Hadong Cheonghakdong

Driving 40 minutes from downtown Hadong to Jinju, you reach Samseong-gung and Cheonhakdong, so called ascetic village. Samseong-gung and Cheonghakdong are situated on the 800m slope of Mt. Jirisan facing with a low hill and a valley between them. When you approach Cheonghakdong, you will hear young students reading books as if they are from the ancient times. During summer and winter vacation, the ancient type of opens for the students from all over the nation to learn Korean traditional idea and Chinese characters.
The great scholar of the Silla Dynasty choe Chiwon stayed here. This place is named Cheonghakdong, meaning that Cheonghak nested and played here. Therefore, plenty of calligraphers visited this place seeking the ideal world. Blue cranes are legendary birds.
An old Chinese document says 'Cheonghak appears and sing only in the peaceful period and on the peaceful land'. Cheonghak literarily means blue cranes. It is not known whether this birds exist. The legend says hermit flies on this bird and do a taoist magic and this bird has a human being's body and bird's bill. Thus Cheonhak symbolizes hermits. Cheonhakdong means, therefore, the place where hermits live and the neverland which human beings pursuit.
There are some other places in Jirisan named as Cheonhakdong including Bulil Falls Area, Seseok plateau, Cheonghaki-gol and Sangdeokpyeong Village. Among them Cheonhakdong at the present site became famous partly because it corresponds to the village in the legend, and partly because the village is known to everyone through the mass media. After the Korean war, the villagers stuk to their unique way of living.
The way to Cheonghakdong makes a beautiful scenery with a harmony of Hoecheongang River, Hadong Dam, Mukgyo Dam, the lakes made by dams, high mountains and low hills. The small mountain villages on the way still remain the old shape and present a lot to see.
Though Cheonghakdong is known as an village, it is a village formed by a specific religious group named Ilsimgyo. They come here and built a village around 1900. More people from Buan, Sunchang, Gwangyang gathered to the village. Now there love about 100 persons of 20 families, believing in their religion. They stick their traditional way of living, putting in traditional hair style, hats and clothes. So it has been called as an ascetic or hermit village. Since 1980 they began to accept tourists and modern facilities. Though they are running home-stays and restaurants they still keep their ways.