Siheung

Siheung (Korean: 시흥; [ɕi.ɣɯŋ]) is a city in Gyeonggi Province, South Korea. The city has a population of 511,807 people, where 508,646 are residents out of 218,846 households as of August 2021. Siheung acquired its current administrative structure on January 1, 1989, the former Siheung County was divided into the cities of Siheung, Gunpo, and Uiwang. At the time, Siheung had a population of only 93,000. This number more than tripled in the following decade as massive suburban apartment complexes were developed. Siheung's current area formerly belonged to Incheon and Ansan before 1914.
Notable landmarks include the Oido island, the Soraesan mountain, Lotus theme park and the port and inlet of Wolgot. Siheung includes two new areas that were developed in the 1990s, Sihwa and Wolgot. The new city of Sihwa includes a very large industrial complex. Companies headquartered there include Hansung Machinery Co., Korea Polytechnic University (established in 1997), and also Kyonggi Institute of Technology [ko] (reorganized in 1999).
In 2007, Korea Polytechnic University built TIP (Techno Innovation Park). The building has 18 floors used for studying, research, and development for students, faculty, companies and government. In February 2010, Seoul National University acquired 826 thousand square-meters or 204 acres of Siheung property to establish its global campus. The university plans to build a biomedical complex, research hospital, apartments, and education-related infrastructure including lecture halls, dormitories, and an international middle and high school.
In the early Three Kingdoms period, the Siheung area was part of the Baekje kingdom. It was lost to Goguryeo along with the Han River Valley in 475.
Siheung is divided into 18 dongs.
Siheung has a humid continental climate (Köppen: Dwa), but can be considered a borderline humid subtropical climate (Köppen: Cwa) using the −3 °C (27 °F) isotherm.
Siheung has several rail lines sponsored by Korail. Seoul Subway Line 4 runs from the Oido station to the Jeongwang station before proceeding on to Ansan. The Suin line runs through Darwol and Wolgot stations before proceeding to the Namdong District. The Seohae Line was added on June 16, 2018, and will be built to run through the city from the Sosa station to Ansan.
The total regional production of Siheung in 2012 was 26.888 billion won. It accounted for 3.6% of Gyeonggi Province's GDP. The primary industries of forestry followed by agriculture are low producers, amounting to 41.4 billion won. The secondary industries of mining and manufacturing amounted for 16.24 trillion won, accounting for 64.2%, while the tertiary industries of commercial and service industries accounted for 35.6%, amounting to 9.29 trillion won. Quaternary industries provided the following: wholesale and retail trade (6.6%); construction (4.0%); real estate and leasing (3.3%), and business services (3.2%).
In 2014, the total number of workers in industries in Siheung was 185,032. This accounts for 4.1% of the total number of employees in the city's province, Gyeonggi. The number of agriculture and forestry fisheries was 17%, which is low. Mining and manufacturing accounted for 48.4%, with 89,554 employees. The commercial and service industry accounted for 95.6%, amounting to 51.6%. Secondary industry was individually higher than it was in Gyeonggi overall (27.1%) and the tertiary industry was lower than Gyeonggi (72.9%). In the tertiary industry, the proportion of housing and food and lodging (7.6%), education (5.2%), and health and social services (4.4%).
Siheung is a sister city to:
There are unique educational programs of Siheung: one involves achieving an innovative education district—since Siheung is a part of Gyeonggi's Innovative Education District work, it provides many educational programs to the citizens. The city operates the Regional-National Linked Training Conference and has Village Convergence schools. For students, they provide the Siheung Creativity Experience School. Visiting village teachers in primary and secondary schools can attend the Village-linked Creative Education Course (elementary school) and other various programs.
Siheung also has more educational programs linked to the local community: first being the Youth International Exchange Program; Siheung has the From Siheung to the world! Youth Planning Training program in which teenagers plan and prepare schedules for their chosen countries by forming teams on their own and then go abroad for research training; then there is the Siheung Dream Tree, To the world! Overseas Visit Experience program in which children receive prior education through various subjects such as culture and art, history and embark on field trips. The Overseas Visit Experience program is based on the idea that with new friends, teenagers can learn and understand difficult subjects through various self-directed learning methods. Lastly, Siheung has a 'sister school' project, aiming to expand international exchange activities by supporting a partnership project between a school in Siheung and a foreign school. The biggest feature is that low-income families who are unable to get a chance to visit overseas due to financial difficulties are given opportunities to participate in international exchange activities. All hopeful schools in the region receive applications throughout the year.
There are also many educational supporting services including facilities for the youth.