▶ Watch the 1-minute version: Where did old Seoul get ice in summer?
Cutting ice in midwinter
In the Joseon period, Seoul (then called Hanyang) collected its ice in the twelfth lunar month, the coldest part of the year. The rule was to wait until the river ice was at least four chi thick. One chi is about 3.03 cm, so that is roughly 12 cm, close to five inches.
Workers called bingbu (빙부, ice men) cut the ice into blocks on the frozen river and carried them to storehouses on the bank. The west ice house had 40 of them and the east ice house 10, and ordinary people and soldiers were called in to help. It was dangerous work. Firewood was piled along the riverbank for people who got too cold, and medical staff stood by in case someone fell through.
Two ice houses, one still on the map
Seoul had two main government ice houses. Dongbinggo (동빙고, East Ice House) was set up in 1396. Seobinggo (서빙고, West Ice House) stood at the foot of Dunjisan hill beside the Han River, with eight storage rooms.
Records put Seobinggo's stock at 134,974 blocks of ice. The unit used, jeong (丁), simply counts blocks. Today the neighborhood on that site in Yongsan-gu is still called Seobinggo-dong, and Dongbinggo-dong sits next to it.
You may also see photos of seokbinggo, stone ice houses such as the one in Gyeongju. Those are real and still standing, but they are a different, later type of building outside Seoul.
Who got the ice
Ice was not for everyone. In summer it went out to the royal court, government offices and senior officials. But the lists also include two groups you might not expect: the sick at Hwarinseo, a public relief hospital, and prisoners held by the state. Most government offices received ice from the 15th day of the fifth lunar month to the 14th day of the seventh, the hottest stretch of the year.
A winter's worth of work
Every block that cooled a summer room in Seoul had been cut by someone standing on a frozen river months earlier. When you walk through Seobinggo-dong today, the name is the only part of that system left.
FAQ
Where did Joseon-era Seoul get ice in summer?
From the Han River in midwinter. Ice was cut when it was about 12 cm thick and stored in government ice houses such as Seobinggo and Dongbinggo.
How much ice did Seobinggo hold?
Records list 134,974 blocks of ice in Seobinggo, the West Ice House.
Is Seobinggo still there?
The building is gone, but the neighborhood on its site in Yongsan-gu, Seoul, is still called Seobinggo-dong.
Sources
- Encyclopedia of Korean Culture: "Seobinggo" (서빙고, Korean)
- Encyclopedia of Korean Culture: "Binggo" (빙고, ice houses, Korean)
- Encyclopedia of Korean Culture: "Dongbinggo" (동빙고, Korean)
Written by the Korea in Time team. Each fact above is checked against the sources listed. Found a mistake? Tell us.
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