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Chidong Seowon
Joseon

Chidong Seowon

29-13 Ogok-gil, Okgu-eup, Gunsan, North Jeolla Province

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About this place

Chidong Seowon is located near the Okgu Reservoir in Okgu-eup, Gunsan. It evolved from the Chidong-myo Shrine, established in 1926, which was relocated to its current site in 1983 and rebuilt as a seowon. The seowon enshrines Jeon Hoeng (250-202 BCE), a member of the Qi royal family in ancient China, who reportedly crossed the Yellow Sea with 500 loyal retainers after the fall of his state and came to Eocheong Island off Gunsan, where he took his own life rather than surrender. It also enshrines three ancestors of the Damyang Jeon clan — Jeon Yaun, Jeon Noeun, and Jeon Gyeongeun — renowned for their literary talent and integrity in the late Goryeo period. Memorial rites are held for these figures every spring and autumn. The complex consists of a lecture hall, east and west dormitories (study spaces), and the shrine buildings Samyangsa and Chidong-myo. The lecture hall is a hip-and-gabled (팔작) roof structure, three bays wide and two deep. Samyangsa is a gabled (맞배) roof structure, three bays wide and one deep.