On the 20th, on the 20th anniversary of the 20th anniversary of the honorary chairman of the Hyundai Group, Asan Chung Ju-young, the former home of Honorary Chairman Chung Chung-dong, was unpretentious, as if to show his life of saving energy.
The Cheongundong House, built in July 1962, has an area of 169.95m² on the first floor and 147.54m² on the second floor, and is now an empty house guarded by a manager.
It is a symbolic place where Honorary Chairman Chung has lived and raised the Hyundai Group. It is known that every morning, family members living in the vicinity were invited to this place to eat breakfast together and go to work.
The first floor of the unveiled Cheongundong house was a stone building made of gray stone, and the second floor was a plain white concrete building.
Inside the first floor of his home, a ritual was prepared in the room where Honorary Chairman Chung lived.
The room was also simple and plain without any special cabinets. Old pianos, faded books, and dark wooden walls only showed the passage of time.
Next to the folding screen installed behind the ancestral statue, Ms. Han Sung-sil, the mother of Honorary Chairman Chung, was placed. It was a simple appearance without any ornaments in a white hanbok.
On the left side of the ancestral statue, photographs of Honorary Chairman Jeong and his wife, Byeon Jung-seok are hung next to the bookshelf full of books. Honorary Chairman Chung in formal attire and Ms. Byeon in pink hanbok were smiling wide.
The two married in January 1936, and they were married for 65 years until Honorary Chairman Chung died on March 21, 2001, and Ms. Byeon died on August 17, 2007, about six years later.
Honorary Chairman Jeong also said in his autobiography, “I always wear full pants and are blunt, but I respect him because he has been consistent and unchanged for 60 years.”
The Beomhyundae family has been performing separate rites for Honorary Chairman Chung and Ms. Byeon until 2019, and have been ritual together since last year.
On the left side of the yard covered with yellow grass,’Yangsan Dongcheon’ means a place where the sun is well and the scenery is beautiful enough to live in. I saw a quarry inscribed with 幽居)`.
Honorary Chairman Chung seems to have built his home by preserving this quarry, known to have been carved in the Joseon Dynasty.
Since the 9th anniversary of the late Ms. Byeon Jung-seok in August 2015, the place of rituals has been moved from the house of Cheongun-dong to the house of honorary chairman Jeong Mong-gu, Hannam-dong, and has been living in Cheong-dong again since the 12th anniversary of Mrs. Byeon’s 12th anniversary in August 2019.
The Cheongundong home was inherited by Hyundai Motor Group Honorary Chairman Chung Mong-koo in 2001, and then handed over ownership to Chairman Eui-sun Eui-sun in March 2019.
(Photo = Yonhap News)
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