The Bicycle Transportation in Modernizing Seoul

Abstract

The time-space convergence of the modern era led to the coming of mobile society. It was the neotechnics of bicycles, streetcars, and automobiles that drove modernizing Seoul to witness a wide-ranging transformation in both urban structure and cityscape. Unlike tram cars, which accommodated commuting Seoulites, the bicycle as a private means of transportation was entwined tightly with their daily lives. Analysis of contemporary documents identified F. Borioni and P. Lansdale as the earliest carriers of the wheels in Incheon and Seoul, respectively. Along with diplomats, missionaries, medical practitioners, and educators, the Progressive joined the group of early adopters of bicycles. Aided by mass production in Japan in the early 20th century, bicycles diffused over the webs of outlets of selling agents. The data show that the boulevard heading north from the South Gate through Honmachi to Jongro was the most crowded in terms of bicycle traffic. The colonial modernity of bicycles embraces the modernizing projects of commodity fetishism, the postal system, the cycle race, and urban tourism in justifying the cultural hegemony of Imperial Japan. It helped, however, to put gender politics on the right track and institute modern ways of seeing the landscape as phantasmagoria.