Icheon (; ) is a

city A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...

Gyeonggi Province Gyeonggi Province (, ) is the most populous province in South Korea. Seoul, the nation's largest city and capital, is in the heart of the area but has been separately administered as a provincial-level ''special city'' since 1946. Incheon, ...

, South Korea. Together with

Yeoju Yeoju (; ) is a Administrative divisions of South Korea, city in Gyeonggi Province, South Korea. Yeoju was a county but was raised to the status of a city in September 2013. Together with the neighboring city of Icheon, it is known as a major ce ...

, Icheon is known as a center of South Korean

ceramic A ceramic is any of the various hard, brittle, heat-resistant, and corrosion-resistant materials made by shaping and then firing an inorganic, nonmetallic material, such as clay, at a high temperature. Common examples are earthenware, porcela ...

manufacturing and is a UNESCO City of Crafts and Folk Art. Other famous local products include

peach The peach (''Prunus persica'') is a deciduous tree first domesticated and Agriculture, cultivated in China. It bears edible juicy fruits with various characteristics, most called peaches and the glossy-skinned, non-fuzzy varieties called necta ...

es and

rice Rice is a cereal grain and in its Domestication, domesticated form is the staple food of over half of the world's population, particularly in Asia and Africa. Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice)—or, much l ...

. Local institutions of higher learning include Korea Tourism College and Chungkang College of Cultural Industries. The city is also home to

SK Hynix SK Hynix Inc. () is a South Korean supplier of dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) chips and flash memory chips. SK Hynix is one of the world's largest semiconductor vendors. Founded as Hyundai Electronics in 1983, SK Hynix was integrated into ...

, the world's second largest memory chip maker.

Fires

Major building

fire Fire is the rapid oxidation of a fuel in the exothermic chemical process of combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction Product (chemistry), products. Flames, the most visible portion of the fire, are produced in the combustion re ...

s occurred on 7 January 2008 and on 29 April 2020.

Geography

Neighboring districts include

Gwangju Gwangju (; ), formerly romanized as Kwangju, is South Korea's list of cities in South Korea, sixth-largest metropolis. It is a designated Special cities of South Korea, metropolitan city under the direct control of the central government's Home ...

Yongin Yongin (; ) is a city in the Seoul Metropolitan Area, the largest in Gyeonggi Province, South Korea. With a population over 1 million, the city has developed rapidly since the 21st century, recording the highest population growth of any city in th ...

, and

Anseong Anseong (; ) is a city in Gyeonggi Province, South Korea, south of Seoul. Anseong promotes itself as "The City of Masters". It is known for producing brassware and arts and crafts. From late spring to fall, Anseong holds its own Namsadang Neuri ...

within Gyeonggi Province, as well as Eumseong County in

North Chungcheong Province North Chungcheong Province (), also known as Chungbuk, is a province of South Korea. North Chungcheong has a population of 1,578,934 (2014) and has a geographic area of located in the Hoseo region on the south-centre of the Korean Peninsula. No ...

. The

Yeongdong Expressway The Yeongdong Expressway () is an expressway in South Korea. Numbered 50, it connects the Seoul area with Gangwon Province. It is named from Yeongdong, an old name for Gangwon. The road has its western end in Namdong-gu of Incheon Metro ...

and

Jungbu Naeryuk Expressway The Jungbu Naeryuk Expressway (; literally meaning Central Inland Expwy.) is an expressway in South Korea. Numbered 45, it was first constructed in three parts: connecting Yangpyeong to Chungju and Sangju to Gimcheon and Hyeonpung Junction, Hyeonp ...

pass through Icheon. In 2016, the city will connect into the

Seoul Metropolitan Subway The Seoul Metropolitan Subway () is a urban rail transit, metropolitan railway system consisting of 23 rapid transit, Medium-capacity rail transport system, light metro, commuter rail and people mover lines located in northwest South Korea. T ...

via

Yeoju Line The Gyeonggang Line (경강선) is a rail line in South Korea, which at present comprises two distinct sections. The first one, which opened on September 24, 2016, is part of the Seoul Metropolitan Subway system in Gyeonggi Province, South Kore ...

's Icheon Station.

Administrative divisions

Icheon is divided into 2 towns (''eup''), 8 townships (''myeon''), and 4 neighbourhoods (''dong'').

Population and Business

There are 230,000 people living, including about 220,000 Koreans and 11,000 foreigners. More than 1,200 companies employ about 40,000 people.

Climate

Icheon has a

humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers, and cold ...

(''Dwa'' in the

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

City symbols

* City bird: Magpie * City flower: Azaleas * City tree: Pine

Ceramic village

The Icheon Ceramics Village features 300-plus ceramics-making firms in the area of Sugwang-ri, Sindun-myeon, Saeum-dong, and a popular visitor attraction. They use traditional skills and produce porcelains in some 40 traditional firewood kilns. This pottery is recognized both at home and abroad for its quality. The Saeum-dong and Sindun-myeon areas also include a ceramics village with many ceramics stores. Potters have researched traditional methods and revived the manufacture of ceramics in the style of

Goryeo celadon Goryeo ware (, also known as ''Goryeo cheong-ja'') refers to all types of Korean pottery and porcelain produced during the Goryeo dynasty, from 918 to 1392, but most often refers to celadon (greenware). Celadon techniques were first introduced fr ...

and Joseon white porcelain here. The village is the center of the effort to preserve these traditions.

UNESCO

Icheon was designated as a

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

Creative City for Crafts and Folk Art, in in 2010. In 2018, the city was elected as the first designated city for Craft and Folk Art among South Korea's creative cities. It served as the designated city until September 2021.

Education

University

* Korea Tourism College * Chungkang College of Cultural Industries

Twin towns – sister cities

Icheon is twinned with: *

Jingdezhen Jingdezhen is a prefecture-level city in eastern Jiangxi province with a total population of 1,669,057 (2018), bordering Anhui to the north. It is known as the "Porcelain Capital" because it has been producing Chinese ceramics for at least 1,0 ...

, China (1997) * Kōka, Japan (2005) * Santa Fe, United States (2013) *

Seto Seto may refer to: Places *Seto, Aichi, production place of Japanese pottery and venue of Expo 2005 * Seto, Ehime, facing the Seto Inland Sea * Seto, Okayama, adjacent to Okayama, in Okayama Prefecture *Seto Inland Sea of Japan *Setomaa (''Seto ...

, Japan (2006) *

Wuxi Wuxi ( zh, s=无锡, p=Wúxī, ) is a city in southern Jiangsu, China. As of the 2024 census, it had a population of 7,495,000. The city lies in the southern Yangtze delta and borders Lake Tai. Notable landmarks include Lihu Park, the Mt. Lings ...

, China (2005) *

Limoges Limoges ( , , ; , locally ) is a city and Communes of France, commune, and the prefecture of the Haute-Vienne Departments of France, department in west-central France. It was the administrative capital of the former Limousin region. Situated o ...

, France (2015) * Santa Clara, United States (2019)

Notable people

* Sŏ Hŭi: The historic figure of Goryeo dynasty who made a huge decision with

Khitan people The Khitan people (Khitan small script: ; ) were a historical Eurasian nomads, nomadic people from Northeast Asia who, from the 4th century, inhabited an area corresponding to parts of modern Mongolia, Northeast China and the Russian Far East. ...

who was forcefully occupying northern areas of Korean peninsula. *

Kang Mi-na Kang Mi-na (; born December 4, 1999), known mononymously as Mina, is a South Korean actress, singer and rapper. She is best known for finishing ninth in Mnet's K-pop girl group survival show ''Produce 101''. She is a former member of the girl ...

: South Korean singer, rapper, dancer, actress and K-pop idol, former member of K-pop girlgroup

Gugudan Gugudan (), also stylized as gu9udan or gx9, was a South Korean girl group formed in 2016 by Jellyfish Entertainment and the company's first girl group. The group debuted on June 28, 2016, with their EP ''Act. 1 The Little Mermaid''. The group wa ...

and its subunits Gugudan 5959 and Gugudan SeMiNa. * Choi Jeong: Baseball player who played for

SK Wyverns SSG Landers () are a South Korean professional baseball, professional baseball team. The team was originally established as the SK Wyverns but was renamed as the SSG Landers in 2021 after Shinsegae acquired the team from SK Group. They are a membe ...

/ SSG Landers and

South Korea national baseball team The South Korean national baseball team (), also known as the Blue Wave (), is the national baseball team of South Korea. It has participated in every edition of the World Baseball Classic (WBC), reaching the finals in 2009, and won the WBSC Pre ...

* Kim Se-yong:

ceramist Ceramic art is art made from ceramic materials, including clay. It may take varied forms, including artistic pottery, including tableware, tiles, figurines and other sculpture. As one of the plastic arts, ceramic art is a visual art. While ...

. * Chun Woo-hee: South Korean actress.

References

External links

*
Icheon : Official Seoul City Tourism

{{Authority control Cities in Gyeonggi Province