Hwaseong City Mayor Rings Bell to Wish Health and Happiness for 2014 Year of the Horse

Hwaseong City Mayor Chae In-seok began the 2014 Year of the Horse (甲午年) with a bell-ringing ceremony wishing health and happiness for 530,000 Hwaseong citizens.

On January 1st, attending the New Year bell-ringing ceremony at Manuisa Temple (located in Dongtan), Mayor Chae rang the bell and offered New Year's greetings wishing all 530,000 citizens health and their homes filled with blessings, receiving the energy of the Blue Horse year.

Furthermore, in his New Year's address, Mayor Chae stated, "Hwaseong City, harmonizing with diverse colors like a patchwork quilt, with its various component pieces each having distinct characteristics, can become a beautiful patchwork quilt where the advantages of each piece become more distinct through the stitching of citizens' understanding and consideration," and added, "I hope all citizens will gather their hearts and strength so that we can advance powerfully toward becoming a metropolitan city of one million."

Following the bell-ringing, Mayor Chae In-seok climbed Mubongsan Mountain with approximately 1,000 residents from Namyang-dong to welcome the first sunrise of the new year and held a rice cake soup sharing event as a gesture of sharing good fortune.