[KS] Origin of Fan Death?

Fri Sep 15 14:34:37 EDT 2006

A parallel cultural phenomenon is the concept of "aircon" disease, the idea
that bacteria-filled air conditioners can be detrimental to one's health,
particularly if the A/C is used too frequently. This phenomenon could
easily share similar origins in government-sponsored austerity/energy-
conservation measures. On the other hand, if one adds a "kimchi filter" to
one's A/C, it may fight bird flu :-) (see
http://www.boingboing.net/2006/02/15/fighting_bird_flu_wi.html for details).

Cheers,

Kirk W. Larsen
Korea Foundation Associate Professor of
History and International Affairs
Director International Affairs Program
1957 E Street 503H
The George Washington University
Washington, DC 20052
(202) 994-5253
kwlarsen at gwu.edu

-----Original Message-----
From: koreanstudies-bounces at koreaweb.ws [mailto:koreanstudies-
bounces at koreaweb.ws] On Behalf Of i_heinz fenkl
Sent: Friday, September 15, 2006 12:03 AM
To: Korean Studies Discussion List
Subject: Re: [KS] Origin of Fan Death?

Hi, Stephen,

I was planning on writing a piece of fiction about this phenom, attributing 
the cause of death to "aetheric hypothermia," but I've not gotten around to 
it.

I don't know the original source of this myth, but it's been around since
at 
least the mid-60s, since I recall stern warnings about the fan from when I
was 
a child.

You might look into folk beliefs regarding night air also.

My theory is that the "fan death" belief is a useful and cautionary 
amplification of beliefs regarding qi. As martial arts practitioners know,
it 
is not a good idea to practice Taiqi or Qigong with one's feet in the water
or 
in a strong wind. Both of these are drains on one's qi. In the post war
years, 
it would have been pragmatic for the govt to reduce electrical consumption
by 
encouraging this myth.

I NEVER sleep with a fan or AC blowing on me. Not b/c I'm afraid to die,
but I 
wouldn't want my delicate spirit detatching from my corporeal self!

Cheers,
Heinz Insu Fenkl

On Fri, 15 Sep 2006 04:39:49 +1200
  "Stephen Epstein" <Stephen.Epstein at vuw.ac.nz> wrote:
> Dear all,
> 
> Aidan's remark that we can all effectively practice internet-based 
>self-reliance reminds me of a query for which my own attempt at Google
juche 
>would still benefit from the assistance of like-minded comrades. As anyone 
>who has spent time in South Korea in the summer knows, there are few
things 
>more dangerous than sleeping with the fan on, which can (of course) lead
to 
>death. Now, almost everyone from outside Korea, including neighboring 
>countries such as Japan and China, scoffs at this is nonsense, but this
urban 
>legend of sorts is remarkably persisent here and is believed by otherwise 
>rational people, including medical professionals; the media run stories
every 
>summer that detail incidents of people who have died during the night
beside 
>a fan that was left running. 
> 
> Can anybody shed light on precisely how and when this story came about?
Is 
>it indeed localized to South Korea? Although electric fans may not be 
>especially widespread in North Korea, the story could be present there if
it 
>predated division (what about ChosOnjok?...). I've included a few relevant 
>URLs, including a piece that notes such stories appearing in the Joongang 
>Ilbo as early as 1973, but I'm still looking for more exact information.
> 
> http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/nation/200609/kt2006091017514911980.htm
> 
> http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a970912.html 
><http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a970912.html> 
> 
>
http://joongangdaily.joins.com/200409/22/200409222123324579900091009101.html
> 
>
http://www.rfa.org/korean/defector_corner/kim_kihyuk/2006/08/15/home_applian
ces/
> 
> Yours, having slept with the fan on just a few nights ago and living to
tell 
>the tale,
> 
> Stephen
> 
> ________________________________
> 
>From: koreanstudies-bounces at koreaweb.ws 이(가) 다음 사람 대신 보냄 
>Afostercarter at aol.com
> Sent: 2006-09-13 (수) 오후 6:34
> To: koreanstudies at koreaweb.ws
> Subject: [KS] Is there one full good source in English on Korean 
>Left(s),past and present?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Of course, thanks to Google we can all practise self-reliance now. I
swiftly 
>found:
> 
> http://flag.blackened.net/revolt/talks/korea.html
>
http://www.mashada.com/forums/index.php?az=printer_friendly&forum=22&topic_i
d=32859
> (a Kenyan revolutionary learning admiringly from his Korean comrades)
> 
> But a full, neutral, authoritative account(s) would be better.
> I humbly request enlighenment, or at least guidance.
> 
>Fraternally,
> Aidan
> 
> AIDAN FOSTER-CARTER
> Honorary Senior Research Fellow in Sociology & Modern Korea, Leeds 
>University 
> Home address: 17 Birklands Road, Shipley, West Yorkshire, BD18 3BY, UK 
> tel: +44(0)  1274  588586         (alt) +44(0) 1264 737634
mobile: 
> +44(0)  7970  741307 
> fax: +44(0)  1274  773663         ISDN:   +44(0)   1274 589280
> Email: afostercarter at aol.com     (alt) afostercarter at yahoo.com
website: 
>www.aidanfc.net
> [Please use @aol; but if any problems, please try @yahoo too - and let me 
>know, so I can chide AOL]
> 
> ___________________
> 
> In a message dated 13/09/2006 01:55:39 GMT Standard Time,
frank at koreaweb.ws 
>writes:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 	Subj:Re: [KS] About Park Ryol 
> 	Date:13/09/2006 01:55:39 GMT Standard Time
> 	From:frank at koreaweb.ws
> 	Reply-to:koreanstudies at koreaweb.ws
> 	To:koreanstudies at koreaweb.ws
> 	Sent from the Internet 
> 	
> 	
> 	
> 	Park Rrrrryol, that doesn't exactly conform with 
> 	the Republican transcription system, does it? You 
> 	can take the term  t'ujaeng quite literally, 
> 	meaning combat, fight -- used to refer to fights 
> 	with military means, or later, in mainland China, 
> 	also to ideological struggle (e.g. against 
> 	political enemies within). You will find many 
> 	Communist leaflets from the 1930s and 1940s with 
> 	"t'ujaeng" in the title, and there are even a 
> 	couple of "Bloody Struggle Histories of ..." the 
> 	anti-Japanese movement that were published in 
> 	South Korea between 1945 and 1949. After that the 
> 	term has rarely been used in the South, but 
> 	continued to be in high regard in the North and 
> 	in Mao's China. Although I would not associate 
> 	the term to Hitler's book. "Kampf" may well be 
> 	translated as "t'ujaeng," that seems a good 
> 	choice, in this case. Then again, "Kampf" is a 
> 	much more neutral word in German, not at all as 
> 	defined as "t'ujaeng," and by no means 
> 	necessarily referring to military or militant 
> 	means.
> 	
> 	I doubt that Pak Yol published a text with such 
> 	title, _Naui t'ujaeng_, at least not in South 
> 	Korea or during the colonial period. The 
> 	anarchist journals and publications that the 
> 	circle around Prof. Ha Ki-rak (I think he passed 
> 	away) is publishing in T'aegu would sure have 
> 	reproduced such text, but I never even saw a 
> 	reference to it. The title would indicate that 
> 	the text, if it exists, was likely published in 
> 	North Korea. Am I wrong? Then again, I doubt it 
> 	is a book -- maybe just a short article. Pak was 
> 	not an intellectual, not a leader either, he 
> 	didn't write much. There are others who did, like 
> 	mentioned Ha Ki-rak or Chong Hwa-am, or Yu 
> 	Cha-myong from the Korean minority in China. Even 
> 	Yu Su-in who was once Ba Jin's Esperanto teacher 
> 	and who returned to North Korea (from China) in 
> 	the 1950s has left a long trace of publications 
> 	in both Chinese and Korean from the 1920s to his 
> 	death. (His grandson once showed me a 5000 pages 
> 	manuscript about the anarchist movement that he 
> 	had written.) Pak, on the other hand, had his day 
> 	of fame when he and his lover Kaneko were picked 
> 	by the Japanese authorities after the Kanto Earth 
> 	Quake to go on trial -- as a representative for 
> 	all Koreans in Japan, and as an indirect 
> 	justification of the massacres that had happened 
> 	in the aftermath of the earth quake.
> 	
> 	All there seems to be by Pak Yol himself are 
> 	poems he wrote in prison, published  in the 
> 	popular left-wing magazine _Samcholli_ (no. 14, 
> 	December 1949) [just saw the reference, haven't 
> 	seen them yet]: "Naui okchung chap'yong" 
> 	(Miscellaneous poems from my time in jail). The 
> 	term "chap'yong," by the way, seems to be a 
> 	neo-Japonism. I could only find it in a Japanese 
> 	dictionary.
> 	
> 	Since you mention Kaneko Fumiko (1903-1926) -- 
> 	her autobiography, written in prison, for the 
> 	trial, as was usual in the Japanese legal system 
> 	at the time, is a full-fleged book (250 pp. in 
> 	English translation). It is an absolutely amazing 
> 	account! Very well written, extremely mature for 
> 	a twenty year old woman, a woman who grew up 
> 	under depressingly poor circumstances in Japan 
> 	and Korea, and as sensitive and politically 
> 	engaging as an autobiography can possibly be.
> 	--> _The Prison Memoirs of a Japanese Woman_ (ISBN: 0873328027)
> 	
> 	Best,
> 	Frank
> 	
> 	
> 	>I was interested to see that KBS recently 
> 	>prepared a documentary drama about Kaneko 
> 	>Fumiko, the 'lover' of the Korean anarchist Park 
> 	>Yol. I have heard that Park published an account 
> 	>of his activities (I assume after being freed 
> 	>from prison in 1945?) and some give the title as 
> 	>'na ui tujaeng' (the same Korean as Mein 
> 	>Kampf!!!) but I am unable (with my meagre 
> 	>patience) to track this work. Can I ask if 
> 	>anyone knows of it, and where it mmight be 
> 	>found? I would be most grateful.
> 	>
> 	>Brother Anthony
> 	>Sogang University, Seoul
> 	>http://hompi.sogang.ac.kr/anthony/
> 	
> 	
> 	-- 
> 	--------------------------------------
> 	Frank Hoffmann
> 	http://koreaweb.ws
> 	
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 

----------------
Heinz Insu Fenkl