For years, a sign above a side street next to Exit 1 of Sindang Station on Seoul Metro lines 2 and 6 announced that visitors were entering the “Seoul Central Market Furniture District.” Then, in 2023, this was replaced by a new sign reading “1946 Hwanghak Furniture Street.” The sign raises several questions, particularly as an accompanying information board outlining the history of the area’s furniture and rice markets fails to explain why it bears the date 1946. It explains that in 1950s and 1960s the area was known as the “largest grain wholesale and retail market in the country” which “prospered to the extent that it distributed over 70% of the rice consumed by Seoul citizens at the time,” and also notes that it was at a rice shop there in 1938 that Hyundai founder Chung Yu-yung first honed his business skills. It also notes that the area was once known for “specializing in furniture for newlyweds,” though now it “primarily deals in commercial furniture,” particularly for the food service industry, but makes no mention of the fact that furniture stores and factor
