Today on the Korean Atlas and History: Korean Historical Sites: Hwaseong Fortress

Hwaseong Fortress in Suwon is also known as Suwon Hwaseong to many

visitors. The fortress surrounds the center of Suwon city, the provincial capital of the

province of Gyeonggi, 19 miles south of Seoul. The fortifications were built by King

정조 to honor the remains of his father, Prince 사도.

The history of this specific site begins with prince 사도, the second son of

King 영조 of Joseon. The events of his life were recorded by his wife, Lady 헌경. 사

도’s older brother, 효장, died and 사도 became the future monarch. 사도

experienced extreme anxiety in the presence of his father. At the age of 15, King

영조 appointed 사도 regent, but was always disappointed with any choice 사도

made. King 영조 was very restrictive of 사도 and when he chastised 사도, he made

sure to do it in front of large crowds. 사도’s mental health deteriorated. At one

point, he read a text called 옥추경 and then hallucinated that he saw the Thunder

God. After this, he refused to touch any object engraved with Chinese letters found

in the text. 사도 took a secondary consort, 양재, and the two had a son. 사도 was

terrified of his father’s anger, so he forced her to take medicine in order to abort the

child. Nonetheless, the child was born safely. In 1757, King 영조’s adoptive mother,

Queen 인원 and his wife, Queen 정성, both died within a month of one another.

사도 was very close to both of them, and this caused his mental health to

deteriorate further. He began beating his eunuchs to quench his rage. In one
instance, he killed and severed the head of one of his eunuchs, and then brought it

into his chambers, forcing the ladies-in-waiting and his wife to look at it. After this, it

became a common occurrence for him to kill palace staff members to release his

anger and frustration. He also frequently assaulted and raped many ladies-in-

waiting. 사도 also suffered from vestiphobia, a fear of clothing. Getting 사도 dressed

required laying out multiple sets of clothing. Then, according to Lady 혜경, “he

would burn some, supposedly on behalf of some ghost or other. Even after this, if

he managed to get into a suit of clothes without incident, one had to count it as

great good luck. If, however, those serving him were to make the slightest error, he

would not be able to put his clothes on, no matter how hard he tried. In the

process, people were hurt, even killed. It was truly dreadful.”

In 1757, 상도 took another secondary consort, 박빙에, who had been lady in

waiting to his grandmother. According to this relationship, it was considered taboo

for the two to be together. When King 영조 found out, he berated 사도 so harshly

that 사도 later jumped down a well to kill himself. A guard pulled him out and saved

him. During this time, it became commonplace for 사도 to become physically violent

with his wife and secondary consorts. In 1761, 사도 beat his secondary consort, 바에

to death.

In the summer of 1762, 사도 became enraged with a court official and

planned to kill the official’s son. He snuck through a water passage to the upper
palace, but failed to find the son. Rumors spread throughout the palace of his

attempted murder of a court official, and the court was soon in a state of unrest.

Royal Consort 영, the consort to the king, feared that 사도 would begin killing her

children. She begged the King to deal with 사도. By court rules, if 사도 were

executed as a criminal, his wife and son would face death or banishment. 사도’s son,

정조, was the only direct male heir of the King, so he needed to remove 사도

without an execution. As a result, King 영조 order prince 사도 to enter a rice chest

on a hot summer day in 1762. The chest was nailed shut, and after 8 days, prince

사도 was pronounced dead. King 영조 then posthumously restored him to the

position of crown prince and gave him the title 사도, which means “thinking of with

great sorrow.” After this, King 영조 banned any mention of his name for the rest of

his reign. When 사도’s son, 정조 ascended the throne, one of his first statements

was “I am the son of Prince 사도.” 정조 had always shown devotion to his father,

and built Hwaseong Fortress to hold and honor the remains of his father.

Part of the building of 화성 Fortress was in a plan to move the capital of

Joseon from Seoul to Suwon. Suwon was strategically positioned to connect Seoul

with the West Sea and China. King 정조 believed that Suwon had the potential to

grow into a new and prosperous capital. He ordered public works in Suwon and

gave tax exempt status to those to moved there are considerable expense.
 The fortress was built over a two-and-a-half-year period from 1794 to 1796.

The site was designed by architect 정약용. He would later become a renowned

leader of the 실학 movement, which means practical learning. 정 incorporated brick

as a building material and the use of efficient pulleys or cranes in the design of

화성, which are part of the ideals of the 실학 movement. The fortress also

incorporated different fortress designs from around Korea and China as well.

Another reason for the construction of the fortress was a response of the collapse of

the Korean front line during the 임진 war. The 화성 fortress included not only the

elements of a wall, but also a town center with four main gates that could be used

for the town. The ramparts were built with crenellated parapets, which means that

there are gaps in the wall that archers could fire from. The wall also included secret

gates for offensive actions. The fortress cost the national treasury 870,000 냥, the

currency of the time, and 1500 sacks of rice to pay the workers. Building it took

around 700,000-man hours. The fact that the workers were paid is another sign of

influence from the 실학 movement.

The wall that surrounds the fortress is 3.57 miles or 5.74 kilometers in length.

The wall is between 13 to 20 feet in height, or four to six meters, depending on the

area. Generally, the wall is taller on flat terrain, but not as high as it crosses hilltops.

The parapets are made of stone brick and are four feet, or 1.2 meters, above the
height of the wall. The entire wall has been well maintained to this day, and it can

be easily walked by visitors.

The walls also had four main gates as well, 장안문, 화서문, 팔달문, and 창룡문,

or the north, west, south, and east gates respectively. 창룡문, the east gate, was

mostly destroyed during the Korean war, but has since been restored. 장안문 and

팔달문, or the north and south gates are the largest. In fact, 장안문 is the largest

gate of this kind in Korea. Both the north and south gates are topped with two story

wooden pavilions, the east and west gates each having one story.

In the modern era, Suwon has had roads built through the area.

Reconstruction of the castle walls in 1975 had no choice but to keep these modern

roads. For this reason, three rampart walks have been reconstructed as bridges

crossing over modern roads. The northern, eastern, and western ramparts each

contain a bridge that crosses over a road. The southern rampart, however, did not

see its rampart rebuilt. The South Gate, or 팔달문, is isolated, like an island

surrounded by modern traffic.

Other structures that still stand around the castle walls include floodgates,

two watchtowers, and a beacon tower. The beacon tower has five chimneys, in order

to create smoke signals. One lit chimney would signal peace, two meant an enemy

was spotted, three warned of an approaching enemy, four warned that the enemy
had made it into the city, and if all five were lit, it signaled that fighting in the city

had begun.

Within the walls of 화성 was 행궁, or the detached palace. 행궁 was a house

to King 정조 when he was away from his palace in Seoul. When he was not in

residence, 행궁 was used as the base of government for Suwon. It was also used for

the 60th birthday party of 헌경왕후, King 정조’s mother and 사도’s wife. Built in 1789 and

expanded twice after, the palace houses 600 compartments, and is the second larges 행궁 in

Korea. It is a collection of 22 buildings, in a nearly rectangular layout. Most of the palace was

destroyed under Japanese Colonial Rule, but restoration began in 1996 and completed in 2003.

The palace is now open to the public.

For those interested in Korean dramas, there are some movies and television programs

that depict events around 화성. The movie 사도 depicts the life of Prince 사도 and his son King

정조. Along with this, the television series, Eight Days, Assassination Attempts against King 정조,

uses 화성 as the backdrop to the series.

Every year, 화성 is the focus of several performances and festivals. Each Saturday, from

March to November, there is a weekend performance at or around the walls. Along with this,

twenty-four martial arts are demonstrated at 11 AM daily from March to November, except on

Mondays. There is also a Royal Guards ceremony that happens at 2 PM every Sunday from

March to November. It is a reconstruction of the ceremony that occurred when King 정조 moved

his father’s body to 화선 and deployed soldiers to guard the new site. If you are ever in the

Suwon area, this is a site you can’t miss.