[KS] charcoal in yeontans?

Kwang On Yoo lovehankook at gmail.com
Sun Dec 11 21:17:20 EST 2011


Here are SMOKING TRUCKS of NK:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mytripsmypics/5104063999/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mytripsmypics/5682673889/


Kwang-On Yoo

On Sun, Dec 11, 2011 at 3:11 PM, Ruediger Frank <ruediger.frank at univie.ac.at
> wrote:

>  Dear all,
> the yeontan thread has become quite long; apologies if the below has
> already been mentioned.
> 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.
> 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.
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wood_gas My parents told me that these were
> widespread in Germany after WWII.
> Best,
> Rudiger Frank
>
>
>
> on Samstag, 10. Dezember 2011 at 21:25 you wrote:
>
>
>  I am now recalling how we used to have a jump-start
> on making snowmen by rolling those used cylinders
> of yeontan ash in the snow. It made for an odd, lumpy
> rhythm to the construction of the big snowball.
> I also recall how, when the freshly-expended yeontan
> were left outside, we would often annoy the adults
> (and each other) by pissing on them and creating
> the foulest-smelling cloud of urine-steam.
> And, of course, the carbon monoxide poisoning,
> which I imagine nearly every Korean over 40 has
> experienced!
> Cheers,
> HIF
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Brother Anthony <ansonjae at sogang.ac.kr>
> To: Korean Studies Discussion List <koreanstudies at koreaweb.ws>
> Sent: Sat, Dec 10, 2011 5:27 am
> Subject: [KS] charcoal in yeontans?
>
> I think that the confusion comes from the etymology of 'tan' whether in
> yeontan
> (briquette) or seoktan (coal). The Chinese character 'tan' is (if anyone
> can
> read it online) '炭' which in Korea is identified as "숯 탄" (sut tan) where
> sut /
> 숯 is the Korean word meaning 'charcoal'. I think there is no doubt at all
> that
> the modern domestic briquette is and always has been made of anthracite
> and part
> of the confusion comes from a lot of Koreans (and perhaps others) not
> knowing
> what 'charcoal' is, how it is made, or how it differs from other forms of
> 'coal'. The internet is full of mentions of "charcoal yeontans" but that
> does
> not make for proof, being only a sign of fairly natural confusion. All
> technical
> descriptions specify that the briquette is made using anthracite.
>
> In recent years the yeontan has become something of an endangered species,
> as
> described by the Korea Times in 2007
> http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/biz/2011/04/123_11874.html
> (an article where the word 'charcoal' manages to creep in once despite its
> stress on the shortage of anthracite). One result is probably a large
> increase
> in the number of broken limbs on icy slopes in winter, since in the Good
> Old
> Days we used to thankfully crush used yeontans all the way down the hills
> when
> it snowed. The clouds of filthy dust that rose above Seoul in the wind
> after the
> ice and snow were gone were an unhappy by-product, as were the cases of
> black
> lung disease among people living close to the huge mounds of powdered coal
> in
> the yards of yeontan factories.
>
> The nicest way of looking at yeontans is in a poem by An Do-Hyeon:
>
> One coal briquette
>
> There are lots of other ways of putting it
> but it's as if  what we call life
> means becoming a coal briquette
> for someone other than myself.
>
> From the day the floors first feel chilly till the following spring,
> the loveliest thing on all the roads of Korea
> is the briquette truck chugging
> its way up steep inclines with all its might.
> I eat piping hot rice and soup every day,
> but it's as if I had not realized that once the flame has caught hold,
> each briquette grows scorching hot,
> seeming to know just what's required of it.
> It's as if I have been unable to become a briquette for anyone so far
> because  I was afraid of the way, once love has caught fully hold
> all that remains is a sorry handful of ash.
>
> On careful thought,
> it's as if what we call life
> is pulverising me
> in order to make a safe path where someone other than myself
> can walk at ease on slippery mornings after snow has fallen
> and I had failed to realize that.
>
> A final bit of nostalgia: it used to be such fun to get home late on a
> freezing
> evening and find that the yeontans in the stove had gone out because no
> one had
> been there to change them, so one had to start all over again and it took
> ages
> before they were properly lit and glowing. The young generations don't
> know what
> they have missed.
>
> Brother Anthony
> Sogang University etc
>
>
>
>
>
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