A poser to publicize the Incheon Open Port Culture Night 2021, to be held at a cultural area of opening Incheon Port from Nov. 5 to 7. (Photos: ITO)

The Incheon Open Port Culture Night 2021, to be held at a cultural area of opening Incheon Port from Nov. 5 to 7, will serve as an opportunity to experience a walk back to the nation’s first international city in an era of opening Incheon Port in 1883 and modern culture.

The Incheon Open Port Culture Night 2021 will take place at the Jung-gu Ward area, once extraterritorial districts of Japan and Qing Dynasty.

The area still has abundant modern cultural heritage, tracing the era of opening the port, such as rows of Japanese architecture houses, Gyeongin (Seoul-Incheon) railway, Freedom Park, a western park, Daebul Hotel, a western hotel, and Aekwan Theater.

This year’s night festival will take place on the theme “Enjoy Eight Colors 1883, a Story about Unquenched Open Port Night.” Eight colors refer to something to eat, accommodation, markets, paintings, stories, history and landscape.

The latest festival highlights app-based non-face-to-face stamp tours and story telling programs. Spectators were given the chance to receive their own portraits in modern painting styles.

The festival costs a combined 1 billion won, 400 million won in state budget and 300 million won each from the Incheon Metropolitan City government and the Jung-gu Ward Office.

The Incheon Open Port Culture Night is to receive a prize money of 425 million won after it has won a 2022 public contest, conducted by the Cultural Heritage Administration. The festival offers night tours to the cultural heritage area, performing arts and exhibitions.

A view of Incheon’s cultural area of opening Incheon Port.

Incheon Coastal Pier Area, to be Reborn as Tourist Spot

The Incheon Metropolitan City government announced a plan to renew the decrepit Incheon Coastal Pier area on Sept. 22.

The Incheon Coastal Pier area has a terminal of costal ferries plying to and from islands such as Baekryeong, Deokjeok and Yeonpyeong islets, which was opened in 1995 and the Seoul metropolitan area’s biggest fish market, which made its debut in 1981.

The municipal government inaugurated a team to reinvigorate the Yeonan-dong, Hang-dong area. It is working on the establishment of an integrated development plan on the Hangdong 7-ga areas.

The coastal pier area has insufficient infrastructure such as roads and parks. It has become the target of complaints and grievances from citizens and tourists due to a shortage of infrastructure.

As the land use of the port area is restricted, renewal projects have been launched belatedly, city officials said.

The Incheon Metropolitan City government plans to tender a service on the establishment of the renewal plan of the Incheon Coastal Pier area in the first half of next year.

The municipal government plans to transform South Port’s second-hand cluster district near the coastal pier area into “a smart auto valley” and construct a detour road to South Port.

The plan also calls for creating a 800-meter-long coastal trail and a “Skywalk,” allowing a 1 km-long walk and sun-setting view and a coastal park 10 times bigger than the size of a soccer stadium.