Discovering Incheon’s Chinatown, Incheon, South Korea (B)

With National Liberation Day (15th August) coinciding with a weekend, planning a trip, anywhere in Korea or Seoul, wouldn’t have been a wise idea. So, we split each one of the three days, into an individual day of exploration. Incheon (portside) is easily accessible from Seoul (the last stop on Line Number 1) and perfect for a day trip.

As a rule of thumb, we prefer to avoid places which solely rely on selling the idea of tourism. And yet, sometimes, it’s a necessary evil in travel. I’m not sure how many Chinatowns exist in the world, today. Personally, I feel, these towns are a poor caricature of what China truly is. Possibly because, residents might try hard to establish a cultural identity for themselves. Or because, there seems to be an immense pressure to adhere to a popular stereotype (red stringed lanterns, panda toys, and silk clothes) — to lure in tourists. And most tourists seem to be content with this single story of China. Trying to represent China’s geographical, cultural, and ethnic diversity within a few hundred meters of a town; is not any different, from trying to capture a vast country in a bottle. ...... (follow the instructions below for accessing the rest of this article).