Gwangju

Gwangju is a metropolitan city in southwestern South Korea, at the foot of Mudeungsan, a mountain of columnar rock. Its name means city of light. Every other year the Gwangju Biennale, founded in the 1990s, brings contemporary art from many countries to the city.

The town was a regional center of the Baekje kingdom and later of the Goryeo and Joseon dynasties. In 1896 it became the capital of South Jeolla Province, and the plains around it made it a market town for rice and cotton. Students of the city began a protest against Japanese rule in the late 1920s that spread across Korea. In 1980 the people of Gwangju rose for democracy, and the records of the movement are on the UNESCO Memory of the World register. The city separated from the province as a metropolitan city in the 1980s.

Kia builds the Sportage and other models at its Gwangju plant. Samsung Electronics makes refrigerators, washing machines and air conditioners at its factory in the city. Kumho Tire, founded in Gwangju, makes tires for cars and trucks at its plant there.

The Asia Culture Center, opened in the 2010s on the site of the old provincial office, holds theaters, a library and exhibition halls set below ground around a sunken garden. Yangnim-dong, a hill district, keeps the brick houses of early Western missionaries and a street of murals. The Kia Tigers, the baseball club of the city, have won the Korean Series many times since the 1980s.