King Jeongjo made 66 official royal trips out of the palace during his reign. These trips were not simply royal outings, but they were opportunities for him to carefully observe the livelihood of his people, to listen to their voices through oral appeals of injustice, as they were illiterate, and to solve civil cases along the way.
The “2017 King Jeongjo Tomb Parade Reenactment,” a ceremony that recreates the outings of King Jeongjo (r. 1776-1800), will make its 10.39-km trip from Changdeokgung Palace to Nodeulseom Island in Seoul on Sept. 23.
A 310-m “baedari” floating bridge was installed from the neighborhood of Ichon across the Hangang River to Nodeulseom Island in Seoul, helping to illustrate the 18th century technology that was used to cross rivers in those days.
This year’s ceremony starts at Changdeokgung Palace on Sept. 23, and on Sept. 24 will then proceed 59.2 km to the Yungneung Shrine in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi-do Province, perfectly recreating as-it-happened one of the formal parades made by King Jeongjo 222 years after the original parade took place in 1795.
