South Kyongsang Province
(1998 pop. 3 million). South Kyongsang Province (Kyongsang namdo) is located in South Korea in the southeastern portion of the Korean peninsula. It contains the major metropolitan center and port of Pusan. The region is characterized by the vast basin of the Naktong River, which descends from the north, and is bounded by Mount Chiri to the west, Mount Kaya and North Kyongsang Province to the north, and the Sea of Japan (East Sea) to the south and east. Due to the rugged topography of the surrounding mountains, subareas within the region share cultural traits, such as a dialect and customs, that are quite different from those of outlying regions.
South Kyongsang Province has a large industrial agglomeration, due mainly to heavy investments in the region by the South Korean government since the 1960s. Automobile and petrochemical factories are largely concentrated along the southeast stretch of cities beginning in North Kyongsang Province and extending from Ulsan through Pusan, Ch'angwon, and Chinju. A thriving import-export zone was established in Masan Bay in the vicinity of the cities of Masan, Ch'angwon, and Chinhae.
South Kyongsang Province conserves the eighty thousand woodblocks that constitute the Korean Buddhist canon (Tripitaka Koreana) at Haein Monastery, which has been named a World Heritage Cultural Treasure by UNESCO. The blocks were carved under royal patronage during Mongolian invasions of Korea between 1236 and 1251 and are the oldest complete Buddhist canon in Chinese characters. The province also boasts several mask dance traditions, which were customarily performed on the fifteenth day of the first moon according to the lunar calendar.
Further Reading
Eckert, Carter J., Ki-baik Lee, Young Ick Lew, Michael Robinson, and Edward W. Wagner. (1990) Korea Old and New: A History. Seoul: Ilchokak.
Korean Overseas Culture and Information Service. (1999) A Handbook of Korea. 10th ed. Seoul: Korean Overseas Culture and Information Service.
Lee, Ki-baik. (1984) A New History of Korea. Trans. by Edward W. Wagner. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
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