Bupyeong

Bupyeong has a different cultural area which is independently developed
from the Incheon area, owing to the separated zone of Mt. Wonjeoksan
(formerly Mt. Cheolmasan) and Mt. Manwolsan.
The old cultural area surrounding Bupyeong was a farming cultural zone.
It was developed around the Bupyeong Plain, and the root of the farming
culture was based on the current administrative zoning. This detail can be
verified through the musical instruments related to farming.
The area currently being filled for housing sites of Samsan-dong is the place predominated by farm music. In addition, it has been developed into Samsan Farm Music, and has become a venue for conducting the community religious services.
The special farming tools used by the farm music group during the time were made in 1891 (4224 in the Dangun Era). These farming tools were then contributed and currently are on display at the folk historical material display hall.
About 30 years ago, farm music contests were very popular and were held every year in places like Bupyeong Elementary School. Nowadays, the farm music contests and pan-national student farm music contests have been held every year since 1997 in order to revive the appreciation for farm music.
Some traditional games such as Cheonwangpaenori (games for heavenly kings) were once popularly played. It is unfortunate that currently only some interested local historians remember the names of these traditional games. It is very clear that we are now at the critical point in time. It’s the time for us to restore our lost cultural heritages and hand them down to the future generations.
On the other hand, the market culture encompassing the joys and sorrows of the lives of Bupyeong citizens which was formed around Bupyeong Station, Bupyeong 2-dong (Samneung) and Bupyeong market 40~50 years ago is rapidly losing its natural appeal. The plant culture, based on the industries such as Export Complex No.4 and Daewoo Motor has been maintained, but with the "IMF Economic Cold Wave" and the transfer of plants into new industrial complexes, the mammoth plant sites has been transformed into some residential areas (Apartments) and even most of the rice paddies have been developed to as building sites. This just goes to show how the appearance of Bupyeong is shifting, and if we do nothing, we might not be able to show to our children the beauty of field farming.