Haeundae takes its name from the ninth century
Silla scholar and poet
Ch'oe Ch'i-wŏn (literary name Haeun, or "Sea and Clouds"), who, according to a historical account, admired the view from the beach and built a pavilion nearby. A piece of Ch'oe's calligraphy, which he engraved on a rock at Haeundae, still exists. On Haeundae Dongbaek Island, there is a statue of Ch'oe Ch'i-wŏn, a Confucian scholar of the Unified Silla Period, and a monument. During the reign of Queen Jinseong during the Unified Silla Period, Ch'oe Ch'i-wŏn lamented that there was no place to write his studies. Haeundae used to be isolated from the large communities in Busan and Busanjin. It remained undeveloped until the late 1970s and early 1980s. A small number of luxury hotels were constructed after the 1988 Seoul Olympics. More hotels and other tourist facilities have been constructed on the beach-front area since the mid-1990s, and shopping malls and movie theatre complexes have been built in the 'centre' of Haeundae: an area between Haeundae Station and the beach. The area has continued to grow, apart from during the
1997 Asian financial crisis. Haeundae has been a regular host of the annual
Busan International Film Festival (BIFF). Haeundae's Dongbaek Island was the location for the 2005
APEC Conference.
Haeundae New Town (해운대 신시가지, 海雲臺 新市街地, Haeundae Sinsigaji), a major commercial and residential redevelopment project begun in 1990, is located in the Jwa-dong area. This area lies in the southern shadow of the mountain
Jangsan to the north, and is bounded in the south by Haeundae Station on the Dalmaji Gogae line of the
Korean National Railroad. Another development project, Centum City, has been ongoing since early 2000 and is now a major feature of
Busan.
Marine City, located nearby, is constructed on land reclaimed from the sea, and has several huge, high-rise apartment blocks. Additional apartment blocks are under construction, with water resorts and related facilities, for use by the public, also planned for Marine City. ==Tourist attractions==