Introduction to Incheon Asian Games 2014
11:54Hello again!
So this week's #wowkoreasupporters mission is on promoting the 17th Asian Games 2014 that is coming up very soon in Korea! When I first saw the mission, I literally smiled because some of us, the Singaporeans students (who are studying full-time here in Korea), had met up with the group of Incheon Asian Games supporters for our Singaporean team, about two months ago. So I am glad that I have some photos to share with you guys, and that this post would not be that boring with merely words.
So, as the title has already mentioned, the Asian Games 2014 will be held in Incheon, South Korea. Just a brief history or background, the Asian Games originated from the Far Eastern Championship Games (the Oriental Olympics) and the West Asian Games. In February 1949, 11 representatives from nine countries gathered together again to have the second assembly, and IOC member G.D. Sondhi of India proposed the adoption of a new name for the games. AGF (Asian Games Federation) was organized under NOC. Due to political and religious factors, as well as issues related to the AGF Charter and rules. the participating countries agreed to organise a permanent body for the improvement of the Games, and turned the AGF, which was a non-permanent body, into the OCA (Olympic Council of Asia) in 1982. And since then, OCA has hosted the Asian Games for the peace and unity of Asia. (Source: Incheon Asian Games Official Website)
(L-R) Yunghian. Me. Grace. Geraldine. Mark
Yunghian and I were first contacted by another fellow Singaporean who had studied and graduated from here, that a Korean was searching for Singaporeans students studying in Korea. And then we came to realise that she was the leader of the Singapore Supporters Team for the 2014 Incheon Asian Games. She wanted us to introduce about Singapore to the fellow supporters who will be assisting and cheering on for the Singapore team! And yep, here we are in the picture above, giving a short presentation on Singapore. Great credits to Yunghian for preparing the slides!
Yunghian and I with our new friends from the Singapore Supporters Team!
Grace. Yunghian. Geraldine. Mark and I with the Koreans
Full group shot of the day!
It was a great meeting with the Koreans, who are full of passion in their roles as supporters for the Singapore Team. We were told that after South Korea, Singapore was ranked #2 with the most number of applicants for the supporters team. In the group photo, it was only a third of the supporters for the Singapore Team, and we (the Singaporeans) are very amazed at their enthusiasm in promoting our country! Hahahs. I love how they made a banner specially for Singapore with the slogan 'Go Go Singapore!'
The 17th Incheon Asian Games will be held from the 19th September 2014 to 4th October 2014.
Opening Ceremony: 19th September 2014 (Fri)
Location: In and around Incheon Metropolitan City
No. of Sports: 36
Popular celebrities are also set to be performing for either the Opening or Closing Ceremony of the event. The line up includes PSY, JYJ, BIGBANG, EXO and CNBLUE. For more information on admission tickets, click here.
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What to see/do in Incheon?
Well, Incheon is a big metropolitan city with a lot of rapid developments ongoing now. But if you were to ask me what is Incheon famous for, besides the airport itself, it would have to be Chinatown 차이나 타운.
As we all know, China's economy is growing at an amazingly fast speed with their population also being the highest in the world. We cannot deny that everywhere that we go now, we would see the Chinese. And that probably explains the presence of Chinatown in almost every big cities around the world. From New York, to London to Singapore and also Korea :)
Brief History:
In 1884, the Qing Empire entered a concession contract for this area and Chinese emigrants moved
and settled down in Korea. The Chinese residents who live in this area up to today have experienced many hardships, similar to the complicated modern history of Korea. Incheon's Chinatown area was established with the opening of the Incheon Port in 1883 and Incheon's designation as an extraterritoriality of the Ching Dynasty. Back then, the area held many stores trading goods imported from China, but recently they had transformed to mainly Chinese restaurants.
and settled down in Korea. The Chinese residents who live in this area up to today have experienced many hardships, similar to the complicated modern history of Korea. Incheon's Chinatown area was established with the opening of the Incheon Port in 1883 and Incheon's designation as an extraterritoriality of the Ching Dynasty. Back then, the area held many stores trading goods imported from China, but recently they had transformed to mainly Chinese restaurants.
(Source: DiscoveringKorea)
(Source: VisitIncheon)
(Source: VisitIncheon)
I remembered from my last trip there a few years back, I was very amazed because every single shop was (really) written in Chinese and I completely felt like I was in China! Hahas. So how can you get there? Very simply by subway, get off at Incheon Station (Line 1). Chinatown is about 3 minutes walk away.
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Hopefully this post is useful to some of you. That's all for today :)
Til then,
irenesiah
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