“Meet at Cheongnyong-tang!” The “Cheongnyong-tang” that is mentioned when CAU students make an appointment with a friend at school, is the name students use to refer to the “Blue Dragon Pond” in friendly manner. A rusty and gigantic dragon head and a magic pearl that is surrounded by the Blue Dragon gives us pride and is located centrally in our school. The pond around the Blue Dragon statue is muddy but it is a typical rest area for students and a place of nature among the dense buildings. Like this, many images come to mind when you think of the Blue Dragon Pond. It is a friendly place and one of the representative aspects of CAU. Recently, rumors have been growing that the university might be dismantling the Blue Dragon Statue in the Blue Dragon Pond celebrating its 100th anniversary. Is the rumor really true? It would be important for us to understand the meaning and the long history of the Blue Dragon Statue.
The Blue Dragon Statue in the middle of the pond is nine meters high, and the blue dragon is 16 meters long, weighs 50 tons and the magic pearl is 3.3 meters wide. With its mouth wide open, the blue dragon glares with its eyes and holds three pens in its hand. Construction of the Blue Dragon Statue began in December 1967 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of CAU in 1968 and was completed after 10 months. To construct this statue, 5000 people were mobilized and a total of 4.1 million won was spent on the statue. The entire production cost was raised by alumni who hoped for the development of CAU. Considering that the annual budget of the school reunion at that time was 720,000 won, we can know that 4.1 million won at that time was a huge amount.
Then, why is the statue in the middle of the pond a blue dragon? When Dr. Lim Young-shin, who is the founder of CAU, purchased the entire area of Heukseok-dong, a school site, she had a dream that a blue dragon climbed to the sky. The dream influenced and determined her to choose the Blue Dragon as the school’s symbol. Also, the round item that the Blue Dragon is hugging is not a magical pearl, but a globe. Dr. Lim tried to include the meaning of the university's quest for sanctity, authority, freedom, and truth through the sight of the blessed Blue Dragon hugging the Earth.
Many people have wondered about the globe in the Blue Dragon’s bosom. There were a lot of rumors that there was a huge treasure inside the globe. CAU explained this matter through the website. “Inside the globe, there are relics of the founder Dr. Lim as well as materials related to the history of CAU. There is a high chance that materials that can be used for students after 1000 years are inside, including the history and scale of the school, development plans, Korean women's classical clothing and a fountain pen that the president of the university often used. Therefore, the globe will act as a time capsule.” Actually, in the Dong-A Daily News report on March 27th, 1970, inside the globe are letters written by students and a history of CAU that was made for students.
According to this report, it is right to open the time capsule in 2968. However, CAU said that it pushed forward the time for opening the globe based on Dr. Lim’s autobiography. In her autobiography, she said “My life records were placed inside the Blue Dragon Statue in front of the main university building in 1968. At first, I told people to open the time capsule after 1000 years later, but through this autobiography I’d like to correct my word and have the time capsule opened 100 years after its creation. So, if you want to know the contents of the time capsule, please live only 92 years longer.” For this reason, the time capsule will be opened in 2068 when it will be 100 years after the year of constructing the Blue Dragon Statue, not 2018 when it is 100 years after CAU was founded. To answer your curiosity about the inside of the Blue Dragon Statue, we have to wait more time.
Through the secret story about the Blue Dragon Statue, you may feel the Blue Dragon Statue and the pond surrounding it approaching us with a new meaning. The statue, which has been guarding CAU for 50 years, contained lots of stories that we didn’t know. Although the process of opening the statue can be seen 50 years from now, without looking inside, we can still feel the affection that our professors and seniors had at the time when they were constructing the Blue Dragon Statue.
