Is it true that real estate in Hanyang during the Joseon Dynasty was also undefeated?
What if the hot place Itaewon was originally a cemetery?
What incident shook Joseon when a shaman of the lowest social class came to power?

The more you know, the more exciting the 'real' story of old Seoul becomes!

Today's Seoul is a city formed by the accumulation of the lives of the Joseon people over a long period of time.
Hanyang, the capital of Joseon, was a political center like Seoul today, and a huge living space where the lives of countless people were intertwined.
From the beef craze of King Sukjong's era, when the saying "It's not a feast without beef" was popular, to the Joseon Dynasty's invincible real estate phenomenon, when real estate prices soared due to overpopulation.
Also, as we follow the vivid lives of various characters within the social class system, such as eunuchs, shamans, slaves, and concubines, the reality of Hanyang in the past becomes more clearly revealed.
Unlike existing history books that focus on palaces, war, and politics, 『Stories of Old Seoul』 focuses on the daily lives and spaces of the Joseon people.
The stories contained in the city's alleys, customs, and people vividly bring to life the lives of people of that time.
The author, Bae Han-cheol, worked as a cultural heritage and Korean history reporter for Maeil Business Newspaper and as a cultural heritage expert for the National Heritage Administration. Based on various records such as the Annals of the Joseon Dynasty, anthologies of literary works, genre paintings, and geographical records, he directly reported and visited the site, meticulously reconstructing the lives of Joseon people in Hanyang.
Let's follow the traces of a five-hundred-year-old city and delve into history to see how today's Seoul was formed through the accumulation of time.

When we think of the Joseon Dynasty, we tend to assume that only a small number of nobles monopolized all rights and lived in luxury, while the common people lived miserable lives like slaves.
It is also a common perception that they are materially backward and poor.
This stereotype may not be unrelated to the historical consciousness that was intentionally instilled to denigrate Joseon in order to justify and glorify Japanese colonialism during the colonial period.
Indeed, how much do we know about the city of Seoul in Joseon?
To grasp even a rough outline of the times, it is necessary to first understand the economic and historical background.
--- From "Entering"

In 『Bukhakui』 by Bak Je-ga (1750-1805), it is written, “A man bought two pigs and was carrying them when they got crushed by each other and the pigs died.
I had no choice but to sell the meat, but even after a whole day, the pork still wasn't sold.
“It’s not that people don’t like pork, it’s that they especially like beef,” he said.
Just as in Jeolla Province today, a banquet without fermented skate is not considered a banquet, in Seoul during the Joseon Dynasty, beef had to be served at the banquet table.

--- From "Intoxicated by the Taste of Beef"

In the late Joseon Dynasty, after the Imjin War and the Byeongja War were over and the economy entered a period of stabilization, extravagance became widespread throughout society.
Not only the prime ministers and the aristocrats, but also the common people and even the commoners, if they had some financial means, did not hesitate to indulge in ostentatious consumption.
Although he spent money like water on clothes, accessories, and food, as can be seen in the Seungjeongwon Diary, the pinnacle of luxury was his home.
--- From "The Unbeatable Real Estate of Hanyang in the Joseon Dynasty"

After the late Joseon Dynasty, with the addition of superstitious elements, the practice of pure ancestral rites became wildly popular.
The May 14, 1916 edition of the Maeil Shinbo reported in detail the origins of the pilgrimage, along with precautions, preparations, and schedule for the pilgrimage, in a pilgrimage guide article titled “Today is Sunseong.”
The newspaper introduces that the practice of seonseong was performed as a religious practice for passing the civil service examination.
(Omitted) If you go around the city once, it becomes a circle, and if you go through the diameter of the city again, the character 'middle' is completed.
The word '中' also means 'to hit or hit', so it was believed that if you hit the mark, you would be able to get the test questions right.
--- From "Hanyangdoseong, the sacred place for the Joseon Dynasty's eight provinces' civil service examination takers"

There were many cases of eunuchs voluntarily being castrated as a means of overcoming poverty and social limitations.
It is said that until just before the founding of the Korean Empire in 1897 (the 34th year of King Gojong's reign), a shack-like eunuch clinic was operating in Yeouido.
Although the eunuch had no reproductive function, he was able to have a wife and children.
After his wife died, he remarried and even had a concubine.
To escape the hardships of life and to get in line with the royal family, not only commoners but also noblewomen wanted to become eunuchs' wives.
--- From "Were the castrated eunuchs the best grooms?"

The Ima Building next to Jongno-gu Office was home to the Sapoksi, a horse breeding facility for the royal court, and the Majeongyo Bridge in Cheonggyecheon was home to a horse and cattle trading and leasing facility, which caused horse waste to flow directly into the river.
The country didn't even bother to crack down on it.
During the reign of King Sejong, he accepted Eo Hyo-cheom's argument that "it is natural for the capital to prosper and its streams to become polluted," and thus turned a blind eye to the dumping of waste.
Animal carcasses and even the bodies of infants were secretly dumped at night, and murders often occurred.
--- From "City Sewer, Cheonggyecheon"

Due to the influence of TV dramas, the images of Sungkyunkwan University and its students as 'young, pretty boys' and 'children from prestigious Hanyang families' easily come to mind, but as in the case of Kim Su-in, many of the students were from the countryside and many were elderly.
Even students who were still in school frequently died of old age.

--- From "Sungkyunkwan, the study mecca of students in their 70s and 80s"