Qin Shi Huang, who unified China for the first time, looked for a medicine that would make himself never grow old. Hundreds of people who served Huang, had searched for this plant no other places but in Korea. As you can see from this short tale, Korea has long been a famous heaven of medicine. According to records written in Japan in the history, Korea was the center of 200 kinds of wild herbs and 100 kinds of cultivated herbs medicines.
In Korea where there are so many kinds of medicines, the most famous place that has the most medicines is Daegu’s “YangNyeong Market”! YangNyeong Market has a long history of over 350 years. It is hard to find another market in the world that has few centuries’ history like this. A lot of high quality medicines were produced in the area near Daegu, and that is why experts were gathered in Daegu. North Gyeongsang Province where next to Daegu, is still the place where the most medicines are produced. Those medicines are sold at Daegu YangNyeong Market.
In the old days, herbal vendors from all over Korea stayed in Daegu for 20 days to buy and sell goods. The medicine at Daegu YangNyeong Market was known for its high quality and was so popular that many merchants from China and Japan came over to Korea just for medicine. At that time, more than a million people visited the market, considering the size of the population and society back then, it was an enormous number in the history. The market, which was located at that time, still stays there now with all its traces remain intact. Nam Seong-ro where is nearby Banwoldang Station, has about 170 shops still existing.
As the center of the Korean herbal medicine market, you can buy herbal medicines from various parts of Korea. 600 tons of herbal medicine are traded here every year.
When you walk into the alley of YangNyeong Market, you can see most shops handling medicines or selling oriental medicine. Every corner of the shops has a unique aroma of oriental medicine. There’s a saying that when you get there, your clogged nose will be cured. Even if you are sick, you will be healed just by walking around the market.
Recently, the area has turned into a popular tourist attraction in Daegu with the opening of a huge department store nearby and the city’s local tours is gaining popularity as well. It is also near to DongSeong–ro and all the trending coffee shops, beauty salons, and skin care shops are also being created near or in the market. Why don’t you visit Yanyeong Market and enjoy a healthy trip in Daegu?
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