Here are SMOKING TRUCKS of NK:<br><br><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/mytripsmypics/5104063999/" target="_blank">http://www.flickr.com/photos/mytripsmypics/5104063999/</a><br><br><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/mytripsmypics/5682673889/" target="_blank">http://www.flickr.com/photos/mytripsmypics/5682673889/</a><br>
<br><br>Kwang-On Yoo<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Sun, Dec 11, 2011 at 3:11 PM, Ruediger Frank <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:ruediger.frank@univie.ac.at" target="_blank">ruediger.frank@univie.ac.at</a>></span> wrote:<br>
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<span style="font-family:'Arial';font-size:12pt">Dear all,<br>
the yeontan thread has become quite long; apologies if the below has already been mentioned. <br>
Based on my own observations and talks with locals, I can say that yeontan are still very much in use in NK. I saw numerous small piles of coal dust (a centner or two) on the roadside in cities in Hamgyeongnamdo last October. They were pressed into briquets right on the spot - same shape as the ones I had seen in SK and in China. Lack of proper heating during wintertime is a major problem in NK, and as far as I was told, not everyone can afford yeontan. So much for nostalgia... And for our often too exclusively food-centered discussion of shortage in NK. Being cold can be as painful as eing hungry. Needless to say that this is a shame for a country so rich in high-quality anthracite; although we also must concede that the NK coal exports to China have allegedly been reduced a few weeks ago to cover (more of) domestic demand.<br>
A side note on the smoking trucks: I saw many of them in the past years, mostly outside of Pyongyang. Poor folks on the open platforms were covered in smoke but endured it stoically. At least they had a ride... I think the engines are woodgas powered, and it seems possible to use either fresh wood or charcoal. Here's the wiki link for some technical details. </span><a style="font-family:'Arial';font-size:12pt" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wood_gas" target="_blank">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wood_gas</a><span style="font-family:'Arial';font-size:12pt"> My parents told me that these were widespread in Germany after WWII.<br>
Best,<br>
Rudiger Frank<div><div><br>
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<br>
on Samstag, 10. Dezember 2011 at 21:25 you wrote:<br>
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<td width="708"><span style="font-family:'arial';font-size:9pt">I am now recalling how we used to have a jump-start<br>
on making snowmen by rolling those used cylinders<br>
of yeontan ash in the snow. It made for an odd, lumpy<br>
rhythm to the construction of the big snowball. <br>
I also recall how, when the freshly-expended yeontan<br>
were left outside, we would often annoy the adults<br>
(and each other) by pissing on them and creating<br>
the foulest-smelling cloud of urine-steam.<br>
And, of course, the carbon monoxide poisoning,<br>
which I imagine nearly every Korean over 40 has<br>
experienced!<br>
Cheers,<br>
HIF<br>
<br>
<br>
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<span style="font-size:10pt">-----Original Message-----<br>
From: Brother Anthony <<a href="mailto:ansonjae@sogang.ac.kr" target="_blank">ansonjae@sogang.ac.kr</a>><br>
To: Korean Studies Discussion List <<a href="mailto:koreanstudies@koreaweb.ws" target="_blank">koreanstudies@koreaweb.ws</a>><br>
Sent: Sat, Dec 10, 2011 5:27 am<br>
Subject: [KS] charcoal in yeontans?<br>
<br>
<span style="font-family:'courier new';font-size:9pt">I think that the confusion comes from the etymology of 'tan' whether in yeontan <br>
(briquette) or seoktan (coal). The Chinese character 'tan' is (if anyone can <br>
read it online) '÷©' which in Korea is identified as "½¡ ź" (sut tan) where sut / <br>
½¡ is the Korean word meaning 'charcoal'. I think there is no doubt at all that <br>
the modern domestic briquette is and always has been made of anthracite and part <br>
of the confusion comes from a lot of Koreans (and perhaps others) not knowing <br>
what 'charcoal' is, how it is made, or how it differs from other forms of <br>
'coal'. The internet is full of mentions of "charcoal yeontans" but that does <br>
not make for proof, being only a sign of fairly natural confusion. All technical <br>
descriptions specify that the briquette is made using anthracite.<br>
<br>
In recent years the yeontan has become something of an endangered species, as <br>
described by the Korea Times in 2007 </span></span></span><a style="font-family:'courier new';font-size:9pt" href="http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/biz/2011/04/123_11874.html" target="_blank">http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/biz/2011/04/123_11874.html</a><span style="font-family:'courier new';font-size:9pt"> <br>
(an article where the word 'charcoal' manages to creep in once despite its <br>
stress on the shortage of anthracite). One result is probably a large increase <br>
in the number of broken limbs on icy slopes in winter, since in the Good Old <br>
Days we used to thankfully crush used yeontans all the way down the hills when <br>
it snowed. The clouds of filthy dust that rose above Seoul in the wind after the <br>
ice and snow were gone were an unhappy by-product, as were the cases of black <br>
lung disease among people living close to the huge mounds of powdered coal in <br>
the yards of yeontan factories.<br>
<br>
The nicest way of looking at yeontans is in a poem by An Do-Hyeon:<br>
<br>
One coal briquette <br>
<br>
There are lots of other ways of putting it <br>
but it's as if what we call life <br>
means becoming a coal briquette <br>
for someone other than myself. <br>
<br>
>From the day the floors first feel chilly till the following spring, <br>
the loveliest thing on all the roads of Korea <br>
is the briquette truck chugging <br>
its way up steep inclines with all its might. <br>
I eat piping hot rice and soup every day, <br>
but it's as if I had not realized that once the flame has caught hold, <br>
each briquette grows scorching hot, <br>
seeming to know just what's required of it. <br>
It's as if I have been unable to become a briquette for anyone so far <br>
because I was afraid of the way, once love has caught fully hold <br>
all that remains is a sorry handful of ash.<br>
<br>
On careful thought, <br>
it's as if what we call life <br>
is pulverising me <br>
in order to make a safe path where someone other than myself <br>
can walk at ease on slippery mornings after snow has fallen <br>
and I had failed to realize that. <br>
<br>
A final bit of nostalgia: it used to be such fun to get home late on a freezing <br>
evening and find that the yeontans in the stove had gone out because no one had <br>
been there to change them, so one had to start all over again and it took ages <br>
before they were properly lit and glowing. The young generations don't know what <br>
they have missed.<br>
<br>
Brother Anthony<br>
Sogang University etc<br>
<br>
<br>
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