Gyeonggi Province

Gyeonggi Province (Korean: 경기도; RR: Gyeonggi-do, Korean pronunciation: [kjʌ̹ŋ.ɡi.do̞]) 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, the nation's third-largest city, is on the coast of the province and has been similarly administered as a provincial-level metropolitan city since 1981. The three jurisdictions are collectively referred to as Sudogwon and cover 11,730 km (4,530 sq mi), with a combined population of over 26 million - amounting to over half (50.25%) of the entire population of South Korea at the 2020 census.
Its name, Gyeonggi, means "京 (the capital) and 畿 (the surrounding area)". Thus, Gyeonggi Province can be translated as "Seoul and the surrounding areas of Seoul".
Gyeonggi Province has been a politically important area since 18 BCE, when Korea was divided into three nations during the Three Kingdoms period. Ever since King Onjo, the founder of Baekje (one of the three kingdoms), founded the government in Wiryeseong of Hanam, the Han River Valley was absorbed into Goguryeo in the mid-fifth century, and became Silla's territory in the year 553 (the 14th year of King Jinheung). Afterward, the current location of Gyeonggi Province, one of the nine states of Later Silla, was called Hansanju.
The Gyeonggi region started to rise as the central region of Goryeo as King Taejo of Goryeo (the kingdom following Silla) set up the capital in Gaesong. Since 1018 (the 9th year of Goryeo's King Hyeonjong), this area has been officially called "Gyeonggi".
During the Joseon, which was founded after the Goryeo, King Taejo of Joseon set the capital in Hanyang, while restructuring Gyeonggi's area to include Gwangju, Suwon, Yeoju, and Anseong, along with the southeast region. Since the period of King Taejong and Sejong the Great, the Gyeonggi region has been very similar to the current administrative area of Gyeonggi Province.
In 1895 the 23-Bu system, which reorganized administrative areas, was effected. The Gyeonggi region was divided into Hanseong (modern Seoul), Incheon, Chungju, Gongju, and Kaesong.
During the Japanese colonial period, Hanseong-bu was incorporated into Gyeonggi Province. On October 1, 1910, it was renamed Keijo and a provincial government was placed in Keijo according to the reorganization of administrative districts.
After liberation and the foundation of two separate Korean states, Gyeonggi Province and its capital, Seoul, were separated with partial regions of Gyeonggi Province being incorporated into Seoul thereafter in 1946. Additionally, Kaesong became North Korean territory, the only city to change control after the countries were divided at the 38th parallel, which is now part of North Korea's North Hwanghae Province.
In 1967 the seat of the Gyeonggi provincial government was transferred from Seoul to Suwon. After Incheon separated from Gyeonggi Province in 1981, Gyeonggi regions such as Ongjin County and Ganghwa County were incorporated into Incheon in 1995.
Gyeonggi Province is in the western central region of the Korean Peninsula, which is vertically situated in Northeast Asia and is between east longitude of 126 and 127, and north latitude of 36 and 38. Its dimension is 10% of Korea's territory, 10,171 square kilometres (3,927 sq mi). It is in contact with 86 kilometres (53 mi) of cease-fire line to the north, 413 kilometres (257 mi) of coastline to the west, Gangwon Province to the east, North Chungcheong Province and South Chungcheong Province to the south, and has Seoul, the capital of the Republic of Korea, in its center. Its provincial government is in Suwon, but some of its government buildings are in Uijeongbu for the administrative conveniences of the northern region.
The climate of Gyeonggi Province is the continental climate, which has a severe differentiation of temperature between summer and winter, and has distinctions of four seasons. Spring is warm, summer is hot and humid, autumn is cool, and winter is cold and snowy. The annual average temperature is between 11–13 °C (52–55 °F), where the temperature in the mountainous areas to the northeast is lower and the coastal areas to the southwest is higher. For January's average temperature, the Gyeonggi Bay is −4 °C (25 °F), the Namhangang (River) Basin is −4 to −6 °C (25 to 21 °F), and the Bukhangang (River) and Imjingang Basins are −6 to −8 °C (21 to 18 °F). It becomes colder and higher in temperature differentiation from coastal to inland areas. Summer has a lower local differentiation compared to winter. The inland areas are hotter than the Gyeonggi Bay area, the hottest area is Pyeongtaek, making the average temperature of August 26.5 °C (79.7 °F).
The annual average precipitation is around 1,100 millimetres (43 in), with a lot of rainfall. It is rainy in summer and dry during winter. The northeastern inland areas of Bukhangang and the upper stream of Imjingang has a precipitation of 1,300–1,400 millimetres (51–55 in), whereas the coastal area has only 900 millimetres (35 in) of precipitation.
The topography of Gyeonggi Province is divided into southern and northern areas by the Han River, which flows from east to west. The area north to the Han River is mainly mountainous, while the southern area is mainly plain.
The configuration of Gyeonggi Province is represented by Dong-go-seo-jeo (high in the east and low in the west), where the Gwangju Mountain Range and the Charyeong Mountain Range spreads from the east and drops in elevation in the west. The fields of Gimpo, Gyeonggi, and Pyeongtaek extend to the west.
Gyeonggi Province natural environment includes its rivers, lakes, mountains, and seas. Its representative rivers are the Hangang, Imjingang, and Anseongcheon Fg(Stream), which flow into the Yellow Sea, with Gyeonggi Plain, Yeonbaek Plain and Anseong Plain forming a fertile field area around the rivers. The Gwangju Mountain Range and the Charyeong Mountain Range stretch toward China in Gyeonggi Province. Most of the mountains that rise above 1,000 metres (3,300 ft), such as Myeongjisan (1,267 metres (4,157 ft)), Gukmangbong (1,168 metres (3,832 ft)) and Yongmunsan (1,157 metres (3,796 ft)) in the Gwangju Mountain Range. It iriidc Ktihas a developed granite area which, due to the granite's exfoliation effect, makes it full of strangely shaped cliffs and deep valleys. The Charyeong Mountain Range forms the boundary between Gyeonggi Province and North Chungcheong Province, but is a relatively low-altitude hilly area.
In Gyeonggi Province, there is Bukhansan National Park in Uijeongbu. For provincial parks, there are the Chukryeongsan Natural Recreation Area, Namhan-sanseong Provincial Park, Gapyeong Yeoninsan Provincial Park, and Mulhyanggi Arboretum. Besides the listed, the scenery of well-known mountains including Soyosan of Dongducheon City, Yongmunsan of Yangpyeong County, and Gwanaksan of Anyang and Gwacheon, along with Hangang and Imjingang are tourist sites of Gyeonggi Province.
Gyeonggi Province has shown a rapid increase in population due to the modernization and urbanization of the Republic of Korea. Its population has increased from 2,748,765 in 1960 to 3,703,761 in 1980; 6,050,943 in 1990; 8,984,134 in 2000; 11,379,459 in 2010; and 13,511,676 in 2020.
In 2010 there were 4,527,282 households, with an average of 3 people per family. There were 6,112,339 males and 5,959,545 females. The population density was 1,119 people/km, almost double the national average of 486 people/km.
The province's most heavily populated area as of 2024 is Suwon (1,195,000) followed by Yongin (1,085,000), Goyang (1,071,000), Hwasung (962,000), Seongnam (915,000) and Bucheon (772,000). The lowest populated area in 2010 was Yeoncheon County (41,000), followed by Gapyeong County (62,000) and Yangpyeong County (72,595).
As the backbone of Seoul in the means of manufacturing complex, Gyeonggi Province is evenly developed in heavy industry (electronics, machine, heavy and chemical industry, steel), light industry (textile), and farm, livestock and fisheries industry. Due to the influence of recent high wages, the weight of manufacturing industries has decreased in Korea's economy. Gyeonggi Province is making efforts in many ways to improve and modernize the conventional industry structure, resulting in quick growth of innovative small and medium-sized enterprises such as U-JIN Tech Corp. Gyeonggi Province is unsparingly investing in the promotion of service industries related to soft competitive power such as state-of-the-art IT industry, designing, conventions and tourism, along with its great leap as a commercial hub in Northeast Asia using the Pyeongtaek Harbor.
Besides this, it is known for its special local products such as Icheon rice and Gwangju ceramics. Leading companies representing Korea, including Samsung Electronics' headquarters, SK Hynix's headquarters, NAVER's headquarters, Samsung SDI's headquarters, and Paju LG Corporation's LCD complex, are gathered in southern Gyeonggi Province, including Suwon City.
Gyeonggi Province consists of 28 cities (special: 7, normal: 21) and three counties. This is because many counties were elevated to city status owing to the influence of Seoul's new town development plan. Special cities are especially concentrated in the southern area of Gyeonggi Province.
Listed below is each entity's name in English, Hangul and Hanja.
Gyeonggi Province's proximity to Seoul, South Korea's capital, and Incheon, its second-busiest port, has contributed to its extremely well-developed transportation infrastructure. It is close to both Incheon International Airport, South Korea's main international gateway and busiest airport, and Gimpo International Airport, its second-busiest airport. Use of water transportation from the harbor at Pyeongtaek is also high.
The road pavement rate throughout the province averages 86.5 percent. The area has access to many of South Korea's expressways, including
Gyeonggi Province is served by Korail commuter, standard and high-speed (KTX) services. It is home to Korea's first railroad, the Gyeongin Line, and includes portions of the GTX-A Line, Gyeongbu Line, Gyeongui Line, Jungang Line, and Honam Line. Gyeonggi has stations on the Suin, Bundang, Gyeongchun, and Shinbundang commuter rail services and the Gyeongbu and Honam High Speed Railways.
The area has numerous connections to the Seoul Metropolitan Subway system. Line 1 (formerly Korea National Railroad of Seoul) extends to Cheonan past Gyeonggi Province to the southwest, and to Dongducheon to the north. Line 3 connects to Goyang to the north, while Line 4 is connected to Gwacheon and Ansan to the southwest. Line 7 is connected to Uijeongbu to the north and Gwangmyeong to the south, Line 8 is connected to Seongnam to the south, while the GTX-A line connects Paju and Goyang to Yeonsinnae Station in Eunpyeong-gu and Seoul Station in Jung-gu.
Uijeongbu has its own light rail system, the U Line, which connects to Line 1.
A short section of the AREX line between Gimpo and Incheon airports passes through Gyeonggi, but there are no stops within the province.
Gyeonggi Province is actively investing in education to foster a talented population suitable for the globalized economy. It is promoting the opening of local campuses of reputable universities as well as establishing special purpose high schools for high-quality education. It has also founded and operates at Paju the largest domestic "English village" for education in the English language, as well as villages in Ansan and Yangpyeong.
Gyeonggi Province has long been a capital area, leaving many historic relics and ruins. For royal tombs (called reung), there are Donggureung of Guri, and Gwangreung, Hongreung and Yureung of Namyangju. For castles (called seong), there are Suwon Hwaseong, which is designated as the World Cultural Heritage, Namwonsanseong, Haengjusanseong, Ganghwasanseong, and Doksan Fortress. For Buddhist temples, there are many aged temples within Gyeonggi Province where one can experience 'temple stay'. You can view folk culture in the Korean Folk Village in Yongin, and the scene of Korea's division at Panmunjom in Paju.
Gyeonggi Province is investing a lot of money at a provincial level so that people do not have to go to Seoul to enjoy a high-class cultural life. There are performances at Gyeonggi Arts Center in Suwon as well as at Gyeonggi Korean Traditional Music Center in Yongin. Gyeonggi Provincial Museum in Yongin, Nam June Paik Art Center in Yongin, Gyeonggi Museum of Art in Ansan, and the Ceramics Museum in Gwangju are some of the facilities that are currently run by the province. There are also sightseeing opportunities at Jangheung Art Park, Publication Art Complex at Heyri, Paju, and the Icheon Ceramics Exposition.
Heyri Art Valley is Korea's largest art town. Various Korean artists constructed the cultural town of Heyri and it features several art galleries and museums; there are about 40 museums, exhibitions, concert halls and bookstores.
According to the census of 2015, of the people of Gyeonggi Province 32.0% follow Christianity (23.0% Protestantism and 9.0% Catholicism) and 10.7% follow Buddhism. 57.3% of the population is mostly not religious or follow indigenous religions.
The Province has Ilsan Lake Park, one of the largest lake parks in the country. In addition, there is Gwanggyo Lake Park, which was redeveloped in 2013.
The 2002 Korea-Japan World Cup matches were held in Suwon World Cup Stadium. As for the professional soccer teams with Gyeonggi Province as their home ground, there are the Suwon Samsung Bluewings and Seongnam FC.
Korea's foremost thoroughbred horse racing track Seoul Race Park is in Gwacheon.
Gyeonggi Province has long been famous for its Icheon rice, Yangpyeong Korean beef, Suwon cow ribs and Korean court cuisine, and marine delicacies made of fresh marine products from the west coast.
While Korean fauna is relatively uniform, there are some differences across the country. Animals living in Gyeonggi Province include the following.
The raccoon dog is widespread in the province, as are the Japanese mole, Siberian weasel, water deer, Korean hare, red squirrel, house mouse, striped field mouse, and the Eurasian harvest mouse.
The common merganser, common pochard, green-winged teal, Eastern spot-billed duck, mallard, mandarin, Taiga bean goose, tundra bean goose, whooper swan, great crested grebe, little grebe common moorhen, Eurasian coot, and white-breasted waterhen all inhabit the province.
Herons frequent the provinces waterways. These include the black-crowned night heron, great white egret, grey heron, little egret, medium egret, striated heron, great cormorant, and Japanese cormorant.
Raptors in Gyeonggi Province include the Eurasian sparrowhawk, Goshawk, common kestrel, and Eurasian hobby.
A range of crows and jays are found in Gyeonggi Province, including the azure-winged magpie carrion crow, Eurasian jay, large-billed crow, Oriental magpie, and rook.
There are also many tits in the province, including the coal tit, Japanese tit, marsh tit, and varied tit.
Other birds in Gyeonggi Province include the common sandpiper, long-toed stint, wood sandpiper, ring-necked pheasant, white-winged tern, Oriental turtle dove, rock dove, Oriental dollarbird, common kingfisher, common hoopoe great spotted woodpecker, grey-headed woodpecker Japanese pygmy woodpecker, black-naped oriole, Eurasian skylark, brown-eared bulbul, long-tailed tit, Oriental reed warbler, vinous-throated parrotbill, white-cheeked starling, dusky thrush, Asian brown flycatcher, Daurian redstart, Eurasian tree sparrow, brambling, and Oriental greenfinch.
The river cooter, peninsula cooter, Amur softshell turtle, and pond slider live in the province's lakes and streams, while the steppe rat snake and mountain grass lizard are among its land-dwelling reptiles.
Gyeonggi Province has a variety of amphibia: the Boreal digging frog, Imienpo Station frog, Korean brown frog, Suwon tree frog, and Sakhalin toad.
The province has a variety of spiders, including the Joro spider, Sernokorba allidipatellis, and Uroctea lesserti.
A wide range of moths live in Gyeonggi Province, e.g., the box tree moth, euonymus defoliator moth, gypsy moth, larch hawk moth, meal moth, rush veneer, Monema flavescens, Nordstromia duplicata, Orthogonia sera, Ostrinia palustralis, Sinna extrema, and Striglina cancellata.
Butterflies in the province include the Asian comma, common straight swift, lesser purple emperor, painted lady, pale grass blue, Pallas' sailer, red ring skirt, small white, and Colias poliographus.
Gyeonggi Province's bees, wasps, and hornets include the western honey bee, dark-waisted paper wasp, Asian hornet, European hornet, and yellow-vented hornet.
There is a wide variety of ant species in Gyeonggi Province. These include the Asian needle ant, Japanese carpenter ant, Japanese pavement ant, Japanese queenless ant, yellow-footed ant, Aphaenogaster japonica, Camponotus concavus, Camponotus itoi, Camponotus nipponensis, Camponotus quadrinotatus, Crematogaster matsumurai, Crematogaster teranishii, Dolichoderus sibiricus, Lasius spathepus, Temnothorax wui, and Vollenhovia emeryi.
The province's damselflies and dragonflies include the common bluetail, Ischnura asiatica, Platycnemis phyllopoda, blue-spotted emperor foot-tipped darter, regal pond cruiser, white-tailed skimmer, Deielia phaon, and Sympetrum infuscatum.
Other insects in the province include Eristalis cerealis, the Chinese rice grasshopper, Oriental longheaded grasshopper, sickle-bearing bush-cricket, greenhouse camel cricket, Loxoblemmus arietulus, black cicada, Asian jumping mantis, giant Asian mantis, turnip sawfly, Promachus yesonicus, Spotted lanternfly, green stink bug, sloe bug, Sastragala esakii, Placosternum esakii, Lygocorides rubronasutus, harlequin lady beetle, seven-spot ladybird, turtle vein lady beetle, Calvia muiri, Pheropsophus javanus, Scirtes japonicus, 'varied carpet beetle, citrus long-horned beetle, thin-winged longicorn beetle, mealworm, German cockroach, Blattella nipponica, Adoretus hirsutus, Eusilpha jakowlewi, Dryophilocoris kerzhneri, bean bug, western conifer seed bug, marsh rhopalid, Deraeocoris salicis, Oriental beetle, black planthopper, and lake pondskater.
Taiwan pond mussels live in Gyeonggi Province's freshwater.
The province's lakes and streams house Amur catfish, Eurasian carp, largemouth bass, northern snakehead, and pale chub.