Ansan

Ansan is a city in Gyeonggi Province, South Korea. It lies southwest of Seoul and is part of the Seoul Metropolitan Area. It is connected to Seoul by rail via Seoul Subway Line 4. It is situated on the Yellow Sea coast and some islands lie within its jurisdiction. The largest and best-known of these is Daebu Island.
Several higher learning institutions are located in Ansan. They include Ansan University, Shin Ansan University, the ERICA campus of Hanyang University, and the Seoul Institute of the Arts. The Korea Transportation Safety Authority, a government agency, has also been headquartered in Ansan since June 3, 2002. With its high number of foreign workers, Wongokbon-dong has been designated as a multicultural area. In 2021, Ansan was selected as the largest residential area for foreigners and it is seeking designation as a special multicultural city. Street play festival is held every year in Ansan.

History

Ancient era

The first humans in Ansan were in the New Stone Age, and many shell middens and prehistoric remains were found at Oido, Sihwaho, Chojidong and Daebudo. In the Seonbu-dong and Wolpi-dong area, over 10 stone dolmen tombs could be found. Also in 1995, Old Stone Age relics were found while constructing the Seohaean Expressway. Most dolmens in Ansan are north dolmen, but the dolmen in Seonbu-dong are table-shaped and another table-shaped tomb was found in Hakon-dong, Gwangmyeong. There are many ancient relics found in the city.

Three Kingdoms and Goryeo eras

Not much evidence or antiquities survive from the Proto-Three Kingdoms and Samhan periods in Ansan and nearby areas. The Mahan confederacy in Chen Shou in Records of the Three Kingdoms preserves writings about the chiefdom state. Ansan was in communion with Baekje but very little has been saved.
In the Later Three Kingdoms era, the Ansan area was owned by Taebong in Silla Hyogong's 4th year. After then, Kung Ye, who was the ruler of Taebong, was overthrown by Taejo, and the Ansan area was turned over to Goryeo, founded by Taejo. First, the Kung Ye Ganggu-gun was changed to Ansan-gun but the state of the military was preserved.

Joseon era

Ansan belonged to Gyeonggijwa-do in the Joseon period. Taejo's 5th year, Ansan-eoso that is now under the direct control of a detached building of Saongwon was set up. After Gyeonggijwa-do and Gyeonggiwo-do were unified in Taejong's 2nd year, Ansan was still called Ansan. Under Taejong's 13th year, the whole country was detached into eight provinces.

Modern era

Until 1914, Ansan and the southern part of today's Siheung consisted of Ansan County. In 1914, Ansan County was annexed to Siheung County. This region produced high-quality salt from ancient times and valuable marine products. Ansan was then a fishing village.
In 1986, several towns of Hwaseong county became incorporated, representing the beginning of Ansan as a city. With currently over 600,000 residents, Ansan now has two distinct and separate districts: Danwon, which has 12 dongs as of 2009, and Sangnok, with 13.

Geography

Ansan is located in the southwest of Gyeonggi Province and is situated on the coast of the Yellow Sea, at. Portions of various Yellow Sea islands lie within its jurisdiction. The largest and best-known of these is Daebu Island, also known as "Daebudo".
Large portions of Ansan, over 100 sq miles, are reclaimed wetlands, part of the Saemangeum land reclamation project known as Ansan Reed Marshy Park.
Located at the south of the city are islands of Daebudo and Pungdo. On land, the city boundaries are marked by the town of Gunpo to the east of Ansan, Anyang to north-east, Siheung to the north and Hwaseong to the south.

Climate

Ansan has a monsoon-influenced humid continental climate with cold, dry winters and hot, rainy summers.

Demographics

According to the South Korean Ministry of Justice, Ansan's Danwon District is the district which has the largest foreign population in Korea, with 68,119 residents followed by Siheung, Hwaseong, Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul, Guro-gu, Seoul, Pyeongtaek, and Asan, South Chungcheong.

Transportation

Railway

The Ansan Line is a major rail line in Ansan and is part of the Seoul Metropolitan Subway as Line 4. Service connects from Oido to Jinjeop in Namyangju. The subway is also connected to the public bus system in Ansan. Previously, the first railroad in the city was the Suin Line which was opened by Korea under Japanese rule.
In mid-2020, the Suin Bundang line started operations, connecting Suwon and Ansan which expanded the living space in Ansan.

Korail

;*Seoul Subway Line 4
;; ← Banwol — Sangnoksu — Hanyang Univ. at Ansan — Jungang — Gojan — Choji — Ansan — Singiloncheon →
;*Seohae Line
;;Wonsi — Siu — Choji — Seonbu — Dalmi → → →
;*Suin–Bundang Line
;; ← Sari — Hanyang Univ. at Ansan — Jungang — Gojan — Choji — Ansan — Singiloncheon →

Future expansion

Currently, Seohae Line starts from Ansan to Sosa station in Bucheon. But the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport is extended to Goyang through Gimpo International Airport station. It was planned to be completed by 2023 and extended Seohae Line officially opened on 1 July 2023.
The Shin Ansan Line will connect Yeouido to Ansan in 2024. It will take only 30 minutes from Yeouido to Ansan Also, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport is considering extending to Seoul Station.
;;Hanyang University — Ansan City Hall — Jungang — Seongpo — Jangha — Mokgam → →

Bus

The near Ansan station provides daily bus service to Incheon International Airport and most cities in South Korea including Gimhae and Busan. Buses travel via Gimpo International Airport and Incheon International Airport. Express buses to Iksan, Dongdaegu, and Gwangju are also available. Near Sangnoksu station are buses going to Suwon station and Gangnam station. Ansan has 53 bus lines with 537 buses operating in and out of the city limits, connecting the city with Seoul and other outlying Gyeonggi cities. The Ansan transfer center also has express city buses, city buses, and intercity buses to link to Banwol industrial estate, Sihwa lake, and nearby cities.

Pedalro

is a public bicycle system in Ansan. There are 101 Pedalro stations in Ansan. This is run on a membership basis. However, due to high cost for maintenance, Ansan discontinued the public bicycle service in 2021.

Public institutions

The Korea Transportation Safety Authority, a government agency in South Korea, is headquartered in Ansan. Other major institutions in Ansan include:

Korea Electrotechnology Research Institute, Ansan Branch
Korea Elevator Safety Agency, Ansan Branch
Korea Institute of Industrial Technology, Research Institute of Industrial Technology Convergence
Korea Rural Research Institute
Korea Testing Laboratory, Gyeonggi Branch
Metropolitan Air Quality Management Office
Administrative districts

The administrative district of Ansan is parted into 25 dong, 1187 tong, and 5884 ban. The extent of Ansan is 149.06 km². The population standard was 281,829 households and 761,279 people at the end of 2012, of which the Korean citizen population was 715,108 with 43,465 foreigners recorded.

Borough	Administrative dong	Hangul	Chinese character	extent	household	population
Sangnok District 상록구 常綠區	Il-dong	일동	一洞	2.41	11,215	23,003
Sangnok District 상록구 常綠區	I-dong	이동	二洞	2.44	13,884	22,466
Sangnok District 상록구 常綠區	Sa 1-dong	사1동	四洞	2.36	16,749	39,594
Sangnok District 상록구 常綠區	Sa 2-dong	사2동	四洞	3.65	12,740	36,395
Sangnok District 상록구 常綠區	Sa 3-dong	사3동	四洞	3.68	7,147	20,835
Sangnok District 상록구 常綠區	Bono-dong	본오동	本五洞	6.45	17,589	43,811
Sangnok District 상록구 常綠區	Bono-2 dong	본오2동	本五洞	0.82	12,300	33,038
Sangnok District 상록구 常綠區	Bono-3 dong	본오3동	本五洞	1.1	9,992	25,268
Sangnok District 상록구 常綠區	Bugok-dong	부곡동	釜谷洞	6.22	8,832	22,775
Sangnok District 상록구 常綠區	Wolpi-dong	월피동	月陂洞	5.54	17,394	35,681
Sangnok District 상록구 常綠區	Seongpo-dong	성포동	聲浦洞	1.7	9,767	30,250
Sangnok District 상록구 常綠區	Banwol-dong	반월동	半月洞	13.16	8,077	16,574
Sangnok District 상록구 常綠區	Ansan-dong	안산동	安山洞	8.36	3,842	10,026
Danwon District 단원구 檀園區	Wadong	와동	瓦洞	3.23	19,372	36,020
Danwon District 단원구 檀園區	Gojan-1 dong	고잔1동	古棧洞	1.75	9,282	24,548
Danwon District 단원구 檀園區	Gojan-2 dong	고잔2동	古棧洞	1.87	9,650	25,465
Danwon District 단원구 檀園區	Hosu dong	호수동	湖水洞	2.48	14,723	42,346
Danwon District 단원구 檀園區	Wongokbon-dong	원곡본동	元谷洞	8.12	14,884	49,007
Danwon District 단원구 檀園區	Wongok-1 dong	원곡1동	元谷洞	0.95	4,399	16,034
Danwon District 단원구 檀園區	Wongok-2 dong	원곡2동	元谷洞	0.56	5,323	17,058
Danwon District 단원구 檀園區	Choji-dong	초지동	草芝洞	21.16	17,720	45,416
Danwon District 단원구 檀園區	Seonbu-1 dong	선부1동	仙府洞	0.86	7,544	16,880
Danwon District 단원구 檀園區	Seonbu-2 dong	선부2동	仙府洞	2.07	11,619	27,390
Danwon District 단원구 檀園區	Seonbu-3 dong	선부3동	仙府洞	5.81	13,774	37,439
Danwon District 단원구 檀園區	Dea-bu dong	대부동	大阜洞	42.37	3,614	7,384