temple, in Sunheung-myeon, Yeongju City, Gyeongsangbuk-do South Kore ...

, a Neo-Confucian Academy built in the 16th century, today a UNESCO

World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...

Name

Sunheung is an

anglicization Anglicisation is the process by which a place or person becomes influenced by Culture of England, English culture or Culture of the United Kingdom, British culture, or a process of cultural and/or linguistic change in which something non-English ...

of the

McCune–Reischauer McCune–Reischauer romanization () is one of the two most widely used Korean language romanization systems. A modified version of McCune–Reischauer was the official romanization system in South Korea until 2002, when it was replaced by the Re ...

romanization Romanization or romanisation, in linguistics, is the conversion of text from a different writing system to the Roman (Latin) script, or a system for doing so. Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing written text, and ...

''Sunhŭng''. Its official romanization in South Korea is ''Sunheung''. In 19th century sources, Sunheung appears as Sioun-heng-fu, from a French transcription of the Korean placename and the

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...

pronunciation of its status as the seat of a district or commandery. Although the name literally means "Adhering to", "Obeying", or "Following Prosperity" or "Success", Sunheung is also ''

Bon-gwan Bon-gwan (or Bongwan) is the concept of clan in Korea, which is used to distinguish clans that happen to share the same family name (clan name). Since Korea has been traditionally a Confucian country, this clan system is similar to ancient Chinese ...

'' of a Korean clan in the area which included the influential Korean Confucianist

An Hyang Ahn Hyang (안향, 安珦; 1243 – 12 September 1306), also known as Ahn Yu (안유, 安裕), was a leading Confucian scholar born in Yeongju in present-day South Korea, and was from the Sunheung Ahn clan. He is considered the founder of Neo-Con ...

History

Under the late

Joseon Joseon (; ; Middle Korean: 됴ᇢ〯션〮 Dyǒw syéon or 됴ᇢ〯션〯 Dyǒw syěon), officially the Great Joseon (; ), was the last dynastic kingdom of Korea, lasting just over 500 years. It was founded by Yi Seong-gye in July 1392 and re ...

dynasty A dynasty is a sequence of rulers from the same family,''Oxford English Dictionary'', "dynasty, ''n''." Oxford University Press (Oxford), 1897. usually in the context of a monarchical system, but sometimes also appearing in republics. A ...

, Sunheung was a district capital overseeing the plains and hinterland around Mount Taebaek. Its mountains were the site of Korea's first foreign mining concern, a silver mine whose permit was revoked by the royal court in

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 ...

after a few months of operation in the early 1850s.

References

Citations

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