Chinese character used to write the Dang in Dangwu-ri had been altered. In another land reorganization conducted in 1906, soon after Itō Hirobumi had been appointed Resident General of Korea, the character was changed from 堂 to 唐. The new character means the Tang dynasty of China (pronounced dang, 당, in Korean), which in 688, assisted the kingdom of Silla to conquer the other two Korean kingdoms of Baekje and Goguryeo during the Three Kingdoms period. While this was the first unification of the peninsula, it was conducted through military conquest by a country conspiring with a foreign power. (There have been various opinions as to why the Japanese authorities made the decision to replace the character, none of which can be corroborated by historical evidence). Thus, the character for dang currently being used in Bundang today has a poor connotation, and there is debate among scholars and administrators as to whether it should revert to the pre-colonial character , which means "hall" or "government office". History Before 1989 Since the Joseon dynasty, the land Bundang currently occupies was a part of Gwangju (then county); at the time, Seongnam only had Sujeong and Jungwon gus. This largely agricultural area was nothing like the present day, dotted as it was with dozens of small villages. Before the early 1990s, Bundang was a large farmland of rice paddies. After 1989 The local government announced on April 27, 1989, that it would undertake construction of a futuristic and environmentally conscious city with a population of 450,000 people. Sixteen dongs in the surrounding area were to be amalgamated into a single city. This would include nine dongs from Dolma-myeon: Bundang-dong, Sunae-dong, Seohyeon-dong, Jeongja-dong, Imae-dong, Yatap-dong, Dochon-dong, Yeosu-dong and Yul-dong; in addition to six dongs from Nakseng-myeon: Gumi-dong, Baekhyun-dong, Dongwon-dong, Geumgok-dong, Sampyeong-dong and Gungnae-dong; and one dong from Daewong-myeon: Sasong-dong (now Pangyo-dong). Bundang was adopted as this new district's popular name. In the early 1990s, the Bundang area became a planned community as a response to alleviating the excessive demand for apartments in the similarly affluent, but much older Gangnam area. Before this period of expansion, however, there was mostly farmland in this area. There are still a few farms in the Bundang area, particularly in the Pangyo area. As the demand for more housing continues, Bundang is expected to continue expanding. The primary site of construction was situated along a ten kilometer strip of